Early but oh, so pretty!

I think this is the earliest I've ever put our christmas tree up, but with all the snow on the ground and lots of free time I decided no time like the present!

More Snow!

We were planning to go out to the store when we looked outside and saw this and thought better of it...

You can barely make out the stables!

We waited until after lunch, when it seemed a little more promising. Can't say the same for our neighbours to the north.

How can you stand the commute??

We have both been asked this question so many times, and the truth is it isn't that bad. Before we had the car, it would take us 45-60 minutes to get to work by bus, metro, and walking. That was our starting point when we began looking for a house.

As it turns out, our commute in to town is rather calming. We have the beautiful scenery and few cars to deal with. Traffic only starts to pick up as we near the city. On a good day, with very little traffic, it takes us 50 minutes to get into work. Add to that the normal traffic we meet on most days, and our travel time goes up to about 1 hour 10 minutes.

Leaving the city is a little different, just because we start our commute with traffic. By the time we get off island, though, it seems like it takes no time at all before we're home again. Only this time, depending on the time of year, we have beautiful sunsets to admire as we drive.

Fire in the furnace...

We recently had our wood furnace repaired and today we started it up for the first time. Not only are we getting a nice heat that is a little less intense than oil heating, but the woodsmoke from our chimney smells great!

Bird Feeders & Visitors

We've had many feathered visitors since we put up our bird feeders this past spring:

Goldfinches, hummingbirds, sparrows....

Juncos, Bluejays, Chickadees....

Mourning Doves, Northern Flickers (woodpeckers), cowbirds...

And of course, lots and lots of geese migrating!

Canadian Geese

Snow Geese

And so it begins again...

We've begun our first assault. Only time will tell if this mission will be successful...