Another week in the books. Trying to keep the photo offerings interesting. Also don't want to be too repetitive. 

Two dogs who think their job is to keep the squirrels at bay and away from the bird feeders on the deck. Wish there was a way to discourage the squirrels from coming on the deck, but think that is a lost cause! 

Making bee fondant. Yes, we keep honey bees and in the winter we feed them with a solid sugar cake that is called bee fondant, not to be confused with culinary fondant. Once this sugar/water mixture is cooled we put it in the top of each hive. At current time we have three hives.

Our front room has a southern exposure, the only room (except our closet) with windows facing south. My houseplants winter in this room. With the low angle of the sun and our trees, even this window doesn't provide enough sunlight for the plants. Was able to find a plant light that has a timer so I can give the plants a good amount of light.

A very cloudy day. This is a view of our driveway. I play with the dogs every day, tossing a ring or a disc up and down the driveway. They love it. As I write I have a white fluffy dog bothering me to go out again. 

Day 21- Mature Bald Eagle, sitting in a pine tree, overlooking the lake. In the winter the lake level is drawn down and we have lots of Bald Eagles taking advantage of fishing opportunities. Always a treat to see our nation's bird.

Day 22- As I mentioned above, we have had some very cold temperatures lately. Ice has been forming on the top of the lake. We also got some snow that sat on top of the ice. It made for some interesting photos. 

Day 23- Lots of cut crystal in our curved glass curio cabinet. Many of these pieces were either my mom's or my husband's mom. The curio cabinet was also from my mother in law, a perfect place to showcase our treasures.

Day 24- As the planets are on the minds of those who like to stargaze, I find myself outside quite often, either getting photos of the moon or on very rare occasions, an Aurora Borealis! Our night sky out the back includes the lights on the other side of the lake.

Day 25-  Our dogs get their food delivered by Chewy and our kitty, Millie, thinks the box is hers. She loves hiding in the box. No one can see her, right?

Day 26- Long time readers may remember my mermaid table. You can read more about her here, or here or here. I named her Gilmore, after the siren Lorelei, then to Lorelei Gilmore from the TV show, ending up with Gilmore. She still is in our living room. Now that we have grandkids we are extra vigilant that they don't sit or lie on the glass. We did get a lot of fingerprints over Christmas. 

Day 14-  Really cold day. Plants that have hollow stems often will hold water, be it from rain or snow, in the hollow pith. When temperature go below freezing, the ice has nowhere to expand but through the stem, breaking the outer layers and curling as it expands. This is a spent Goldenrod stem.

Day 15- I received an Amaryllis bulb for Christmas and it has been blooming for a few weeks. As the blooms fade and dry, they become a bit translucent. The lamp behind really illuminated the beautiful veining of the bloom.

Day 16- Great Blue Heron, perched on the roof of our deck. This was taken with my Canon Powershot SX 70 HS camera. I was outside, on our deck, which is about 200 feet away from the dock. 

Day 17- Bouncing along the regularly traveled road at night, tried to get a blur of headlights as we drove. The bumpy road gave me a different look.

Day 18-  Inside our front closet, a box of rings and Frisbees and other puppy dog toys. You open this door and you will have two dogs trying to get to the toys!

Day 19- Book open to a folk tale "The Elves and the Shoemaker" to read to my grandkids. The book is from a 20 volume set called "The Book of Knowledge". This collection has everything from songs to folk tales to geography to science (albeit a bit outdated now!) to politics and crafts. The copyright edition of this set 1953, published by the Grolier Society, calling this a Children's Encyclopedia.