hope you've all had a restful wind up to the old year, and are ready for the new, whether you've got big plans for tonight or just a quiet evening in. i think ours will be a fairly mellow evening, a few friends over for a bit of eating and drinking, maybe a wii competition (wow, that sounds lame). we'll see how it plays out, but i have zero expectations, so it can't go wrong. the weather has been very cold and clear the last few days, the ground and plants crunchy with frost. in contrast, i thought i'd share some photos taken during a christmas day walk with A and my mom. the days leading up to christmas were a bit, er, stormy, to say the least. however, there was a bit of a break the next day that allowed us to get outside for a bit. moisture clung to everything, as the earth and every bit of surface was fully saturated with water. i love the way the drops hang amongst all the branches, little mirrors floating in the air. the winds and waves had done their work on the beaches, piling up carpets of driftwood even on the sheltered side of the beach. in the photo above it's a bit hard to see where lands stops and the sea begins. we were walking at rebecca spit provincial park, which is a finger of land poking out into the ocean. on the more exposed side of the spit, the driftwood pile-up was much the same, with the ocean showing a bit more energy as the wind started to pick up again. the clouds hung low over the nearby islands, completely obscuring the high mountain peaks of the coast range beyond. we watched as a bald eagle swooped in circles overhead, from the open space to the trees and back, avoiding the pestering gulls who chased after. i was too in awe of his power to remember the camera in my hand. i love the many variations of moss and lichen to be seen, even on just one small branch. lastly, i wanted to share what the big cloth finally looks like. this is the gift that did not get finished in time for my parents. above my mom is holding it in place where it will hang when finally completed. it is all handstitched. i'm glad i didn't rush through it though, so i have the time to think on it a bit and make sure it ends up how i wanted. much stitching still to go, but it's definitely taking shape. i was also glad to get a good look at it in daylight too - never being home during the day and many evenings spent stitching meant i had kind of lost the real colours and dimensions of it. this gives me a good regroup to see what i still want to do. wishing you and yours and happy end to the old year and all the best for the new! i'll be back this long weekend with another post or two.