Nature Literature discussion

It can be difficult to have 1 1/2 snow all at once, but I envy you. No snow in NC and it will be 68 degrees this Christmas!

One son will be here and he insists on deviled eggs and sweet potato casserole. The rest doesn’t matter. Oh, yes—Moravian sugar cookies.

ooh-- warm -- Pam-that sounds amazing. What makes those sugar cookies Moravian.... I love sweet potato casserole- we had it in West Virginia where my family comes from, but my husband's family came from Missouri, and they never made it, so it is not on his wish list.. Enjoy your holiday- and thank you for checking in.

Moravian’s were the founders of Salem in the Carolinas in 1766. They came south from Bethlehem PA and Moravia before that seeking religious freedom. The cookie recipe came with them. They are crisp and rolled very, very thin and just like potato chips, you can’t eat just one.

All our snow is gone. Will be 40*+ F by Christmas Eve. We’re in a weather pattern that has rollercoastering temperatures, but is generally warmer, drier, and windier than usual.

Our Christmas has been postponed until New Year’s weekend. All our younger generation is/has been traveling in different parts of America with different people this past week. We want to wait a week…

I had a minor surgery today on a hand so my husband is cooking and washing up. We’ll have something tasty but simple!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I spoke to my brother today who lives in Harrisonburg , Virginia, and he said it was a balmy 65 degrees there-- not Christmas weather. Sort of like your experience Julie.

We have a white Christmas here in Oregon, but it is old snow white. Preparing for very cold temperatures for a week beginning Monday. I think we are ready-- I have fortified the old goat's stall, and we have water trickling here and there across the farm to help prevent freezing pipes. Have various deep litter methods going.

Of nature note - is that I noticed a starling and two songbirds that are sleeping in the goat and donkey stall. This is a safe strategy to avoid drafts and extreme cold, but these birds must enter one of two barn owl holes at the top of the barn (30 feet), and then find their way down through openings in the hay stack to the stalls, which is the lowest level of the barn. The starling was probably born here --we have had one family nest each year in the barn rafters. Interesting, because I think of starlings as birds that flock and roost in flocks.

And, oh my gosh-- dinner was fabulous last night. Prime Rib...

I hope everyone is well and looking forward to a new year filled with reading, and ....

Hello Everyone:

We'll have a new thread for our daily chat for 2022 -- check it out here.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

A 31Dec2021 Surprise

Don’t we all need a pleasant surprise? I was given one that I’d like to share with anyone who derives pleasure from the landscape.

Watching the sky in mountainous landscapes in my neighborhood, I am always struggling with clouds or fog. At what point does fog become a cloud? And do clouds ever become fog?

How can I even ask these questions?

Because in steep mountainous terrain along a river valley whose source, not far away, is in the above tree line, high mountain pass glaciers, I regularly see the life cycle of clouds--the speed of cloud formation and dissolution.

And that for me is excitement.

Why? Because the speed of cloud is slower than human patience of vision.

How often can we look at a cloud long enough to see its swirling edges grow or decline--and then until the cloud disappears or generates from nothing to a huge presence.

Today, 31Dec2021, I had an unexpected present handed to me by the local mountain landscape.

I saw for the very first time--what I could for certainty define--ground fog. It began last night at sunset. Then in the middle of the night it grew while I slept. By morning, we were enveloped in it. It wasn't deep but it was thick.

In the clear sky sunshine, I took a walk to explore how the ground fog moved (more of a slow-motion slither, an exhale, a flow) around the valley floor.

There is something special about seeing in real life, real time, the life cycle of clouds and in this case ground fog.

I go through the whole gaia thing and the science of temp/moisture/wind. But in the end, I am convinced there is some thing alive in this life cycle. Are the mountains breathing in and out? I don’t know. My weak speculation is ignorant at best. But I feel what I feel. All I can do is write about what goes on in the landscape. It is all around each and every one of us. And it is mysterious…arcane.

Edward- what a thoughtful and beautiful meditation on fog and clouds. And interesting reflections on time and clouds. Thanks for sharing -- I really enjoyed reading and thinking about your landscape.

Thank you

Edward wrote: "Thank you"

Edward- please follow us over to the 2022 thread--thank you!