Freezing rain over Christmas Eve and early Christmas Day resulted in Mother Nature decorating the forest trees with her own version of lights and bulbs.

Last Sunday's sunny skies illuminated the drops to where they appeared like sparkling diamonds. I tried to capture their brilliance in photographs, but the pictures didn't due the scenes justice.

I was surprised by the amount of solid rain drops on the branches. I was also thankful that we still had electricity during the icing event.

As I tried to get some single drips in focus, the branches started to shake. I was then abruptly butted out of the way by one of the goats who decided that my interest in the icy shrub was apparently food related.

The drops survived over the weekend until more mild temperatures and the warm sunshine undecorated the trees.

Weeks earlier the neighbor's pond sported some geometric ice patterns. I turned to the internet to define the science behind the shapes.

"The crystal lattice of ice is hexagonal in its symmetry under most atmospheric conditions," said a post on the American Meteorological Society's site ametsoc.org.

The post went on in great detail to describe the science behind ice crystals. My eyes started to glaze over and I suddenly wished I had paid more  a lot more attention in chemistry class.

I decided to just stick to taking photos of ice crystals instead of trying to explain them away.

On Christmas Day, the forest was relatively quiet. Nothing seemed to be moving due to temperatures in the teens. Squirrel tracks traveled only from one tree to the very next. No deer signs were spotted. However by Saturday, there were some heart-shaped tracks dotting the landscape.

Earlier last week some of the dear furry forest creatures were busy taking selfies on the trail camera. The results were amusing. Not amusing however, was the fact that the deer changed my camera position and part of the trail was not covered in the camera's range.

The bird feeder was busy Christmas Day throughout last weekend as the snow pack drove flocks into the yard. Some pine siskins visited again, though not in the numbers seen months earlier.

A female cardinal was especially cooperative and posed for several photos.

The tame critters seemed to take the biting cold in stride. The dogs seemed to pay the chilly temps no mind and continued plowing through the snow. The goats handled the weather with their usual disdain.

That's just the nature of things 'round here.

Now is the time of year when we hear the phrase "peace on Earth and good will to men."

Here at the Applegate household, we are trying to obtain just a little bit of peace.

However, new feline addition Lil' Bit is making peace in the cat kingdom a thing of the past. Despite being fixed, he hasn't left behind his tomcat ways of confrontation.

Since peace in the house may not be currently attainable, we'll just try for "pees on earth."

The goal here being that everyone goes where they are supposed to. Dogs go outside; cats use the litter box and no one "pees on carpet."

The goats "pees everywhere." That is why they live in their own house outside.

Applegate animals aside, watching wild critters can bring a little peace and serenity as well. Bad weather usually makes for good birding and the feeders have been filled with many feathered visitors.

The sights and sounds of wings fluttering to and fro can create a sense of calmness.

Cardinals, blue jays and even the goldfinches in their drab winter plumage generate some much needed color for the winter landscape.

Photos from the trail cameras show deer foraging for food in snowy scenes. One can almost imagine how quiet that particular moment in time was.

A recent heavy snowfall also produced serene scenes of a winter wonderland.

A clear glass ball used for photography quickly becomes a snow globe filled with trees and sky.

As I enjoy the tranquility of winter landscapes, I hope that other folks can also find their little bit of peace on Earth. Perhaps they will find enough peace to bring good will toward others as well.

Hopefully Lil' Bit will be able to make peace with the other felines of the house.

Meanwhile, I will have to head to the woods to find a little bit of peace from Lil' Bit's antics. 
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

That's just the nature of things 'round here.

All was calm on a lazy Sunday afternoon at the Applegate household until there came a rustling. It was not from a cheese wrapper or the treat container. It was caused by something far more sinister ... the bag where the holiday hats were stored.

Immediately some sensed a disturbance and ran to hiding places. Others had abundant curiosity that they couldn't contain and were undoubtedly the first to don their holiday apparel.

We have 11 critters here at the Applegate abode. We are not looking to add any more, but they just keep showing up.  So with our almost a dozen holiday hat victims, it is fitting to do a little parody of the "Twelve Days of Christmas."

With that being said, while I have 11 unwilling participants to work with some attempts were abandoned when the wellbeing of the photographer is threatened. Some of the numbers might be off a little, but that's OK we utilize fuzzy math here at the Applegate household.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true loves sent to me... Twelve hours of goats a-grumbling. Kyle and Kennedy can be very vocal during the daylight hours.

And a yellow cat in a hemlock tree. Timus, our resident feline escapee, was recently discovered one early morning in my parents' hemlock tree. He was treed by another wayward neighborhood cat. My under-dressed- for-the-weather husband spend several cold minutes coaxing the yellow tabby down to safety.

He was carried indoors only to sleep off his ordeal and rest up for another escape attempt.

​That's just the nature of things 'round here.

Gray days have a real bad habit of chasing away inspiration.

The calendar has not officially declared winter yet. However after the leaves are down and the days get short, I pretty much consider it winter. I honestly don't mind winter weather that involves snow as long as I don't have to drive very far in it. Sometimes the blue, white and gray hues go together to create beautiful scenery.

Nonetheless these days where the sky was gray and the mud was brown, leaves me longing for a little more color.

Christmas decorations have provided a somewhat satisfying substitute for nature's current lack of brilliant colors. One such ornament  are my color-changing snowflake lights.

They are Bluetooth ready and have an app that allows me to change their appearance at will. I decided this year I would put them up in November and keep them out until Easter since we have on occasion had snow during those months.

​I change the colors according to my whims and sometimes the season. In the fall I used the autumn color settings.

Currently, they are set to a Christmas light show. It may seem like such a simple thing, but it does help bring a little color and light into my world.

I started some slate painting projects that were sitting stagnant in a box when the weather was nicer. This activity also aided in the color quest. The paintings involved winter scenes, but admittedly I added red berries just to get that pop of color.

I did observe the snow glistening. It was certainly bright as the sun came out the day after the snow. I loved the way the shadows of the trees made lines on the freshly fallen snow.

Of course reflections of snowy branches were also brilliant.

"Gone away is the bluebird," the song stated. This was true in my immediate area as I have not seen one since the snow fell. However, a check of the Birding Pennsylvania Facebook page revealed that some state residents do in fact still have bluebirds around.

​The photos were quite a contrast with the blue hues of the bird against snowy backdrops.

"Here to stay is a new bird," the song continued. It seemed that these are truthful lyrics as well. The birding site was all a twitter with the annual arrival of the winter birds.
​ Dark-eyed juncos, chickadees, tufted titmice and more winter in the region.

"He sings a love song as we go along," the song said. Most birds do mate in the spring and thus there's a lot of "love songs" sung then. However, great-horned owls and barred owls do sing their mating songs in the winter.

​ So if the song was indeed about a couple walking at night, it is possible they were serenaded by an owl. If you have ever the mating calls of great-horned owls, I am not sure I would describe it as a song. I would perhaps call it more of a ruckus. However, some folks think rock music is just a ruckus too.

The rest of the song pertained to snowman building and a marriage proposal. That's where the similarities of my wonderland walk and the couple's wonderland stroll ceased.

While my walking companions were not human, most of them enjoyed the snow.