I am not the same....

        He came back...from a far away land..and is now singing in the hedgerow..
    The Robin who visits me in Winter is not the same as in Summer..he flies all the way over from Scandinavia..to the Hilltop!!!
                                        I find this to be miraculous....


“...a new day was starting, the things of the garden were not concerned with our troubles. A blackbird ran across the rose-garden to the lawns in swift, short rushes, stopping now and again to stab at the earth with his yellow beak. A thrush, too, went about his business, and two stout, little wagtails, following one another, and a little cluster of twittering sparrows. A gull poised himself high in the air, silent and alone, and then spread his wings wide and swooped beyond the lawns to the woods and the Happy Valley. These things continued, our worries and anxieties had no power to alter them.” ― Daphne du Maurier,
 .............................................................

A different acoustic...

All the leaves are brown....

                                         and fallen down..the wind had a ball yesterday..


"A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air."

 - Eric Sloane

..................................................................

Art-Julius von Klever.

I'm busy..observing..

                                               February chores...
                         
                            Open the windows..
                Browsing and ordering from seed and garden catalogs.
                     Pruning leafless trees and shrubs.
                 Weeding and tending the winter vegetable garden.
                     Relax and read books from the library.
                     The soil is usually too wet and cold for much digging.
         Keeping cold sensitive potted plants in protected areas or indoors.
            Make sure that the cuttings in protected areas do not dry out.
                     Repair fences.
         Put straw mulch over fertilized vegetable garden areas not planted. 
                      Distribute fertilizer and minerals. 
                      rune and mulch dormant perennials.
                      Remove dead trees, shrubs, branches, and twigs.
                   Enjoy the bulbs and rosemary in bloom.
                    Repair and sharpen tools.
                      Construct gardening boxes and flats.
                       Keep hardwood cuttings moist.
                Write a poem.   Keep a gardening journal.
                       Trees without leaves need little or no watering.
                 Take a walk in your garden.
                       Sit and observe.   (that's a good one..)

Soon we will be able to hear our garden grow..wishing you a weekend full  of ZEN..take care of yourselves...

Its cold out there...

               I know that somewhere on this planet the cold winds blow and  snow is falling...

                                                           There..winter is fierce..

                   
                                                           And one must seek shelter..

.
                                                              So take care out there...

                                               Find a friend to cuddle up to...and be safe.

                                                    Soon the winter winds will change

                                                                         xoxo

It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily. "So it is." "And freezing." "Is it?" "Yes," said Eeyore. "However," he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately.”

 A. A. Milne quotes

I just said something...

It is said that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer.

                                   So...I just said something...but you have to wait..

Don't hold back..always say what your heart tells you to.. Let it go....

Pure..

                                                                     Its going to snow..

                                               and how I need this pure white canvas

 

                                                        
                                                                    its unwritten...

                                                             Wholesome.....Healing
 

Suprise...

                                                                   I'm not gone yet....

Witty and Wise...

 

 

-click for to listen to an Owl's wise words...

Witty and wise..That's what they are...the owls on the Hilltop..we have quite a few these days..

 And we feel very safe having them around...at night when they hear something out of the ordinary they warn us by screeching from up their post in the  treetops.....isn't that a hoot..

























There can never be to many Owls..

                                                              
                                                                         **********

On the Moors..

Its still very cold on the moors...surrounding the Hilltop..

Click for a little music..
 

 

Little lambs ARE born.....! But they have to wait to go out and play in the sun....just like me.......

February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March."
 

  










So....Stay warm and stay happy.....


                                         ********************************

Snow crazy...

 

Yeeeeeee..snow and ice party at the Hilltop..........

 

Come and join the fun...

 In Holland we now go skating crazy...

You will need a jacket...

 

You will need a jacket when you go out...said the cricket to the ant....there's a cold wind blowing from the north.....and tonight the first frost will tip toe silently into the garden...get your winter woolies....!!

 

For now..the wind is only whispering...........we wait...........

 

Art-Quintin Blake.

 

All things are glad..

Spring flew swiftly by, and summer came; and if the village had been beautiful at first, it was now in the full glow and luxuriance of its richness. The great trees, which had looked shrunken and bare in the earlier months, had now burst into strong life and health; and stretching forth their green arms over the thirsty ground, converted open and naked spots into choice nooks, where was a deep and pleasant shade from which to look upon the wide prospect, steeped in sunshine, which lay stretched out beyond. The earth had donned her mantle of brightest green; and shed her richest perfumes abroad. It was the prime and vigour of the year; all things were glad and flourishing.

~Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

This lovely litle shy creature came to say...ITS SUMMER...:)

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A Winter's Tale...

It won't be long now before a new winter's tale will be told to us..I hope there will be snow on the Hilltop...soon..?

IIIIts Monday..

So sorry for the delay....I had some trouble landing....but I'm here...




I was traveling this monday morning returning home..trafic was terrible..I took a train..Sitting there ..looking out of the window..I saw the most beautiful deer walking through a wintry landscape..in the early morning mist......Not a bad way to start my Monday..




Again the sun rises on this last Monday in November...wishing you a day filled with moments to remember..

The translation of fog...

Our garden today loooks like something out of a fairytale...Fog and Frost made magic together...

Poetry is what gets lost in translation. ~Robert Frost

...Like the first Autumn...

Its not my first Autumn on this planet....but it is the one I'm living today..now ..at this very minute...Who knows what I will find playing with leaves..



picking berries...gathering jewels...



On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads,as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels . . .”

- Charles Dickens

I'm following an Autumn trail...Its always magical..like the first Autumn ever...



Come follow me....



Art-Picking Berries- Winslow Homer
-Autumn..a Wood Path -Sanford Robinson Gifford.

Born in 1647..

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

Today I visited THIS PLACE...very very old monumental trees...amazing..imagine living for more then 400 years...



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Art_Van Gogh_Trees.

September Grass..

"Well, the sun’s not so hot in the sky today
And you know I can see summertime slipping on away
A few more geese are gone, a few more leaves turning red
But the grass is as soft as a feather in a featherbed
So I’ll be king and you’ll be queen
Our kingdom’s gonna be this little patch of green
Won’t you lie down here right now
In this September grass
Won’t you lie down with me now
September grass."
- James Taylor


The most magical season of the year is about to begin....take a little stroll with me...and lets step into...Autumn..


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August Midnight..

A shaded lamp and a waving blind,
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor:
On this scene enter--winged, horned, and spined -
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore;
While 'mid my page there idly stands
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands . . .

Thus meet we five, in this still place,
At this point of time, at this point in space.
- My guests parade my new-penned ink,
Or bang at the lamp-glass, whirl, and sink.
"God's humblest, they!" I muse. Yet why?
They know Earth-secrets that know not I.

An August Midnight by Thomas Hardy

Entering my birds-nest....pale moonlight trough my window..shadows of Hilltop trees bending..waving in the dark..a distant call of an owl..I'm home..I pick up my pen ..there are stories waiting to be told..drawings to be drawn..



The Dutchess continuous...


Art-1-William Henry Hunt-2-Penelope P. Neal.

Firefly

I never could have thought of it,
To have a little bug all lit
And made to go on wings.

~Elizabeth Madox Roberts,

In Holland you don't get to see fireflies very often..so when I meet one..I'm always very happy..