Thursday, December 29, 2011

Winter Wanderings - December

Winter time in Maine is beautiful! Big, fluffy flakes swirling around in the blue-gray sky make the evergreen-covered mountain look like it's inside a snowglobe. But winter time in Maine is also cold. Very cold. And it's hard to get outside to enjoy the dim sunlight and explore our surroundings. So that's where Winter Wanderings came in!

Where did we go and what did we see during the first couple of weeks of winter?

Well, we went to the arboretum on a blustery, sunny day.

A "Secret Garden" walk under the pine
boughs.

We call these sticky seeds "puckers" and they come from
"pucker bushes", but I don't know what they're REALLY
called. LOL

Another winter flowering seed shrub.

Pitch pine cone and tassel

Pitch Pine cone

Sugar Maple, Balsam Fir and White Pine
climbing a hay bale in the field.

Perhaps next time White Pine will listen
to his Mom and where a WINTER
jacket on our walk! ((wink))

And then we explored the glacial erratic trail at the Settlement Quarry on the island. (Oh, "glacial erratic" is an area where rocks and other natural things are left behind by melting glaciers MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS ago that are not native to that area.) It was a sunny, warmish day before the snow covered us.

The Glacial Erratic Trail

Exposed roots and granite along the trail

A close-up of different mosses

The final stretch before the quarry - up a hill and between the
evergreens.

Another wanderer created this out of small granite stones.

The Atlantic Ocean view from the
Settlement Quarry.

A granite slab showing the drilled dynamite
holes that split it from a larger piece.

White Pine and Balsam Fir climbing the granite rocks.

Balsam Fir building his Inuksuit. To learn
more about Inuksuit's visit this link.

White Pine's granite rock Inuksuit

I caught some droplets on a fir tree, melting in the sun.

Wonder where our winter wanderings will be next week? (How's that for lots of W's? LOL)

14 comments:

  1. what great photos, it looks beautiful in Maine. (popped in from TGIF)

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  2. What a beautiful hike, love all of the nature pictures!!

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  3. So beautiful!! I want to come visit.

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  4. How pretty is your side of the country. We don't quite have that scenery where we live :) You took great pictures. stopping by from TGIF and am now your newest GFC follower.

    ~MiaB
    www.mamamiasheart2heart.com

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  5. That looks like a great walk! I hope you get to continue your winter wanderings before it gets too cold.

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  6. Absolutely beautiful, like postcard beautiful! :-)
    What a blessing to have such beauty all around you. Hope you have a Happy New Year!

    Many blessings,
    Lisa

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  7. I love all of these pictures. Beautiful and looks like a great place to hike. :)

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  8. Your photos are fantastic - just breathtaking! Your all caps of 'many thousands of years ago' made me smile. My tween groans (very loudly) whenever he reads or hears anything stating millions of years ago. :)

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  9. Wonderful, wonderful pictures! I love pine cones!
    I collect them. Now I got a new pet bunny and I found out they like to play with them. He destroyed one lol. New follower from the TGIF hop!
    Would you follow me back?
    evescrochet.blogspot.com

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  10. GORGEOUS pictures!! Love the Glacier trail!! We are taking an extended vacation this year and visiting lots of national parks - this just makes me excited for it! Thanks for linking up to TGIF. Happy New Year,
    Beth =-)

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  11. Hi from waddlee-ah-chaa!

    We love incorporating outside explorations into our homeschool days. Your pictures are beautiful. Thanks for letting us tag along.

    Winter here in South Texas is very different! Not too many big fluffy snowflakes around here. But we enjoy many days full of warm sunshine.

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  12. Love these pic's!

    That place looks awesome, may have to let me in on where it is one day! :)

    We need to get out and do more hikes. My goal for this year!

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  13. Thank you for writing this quality informational content. I really appreciate your winter wandering in December. Thanks for sharing these amazing and beautiful pictures with us. Now it's time to get Roofing Services in Wayne for more information.

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