New Orleans welcomes the Super Bowl

 

 

 

 

 

 

Super Bowl and Mardi Gras at the same time. It's going to be a great party!

Lots of good food, music, parades, a championship football game,  and folks from all over the world!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Let the good times roll!

the bee tree

A hollow water oak----

 I paused to see if they were stirring. O, yes! they whispered when they buzzed pass my ear.

a curly tailed visitor (bobcat--felix rufus)

bounding across the pasture, stopped briefly to measure the ducks on the pond, out of reach..., he turned to stalk the woods, time for only one quick photo

ahh---a day filled with sunlight--

knocking on the door

Let me in! A couple of loud thumps on the door, so I opened the curtain, and there in the icy wind and rain was brother possum.
His pink feet are so neat--

a soggy landscape

ponds are overflowing

roadside ditches have disappeared and rivers are out of their banks

gardens are saturated and the flowers are battered

It's a soggy, dreary, cold picture, but mayhaws are bursting into bloom--spring and warmer temperatures can't be far away.

finches

A raspberry colored purple finch joined the goldfinches at the feeder for a few moments. The goldfinches are regular winter residents, but the purple finches are uncommon.

I think I need a new feeder--it's looking a bit shabby. However, the birds don't seem to mind.

more on the way--the rain gauge for one day!

Red sky at night

A surprisingly colorful sunset. As I ran out to catch the brief flash of color I was startled by the sound of splashing water and flapping of wings as the wood ducks that had settled on the pond for the night took off in surprise.

the poinsettia that didn't post

 

a little color in a bleak time of year

After the dinners are cooked, the presents unwrapped, and the house is still again, it's time to appreciate the poinsettia. It has been a long streak of cold, windy, overcast days. When the sun came through the dining room window for a few moments the poinsettia lit up from within and filled the bleak winter world with luminous color.

out my back door

An otter!

While drinking our morning coffee and watching our back pasture through the windows, we saw a sleek, small animal slithering across the field. It was so alien to what we expected to see that it took a moment to register--an otter!

We only have small ponds on our place, and no moving water. The nearest creek is about a mile to the south of us, but this fellow came from the north. He sniffed around the pond and bounded off to the wooded south and hopefully the creek.
I know this is not a very good photo--but it is the best I could manage in my excitement--somehow the camera refused to focus.

Happy New Year!

Black-eyed peas, rice, some kind of pork, and cabbage are the local tradition for New Year's Day dinner.
The pork is roasting, the peas and rice are ready--and the cabbage, "money", is on the way.

I wish everyone good health and prosperity!