Cicada in my Backyard

This green bug just climbed out of his pupa shell. He's been in it for 13-17 years! I think the shells look like prehistoric monsters.
I'm told cicada's are eaten some places. They will not be served at my table.
You can get a pretty good idea of the size since he's sitting on a cinder block.
I'm glad they don't sting or bite and find their noise/song soothing.

Snow on pine boughs

I think there is something really pretty about snow on pine boughs. All it needs are some birght red birds sitting on it.
New neighbors are rebuilding on the corner where the fire was. Yeah!

Yellow Sky

One day it had gotten very dark and cloudy and then the sky turned YELLOW! I'd never seen that before. The locals told me not to worry about yellow. Green sky I should worry but not yellow. This picture was taken with no filter. The sky had been much yellower before I shot this.

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

I had been used to "rain" being more on the misty side. Here it's a bit more, and louder than than other places I've lived. You might notice the camera jump when the thunder rolls. Made me laugh.

And here's the night-time version.

The Swing

My sister and her hubby visited and painted and hung the swing! Okay it was a while ago. Here is a shot of them putting it up and now when it's up. I'll have to put another picture of it up in the spring with flowers all around.

I'm Back

For some reason it was pretty complicated to log back in but I persisted! More posts shortly.

Trees trimmed!

From lack of care over the years, trees in the yard had gotten a little dangerous and I had a tree service come in. They took down two and trimmed up another 4 that had dead limbs and ones that were a danger to the house and garage. The yard is really opened up and I feel a lot better knowing they are taken care of. I still have lots of shade and plan on planting one or two but in better locations.
And I have a bunch more firewood for next year.

Daffodils

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My neighbor mentioned her daffodils were coming up and I realized mine were buried under fall leaves I'd piled up. I raked the leaves off and found the group that had been completely covered were much taller than the ones that hadn't been buried. They had more blooms as well.
I'm definitely burying them again next year! They are beautiful

Ice storm

Our "winter" was mild and no snow but we did get a couple days of an ice storm. This is a picture of my Magnolia coated with ice. It's a hardy type and wasn't hurt by it. Looked kind of pretty, odd but pretty.

Community Christmas Tree

We had a first annual Christmas tree in our community. After we decorated, we had Christmas carols and when it was dark enough we lit 'er up.
Next year we know to attach the decorations a little bit better since we had heavy winds the next day and some were blown off. Many survived though which was a nice surprise. We're planning to raise money to plant a permanent tree since that was so much fun.