A Little Sparkle & Shine

Last night it got cold...into the low 20's...which requires getting up a couple times during the night to put more fuel (wood) into the wood burning stove (we have to add lots of wood, layered for effective slow burning and close the air vent almost all the way so the fire stays low and burns a long time).  Mountain Man and I take turns doing this, keeping the cabin heated to the upper 50's (I know, my FL friends and family are all thinking brrr).  Even though it's warmer than it would have been if we had not stoked the fire, the morning is quite chilly until we can get the fire roaring.  As a result, the day starts slowly, taking time to warm up, both inside and out.

Once I made it outside to look around (I always go out first thing to feed the birds...this morning was so cold there was little looking around) I saw we had tiny icicles that were dripping from the roof.  The sun was just coming over the mountain, and it made the drips sparkle & shine as they dropped.  I took many pictures, and this is my favorite.  Because of the trees in the background, and the icicle being very small, I couldn't get the camera to focus on the water.  I have cropped it to focus on the icicle and drip.

This is the same picture, but the crop is not as close to the icicle and drip.

 This is the original picture, only minor cropping to remove a roof beam. 

What do you think, do you prefer one over the other?

While standing on the porch taking the pictures above, I heard the creek.  I thought "ooh, maybe there is ice down there".  Just a few tiny icicles still hanging on in one of the little cascades...see it right in the center of the picture? (click on the picture to make it bigger if you want to see the icicles clearly)... A little sparkle & shine here too!

Then I started hearing all the birds along with the sound of the flowing creek, and every now and then a chime.  So I went back up to the deck, stood in the NE corner, and took this little video.  You can see the creek in the center, but the video is really more about the sparkle & shine you hear, rather than what you see.  If you receive my blog via email, you may need to click on the title of the post or on this link to go directly to www.liseslogcabinlife.com to see the video.

Peaceful, isn't it?  I just love those sounds.  The creek you see in the middle of the video is the same creek in the photo above.  I hope you had a little sparkle & shine in your day, and I sure am not referring to cleaning!!!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise