Get Down with Downy

Some wear their heart on their sleeve...looks like this fellow wears his heart elsewhere? Woodpeckers are so joyful, aren't they? (Click on it for a closer look.)

Red Valentines Gift

Throughout the winter months the ornamental grasses at the driveway have bobbed their feathery heads in rhythm to whichever beat the wind sends our way. They are ever graceful and even with clinging ice or a dusting of snow, they manage to provide a warmth by their presence.

Today, with the golden afternoon sun on our backs and optimism in our stance we began the laborious process of cutting back this hedge in preparation for spring. The hedge stands tall and proud at the edge of the driveway with the land falling sharply away into wild roses and thorny holly trees on the back side. This labor of love has to be carefully planned and executed. We gathered the crisp stalks in our arms like wheat and carried them to the vegetable garden and placed them on the path for mulch.

As I started to lift my eyes from the path this lovely velvet red color inside one of the broken stalks caught my gaze. I had to bring it inside to photograph.

If you click the photo to enlarge it looks like red sugar cystals...which perhaps it is? Maybe plant sugars? How sweet.

Beech Tree Leaves

While some people are now thinking about lying on a sandy beach in the warm sun, I looked up at these paper thin, golden, beech leaves crackling like a fire in the wind yesterday and I felt very warm.

Dwarapala

This Dwarapala or door guardian has sat patiently through all kinds of weather at the front door of our home(s). He is our gatekeeper and has been with us for many years. My daughter used to pile various flower blossoms on his head and on his belly in the spring and summer as she had seen her Indonesian playmates do. He is patient through all kinds of weather and stands strong to greet us upon our return from any journey. It was with intentional effort that we crated him in wood and brought him to the United States with us. It is with intentional effort that we lift and move him from house to house. He is made of volcanic stone and weighs perhaps 70 pounds. He has not changed over the years except to develop for a fine patina of green that seems to last through all seasons.

Doom and Gloom

Even gloom can sometimes be strikingly beautiful as was this recent sunset that had begun just as the winter snowstorm arrived from the West. The birds had been very active at the feeders during the day clearly knowing that snow and colder wind was on the way. I took this photo just as the sun was passing over the river and it was so stark and so gloomy and yet so breathtaking and beautiful that I was glad to have captured it.

My Friend Flicka

There are a pair of flickers in our neighborhood and they only visit as the sun is beginning to throw long shadows against the trees. They swoop in from somewhere across the forest and land on our snags and proceed to excavate whatever they can. They are fast and cautious and, therefore, difficult to catch still in a photograph. I can sometimes hear their 'wicker' call and then I am able to zone in to find them on a high branch poking away. I was lucky last night and raced out to the deck to catch this beautiful bird. They are my favorite woodpecker and this photography almost does their beauty justice as the bird books I have cannot. This is a much better screensaver in terms of clarity.

Timing is everything.

I moved all of the bulbs from the basement and now have a happy grouping near the windows. If we can get more sunny days this would be nice. I am like the lady with too many cats, I know. I just cannot throw them out and no one seems to want them.

These lovely ladies are very close to providing me with some nice color to break the bleak gray days. I think they are the pink or a smaller amaryllis and not the brilliant red ones.


This odd looking bud was trying to shoot toward light at the bottom of the pile of bulbs in the dark bag that I had left for planting this week. Clearly I have messed with it's time clock. I spread the planting time over the month of January, but I don't label the bulbs by time...so they get quite confused. It will be interesting to see how it does.

These are now the tiny kaffir limes that have set on the branches. There are way too many for this small tree as I have about four branches like this. But I will see how they do as move toward early spring. This lime rind can be bitter, so just the juice is what I want to use in drinks and cooking and of course the lovely pungent and savory leaves add that very unique flavor and smell.

Pocket Llint

Found in the pocket of a jacket that had not been worn since the prior fall.

Warm and Cozy

The days have indeed been frosty and the finger of the river where I live has a light crisp layer of ice on its surface which has prevented the varied ducks that had intrigued me last week from visiting my neck of the woods. Yesterday was a nice clear and bright day and as the sun was setting the woodpecker in the photo above stopped on a snag just outside my back window and ate his dinner. His warm colors and the warmth of the setting sun were a wonderful contrast to the gray and cold days we had been having. It is not the best viewed in higher resolution but clicking on the photo will enlarge for a nice screen saver.

Bye Bye Blackbird

(While the song was probably not written about a redwing blackbird, this came to my mind when I was capturing these visitors to the feeder.)

Pack up all my care and woe,
Here I go,
Singing low,
Bye bye blackbird,
Where somebody waits for me,
Sugar's sweet, so is she,
Bye bye
Blackbird!

No one here can love or understand me,
Oh, what hard luck stories they all hand me,
Make my bed and light the light,
I'll be home late tonight,
Blackbird bye bye.

Make my bed and light the light,
I'll be home late tonight,
Leave you bird jet in the sky
Toodle oo!
Farewell!
Bye bye!

Blackbird
(Blackbird,Blackbird)
We'll take the flying little blackbird bye!

(And this little known but relevant later verse)

Blackbird, blackbird singing the blues all day
Right outside of my door.
Blackbird, blackbird why do you sit and say
There's no sunshine in store?
All through the winter you hung around.
Now I begin to feel homeward bound.
Blackbird, blackbird gotta be on my way
Where there's sunshine galore.

More on this 1926 song here.

Storm of Death and Beauty

January has almost exited for 2009 and we are finally getting our first snowstorm. Another wave of ice and snow is yet to follow. These two visitors are like rare jewels against the soft white lace that is draped everywhere. All of the feathered fellows are making rough noises and sharp chatter as they compete with other species at the feeders today. When briefly satiated, they sit like puffed ornaments in the nearby holly watching others dart among spilled seeds on the snow below. At least five people have died as this storm crossed their paths and I try to stretch my mind around that drumbeat while watching these jewels flit around outside my window.

Nature is so lovely and like a rising ruby fire so destructive.

Elegance on the water

These redheaded diving ducks (now I think they are canvas backs!) are so lovely. They hurry away as I approach and do not linger near the dock even if I am not there. They are dressed like royalty. I love the burgundy hoods in contrast with the shade of gray and brown. The cold winter weather has forced them to this peninsula, but soon they will move on as the snows and icy weather approach in the coming days. I wish I could follow them down the coast. There are seven of them in the group, and they all look like males. Maybe they are brothers off to party in Florida before mating for spring?

Identity Problem

The very first photo looks like a hooded merganser to me. He is hanging out just behind the brush at the edge of the water near my dock. A small family of diving ducks...maybe pochards...have also visited the creek today. I don't know if this is the common pochard or the redhead...but it looks like the redhead to me. Photo isn't crisp enough, but these guys are somewhat shy and I was unable to get closer. And then off to inside of the creek and hanging loosely away is the fourth photo above. Too far to determine, but looks like a lone goldeneye? Any bird experts who may lurk at my blog feel free to chime in. (Clicking on the photos will enlarge.)

Like a blue-white witch
She blows icy syrup
And everything is cold and brittle.
You cannot hug or even touch
Because you will break.
The quiet is all that keeps the peace.
Any noise would shatter the still moment
Into three thousand shards of shivery points.
It is a vulnerable royal fortress
Held fast only by the silent moment
Of temporary permission.
You must go
Or you will also be a blue temporary thought
Untethered by change.

Peaceful Tanka

Sunny winter morn
Two stately doves bow again
Symbols of blue peace
Suggest each day starts simple
I also can begin again

Today Have Some Fun!

New Visitors

New visitors to the feeders. We have regularly seen this northern mockingbird in the yard throughout the year and listened to their lovely r'epertoire of songs during the summer, but the first time seen this late in winter at the water base. The Towhee below is a rare visitor indeed and only seen very briefly in the spring sometimes. Perhaps his visit is appropriate during this coldest of weeks as National Geographic says the song varies from 'Drink your tea" to "Drink tea.'

Any Old Path Will Do

The one great thing about the natural world is that every path leads you to something just a little different, just a little more interesting than what you had recently passed. It is hard to turn around and go back even though the day is bleary cold. Although the path is the same as you took yesterday, it will pull you forward because something new happened when you were sleeping...some new color change, some new plant, new animal trail, or new birdsong will intrigue you until you realize that you have forgotten the time of day and must pull together all your strength to return.

Fruition

Yes. Yes. Yesss!!!

The Fire

My nose was deep in a pot of chicken, mushrooms, onions, rosemary and artichoke hearts in the preparation of a nice dinner casserole when I happened to glance out the window. I could have seriously broken something as I raced through the house in search of my camera and onto the deck to capture this flaming sky. I didn't even remove the deck rail in framing the shot, I was so focused on the beauty of the sky. I can never get too many of these gorgeous sunsets during the winter. They warm my soul, my heart and my mind.

Feeding Nature

We have estimated that we spend about $30 a month on sunflower seeds and we have only one sunflower feeder. The thistle seed is less popular. Oh well, there are other vices in old age.

Waiting for the Other Shoe

I have seen lovely and sometimes dangerous photos of winter across the Internet as it visits various bloggers. Yet, our fall has been long and unusually mild. It reached 54 F just this afternoon. I collected kindling from the forest floor and watched blackbirds congregate at the side of the road for seed. It is a little like waiting for a favorite relative to leave.

Ice on the Water

Although the day was cool, it was not cold. Every shade of gray had fallen across the woods and we got into the car and drove to the other side of the peninsula to the park. We took a different trail this time, following the guidance of arrows as if they were demands. In no time a quick and quiet pace had been started with footfalls rhythmically buried in the layer of fallen leaves on the wide path. The damp air captured the sound of our breathing. The only other sound was the dancing across the leaves of a disturbed squirrel now and again.

Eventually the trail took a sharp turn across a boardwalk, but we followed the narrow game trail that invited us straight ahead. There was some deep knee bending beneath fallen oaks required and some large straddling over other logs when eventually we reached the opening wetlands.

The view was uncovered to the ocean in the far distance, but the way was blocked by a lake of gray black water and wheat colored marsh grass. At least one, perhaps two, beaver families had begun the harvest of a number trees in various stages of growth some in early death stood scared while others had already fallen to the forest floor. We sat on one of the larger fallen logs and a woodpecker flew screaming overhead breaking the silence. As we caught our breath the sound of the foghorn at the lighthouse on the point punctured the foggy air in answer to the woodpecker's rhythmic scolding. We sat in silence for sometime but the darkening night forced our return.

We crossed the boardwalk on the trail to our return path and crossed another hill into another marsh valley. This one noisy with mallards and geese whose sudden and panicked flight startled us as we neared.

There was ice on the waters edges but we were not cold. We were complete and comfortable.

The Beginning of Winter Red

I found these little brave faces peaking at the sun in the 30 degree temperature from a pot on the deck and wanted to share.


I unpacked from the black garbage bags about a third of my amaryllis and re-potted them in pots of new soil and after soaking them in water as hot as my hands could tolerate, I placed them in the sun in my kitchen corner. Already one or two are sending up lime green shoots. I was worried because I no longer have a cold basement...these were stored in a cool but heated corner of the storage room. I worry that the last group I bring up will have mold or fungus. I will see.

Early Winter Blossoms

This is the Kaffir lime tree blossom. I have quite a few on this little tree and may have to remove some of the limes so that others can get bigger. You will have to go to my other blog in a few days to see why I think these limes are so wonderful, to say nothing of cooking with the leaves. The blossom itself, interestingly enough, is not nearly as fragrant at the Calamondin blossoms.

Farewell from 2008

Never shy about a throwing a flamboyant goodbye party, the sky and river bid us adieu with such a brilliant sunset on the last night before the New Year's Eve that I was forced to hold my breath until the cold seeped through my jeans forcing me to hurry in my stocking feet back to the house.

Alien Zephyr

A soft warm beauty more gently lovely than I had seen in a long time came visiting yesterday. She gracefully entered from the West. She effervesced a teasing smell that did not reflect or fit the gray and sleeping landscape over which she skipped. She entered with such presence that all living things stopped to watch and held their breath as if they were afraid their presence might frighten her into leaving not to return anytime soon. The birds then broke into songs that they usually saved for the best of the springtime days. Those plants that winter's icy fingers had not yet put to sleep, seemed ready to burst with renewed energy. I wandered through the nearby woods drinking in the warm smell as if I had been oxygen deprived for weeks, as perhaps I had. I closed my eyes and let her breath linger on my skin hoping to hold this memory for months to come. When I returned home I flung open windows everywhere to let the perfume inside. What a lovely gift the earth has given me this time of year.

The Tipping Point

Only with the passage of time can we look back and see the points where our life tips away in one direction or another. We are forced to slow down during the cold gray days of winter and pause with our memories and then we can review all those tipping points and think about whether we pushed to go over and tip or something tipped us.

Crow Song

The constant caw of the crows this morning actually make the early gray dawn seem warmer with an energy that only black crows can carry forward. They seem to celebrate my birthday today with their persistent call like the laugh of several buddies remembering an old but favorite joke. An old joke? Is that me?

Or are they celebrating the shortest day of the year knowing that now ever so slowly the days begin to get longer and 'psychologically' warmer?

Calamondin Cake Here I come

As you can see from the lower middle part of the picture I have already picked at least one of these orange limes...so delicious in tea or on fish! The blossoms are erupting with complete abandon and my corner of the kitchen smells like a citrus orchard. I have a lovely recipe from one of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks as soon as I have a dozen calamondins!

Fiddle - Faddle

Yes I am fiddling with the layout. Boring gray days and impatience for spring already I am guessing. Trying to get rid of the lime green but can't find the html code for that! Could only change the background for the body.

Sunrise - Sunset

As I age I find that I frequently do not know whether I should look backward or forward more often for wisdom. Is the better part of the day sunrise or sunset? Are beginnings or endings the most important to cherish and learn from?

(Photo was taken in the mountains of Italy at the end of a very gray day in an almost empty village where my ancestors once lived.)

She Will Get Your Attention

I was shopping the other day at one of those warehouse discount stores. The kind that make me feel guilty everytime I enter them. I needed napkins, paper towels, etc. ---remember my other blog and the visiting relatives?.

Inside the cavernous room people were busy stocking up on foods and decorations for the holidays. Baskets were filled with exotic pre-made desserts, large selections of cheeses and chunks of fresh or frozen meat. We all were eager to pay for our larder and get home.

Mother Nature knew we were distracted and insisted we pause, for as we left the building a fresh very cool rain had just passed leaving everything sparkly wet and as we looked to the sky not only one but two rainbows arched over the parking lot. Everyone stopped in their mad pace and strangers suddenly became wonderfilled children talking to each other and smiling at the sky.

I did not get a photo, but perhaps the words above can paint a picture in one's minds eye.

My Corner

The room without walls is graying rapidly. All of the trees are left with bare fingers pointing to the gray sky. Much is now dying or going into the long sleep. In the corner of my house facing the southwest winter sun, my tiny new calamondin tree has redeemed the gray passage for us with tiny tangy orange citrus for our drinks and is now filling the tips of its tiny branches with lovely white blossoms. Soon the alluring fragrance of citrus will fill that corner of the room reminding me that spring is hiding around another corner.

Celestial Buddies

Best I could get...if you click on the photo you will get a better view of this celestial friendship.

Wonder

The object in life should be to never lose one's sense of wonder
about the beauty of this earth and the awesome changes in each season.
Sharing the wonder with those you love is the very best of life.