When I woke up this morning I was feeling a bit out of sorts and by mid-morning I felt as weak as a kitten. I've come down with something, nothing too serious but enough to put a hold on me doing any of the meme's this week and probably some of my visiting. I'll play catch up when I feel back to normal.
TODAY’S FLOWER’S was created by our good friend Luiz Santilli Jr.
You can find beautiful and unusual flowers from all over the world by clicking here.
He worked really hard and considering what he had to deal with, carving out a path all the way down hill to the road was a major accomplishment. I hope it won't be rock hard when he has to do the rest tomorrow but at least it won't be snowing hard. On the corner we saw someone had a snow blower but all of a sudden a burning smell filled the air. We think he may have burned out his motor as it disappeared quickly and we saw that he had replaced it with a shovel.
I got out and chucked a few shovels of snow to the side, but I knew it was time to quit when my nose began to feel like a Popsicle and my fingers started going numb. I decided to get my camera out as it had mysteriously appeared in my pocket. It was truly glorious and I felt it had to be recorded. I don't think we will be going anywhere for a few days. At least I won't. 
This is the corner of our house. Our path and the front door step are under more than two feet of snow.
Remember the snowman across the street? It was on my other neighbor's porch. Even he decided to high-tail it inside. I suspect by now he is just a puddle.
And Man's Best Friend is helping out too.
Someone tried to leave the neighborhood. He didn't get very far and I saw the poor guy on his hands and knees hard at work with that shovel, trying to free the wheels from the icy snow's vice-like grip. Well, I think many of us have been in his shoes at some point in our lives when we've said, "It can't be that bad surely?" It was that bad! He was on the corner of our street and at times his wheels were spinning and going nowhere.
I called Gregg but a good Samaritan neighbor had seen what was going on and had already gone over. It wasn't long after that the young man was able to carefully maneuver back into his own driveway. I'm glad he didn't get stuck too far from home.
From our snowy part of Northern Virginia, I wish you all safe and sound in your own homes tonight, and take some good advice from Man's Best Friend, "don't try doing that" unless you desperately have to. Even that young man had a four-wheel drive and came a cropper. I am also thinking of my friend's daughter whose baby was due three days ago.
To all those people out there like emergency workers, police, firemen, hospital workers, those much needed road crews and all of you, thank you for everything you are doing. Hope your guardian angels are taking care of you on this snowy night and in the days ahead.
The Red-Bellied Woodpecker was on another. 
This bird feeder was the busiest one of the lot. On it you can make out a White-throated Sparrow, male and female Cardinal, and the same Red-Bellied Woodpecker.
The Woodpecker didn't hang around for long. He would pick up his seeds and fly off into the trees to eat them, then come back and start the process all over again while the other birds continued feeding.
They were very enjoyable to watch and they all seemed to get along.
The Male Cardinal was the last to go.... 
Camera Critters is a wonderful meme created by Misty Dawn.
We have another storm heading our way this weekend, promising to drop over a foot of snow along with freezing rain, and yet another snow storm the following Tuesday. So when I looked up at the sky last Sunday and saw this plane flying over, I thought how nice it would be to get on one and head to Greece, Hawaii or Australia, or any number of those other marvelous warm and sunny places. I could see myself overlooking the ocean and feeling the sea breeze cool me down as I basked in the warmth. I am now in a happy place in my head, sitting on my beach lounger, shaded by the banana leafed beach umbrella, and there's that nice young lad bringing me my delicious tropical drink with an orchid sticking out of it. How lovely that would be and yes I have played out this fantasy before?
Don't get me wrong, I love snow but.....
I'm still thinking of that tropical beach....
with drink in hand and an orchid sticking out of it, which I will pick up, lick the droplets off the stem and stick behind my ear - how Dorothy Lamore of me. Bing and Bob where are you my friends? I will stare out at the ocean for hours and hours and hours. Yes, I am definitely in my happy place and what a great imagination I have. Bring it on foul weather! While you are dumping yet more snow on my doorstep I will be on a tropical beach somewhere. Okay, no tropical drink but a glass of Cointreau will do, and I can grab a Gerba Daisy off the table can't I? It might be a bit top heavy but what the heck.
Michelle is the host of Nature Notes and Signs of the Season. Thank you Michelle.
We couldn't have picked a prettier day for a walk. It was cold but not uncomfortable and we didn't even have to wear a hat, though as you can see the pond was iced over. 
The sunlight sparkled on the ice but this sign is always there to remind people not to try walking on it. 
The nesting box in the middle of the pond is waiting for the birds to come back next Spring. I'll be here with my camera to see if I can take pictures of some wee babies.
There is also our beaver of course. We have often seen him on our previous visits and I was wondering if he was hibernating until I saw this hole in the ice where someone may have popped his head through. Do beavers hibernate? I'm going to have to do a little research. His lodge was covered with snow and this hole wasn't too far from its entrance.
Definitely signs of disturbance as we walked by.
This was a little different. I think maybe a person/child had broken up the ice with a stick or thrown a rock into the pond.
I liked the different shapes and patterns the ice created.
Very pretty!
There is the gazebo also waiting for the picnickers to come back. We have often seen smoke rise from a small barbecue as the smell of hamburgers and hot dogs have filled the air. 
No signs of life around the edge of the pond, no fish jumping or turtles sunning themselves on drifting logs, and no frogs chirping. 
I saw a few birds flying around; a turkey vulture, some cardinals, woodpeckers, and this little fellow sitting within the safety of a tangle of branches.
We continued our walk around the pond and ....
in this photo you can see that Gregg is ahead of me. As usually I am lagging behind as I tend to study things along the way, and study and study and study!
Here is an overlook where you will often find people with their fishing poles. Not today!
After our walk around the edge of the pond we make our way over the creek.
I finally caught up with Gregg. 
It looks beautiful with the snow. It looks beautiful at any time of the year but the snow has given it another dimension.
Turn around is fair play. Gregg takes a picture of me.....
while I take a picture of the tree trunk that looks like a bent leg. 
This is a shot in the other direction.
Usually we walk up to the visitors' center but we decided to drive this time. The snow made it a little more hazardous and I had already twisted my ankle having stuck my foot in a hole covered by the snow. Not bad this time but enough to feel it when I got home and enough for me to agree to a ride up to the visitors' center. "Do you want to go home yet? says Gregg. "Not on your nelly says Denise." Not yet anyhow, limp, limp, limp! Truth be known neither of us were ready to go home. We were having too much fun and who knows when we will be able to do this again. More bad weather is heading this way.
This is our back deck and I noticed the tracks from the rail to the door where I had thrown out quite a few peanuts in their shells for any birds and squirrels that might be around. The tracks looked bigger than a squirrel but I don't know about these things. Maybe the indentations in the snow makes it seem bigger than it actually is. I don't think I had any large game climbing down from the trees. The tracks appeared to stop for a munch fest on the peanuts first, then disappeared down the steps to the left of the photo.
My old teddy, simply called "Teddy", has been with me since my parents gave him to me when I was a year old, so that makes him almost 59. He has been on this blog before. He looked outside and liked what he saw, though I told him he was a little under-dressed to go play out in the snow. Teddy has always gone au naturel and has never liked clothing. I dressed him up as a girl for years and that's probably why. I keep telling him that little girls have a tendency to do that and I think he has forgiven me but.....
This is the new addition to the teddy bear family, Bertie the Beefeater. He came to live with us just before Christmas. It's the first time he's actually seen snow. 
On Saturday it snowed all day but on Sunday morning it stopped and we were greeted with beautiful blue skies with not a cloud anywhere. Just lots of snow but thankfully not as much as we had a few weeks ago.
This is out back again. The trees cast lots of lovely shadows and the snow just sparkled. Pity you can't see that here. It was so beautiful!
This is my friend across the street. I'm not sure what he was so interested in. Usually he barks a hello when he sees me taking his photo. Maybe he is just showing me his best side.
My other neighbor has her snowman on the porch. I do covet that snowman I must say. 
This is Gregg's van and I was struck with how the snow had melted into rivulets on the windows but had frozen again on the way down. Now that's cold!
Thank you Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia for hosting My World.
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