This picture of the cardinals is from a 1942 Marguerite Henry book called "Birds at Home". She was the author of some of my favorite childhood horse books: "King of the Wind", "Misty of Chincoteague", "Album of Horses", and many more. Feeding the birds in our back yard in the winter is a top priority for us.....also, I think winter is the best time for bird watching....there's no foliage to hide them!

We've had so much snow this winter! The deer come under the bird feeder and sniff around for any seeds that have dropped. They're so beautiful!

This is a view of the huge trees in our back yard. We had an ice storm last week....one of the many this winter! It's been snow on top of ice on top of snow. I think there's going to be another one this week.....OMG....I'm not even going to start counting the days till Spring. How do the birds make it through this bleak, cold weather. I feel so responsible for keeping them fed!

This is a portrait I did of Trevor Sheehan, our lovely nephew. He's currently in Napa making his own wine, and is trying to decide what to name it. He's so talented, and we know he's going to be a total success!!!! We're so proud of him.

This is my first blog ever. It's kind of weird---what if I don't have anything substantial to say? I guess it doesn't matter, and you have to get over your initial stage fright. Everything feels so wonderful right now---Barack Obama is our PRESIDENT!!! It truly feels like we're entering a new age. We have such brilliant people leading our country, and it's so exciting.