My early morning plans changed this morning when Jack decided that he felt well enough to drive himself to the hospital for his daily radiation treatment.  So, I popped out back in my pajamas just to replace the frozen hummingbird feeder with a warm one but lost my train of thought.  Luckily, I had put on the down coat MM left behind when she moved to paradise, because it was so beautiful out there, I forgot to come back inside until I had snapped a bunch of pictures with my cell phone.  I should have gone back inside for my UGGS and my good camera, but I was literally on a roll.

An abandoned web or two:

A frosty garden mirror:

The Crown Princess Margarethe Rose:

The Coast Redwood wishing for its native marine cover:

A shocked rhododendron:

The faithful Tahoe waiting for its girl to return and so glad she wrapped it up in a tarp before she also departed for paradise:

The rosemary:

The raspberry won’t be providing any berries for while:

The California Bay Tree, transplanted from California, is probably asking just what we’re doing here.

And the gazing ball:

I am getting better at cell phone photography, but I really should keep my good camera in my pocket.

I was thinking I had never before been anywhere where the temps hovered in the 20’s for ten days.  Then I remembered a winter long ago I spent in Buffalo, New York.  I had just moved from Texas and I didn’t have a coat.  I was very young and foolish and bought a cute one rather than a warm one.  Ah, well.  I survived. Young and foolish only goes so far, though.

Older and wiser now and better at getting my priorities right, I am just about to bundle up in MM’s down, UGGS, monkey hat and gloves to walk to the library to meet a dear friend for lunch and finally to show him Elizabeth’s pictures from her September trek through the Western Rockies where he recently hiked too.  Hot chocolate will probably play a part. That’s a priority!