Who Doesn't Love Spring?

Seriously, is there anyone of sound mind that doesn't love Spring? What with all of the beautiful flowering trees and plants, not to mention the darling little babies being born, what's not to like? Of course, you aren't as obsessed with the bird thing like myself, or, maybe you are.

I know I'm not the only one as each time I head over to Greenwood I meet new folks, both male and female, who can't get enough of the owls, or the eagles. I might venture to guess, some of those same folks are even more obsessed than I am, going there daily, rather than every couple of days, as is my practice.

Of course, that was before this happened yesterday morning.

So, here's the scoop....

After Bruce left for his Dallas flight early yesterday morning, I thought to myself, "it's been a few days since you were last at Greenwood, why not go now?  Why not indeed? Parking the MINI around sunrise, I was hoping I would see both of our bird families, and I was not disappointed in the least.

Do you see what I see in the upper branches of the lone Pine tree?

You may remember me talking about the "golden hour" and here's quite the example of that.

From talking with other enthusiasts, who are more knowledgeable than I, this is probably the male eagle, watching the nest from afar. I had the place all to myself, or so I thought until I walked closer to the nest,  seeing the eaglets testing their wings.

It was there that I ran into Jack Rogers, my former Historical Geology professor from Valencia, who had driven over before school. We talked about the owls, and he told me he'd seen the owlets already.

Say what?? Oh my gosh.

Walking over to the trees, we spotted both parents, the Mama was perched behind the nest amidst the Spanish Moss, while the male was in his usual location in the adjacent tree. After a bit, she popped on top of the crevice and there she was as pictured above.

I was pretty much freaking out at the action before my eyes! The cuteness of this was making me crazy! Plus, I felt so blessed to witness nature in action.

Down she went...

and the action began, with her feeding the owlets a rat. Curious, every now and again, they would look out into the wider world.  Glancing at my watch every so often, I had to take my leave because I actually had something important to do. I left Jack with his tripod...

Once home, I made a mad dash to get ready for Days for Girls, finishing one of the quilting lines before packing the sewing machine, as the quilt was still under the needle. We had a real treat during our time together. Make that more like huge inspiration from Helen, our partner, who actually distributes the kits to the girls in Malawi. Look at that beautiful smile!

She absolutely radiated goodness! Her descriptions of the dire conditions facing the people of Malawi brought tears to my eyes. Passing around a scad of photographs of the young woman who actually receive our kits was enough to get all of us inspired anew. She claims, and I don't think she is exaggerating one bit, that we are changing girl's lives with our work. On her last trip she distributed nearly 800 kits from our group, which may not sound like a lot to you, and I'll grant you it is a drop in the bucket of  the needs, however, each kit takes so many steps to make, I think it is miraculous! Should you care to know more about the mission of Days for Girls, please click on this link.

Pictured below are the two dynamos that make it all happen, Sharleen, in the foreground, and Helen in the back.

When I got home, I set up my machine to keep working on the liners, although Baxter sure seems to have other ideas about me using my chair!

Actually, I pushed him closer to the back and sat down anyway, sewing about ten more liners together before the pull of my bird obsession proved to be too strong. Back I went to Greenwood in the late afternoon, and naturally, I ran into others that I know. John,  is the one who originally told me about the owls. The middle woman is Kim, and Sally in the mustard pants, is one of our Hill's Happy Hour group. Having told her about the eagles and owls, a few weeks ago, she is completely hooked as well. That said, we only saw the eaglets hopping around in their nest.

Good grief, I went back again this morning!! Forgive me for showing yet another photo but in spite of the hundreds I've taken of owls in the past few years, it is only just now that I am loving those marks on her inside tail feathers. Very retro actually. (apologies for the poor lighting)

Aren't they cute? This morning there was not a repeat of yesterday's action, however, I met a woman named Candy who was not only a lovely person, she was also a fount of information. Go to Lake Eola and see the baby swans was her advice.

You might be surprised to learn that once I quit doing the market, I don't think I've been back to Lake Eola ever since. Weird, isn't it? Throughout my years there,  I would always see the swans hatching, well, because I saw them every week. Heeding her advice, I drove the few miles over, and began walking around the lake. I came across this display which is very important to our son David who will be attending over weekend. My sweet twins will be celebrating their 38th (!) birthday on Saturday. Because of Dave's plans, our plans with them will probably have to wait until the following weekend.

If you've been to Lake Eola, you know the swans are plentiful, which means you have probably seen many images of them on Camera Crazy before. That aside, I could not resist another of this graceful bird.

Lo and behold, as I made my way past the Wrestlemania sign, look what I saw...

Holy Cow they were cute as can be!

I suspect, just a few months ago, the lake would have filled the area where they were sunning themselves, however, because we are now considered to be in a mild drought, the lake is very low.

So, I kept walking and YIKES, more cuteness!

Let it be known that choosing what photos to put into this post was extremely difficult. As in excruciating, because there are so many cute subjects. 😀

On we go over to the area adjacent to the swan boats..and, here they are!

While standing there, a darling young woman from Ohio stopped to take photographs, and we oohed and aahed over them together. How could you not?  Eventually, they went for a swim as swans are wont to do.

This may or may not have been the right move, going to Lake Eola, because that was a bunch of cuteness all in one place;  clearly, I have enough obsessions at the moment.

Seriously, how can I help it when Spring provides such a bounty of photographic opportunities?

Tearing myself away, I stopped to buy more thread, as I've used up an entire spool on the quilt, and there is still a half to go, as well as picked up our taxes in Winter Park, gladly paying our bill.

And now, my friends, it is time to get back to work on the quilting, that is, until the arthritis in my hand forces me to stop. A camera doesn't hurt it one bit.

yours truly,

Gail