Welcome to Friday where we join our fur-iends Rosy and her brothers from LLB in Our Backyard in a blog hop for more Nature Friday.
Today is the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day of year. While the coldest part of this season is ahead of us, I try to focus on the pawsitive side; a few moments a day of more sunlight. Yay!
For today’s post it would have made sense to showcase a beautiful Christmas tree, but alas that little detail is unfortunately missing from the Ranch. In its place there is a pitiful Charlie Brown spindly thing, but it’s just too tacky looking to be shared. Instead however, here are a few photos from the Blossom of Lights taken at Denver’s Botanical Gardens. Trust me, they are far more awe-inspiring than the silly twig on the table.
Happy First Day of Winter and enjoy the last weekend before the big howliday arrives.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Just beautiful.
At least you guys HAVE a tree!!!! Ma finally got around to hanging the wreath and some sad spindly decorations ~ she said too much goin’ on and too much rain (good thing for us, bad for decorations ☺) to get into it this year. She said she IS gonna cook (yikes!) Christmas dinner though, so at least we will be fed. ☺
Anyhu, looooves the lights! Those are a fav of mine!
Merry Christmas to you guys!!!!!
Kisses,
Ruby ♥
You have a loving, devoted mom, that’s all you need for a Merry Christmas.
Wow! That is amazing!! Merry Christmas!
Sending you and the boyz, love and lights this howliday.
🐬🐬🐬
How beautiful! Sadly I didn’t have the energy to put up Marty’s Christmas tree either. I have a little tiny tree up also 🙂
It is what’s in your heart that matters most this time of year. Wishing you a joyful howliday with a pawsome 2019.
I don’t think Buster would mind if you took his place being honored on my blog’s Advent Calendar….
Umm-it’s way too generous of an offer but I think I’ll pass. 🤣
Wow! I love these, Monika. They’re absolutely beautiful and it makes so much sense having the Christmas lights during the darkness of the Northern Winter.
We didn’t bother putting up a Christmas tree this year. However, I finally managed to make my Christmas cake today so all is not lost. I feel it is important to establish and maintain traditions with the kids. However, with all the storms we’ve had, having nowhere to put a tree plus having two dogs who’s chew the decorations, it fell into the too hard basket. Like yourself, I also started think further afield and adopting a fancy public tree as our own. Haven’t strayed across one of those close to home either and I expected that many locals had their outdoor Christmas light damaged in the storm. That’s okay. It can be more of a food Christmas this year. Well, actually, we do focus on the real meaning of Christmas in our family, however it doesn’t take much for that to get lost in the chaos and busyness that goes on.
Best wishes & Merry Christmas,
Rowena
Even more sense to have something spectacular in the cold dark months of winter when there are few blooms. Don’t feel bad, I didn’t put up a tree either. 🎄 Wishing you and the entire family a ‘furry and bright’ howliday.
Very festive lights!!
hugs
Hazel & Mabel
They’re almost magical.
Isn’t that pretty! I love Christmas lights but rarely go out anymore to see them.
Isn’t it ironic that the first day of Winter here was one of the warmest days we’ve had in weeks? The rain washed away much of our snow. But the wind is blowing now, and it feels like it’s blowing winter back in!
I know what you mean; it seems like such a hassle to drive around for me and my night vision ain’t what it used to be!
I followed Dale here, having decided that her Advent Calendar was a sure way to save me-self some work and just have great blogs land in my lap.
🙂
Glad to stalk her here!
Been poking around the blog and am liking what I’m seeing (then again, Dale did all the hard work and I just come like a guest to the table …)
Na’ama
Thank you for swinging by the “Ranch” where we 💖visitors, especially friends of Dale.
🙂 Thanks for the welcome! Me thinks you gonna ‘see me around’ … (Dale’s a good egg)
Pawsome! And yes, Dale is a very good egg!
I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It’s not bad at all, really.”
– Linus Van Pelt
Hahaha. I don’t think little Linus ever shopped at IKEA.
I’m sure he would not. He is way to much of a purist.
The pools are beautiful. So glad daylight hours will slowly be increasing.
Me too, though the cold will make the process seem like a marathon.
Cheers to being one of Dale’s Advent honorees! A worthy honor. 🙂
Thanks, I wasn’t aware until you mentioned it and realized there was a WP glitch that I have since remedied. After I read her kind words, I couldn’t help but wonder who the heck she was talking about. LOL
WOW. Stunning! Though I’m a weenie about the cold – that might actually be worth it.
With LOTS of hot chocolate. 🥶
I love Charlie Brown trees! So I wanna see it!
However, that display is pretty. I can understand why you go there!
Happy Winter Solstice!
Trust me…you don’t wanna see that tree. Think Charlie Brown meets IKEA. 🤣
Now I wanna see it even more… 😛
What a lovely way to spend a holiday evening!
With thick gloves and Eskimo gear. 😆#yesimawhimp
#noyou’rejustsmart!
So…hanging out at Romantic Gardens again, eh? Whooo hooh.😈
❤️❤️❤️
Oh my. Those jump right off the page. Beautiful.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥
Thank you. Have a great weekend!
Cheers to the DBG lights! Cloudy day with occasional drizzle provides a lousy backdrop for the Winter Solstice.
Hope there’s some sunshine in the near future. ☀️☀️☀️
Such a beautiful light display!
Happy Solstice!
We welcome the return of the sun, but today it is too overcast to see or feel it.
Please send the clouds our way, at least those with some moisture in them. Thanks!
Happy Winter Solstice ❄️ Happy Howlidays🎄
💜nose nudges 💜
what gorgeous lights!!
It’s almost magically at every corner of the garden.
You are lucky to have that botanical garden…something for every season.
I won’t tell you how hot it is here…but the dogs are stretched out on the tiles in the house and it is still mid morning.
I love going there any time of year. There really is something for everyone. Today will be in the low 60’sF but cold is forecast for tomorrow. We have our paws crossed there may even be a flake or two with the forecast. Stay in the shade and sip a nice cool beverage.
At 3:22 this afternoon the sunlight will stop shrinking and start expanding. Here, tomorrow will have a whole three seconds more sunlight than we’re going to get today.
Count me in-it’s better than a sharp stick to the eye.
Great pics of DBG lights, I miss that! SD Zoo has something similar but haven’t made it there (kind of over all zoos these days).
I hear that. The SD Zoo is a remarkable place though. I just wish it wasn’t so freaking cold at night for the Blossom of Lights. You’d think my fat would insulate me better! Hahaha
LOL, what fat?! You just need lots of clothing layers and hot chocolate 🙂
😊
Beautiful!
Beautiful lights!
Fantastic lights! 🙂
It’s always a cool event, even if it’s cold as all get-out. So pretty, so magical.