Two Does / Mother and Child / Cauldron of Color

It was mid-morning and I was washing the dishes when I heard my husband exclaim that the deer were in our woods. There is a deer path along the edge of our property. We haven't seen the deer much this winter. Sometimes just a few come by; other times, more. In summertime, they are constant visitors, and we even have a young buck who stays under our deck.

On this day, we saw two does at first. The one kept looking on behind, as though waiting for someone. Shortly we saw why, as a fuzzy youngster followed on after the two does. Above is a picture of the does. In the extras is another shot of what I believe to be mother and child. Despite the cold and the snow, everyone looked good and seemed to be doing well.

In other news, this morning's ice from the stainless steel cat bowl on the front porch was a hall-of-famer. It had gorgeous bubbles in it, and I kept it in a square Pyrex bowl all day, taking photos of my ice and beads and light on the bathroom counter, mostly in the dark. I don't usually admit to the absolute depths of my obsession, but in all, I took about 250 photos of colorful beads and white light through this outstanding specimen of ice.

An artistic concept I was trying to think of how to articulate is this: As the ice melts, and gets thinner, it becomes more clear, and its visual properties change, allowing the colors to become even more vibrant. Tons of bubbles inside added to the fun. In the extras, please enjoy one of the latter photos from that set.

I thought that at times, my bowl of ice and color and light reminded me of a cauldron, or something like that. Then I laughed to think that no leprechaun ever looked more lovingly at its pot of gold than I look at my little bowls of light! Or perhaps, even worse, I've become Smeagol, with "My Precious." :-)

I've got three photos so here are three songs. First, for my ladies above, I've got Sister Sledge, with We Are Family. Second, since there are three female deer, I'm borrowing a song from the album Trio, by Dolly, Emmylou, and Linda, so here is Hobo's Meditation. And for my bowl of color and light, I've got another Dolly tune, a personal favorite, Coat of Many Colors.