I popped in here today, against medical advice, to upload some pictures I captured over the past three weeks or so.  Now I understand why I wasn't spozed to do this.  I'm very weak and tired, and Xanga really sucked me in once I started reading messages and comments.  I have a new reader who already feels like an old friend, and of course my old friends' lives go on while I'm out of touch.  There is no catching up, I'll just have to pick up again when I can come back full time.

A few weeks back, before the snow got deep, I noticed on a trip to the outhouse that a big flock of little birds, certainly more than fifty and maybe fewer than a hundred, were foraging for birch seeds in our trees.  Individuals would flit in small flocks among three of the big trees laden with cones, leaving the snow beneath them littered with little brown bits of debris.  You'd need to click for the bigger version of this to see the few birds that stuck around after I went back in for the camera.

Below is a blow-up of the best bird shot.

Eerie filtered light from a just-risen sun a week or so later...

Later still, just last week, I wanted to capture some of the newly fallen snow, and ended up sitting on my butt in it as I squatted for a better angle on this one.

The four shots above were taken in my front yard.  All three below were taken just yesterday, after more snowfall, in my backyard.

Below, along the right edge, is a snow cornice hanging over the edge of our roof.

Now I am on my way back to the end of the couch next to the woodstove, to behave myself.

I have mentioned previously how like a small town Alaska is, only spread out on a very large map.  A few days ago, a rumor going around got back to me, saying that I was on my deathbed.  It reminded me of a bit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:  "Bring out your dead."  "...but I'm getting better."

The pneumonia is getting better.  "Compared to what?"  I hear that sarcastic inner voice ask.  Compared to how I was at the worst of the crisis, I'm breathing lots easier.  There are new symptoms, however, suspiciously like some kind of flu, and there are always the old chronic symptoms of M.E.

I have to remind people occasionally that we are all dying from the day we are born, but this particular case of pneumonia hasn't killed me yet.  I have been resting a lot, reading, taking it easy, which is never very easy for me.  Lately, it has gotten a lot easier... or going and doing has gotten much harder.

But I'm getting BETTER!

I did get a picture of some huge snowflakes falling a few days ago.  There's some video, too, if I ever get it edited and if it then looks worth sharing.