Nature With Frosting-Part 2

What a treat to enjoy nature and what a privilege to see it all dressed up in winter frost.

 A tangle of branches and leaves looks lacy.

 An old fence with some web... all looks different with a coat of icy moisture.

 Grasses edged in white....

Leaves of all kinds....  with their extra beauty.
 

An old spiderweb... with the frost showing some of the amazing design.

 Our back garden at home with a dried up echinacea seed head...

 Simple oak leaves...

A dried up flower..  glorious in its frosted state.  Beauty of a different sort. God's creation keeps showing its variety. Such beauty is so easy to overlook.  It was also surprising to see the muted colors as at first glance, most things just looked brown... and boring. There was actually much color and I am so thankful God allowed me to enjoy these special fleeting times of beauty as the frost only lasted a few hours.

Thank you for visiting today. I hope you are able to enjoy the beauty around you today.

If you would like to see more of the frost pictures from part 1, click on the link:

Nature Dressed in Frost- Part 1


"Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;" Psalm 108:5

#frost #nature #ice


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Nature-Dressed In Frost - Part 1

We were visiting in the Ozarks, and woke up one morning to fog.... and a frost.

It was beautiful.

I grabbed my camera and went searching the woods and surrounding area. What treasures I found. 







I loved the looks of the cemetery with the fog and frost.

The frost tinged everything, highlighting simple things that may normally be unnoticed.












The scene below looks almost like homey painting, but it is a photograph.

 A simple evergreen, looked festive with its temporary decoration.

The crystals that formed on the moss were amazing.













The plain oak leaf below suddenly looks noteworthy.

Such simple "weeds" change with their new apparel.












Even an old wheelbarrow out in the weeds and brush, becomes an interesting focal point.

 This was quite small, but caught my eye...


Again and again, God amazes me with His wonderful style.  Even just adding some frost changes things so that I notice what was there all along, but what I didn't really "see".

I suspect we do that with much of life. How easy it is to walk right by the beauty around us.  I love it when God highlights it so that I cannot miss it.  :)


The tree tops had their covering of frost also...  the sun's rays highlighting them was lovely, but it lasted only a very few minutes as it melted that frost off.

How glorious it looked before it left, though.

Thank you for visiting. I hope you are enjoying the beauty God has put around us... and also the blessings He gives each day.

I have more pictures of the fog and frost and plan to share them in my next post. I hope you have a wonderful week and that you will visit again. 

To see part 2 of the the frost pictures, click on the link:

Nature With Frosting-Part 1


"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."
 Psalm 19:1





#frost  #fog  #nature  #photography  #scenery



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Juvenile Cooper Hawk

       Taking pictures of a hawk took some time and effort, but it was worth it.

 This hawk was in a redbud tree near us... it had been on the fence first, but I wasn't able to get any photos while it was there. When it flew to the redbud tree, I went outside and started to click the camera. Obviously, he was quite hard to see and the pictures were not very satisfying.

So, I moved closer... and came up a bit behind him. To do this, I had to go across the road and move slowly around him.  I was surprised that he stayed there. I figured it must be a young hawk. 












It seems to be a Cooper's Hawk.  What a privilege to see one so close like this. 


I was able to get pictures of a young hawk another time and you can see those here:
Young Hawk Pictures

I think this hawk may be younger than the one in my other post. The reason I say this is that I found out that a juvenile Cooper's Hawk has yellow eyes and the adult has red eyes. The hawk in this post has very yellow eyes, while the one in the other one has darker yellow eyes, which makes me think the color must be changing. However, this is just a guess as I am no expert on hawks!   :)  

It was amazing to see so much detail of this beautiful bird. We found out that neighbors down the street see a hawk often and though they love the beauty of the bird, they hate the mess they leave behind after a meal. I agree that we would really rather not have that.











As I was clicking away on my camera, I noticed a large hawk circling way up in the sky. It was beautiful, but I couldn't get pictures. I also realized it was possibly the mother hawk and I hurried up with the photo shoot, so she wouldn't get alarmed and dive at us.



Thankfully, the circling hawk didn't attack and the young hawk stayed for the photo shoot, then flew off. Every few days, we see a hawk fly through the area, but we haven't been able to get more pictures. We'll keep trying, though as we do enjoy watching these beautiful birds.  :) 

 Thank you for visiting. I hope you have a wonderful week. 

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Baby Birds and Baby Humans

It's almost time to see baby birds again. Every year we watch for them and enjoy the glimpses of the little birds that we sometimes find hidden close to us in unexpected places. The birds are very clever in concealing a nest for their young.

Those little birds do what little birds have done before-they cry out for food, they grow, they learn to fly, they leave the nest, and so on. 

It happens every year, so what is the big deal?









The eggs vary in color, size and pattern. The nests vary in their construction and where they are placed.

 This one was in a burning bush right beside our deck...we had walked by it many times before we even realized it was there. What fun to watch the process from such a great vantage point.

How nice to see the faithful  guarding this robin does for the young...we watched the alertness and the ongoing return to feed those little birds. Eventually they grew and went on their way, to do what God had created them to do...  

This poor young bird on the right, isn't the cutest baby bird I've ever seen. In fact, he? isn't very appealing at all... and yet it was still fun to see a young bird in a needy and clumsy state, knowing that God created this process.

 This little guy was on one of my pots on the deck.... he or she, hopped and jumped around the yard, but then stayed perched here for quite a while... even with us close by. Unusual to be that close, but it was fun for an impromptu home school lesson. :) 


Again I ask, What's the big deal? This happens every year... and they are only birds. That's true, yet the wonderful view of new life and of the orderly creation God has made are such a blessing and we will enjoy it again and again. Some of those birds will be cute and grow to be birds many will admire and enjoy having in their yards. Some will be rather ugly and will grow to be more of a pest in the yard and become something we don't want and are pleased when they move on to a park or somewhere else, where they do what they were created to do. I still find myself amazed at God's creative hand that has made birds and given them the knowledge of when to nest, when to migrate, when to shelter little ones, when to stand guard, when to teach independence.

What about human babies? I am greatly saddened that human babies are thought of by many, as a nuisance... an interference in a life, a piece of tissue to be removed. I am saddened that many see more value in a baby bird than in a baby human. How precious to see a human mother shielding, guarding and protecting her little one as she cares for the needs of that little one. How sad to see a human mother go to take that little one to be removed from being a bother to her, when she should be protecting and shielding that little one, even while the baby is still in the womb. How sad to see the carnage left behind of little ones not loved or protected.

If God gave the birds the ability to take care of their little ones, surely He also gives the ability to human mothers to care for their little ones and not sacrifice them to further their own "happiness".  
 Searching For Happiness

How sad to see the guilt and pain in the hearts of those mothers who believed the lies and sacrificed their child... not because some person says it was wrong, but because deep in their hearts, they know they have lost something precious.

If you have neglected to protect your child, if you have killed your children through abortion, God does forgive and there are those who can help you through the grieving process. If you are considering killing your child, please remember that the precious life you carry needs to be protected, cared for and loved. If you are unable to raise your child, please don't kill him or her... there are places who will help you explore the options that don't lead to murder. 


God can and does give us the strength and courage to defend and protect our children. What a blessing to see a mother faithfully and carefully guarding her little one. That protection begins before the baby is born and a mother is a mother before the baby is born. I hope we will each be the mother God created us to be and that we will protect the young ones who are unable to protect themselves. Thank you for visiting my blog today. 




#birds #mother #abortion #babies #nesting



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