see below

working titles of this post

Wow!
Birds
I'm Centered
Amazing World we Live in

I went for a very much needed walk/jog on the local State Forest Trail and am working on honing my bird id. Here's my list, I'm pretty impressed with this amateur ok, maybe not, but seeing so many birds and so many calls I couldn't id was amazing and just being outside this a.m. was so what I needed.


Red-winged blackbird
Chickadee--got to see coming out of a hole in a snag
Wild turkey--gave me quite a start as I saw something moving in the woods, then came running across the path and took flight right
Bald eagle being attacked (flogged, is that the right word?) by an American Crow
Red tailed hawk and by sound!
Downy woodpecker (95% downy not hairy)
Northern cardinal
American robin
?? wren, uniform brown color on the ground and in the shrubs/dried grass, very short tail, very small body.
White-throated sparrow, and oh my, I've been thinking this call was one of the variations of the chickadees! Wow, completely corrected my own misconception!
House sparrows perhaps, would they have been along the marshy section of my walk? What ever it was it made a chipping type sound was mostly gray with brown on the back, had little markings on the front, at most a faint necklace with pendant, distinct stripes on the head.


by sound only
blue jay
mourning dove
wood pecker??
and western chorus frogs

And in our yard lately there's been a large flock of Cedar waxwings and a few Ruby-crowned kinglets, along with the other typicals: robin, mourning dove, cardinal, chickadees, juncos, . . .

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

EEEEEEaster Weekend

Everyday, begins and ends and every possible moment inbetween with reading.

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

Exploring--note the 'struction (construction) hat, everyone had to wear one, looks remarkably like an eye mask? Oh, and chopping stick, good for chopping and sawing trees.

From Spring 2009

Exciting Rides!

From Spring 2009

Egg Dying

From Spring 2009

Egg Finding

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

Eggciting new games and a visiting dog.

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

Maple Tapping

Magoo and I visited a friend's cottage in Frontenac to check out how they make maple syrup.

We pull up in the car and he says, "I wanna go." He knew that at the conclusion of this new adventure there were chicks as I had promised a stop at Runnings to see them. They come in on Thursday and sometimes sell out so fast that if we don't get there that first day. We set off down the hill to take a peek at the trees and discover jelly bean deer scat along the way, he's an expert scat detector already! Then to the trees, we even got to try sap straight out of the tree, not too flavorful. Finally we make it back to the top of the giant mountain (Colorado influence still? it was just a little hill). Then campfire to watch the boiling of the sap was lots of fun, but most fun of all was getting to sample the finished product, boy did his whole body glow and his begging to go quickly ended, the photo I wish I had. Perhaps, next time I'll start with the sugar! We didn't stay too long, had to see the chicks!

From Spring 2009

From Spring 2009

Me

Once in a while I look at other peoples blogs and they're so sunny and cheery and their pictures are so perfect and their writing is so fantastic that I think, "You should start a blog just for yourself." Then I shake myself and say, forget it, you can't maintain the things you already have and besides you already have three blogs of which you barely keep up. So, I'm forced to add this part of me when it does happen here, because in my heart I'm a writer and writing really isn't writing unless you can share it. My great friend Amy's etsy site is filled with these beautifully crafted jewels oh and her jewelery is great too. She writes with such a marvelous sense of voice and self. This piece isn't meant to be a piece of "writing" more a piece of stream of consciousness inspired at least a little by Amy's and other's writing; I liked admitting my neuroses anyway. A reply to an email for the purse I bought on etsy, after she agreed to add more pockets and for free!

Thanks so much for the extra pockets, I've been dreaming about how to use them ever since I sent the email--yes I am just that obsessive that I day dream about more pockets in things! One for pens/pencils, one for my small ipod and microphone, one for my phone, one for my notebook, coupons, checkbook (nope big enough I can find it without a pocket, besides it will be the only thing not in a pocket, until I collect all that other crap) . . . hmmmm where can I stick an extra pair of underwear for my son who can't seem to get potty training? And where do I put the crayons and stickers, bandaids, handwash? The list is endless, my bag is a mess! You get the point. Obsessive with organization, perhaps, perhaps the only thing in my life I actually get to control and clean and it stays that way. I hope I didn't take too much time from your busy sewing life to share my OCD. Thanks for the pockets, you made my day.

From Life is What You Make it

Half the pockets that will be

From Life is What You Make it