Thursday, December 11, 2008

What a hoot!


No outfit picture today -- hanging around the house and doing some preliminary holiday cleaning and not exactly dressed photo-worthy. But in the interim I just had to post this really cool pic of a recent visitor to my yard. Perched on a hemlock branch right behind where I often stand for my photos is a beautiful barred owl -- and she's come to our yard every day for 3 days now.

While I'm at it, this brings up a FAQ: where do I live? I live in northern NJ in an area called the Highlands, a part of New Jersey with lots of state parks and protected watershed. In fact, my little mid century cottage backs up onto 150+ acres of protected woodland, thus we have alot of wildlife on my quiet street that one doesn't typically associate with suburban NJ...coyote, bear, deer, fox, turkey and now this beautiful owl. We are blessed to live where we do...we have all this gorgeous nature -- yet I'm minutes from the highway and my DH commutes to NYC!

So, enjoy the view out my window & have a great day...see ya tomorrow w/an outfit pic :)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely photo! I am a huge owl fan. ;D

We have a place in Greenwood Lake, NY (near West Milford, NJ) and last weekend we saw two deer picking their way through the trees in our backyard. It was just amazing! Of course the black bears can be a bit frightening. ;D

Kayleigh said...

Hi Debbie! Greenwood Lk is not far from my area...aren't you lucky to have a place there :) Yes, the bears are frightening sometimes, but after 15 yrs here it's pretty much old hat to us now. My kids don't play outside alone, we have bear-proof garbage cans and don't feed the birds so as not to attract them unnecessarily. But they still travel thru our back yard frequently and it is an awesome sight to see...one I wouldn't trade for anything :D

Thanks for coming by!

Sheila said...

I didn't even know New Jersey had areas like this! How amazing that you are surrounded by all that nature!

I live on a large island (about the size of the Florida panhandle) off the west coast of Canada. North of Seattle, west of Vancouver. Don't be misled, though: I live in a large city! You do have to fly or take a ferry to get off the island, though.

Erica said...

I envy you living somewhere so beautiful! Dallas, not so pretty. :)

Jane said...

The only place I had heard of in New jersey was Asbury Park (my husband is a big Bruce fan).
Your neck of the woods looks a million miles from there.

La Belette Rouge said...

I do miss living in that kind of environment. The only wildlife we have now are a few squirrels, one rabbit( that I feel sure is an escaped pet), and that is it. In the Northshore of Chicago we had fox, deer, amazing birds, squirrels,and chipmunks. So nice.

Thanks for sharing some of your beautiful environment with us.

Kayleigh said...

Thanks all!

Sheila -- I've always wanted to see your part of the world! I lived in Quebec for a summer once and have seen Ontario (Toronto) but the western part of Canada seems so beautiful, such as the Vancouver area. I hope to make a trip there when my kids are older. And an island, wow, that sounds soooo cool.

Erica -- I've never been to Texas but my brother was stationed there years ago. I would imagine that Dallas has alot to offer, being a large city.

Jane -- ah yes, the 'Jersey shore & Bruce, an NJ claim to fame :) I've spent some time at "the shore" (as we call it)...Asbury Pk is just hours away and I have family in other parts of the shore.

La Bellette Rouge, DH & I have actually done the opposite of what it sounds like you did...we moved from a more urban area out to the farther reaches of NJ. Tho I did grow up in an area that used to be similar to where I am now. I miss the convenience of being closer to the city but love the wildlife so much I would miss that if I left :)

Trace said...

Awesome picture. I've got to show it my husband. Where you live sounds so idyllic! You are truly lucky!

Kayleigh said...

Thanks Trace! It's funny, we moved here partly because it had cheap house prices (for NJ) yet was a reasonable commute to NYC -- it was all we could afford when we were 1st married. Yet now some 15 yrs later I think I would choose this area even if I could afford more. Go figure :)

Unknown said...

What a beautiful photo! Where you live sounds so gorgeous, how lucky you are. I'd love to live backed up to so much wild land!

Kayleigh said...

Thanks Kass -- so sorry, I missed this comment :)

It is nice to have these woods, it's the main reason we stay in our small little house (2bdrm, 1bath getting smaller by the minute w/2 kids now, lol)...we probably will stay here and maybe put an addition on as my family grows up.