December Photo Scavenger Hunt

Christmas is over; the house guests have gone...

Time to get back to photography fun!

Early December brought frosty stormy weather, followed by torrential rain, causing flooding in the low lying areas...all that coupled with king tides made for an interesting month.  By the time Christmas rolled around, the weather had become much more pleasant, with many people out and about walking off their Christmas indulgences!  Here are my photos for December's photo hunt:

The first few photos were taken 'where the river meets the sea' during the frosty days.

1.  Where you stood:

From the shoreline, I saw this juvenile Bald Eagle perched on a post.  The tide was high, reaching much farther up the post than I'd seen before.

2.

2.  Down low:

Frosty ground covering under foot ~

3.  A view from here:

Looking at the high water levels, I noticed the swamped grasses along the shore ~

 On my previous visit, the grasses were still looking storm-weathered but more visible:

 4.  A favourite thing:

One of my favourite things is taking photos of Bald Eagles, and here is a juvenile in flight ~  Notice snowy peaks in the background.

 5.  Front door:

There is a winter Jasmine bush right outside my front door that serves as a food source and resting spot for the many small birds that venture into my yard.   I have seen hummingbirds, sparrows, wrens, towhees, chickadees and nuthatches perched on its branches, or flitting through the bush.

6.  Sweet:

I baked some lemon frosting-drizzled Ginger Crackle Cookies for my three nieces, snuggling in a few gingerbread candies amongst the baked goods.  I placed the cookies in a 9" square covered baking dish, and gave the dish/cookie combination to each of them.  They were well received :)

7.  Christmas:

A Christmas visitor ~ Santa Claws perfectly bedecked!  A wonderful surprise to see a male pileated woodpecker visiting the red oak tree in the front yard.  Notice his jaunty red moustache.

Lo and behold, Mrs. Claws visited the next day! (No red moustache).

8.  Decoration:

Whoops!  I noticed that strong winds had bowled over these Christmas garden decorations ~ an upsy-down-daisy polar bear among other things ~

9.  Tree:

No, not a Christmas tree, although mine was sparkling in its glory with 'Snowbird Star' on top :)

This is a three-parter ~ A tree catching the rays, and dripping with moss ~

One of the numerous uprooted trees floating in the ocean.  Erosion of riverbanks caused by the stormy weather, heavy rainfall and flooding took its toll.

and I liked this tree silhouette with father and son out for a walk.  I also thought this one photo covered many of the categories for this month ~  

10.  Tradition:

It has become a tradition for me to give my nieces a homemade card and goodies for Christmas ~

Here is my card for the niece who likes owls ~ not Ho, Ho, Ho, but

The owl card idea came from here.

11. Black and White:

One of the photos I took of crows high in the trees, had a black and white atmosphere about it, so I removed any traces of colour.

12. Whatever:

It's been awhile since I shared a photo of the sea lions taking a break from salmon feasting, basking on the breakwater pontoons. 

Thanks again to Greenthumb for sponsoring these monthly photo Scavenger Hunts.

Thanks you again for visiting my blog and leaving your comments throughout the year :)  Here's wishing you all a fantastic 2015, as the New Year approaches.