I have taken lots of bird photographs of late because they have shown up big, and as you well know, I can't help myself. In spite of the twenty mph winds yesterday afternoon, along with the thermometer reading about 28, while going to get the mail I saw scads of birds in a ratty looking tree/bush right across the street. Hoping for the best, I marched inside, grabbed my camera with the longest zoom and marched right back outside again. I probably should have had gloves on because baby, it was cold outside!
Nonetheless, when a flock of birds shows up, I'm your girl.
These are Cedar Waxwings feasting on really tiny berries. With any luck you will be seeing them again now that I have had such a good opportunity. For the last few weeks I have tried and tried to get good shots, but they have been so high up in the trees it has been impossible to show off their beauty.
With any luck they will come back for seconds this afternoon!
Last week was a strange one for us as we experienced what it is like to prepare for a winter weather event. After I wrote my blog post we went to the grocery store and there were a lot of people there on a Tuesday afternoon which seemed strange until I realized that they were buying for the upcoming storm which was billed as catastrophic. It was fierce for some places, but we were spared pretty much all of it if you don't count the extreme cold. Anyway, Bruce retrieved all sorts of things from our camping gear to prepare us for whatever came our way. The generator we brought here started on the third pull which is really saying something because it had not been started for many years. Gotta love a Honda.
Meanwhile I am in bird heaven. Each morning, around 8:00, I set my phone to record the bird sounds and some days there have been as many as 17 different birds, including a bird that I rarely see, and I do mean rarely that showed up in Sandy's yard across the street.
This would be a Northern Flicker should you be wondering. One thing that has struck me when I write the names down, and really shouldn't I have noticed this before? Almost every bird seems to have a first and a last name and sometimes they even used their middle name! Think Northern Cardinal.
Northern Mockingbird!
Eastern Phoebe!
All these pretty birds were in our yard which makes taking their picture so easy!
Because of all the drama associated with the impending doom from the storm, the week dragged on. One day it was supposed to hit on Friday, the next Saturday, and the severity of it kept changing. Sound familiar to the Floridians reading this? Inches of snow, then it was ice, then it was rain......
One evening we spent some time at the wine shop just to get out, even though nothing had really happened. That being said, the sky was filled with big fat clouds just after dark with a sliver of a moon visible.
Mind you it was cold, but it was to get colder and I am here to testify that at least the weather folks got that right.
Saturday morning a fairly new downtown place posted on Facebook that they would be open until 2pm with the storm now predicted to arrive around 5:00; an out of the way place that I figured could use our business, so after some chores, we went over. After having a chat with the folks who are opening a new market, we went in and found two folks at the bar.
I just loved the cute little coasters although it looks as if this one could use some glue to tidy it up. Anyway, the couple was delightful, were in town to attend a class at the folk school, and were staying across the street from us at Sandy's bed and breakfast!! Their home base is Nashville and the woman kept receiving photos from her co-workers of the massive snow storm they were missing in Nashville. When she told me that she worked at Ann Patchett's
bookstore there, I was freaking out. If that name does not ring a bell that is understandable, but for this fan girl, she is one of my favorite authors. Anyway, they were very interesting and it was a good way to pass a few hours.
So what IS the bottom line? We got rain and it went on for about 24 hours and then the sun came out, weakly, but it did come out. I took off for a walk. I do so love the fog in the mountains!
I neglected to mention that church was actually canceled because of all the uncertainty. That, my friends, is a very rare occurrence in their 102 year history. Walking down the main drag towards the river, the puddles were minimal.
My mission was to see how high the river was and indeed it had risen. The clouds were so good!
More importantly after some pretty gloomy weather it was great to see blue.
As it was getting later, my walk was not terribly long, but it was good to get out. I took the back way home and watched the sky take on a bruised look, although there was a wee bit of red in the sky, it was hard to know what was going to happen next.
I'd gone up early to read in bed, and when Bruce came up he said his phone was telling him that there was a one percent chance of snow overnight.
Here's what that looks like.
While I am on the subject of snow, I came across this photo of our family when we lived in Buffalo, NY. Can you even imagine?
Nancy is in my Mom's arms, Carol is beside her on the right, Maureen to the left, Pat and Gail, far right. Lisa comes into the picture a few years later after we moved to Orlando. I do not mind the cold at all, but the amount of clothes that pile up is definitely something I am still getting accustomed to.
Back to Murphy, all morning long the flurries came down.
The wind whipped it every which way and when I say it was cold, I am not exaggerating one bit. The temperature never rose above freezing!
The good news was that the sun came out, melted everything that was not in the shade and everyone's spirits lifted!
Bruce went to the basement and braving the cold which when he is working on something, barely notices. He wanted to plug some gaps that he did not like to look at and were responsible for letting in a lot of cold air.
I love this picture ! It is so crazy. He is in the crawl space and climbed through that opening to get there!! It all looks neat and tidy which won't surprise you in the least.
Meanwhile I was finishing this upstairs,
and making bread on the middle floor, aka known as the kitchen!
I would give the bread a C grade, little taste and nothing to recommend it, but I would give the loaf of zucchini bread from our neighbor Becky, an A.
If possible, it is even colder today with the heater running like mad all morning long.
Bruce had parked the car in a position so that if we had snow he could drive straight down the driveway, thus much was in the shade. When we were off to do a few errands around 10:00 this morning, the windshield looked like this.
It was quite the challenge getting the ice off the windshield but the temperature has soared to 30 degrees so maybe tomorrow it will be 40?
Nope, if the forecast is to be taken seriously, we will have to wait until next week. In the meantime winter is a good time to catch up on things which in my case, involves reading more novels! And who knows, after talking to my sister who takes more exercising classes than anyone I know, maybe I will try drum fit at the senior center. After all, this is a year for trying new things.
Just don't think I will be giving up my birds anytime soon!
Hope your day is full of joy!
your friend,
Gail
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