These are the “not water and ice” pictures from my Christmas day walk. The images I didn’t know I would find. Winter can seem like such a dead season. The stream goes quiet. No flowers, no leaves. Only the evergreens to give their pop of green.
But then, there are all those little things that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. A flower skeleton.
Milkweed.
I spent a while there. I remember taking the seeds and their silky threads out when I was a child. They’re so soft and they just blow away… I left them well alone this time but I wanted to touch them so badly! I took pictures instead.
And white birch tree bark. They were one of my favorite trees growing up. I loved that papery bark. Again, I used to peel it off and save it but I’ve learned to leave the poor trees alone. (My other favorites were all evergreens and sugar maple trees.)
I don’t know the name of these prickly balls but I remember how they would stick to me. They still stick to me. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of them when you’re wearing wool mitts?
And finally, as promised, the deer! I heard a noise as I was walking and thought it was just a branch. I kept walking and suddenly saw it. I took some pictures really fast even though it was quite far. It hardly moved. I walked slowly to get a better angle and it dashed. I was going to say it dashed away but it didn’t. It ran on a diagonal so that it was still the same distance from me. And there was another deer there. I repositioned myself and it actually got closer. I got some more pictures and started talking to it. Honestly, it looked a tiny bit menacing! Like it was ready to charge me. So I backed away slowly.
I wonder if I could have gotten closer though. Maybe if I’d brought carrots with me…
Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?
Deux souriceaux 
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