Sweet day

 

Hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day!

I was happy to get balloons and flowers, so I took them outside to make pictures

Not very cold out.....didn't even need coats.

we received a lovely surprise valentine greeting in the mail

there were pretty spring pot  holders and dishtowel and hand cream and cologne and pictures and teabags too.

and Amybelle and Tracie and Tansy got valentines of their own! And Candy and  tiny stuffed animals

from their best friend/cousin Lily Grace, down in Florida!

Mr Front Porch grilled us salmon for supper, and I made baked "taters" and the chocolate rolls dessert.

Today our walk was rainy.

It was nice though......we didn't need coats, I threw a big old sweater on

Our onions are doing great!

Here I am with my Valentines present! can you tell I love her? LOL

I think she is ADORABLE!!

This is our inside kitty, Meezie

Callie had to come meet her! Satisfied that it wasn't going to attack her, she left it alone.

I also got this pretty little plate

and these dainty little reindeer! I love their golden antlers and their gold hooves!

I got this pretty ring too, it didn't photograph well, but it's a heart shape. It's tiny, it's my first pinky ring. Never worn one before.

I hope your day was happy and that your weather is showing signs of Spring! I sure am ready for it here!

And for Daylight savings time to return!

Country Snow

 Merry February, Y'all!

Flipped the page on our John Sloane calendar to this wintry scene

John Sloane

And here's tonight's big bright full Snow Moon:

We hardly ever see snow here, so when it started falling Saturday, we bundled up and headed to the trails to enjoy it!

There goes Barn Kitty Callie, leading the way, as always.

I was loving the pretty snow dusted scenes:

My camera really didn't capture them, but the clusters of individual snowflakes were so beautiful

(above), we planted our onions this weekend and they got snowed on. They'll be okay

The fairies were safely inside their little houses, keeping WARM.

I had so many layers on, LOL, so I stayed warm. I was so excited to see pretty snow I wasn't paying attention to the cold anyway. 

I told Mr. Front Porch later on, I was SO THANKFUL for all my new "long johns" I'd bought a couple of weeks ago. That's what we called them all my life, long johns. When I went shopping for new ones, there is nothing like that listed anywhere, ha ha LOL. It's now called "warm wear", or "thermal wear".  I know my grandparents called them long johns as well, I also heard them say "long handles", I think. 

just a skiff of snow, so far

Callie says "everything's turning white!"

At this point, we really didn't know how bad the storm would be, (they were forecasting a "bomb cyclone with hurricane force winds"!!) or if we might lose power, so we spent the day preparing, just in case. Charging everything, gathering lamps/lanterns, batteries, water, Mr. Front Porch had made an early morning market run and got our icebox stocked up, we gathered all the eggs, moved firewood, I washed all our clothes and extra blankets just in case we needed them, filled the bird feeders, got the mail before it got slick, made lots of back-up coffee and put into thermoses,  took care of the chickens/guinea and all the other necessary things.

We went out again later and the snow was coming down hard! furiously swirling about

Snowflakes on Callie

snow angels

It was so beautiful

Our Camellia bush finally bloomed, I've been waiting for weeks. They are frosted with snow and so pretty! We plan to add two more this Spring, now that we have figured out where they will grow. We lost both Azalea bushes we planted 2 springs ago, we may try them again, in a different location.

Our ladies were all fluffed up and running around in the swirling snow, and then they discovered they could EAT IT, so they did, and they sure enjoyed it!

Even with these cold temperatures, we know spring will come. Our fig tree has buds

and there's lots of greenery in spots:

This little guy has been visiting us each evening. 

He's very feral and looks rough. I feel bad for him out in the cold, but I think he sleeps in the barn. We made him a covered shelter in case he needs it and yes, I FEED HIM. I'm not going to let any animals go hungry around here, especially in this cold.

When it gets down to the 30s, we bring Callie in at night, she loves it.

Good to come inside and I have some new magazines to read on these cold nights:

We didn't lose power and are so thankful for that. I hope you didn't either, if you were in this storm. The wind blew and rattled the house all night but nothing too scary. LOL.  Church was canceled and we had a quiet day at home. I made a roast with taters/onions/carrots in the crock pot---my favorite Sunday supper.

 I hope everybody is safe and warm and healthy.