Snowy day in New Hampshire!

 Yes, it's a snowy morning here.  We had some heavy wet snow overnight.  Not a lot of snow in inches, but because it is heavy it has coated every branch of every tree.  I'm going to just share a few photos and captions.

Above is a corner of our balcony.  Bent-over trees like this can be a common phenomenon, especially for birch trees (Have you ever read Robert Frost's poem Birches? If not, you will want to look it up.) but in this case the tree is a maple.  When my hubby opened the balcony door to take this photo, the storm door immediately fogged up.  Hence the foggy look of this particular picture.

Our bird feeder is out in the middle of this clothesline to keep squirrels away.

Our snowy back woods.

Just a close-up of some snowy branches.

Snow-topped sap buckets.

And more of the same.  Just a pretty sight.

Tire swing half buried in snow.

Snowy trees in our front yard.

These are at the edge of our lawn.

Another sap bucket.  Those are beech leaves which tend not to drop in the fall.

Tall snowy treetops.

Our driveway and my hubby's old red plow truck.  

Hope it's a pleasant day where you are.  If you are not in New Hampshire, you can enjoy our snow from a distance!

Brrr!

 

 The above is on my computer desktop today.  It's a freebie from Gooseberry Patch and is one of my favorites of their winter graphics.  Truth to tell, it's been on my desktop since January, but it has never felt more appropriate this particular winter than it does today.  Our weather has been fairly mild until recently.

We had a nice snowfall over Wednesday night and Thursday that freshened everything up with a layer of white.  Friday morning I took this photo with my tablet as I prepared for my quiet time.  I loved how it came out.  Early morning with my Bible is the best ... a true joy to my heart.

 

Today is downright chilly.  Here's what it was doing here as of 10 am:

As usual, my hubby was out at the Saturday flag wave with a group of like-minded patriots who wave the American flag at a local intersection every Saturday morning.  The photos are from last week but it was possibly even colder then due to a strong wind.

 

He just got back and is currently warming up with a large mug of hot chocolate.

Wouldn't you love a Gooseberry Patch wallpaper for your own desktop?  I so enjoy the one at the top of the post; it's one of my favorites for this time of year.  The cabin and snowy evergreens, the skates and sled, the buffalo check and especially the sparkly stars just speak of all that I love about winter.

Check out all of the free downloads available here: Gooseberry Patch desktop wallpaper.  They have them for all seasons and you're sure to find more than one that you like.  They just add a touch of whimsy and seasonal beauty to the desktop.

Stay warm, everyone!

Late October at our little camp

 
Yesterday was not a good afternoon to take photos at our camp, but I had brought the camera and so I snapped a few anyway.  Even though we are nearing the end of foliage season (just look at all the leaves on the ground!), the dirt road where our camp is located still has trees laden with a good amount of gold, orange, yellow, and russet leaves.  I've been saying that the road's name in this season (especially on a sunny day) should be changed to The Golden Road.  These leaves glow in overcast weather too, though, as you will see. 

Notice the smallish red tree approximately toward the middle of the photo above.

The photo above shows the edge of our camp's back yard and the road below.  I liked the color of the leaves in this photo.

This shows part of our neighbor's property across the street.  At the very edge of the photo at the far right, you see just a tiny corner of our lake view.

 

 

The sign above, woodburned by grandsons, gives a hint to our seasonal water view.  I know I've posted a photo of this sign on Instagram, but can't remember if I've put one here on the blog.

 

The older photo above, taken in springtime, shows a little more of our lake view.  This was taken before we owned the camp or had done anything with it.

 

 And the photo above, taken last winter, shows even more of the lake view.  The flat expanse you see in the foreground is the roof of a house, but the second rectangular expanse, with a mountain just above it, is Loon Lake.

I also keep forgetting to show a recent addition to our cottage, a simple guest book which I put together using a composition book, some scrapbooking paper and some washi tape.  It's something I wish I had thought of from the beginning, but I didn't.  I did manage to have the composition book there in time for our first overnight guests, though I didn't complete the cover until after they left.

Below, a little bit closer look at the scrapbook paper and washi tape I used.  It may not hold up perfectly, but that is absolutely fine.  We are not about perfection here!

We feel blessed that the temperatures have been warm enough to allow us to spend several nights this week at our camp.  I've been hoping to get a few photos of The Golden Road, too.  Maybe the leaves will last until the next time we get over there, but with all the rain we're getting, that is by no means a given.  And we do need the rain.

On the other side of Back Lake

 

During our time at beautiful Back Lake, we always enjoy sitting on the dock.  We like seeing what's going on across the water, as well as on it -- for example, loons.  Above you see a partial view of what we see from the dock.  We can often hear hammering in the distance, as it seems homes are being worked on, or new houses are being built.  

Quite a few years ago, our curiosity got the better of us and we figured out how to get to the other side of the lake.  We had to drive over there and park at a public boat launch and then we could walk from there.  This year, we decided to do that again and I'll share some of the photos we took.

The sun finally came out around 5 pm after a day of open-and-shut.  We thought this would be the best part of the day for our expedition, and we were right.

Aren't the cloud reflections glorious?

The scrubby little bushes below were so colorful!  Notice that a couple of the leaves are brilliant red.

And that is some of what is on the other side of Back Lake!  There are some incredibly large and beautiful homes being built over there, but we wanted to focus on nature rather than the man-made with our photos.

Late-fall beauty at First Connecticut Lake

 

During our recent trip up north, which I hope to blog about soon in its entirety, Mr. T and I spent some good time at First Connecticut Lake.  (For those who may not know, there are four Connecticut Lakes, the headwaters of the Connecticut River, up here in the tippy-top of New Hampshire.)  First Lake, the largest of the four, covers 4.8 square miles!   The foliage is pretty much gone up north, other than yellow tamaracks, but we saw some lovely sights regardless.  We spent a long, long time just sitting on a bench and soaking in the beauty and sunshine.  Storing it up for later.

The above was one of our favorite photos from the afternoon.  We loved the red leaves up close, the water, the evergreens, and the majestic mountains in the distance.

So pretty framed by the evergreens!

Have you noticed in your part of the country that picnic tables have disappeared from parks and public areas since c*vid?   There are a lot less of them than there were in many places here in our state, and there is no viable reason for it.  But I was happy to see here in this state park that there are plenty of picnic tables in scenic spots, and even a few thoughtfully placed benches.  Wouldn't you love to picnic here by the lake?

The red leaves are such an eye-catcher!

We loved the red and yellow leaves along the stone edges of the lake.

Some pretty yellow bushes.

Another shot from our favorite vantage point ... this one shows a bit more of the mountains, I think.

Pretty gold shrubbery.  We liked the red and gold effect below also.

Hope you've enjoyed this peek at some late-fall beauty on magnificent First Lake!

A breathtaking autumn pond

 

Although I wrote a bit about our mini getaway on Columbus Day weekend, I didn't get to include these photos.  In my post about our getaway, I mentioned that we had gotten lost trying to find the right end of the dirt road where our Airbnb was located.  If you recall, a lady out walking her dog had given us better guidance.  In directing us, she noted, "You'll go by a pond ...".  What she did not mention was the breathtaking beauty of said pond.

We had stopped to snap these pictures when a mail delivery van pulled up next to us and the driver said something like, "What a picture that will make!"  He seemed as taken with the view as we were.

Here is this gorgeous pond surrounded by glorious fall trees, out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a network of dirt roads. 

It was late afternoon, perhaps 5 pm, when we stopped to get these photos.  We might have gotten better pictures at a different time of day, but we were still pleased with the way these turned out.

We loved this view so much that, rather than try and find the way we should have gone to our Airbnb, we just came and went by this route every time.  I'm sure you can see why!

A few more glorious fall scenes

 

Just took these last few photos off the camera.  Wow, is The Wilds of New England a beautiful place in autumn!  Above is a road leading up to the orchard past some of the cabins.

One of the staff homes all decorated for fall.

This beautiful orange tree caught my eye.

I was trying to capture the trees behind the coffee shop.  My hubby liked that I also got the flagpole mums, pumpkins and hay bales into the photo.

A closer look at the flagpole display.

 Looking up the hill past the gazebo.  I love this gorgeous, classic new England scene.

Hope you have enjoyed these scenes as much as we did!