Christmas Arrivals

Freshly unpacked from the "Harry and David" shipping box, a little miniature rose plant and accompanying wrapped presents.

Hedge Berries

Across the street from the dogwood of the Thanksgiving post below, and downhill all the way, is a tangled hedge of mixed vegetation, bare of color since all the red stalks of the poke sallet were cut down by a road maintenance crew--except for these brilliant red berries, which caught the late afternoon sunlight on November 30.

Late November Leaves

Under gray skies, the green grass was brilliant, accented by maple leaves like fallen fragments of stars.

From a silver maple:







From a streetside dogwood:





After the overnight stormy winds from a cold front, all the maples and dogwoods are almost bare, near to being Shakespeare's "bare, ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang."

But the mockingbirds around here prefer television antennas and utility wires for perching, and the cardinals peck around for food under the evergreen hollies and the brilliant barberry bushes.