Happy New Year!!

We welcomed 2015 with a wintery, icy morning.  We live in the country so our temperature is always a bit cooler than town.  Things are dripping now. It was an odd start for a new year.  Drizzle that became ice that clung to trees, branches, anything off the ground.
I dressed, found my camera and headed outside.
It was too cold to stay out long as the camera is sensitive to cold.  Caught what I could.

 I love digital cameras in that I can see what I have now.  This is a picture of a dessert willow that keeps on surprising us.  This tree was hit with a freak wind years ago and I wanted to take it out then. Hubby cannot stand to "kill" a tree that still has green leaves.
Thus, at least 10 years later, this tree is still green (sort of).  With the drought, the roots have come up out of the ground and it is leaning precariously. If it weren't for the fence that is gone now, it probably  would be history.  Last summer it still gave lovely lavender, orchid shaped blossoms. They attract bees and humming birds.

And than, there are the pine trees.  They are survivors as well.  They go through a period every fall where they look like they are dying. The needles turn brown for months and then, the green needles become the star all over again.

Even the grasses are covered in ice

The yaupons are thriving in the cold.  The berries sparkle red against the green and covered in ice.

The simplicity of winter has a deep moral. The return of Nature, after such a career of splendor and prodigality, to habits so simple and austere, is not lost either upon the head or the heart. It is the philosopher coming back from the banquet and the wine to a cup of water and a crust of bread. ~John Burroughs, "The Snow-Walkers," 1866

I am writing this in the late afternoon.  The ice is all melted, streets clear and a few cars venturing out. 

We have had nearly an inch of rain, before that, ice, before that fog, before that shoppers frantically gathering food for the siege.  An interesting 12 to 24 hours to start the year.

The best thing?  The birds were here all day visiting the water bath and feeders.  Tiny goldfinches, house finches, a junco, a titmouse pair, chickadees, sparrows, many cardinals.   They are welcome.