Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

by Robert Frost

We took our walk in late afternoon, on shank’s mare, as one of Frost’s farmers might have said. Most of these woods down the road from our hosue belong to a family who no longer live near, and rarely visit, but we have permission to admire and enjoy.

The snow is deep, so we stayed on the dirt road that has been beautifully plowed by our devoted town road crew.

The woods are lovely and deep, but the days are  getting longer, the cold is less bitter and the wind is quiet. For the moment. Time to turn home.

The cats, Frank and Holly, left us to our adventure, waiting for us to join them again next to the woodstove.

Thank you Carolyn gail for inviting us to share visits from the muses.

There is nothing more to be said.

February 23 4:30-ish

February 24 7 a.m.

For more Wordlessness, logon to Wordless Wednesday.

photo courtesy of Heirloom Roses

I’ve ordered Therese Bugnet again.  She is a rugosa that Heirloom Roses lists with their Damask roses because of it double form. It is not only very hardy, it is very fragrant.  Unfortunately, the first time I ordered it, the rose that was delivered looked nothing like this.  I confess I didn’t notice at first. I forgot what the catalog photo looked like, but I have learned over the years that mis-labelling does happen, even in neighborhood garden centers.

I’ve had other mis-labelled roses arrive at the End of the Road. Early on I got a beautiful rose but it was not the Fantin Latour I had ordered – and that time I did notice.  However, I loved the rose, a buttery yellow, apricot and pink. The real frustration came when the rose died and I had no idea how to replace it with the same rose. Fortunately, I later saw an Abraham Darby rose that was very similar. I bought it. Twice.  Alas twice it has proved too tender for my climate.

I’ve sent in all my rose orders. Now I wait because it is still winter. This past weekend my daughter Diane arrived with her son Ryan for  the day. The Major (my husband) rooted through the attic and came down with ice skates. I got the heavy socks, and Diane got the shovel. It was off to the Frog Pond.

The Frog Pond In Winter

The Frog Pond was improved by the previous owners of our property and it has been designated as a Fire Pond. In fact, in 1990 when lightning struck our old barn and burned it to the ground, the Frog Pond is probably the reason our house is still standing. It is a great pond for swimming in the summer, and catching newts. So far the carnivorous  sundews that grow at the edge of  the pond haven’t bitten anyone.

Ryan

Ryan is 12 and has never been on ice skates. The skates didn’t quite fit, but he has pretty good form his first time out. He can yawn like Apollo Ohno, Olympic champion, too.

I know my family is getting tired of it, but the sastrugi formations are really extraordinary this year. I’ll try to be restrained, but I cannot absolutely promise that this is the final sastrugi photo.

Sastrugi 2-21

Sastrugi 1-4-10

Sastrugi is the name for the ripples, waves and caves that the wind forms of snow. Our Sunken Garden is the foundation of an old barn that was struck by lightning in 1990 and burned down. The wind comes sweeping across the open fields all winter dumping snow into the Sunken Garden, caught on the edge by a row of white rugosa roses which help to sculpt the snow into ever changing works of art.

Sastrugi 2-1-10

The snowy shapes change and so does the light, shifting, highlighting, dimming, all day long.

Sastrugi 2-20-10

It doesn’t even take a lot of snow to alter the sastrugi. The fields are wide, the wind is strong, and nature insists on being an artist.

Today at 7 a.m.

Why is it that dawn skies are always so beautiful.

Who sees the wind?

I was nearly blown off the Welcoming Platform while taking these photos.

For more skies click on Skywatch Friday.

Highbush cranberry berries

There is very little color out in the snowy garden. These last scarlet berries on the highbush cranberry (a native plant)  are a dramatic exclamation.

Seedcase of the tree peony

I guess I didn’t do all the necessary dead heading last summer. This seedcase was left on a tree peony, a remnant of the last season.  But look . . .

Tree peony buds

could these be buds on that same tree peony? A promise of the new season?

Lilac buds

The lilac buds are beginning to swell and shade to green.

Rhodendron buds

The buds on the Boule de Neige rhododendron leave no doubt that spring is coming.  Only 29 more days to go.

This is a perfect Wordless Wednesday for me. Check out other Wordless wonders.

Words are not necessary on Wordless Wednesday. In fact you can now be wordless every day. Check and see.

The Christmas cactus is going by, but it has put on a good show.

And of course, there is the ever faithful abutilon, flowering maple or parlor maple. Take your pick.

What I really celebrate at this time of the year is the continuation of life, even when it is invisible.  Last winter I left my big jade tree out in The Great Room where it has lived for several winters. (It goes outdoors on the piazza with all the other ‘houseplants’ during fine weather.) Unfortunately, we had not paid realized, that with some new insulating we did between the Great Room and the main part of the house, the Great Room did entertain freezing temperatures during the night. When we finally paid attention I declared that the jade tree was deadern’ a biscuit. Henry said, not so!

And he was right.  We cut it back to bare stumps, and look what happened. New growth everywhere. Life will not be denied!  And so we celebrate on this gray, cold Bloom Day. To see who has more color visit our host, Carol over at May Dreams Gardens. It is also Blooming Friday, so for a double hit of blooms visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff.