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Beautiful, snowy New England

Well, it sure does look pretty in New England this January. We have had plenty of snow. Everything is well insulated. I love the snow and I’m glad it’s protecting all my perennial and shrub plantings from the fall.

I’ve been laid up for the last 5 days or so with the flu – haven’t had it in about 4 years and it came with a vengeance. I have been entertaining myself with cartoons on tv, looking at seed catalogs, and watching the amazing number of robins that have flocked to the bittersweet vines hanging from the tree tops.

Another sight I came across outside wasn’t quite as pleasant. Just after the new year, I’m gazing out my window when I saw a squirrel looking as if it was about to leap from a bird house my husband had built. This birdhouse is cool – it looks like a little house with a railing going all around it. It had been placed at the top of a 20 foot "stump" the town had left behind when doing some clearing. More squirrels then birds have lived in it. Anyway, I’m watching and waiting for this squirrel to jump. It’s hanging over the railing. I take a closer look and notice there’s about an inch of snow on it’s head – the squirrel is frozen solid. I gathered my kids and husband to see this sad and bizarre sight. My kids told me I’d better be careful in the spring – it’s bound to thaw and probably hit me in the back of the head while I’m in the garden. My husband’s with a broken back, so he’s not climbing any ladders and the rest of us just can’t stomach the thought of getting too close so, we have this picture outside our living room window that seems better suited in a Chevy Chase "Vacation" movie then in our front yard. It’s very weird. I wonder what the other squirrels think?!

Well, I’m glad I have many windows to gaze out of.

1/16/01