Christmas is behind us. The festivities have long ago faded into the snowy winter landscape; it’s only reminder – a slight bulging around the belly area and the bare, ten foot, Christmas tree still in its bucket on the deck, left as a haven for the finches who feed regularly from feeders hanging from its branches.
This Red-Breasted Nuthatch is a regular, and wasn’t the least bit bothered by the tree lights, but it was rather camera-shy and preferred to be photographed through a closed window, making for rather poor definition when the image is enlarged.
The snow keeps on coming. Local folks tell us they’ve ‘…never known it so mild…’, even though the mercury has hit minus fifteen Fahrenheit on the odd occasion. This last week has seen a definite thaw. The icicles have been dripping continuously, but there’s still a few feet of snow in areas around the house.
It’s time to press on with the work at the house. We’d hoped to finish the renovation of the old dining room before Christmas, but other matters took precedence and I’ve still not begun installing the new wainscot. Hopefully, it’ll be completed in the next couple of weeks.
At least, the wood stove surround was finished in time for the festive season…
…and I managed to paint the ceiling and fit its new Crown molding. As the room is to become a place for music and reading, we moved in Trish’s piano and two fireside chairs, to make Christmas a jolly time indeed, despite having no drapes, or covering on the walls.
Tomorrow it’ll all be moved out again and the dustsheets will take over once more.
