There is a big tree with winter lights in Järvenpää which we pass every time we drive to town or back home. Yesterday I tried to take a picture of it when we stopped at the red lights. It wasn't very dark yet - our days get longer by about 6 minutes per day already. The sky really wasn't this black then. Anyway, you can only get the idea of the shape of the tree. There are 28,000 tiny lights on it, and the tree is huge and beautiful. I will try to take a better picture soon.
I'm still just knitting, but I have changed to Spring colours and a bamboo/cotton blend from my new favourite shop, the knitting café Lentävä Lapanen (the Flying Mitten, if Finnish names are hard for you to remember).
These dishcloths are fun and easy to knit, and it takes me two TV nights to finish one.
This winter the weather has changed more than during the past two winters, when we had no wet days at all. I haven't built snowmen on the warmer days, but we have had our bird feeders full, and after Christmas Mr. K carried our Christmas tree from the front yard to the back garden, and put a sheaf of oats on the top. Yellowhammers soon found their favourite treat, here is a couple of them on the ground under the tree eating. They must have other restaurants too, because I have not seen them again here.
The Big Garden Birdwatch event is again this coming weekend. We are going to watch the birds during one hour in our garden, and make a list by species and maximum number of birds seen at a time (so we don't count the same individuals over and over). BirdLife Finland will then make a list on their website with nationwide results.
The bullfinch also found delicious seeds on the ground, and the new snow caught on his face feathers.
I hope to see many birds and all our regular visitors on Sunday!
Wow, I can actually see the lights. They must be tiny. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYour dishcloths look very soft. I can never use them as dishcloths. I hate to get them dirty.
And wish I could visit that lovely knitting café with you. Must be so nice to be there!
We had Garden Birdwatch last weekend. Only for half an hour. There weren't many birds. It was suddenly very cold that weekend. But, I am happy, my black bird and robbin come to visit me every day!
Lovely post :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures and dishcloths.
ReplyDeleteIt is getting lighter and lighter here too and we have had some very nice sunrises and sunsets these last days.
Love your birds, Ulla.
ReplyDeleteHugs
I bet that tree is spectacular. Lovely dishclothes. I think using spring colors is a terrific idea. I've had enough of winter! What a sweet little bird.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your bird pictures. Having grown up in cold and snowy places, I always enjoyed seeing the different birds visiting the bird feeder and the sheaf.
ReplyDeleteI love to see your birds up there and all their feeding antics.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying very warm weather in Southern California but will be flying home to the bitter cold and snow of Ohio. Beautiful dish cloth colors. I love working with lighter happier colors in the dark cold Winter months. That is a terrific birdie photo.
ReplyDeleteIf you enlarge the photo, you can see the beautiful tree! I'm glad I wasn't the one who had to string all the lights on! I love the colors of your dishcloths - such a peaceful evening project ;>) I hope all your old bird friends and a lot of new ones are there for you today!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Beautiful tree with the lights! and what a sweet bull-finch. I love their red colour. Good luck with this Sunday bird-watching:-)
ReplyDeleteKnittin g has kept you quite busy, soft colors and lovely discloths. The pictures you took are great, it's lovely to see the little birds.
ReplyDeleteWhat great nature shots! It is so hard to take pics of lights at dusk.
ReplyDeleteLovely knitting. With the snow and rain I am still making bits in warm colours.
Liebe Ulla, während ich diesen Kommentar schreibe, sehe ich deine gestrickten Socken die für DD gemacht hast. Stell dir vor, ich habe auch wieder begonnen Socken zu stricken, nachdem mich meine Tochter darum gebeten hat. Dabei hasste ich diese Strickarbeit als wir es - lang, lang ist's her - in der Schule lernten. Seither habe ich es nie mehr gemacht, bis eben. Ich musste alles nachschauen (Internet sei Dank!), aber eine Socke ist bereits fertig. Im Gegensatz zu deinen frühlingshaften Farben, wurden unifarbene gewünscht.
ReplyDeleteDa wir auch wieder einen schneebedeckten Garten haben, sind die Vögel emsig an der Futterstelle. Ich schaue ihnen gerne zu.
Du hast Recht, Waschlappen zu stricken kann auch Spass machen, da nach zwei TV Abenden bereits Resultate da sind! Und zuerst MUSS man ja in den Wollladen zum Aussuchen der Farben :-) !! Liebe winterliche Grüsse,
Barbara
The tree would look spectacular in real life. I love the photos of the birdlife. Did you manage to get more photos of the birds when you had your bird watch on Sunday?
ReplyDeleteKnitting is not done as much here-- for obvious reasons that our winters are not so cold that we need all those woolies.