The First Snow

Some of my blog readers may remember the backyard photos I posted this summer, the pretty and colorful flower garden hugging the cute little pond with its resident snails and water plants. Well, take a good look at the photo above, for this is what our backyard will look like for the next 4 1/2 or possibly 5 months!

We woke up to a snowstorm this morning, and I see that the bird feeder needs to be brushed off and filled with seed. It's always fun to watch our dogs, Bridger and Misty when they go out into the first snow. They step cautiously out into the snow, and seem a little startled that their outdoor world changed so much overnight!

 View SE from our deck

And this is where our trusty little wood-burning Quadrafire stove comes in. It was probably about 13 years ago that we saw the stove while we were visiting Lehman's Hardware  (a fascinating, Amish-serving hardware store) in Kidron, Ohio and ordered it to be delivered. It's been an amazing stove, heating our entire house adequately (I say 'adequately' because my brother once asked me if we keep meat. Very funny. You get used to wearing a sweater or one of several polar fleece garments when you live in NW Wisconsin wintertime.)

I see by the photo above that Bridger hasn't been doing his chores and emptying the ash bucket!

And, as always on the First Snow, I have dragged out my favorite Christmas music CDs. My top five favorites are:

1. Christmas With the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Field
2. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols which I play even though I listen to the live performance each Christmas Eve Day at 9 AM on our classical music station.
3. Christmas Day in the Morning - the Cambridge Singers
4. Celtic Christmas
5. Best-Loved Christmas Carols - Choir of King's College Cambridge

I would have taken a photo of my 'top six' but my J.S. Bach Christmas Oratorio seems to be missing! Anyone out there happen to know where it is?? Then, of course, there's Christmastide - Jessye Norman, one of the few solo vocalists I love.

And now I need to tidy up around here so that I can turn on that gorgeous music! I can't listen to music like that in a messy house. It seems disrespectful or something. It's like a clash of order and chaos.

Hope you all have a great weekend! :-)