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Showing posts from February, 2023

Snowy Speculations

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If I could paint, I would have tried to replicate the landscape very early this morning. Illuminated by the faintest hints of light and hours before sunrise, the cold, stark landscape lay completely still in its snowy blanket. Naked trees stood proudly and quietly against this backdrop, this palate of pure white an unforgiving place for any creature, big or small, to attempt to cross without drawing attention to its existence at this time. Even our ancient tire swing looked sleepy and droopy, suspended precariously close to the ground, as if the effort of hanging from a tree limb was too much for it. To the east, the only rays of light visible were the ones coming from the across the river, and even those seem hushed and muffled, like a child tired and murmuring not to wake them up just yet.  The young families down the road have gone all out with Christmas lights this year. Bright colours adorn the night skies and my neighbours even have a Christmas Cat and a Christmas Dinosaur that i

Coyote Chorus

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Coyote Chorus (Remembering Susie-the Howler ) I felt like one the people in Twas the Night Before Christmas last night when I was "nestled all snug" in my bed. There were no visions of sugar plums dancing in my head though! And literally, not a creature was stirring that late at night. Well, that is, except for the coyotes. It's mating season and these creatures have been making quite a stir at dusk, dawn and all through the night.  I hear their yipping in the vineyards all around us and see their footprints in the freshly fallen snow, evidence that our side yard is a footpath from the fields to the forest behind us. Each morning when I let the dogs out, they eagerly examine every bush and tree, almost incensed that another animal had the audacity to enter their territory. Gus, the male of our two dogs, marks every spot with intensity, reminding the coyotes that this is his yard. I feel sorry for the little pine in the far corner that has taken quite a bit of marking an