It's that time of year

Everywhere one looks in spring, there are babies. Some newborns nuzzle mothers for milk, sleep peacefully nearby while mums graze, or even play. This peaceful scene captured my imagination and that of a friend as we were driving by a  large sheep farm a couple of days ago.

Closer to home, in fact hard against the wall of the "sunporch" to protect it last winter from the freeze, snow and wind, the fishpond is full of mating goldfish. I tried and failed to post a video of the wild (wild for fish that is) activity as the males chased the females, two or three to one, around this tiny space. It was hilarious to watch these creatures jump high in the air and then swim into the roots of the water hyacinth in desperate attempts to escape all the vigorous attention.

Sometimes spring, being the legendary wooing time of year, must mean a whole lot of activity for the females of many species. Not a time to laze around in the shade much, rather nurturing, grabbing forty winks and a breakfast mouthful as the season progresses.

Always something interesting happening in the neighbourhood, or presenting things to ponder as well as enjoy.

Spring activities and sights around our new home

Spring means getting outside - Miss Fatcat Eleia has started her exercise program including climbing trees to see where Mr. Chippy might be hiding, or Mr. Squirrel? She's a busy girl but definitely needs to reduce and shape up.

Christopher on the other hand, figures he is older and requires more sleep and his activities as you can see by the dust on his coat and bits of grass includes more rolling around on the lane or lawn to expose his tummy for petting and scratching. Which I admit, he gets lots of. He usually prefers to snooze in one of the deck chairs.

This set of birdfeeders is well attended as you can tell by their emptiness... the scarlet/orange crest of a red-bellied woodpecker can be seen on the edge of the suet feeder. Lately it has proven attractive to a pair of orioles. I'm hoping they will mate, nest and stick around for a while - such lovely colour. I put out orange sections now - they carry them off - so I'm optimistic.

This set of feeders hanging from the clothesline is very popular with the American goldfinches. There are only a few seen here, but often there are up to 30 or so fluttering like gold pennies around the yard.

Bloodroot suddenly appear amidst the detritus left behind by Hydro crews scouring the landscape underneath power lines... so pretty but gone within a week as summer visits briefly and has them wide open and then gone leaving only their leaves.

The dogs rest in the shade alongside the newly planted beginnings of a garden restoration. This is a favourite afternoon spot with lots of damp black earth to scratch into hollows to cool hot tummies. Not hopeful for planting grass... maybe I leave that space as a dog parking place?

Finally the day glows to an end across the lake - the sun moving northward along the north-western edge of this beautiful area. There are many beautiful views around here, but I haven't yet discovered the opportunities to find wildlife where I can get close enough to photograph them.

Hope you are having a wonderful spring - and thank you to all of you who keep checking back to this blog and encouraging me to get back to writing... So at least once a week, more often if possible - I'll be here.

A new path

Early morning, and the fog lies heavily above the river in the valley below. The apple blossoms were out in profusion. The air warm - bees would be sampling the blossoms along with the flowers in my garden. The dogs were content to go and roll in the grasses that were growing in the pasture beyond the rock wall  along the edge of what I term the "side yard."

  Honeysuckle, lilac, tulips - all blooming more heavily than in previous years - the scent delicious as I walked around checking to see what was out, what needed weeding and what to do next.

Some days later, these beautiful iris along with the Montana Bluets began to bloom. More colour, more of Gaia's beauty.

A couple of weeks later, Sweet William - memories of my brother Bill - who though seldom sweet was certainly flamboyant as these glorious flowers are, competing with the Siberian Iris and Oriental poppies. And oh dear - the grass needs cutting!

The garden has been lush, verdant, and definitely it's showing off - could it be that it's giving me a spring to remember?

The past  two months have been turbulent in many ways, big decisions, lots of emotion, and then some illness making it difficult for me to write, or even want to write. But many people have been very kind and emailed to say "Where are you? and are you okay?"

Thank you for those thoughtful messages. So here's what's happening: I've decided to sell this property, and this has happened. A wonderful young couple will be moving in this fall. Where I will end up I don't know, but I may start another blog - about the process of finding a place to live.

There are many reasons for this new path I'm taking, most particularly that as I get older, it's less easy to manage this two acre property - maintain it at the least and continue to upgrade the buildings. The other reason is that my family lives more than three hours away. When I moved here it took only two hours to get here, but now, with traffic increasing, and no really efficient or sensible public transportation in this country, there are no trains to one of the most popular tourist areas in the province - it takes too long to come here or for me to go to the city easily and within a decent amount of time.

I'm looking forward to a new adventure, but I do wonder how the dogs and cats will deal with it. They'e only known this property and none do well with change - that alone will be an adventure! One I'm sure that will have its hilarious moments as well as difficult ones.

So I'm enjoying the beauty in my garden this year...

...the clematis - which has never had both kinds blooming at the same time, and all the others. I'm also enjoying all the creatures around the area, the calves, the young foals, and of course the antics of my four. So until tomorrow...have a wonderful day - and hope you can enjoy the beauty of spring here in the northern hemisphere, wherever you are and the luminescence of fall in the southern.

Patience is a virtue

Since the photogenic and lovely birds the rose-breasted grosbeaks have arrived at the feeders, I've tried to get many pictures. One day I had a large number of them dropping by.

But on this particular day, I watched as one of the pair of males waited patiently while a hairy woodpecker male chose its favourite seeds from the hopper feeder.

The grosbeak didn't have to wait long, perhaps a minute or two before the woodpecker moved off. They traded places often over the next few minutes.

And then at another feeder, a pair of grosbeaks eat peacefully with the smaller goldfinch. I guess size does matter. And perhaps ferocity.

Woodpeckers, bluejays and grackles seem to be the terrors of the feeder world, chasing other birds away, or making them move to one side while they have their way with whatever goodies are presented for eating - suet and seed in winter, just seeds in spring and summer.

About seeds, I was going through a huge bag of seed once a week, and was thinking the time is coming that I won't be doing this much longer... way too expensive.

However the birds themselves seem to be cutting back.

Or perhaps they've moved on and don't need to eat so much. Black oil sunflower seeds are rich in fats that the small birds require for those bitter mornings to keep them going. But the number at the deck rail, or the other feeders these past couple of weeks with such beautiful weather, has diminished. Today may tell the tale - it's cool, rainy (again) and not nearly as pleasant.

Ah spring - such a fickle season. Yet still my favourite.

Morning song

Every morning as I let the dogs out for their morning ablutions, I hear the most delightful birdsong, twittering, warbling, trilling interrupted by the occasional raucous yell from a blue jay or crow.

While the dogs are checking out who visited in the night, I refill and put out the bird feeders. This morning a young jay greeted me with "What took you so long, the sun's been up for hours?" Yes I was a bit late and was scolded by many blackbirds as well..

After about an hour, while I sit with my coffee, share toast with the dogs and read email, the deck is lined with tiny birds... I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and trying to capture the activity through the window. It makes for a slightly blurry shot, but you can get the sense of how busy it is.

The goldfinches are now all in breeding plumage as you can see... and a busy bunch they are, grabbing seed, fleeing to the trees and shrubs if there is the tiniest move from inside... and returning with glee to chow down on black oil sunflower seeds.

Something about their cheerful appearance - like little bits of sunlight flitting around - or gold pennies whirling in the sunlight - makes me smile.

Spring is my favourite time of year - have you guessed that?

Even if my feet get cold sitting at the computer, I open the doors to the deck now just to hear the delightful songs and bring the outside in.

Hope you enjoy each day the way I am - even the gray and gloomy ones have birds to fill the air with song... and I saw a bluebird on my deck the other day. Hopefully it will nest nearby and I can watch their activities.

Have a special day!

A taste of things to come

Not much to say this morning - I think the iris speak for themselves. I can hardly wait until they are more than just a smidge of green peeking through the remains of winter's passing.

May this be a beautiful day for you as well with interesting and colourful things peeking through.

Anticipation

Okay, I give in, it's gray again, and once more my immediate surroundings are filled with little birds, singing their hearts out to each other. Some of the gold finches are starting to get their breeding colours and the red polls definitely are ready to strut their stuff with bright pink chests and burgundy heads gleaming.

But I want spring... I want to see the flowers covering my apple trees, and bluebirds vying with tree swallows for the nest boxes. I want to sit in the spring sun and gaze across the valley and hear the sound of a tractor in the distance or nothing but birdsong.

Of course I get what I get, but at least I'm not in war torn Libya, or New Zealand with its earthquake, Australia with a multitude of natural disasters from drought through floods and mudslides. Or in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, China or any one of the troubled countries in Africa. Yes Japan and its disasters have stolen the headlines for now, but soon the media will have something else to get excited about and to warn us of impending doom. Technology makes it possible to get the whole world into a frenzy now. Some days my former career as a journalist looks a little on the shabby side as media use hyperbole to build anticipation for the next "big" story. Good news just doesn't seem to cut it any more

However, technology is wonderful in many other ways. It has brought the world's peoples together. We can all help more easily, more quickly and with more resources than has ever been possible wherever there is need.

And too, I can post this blog and hear back from people in countries I've never visited and whose faces I don't know except perhaps from a photograph, but who have become friends. It is truly amazing what is possible these days.

I just hope that we continue to remember that the terrible and sad stories continue in the parts of the world where the spotlight has moved on to another disaster, another crisis.

So anticipation for me today is about looking forward to spring in my pastoral setting, counting every one of my blessings. My hopes are that anticipation around the world is for some good news for all the countries and people that sorely need it. And of course I hope for good news for the animals too - they are forgotten in these troubled times, but without them, our world is lacking.

Just something that I've been thinking about for the past few days.

Cat play

Today since it's still bitter cold out there, I decided to look through old photographs to see what pictures  I had taken at this time last year.

Behold Eleia, my youngest, most energetic and silly cat, watching me as she tries to decide whether to eat the daffodil bloom or leaves. She is a monkey, a rascal cat, and makes me laugh all the time.

She also has brought my older cat Christopher - who arrived on my neighbour's doorstep one evening eight or so years ago as a ninth month old starving kitten - back to life.

Eleia came into our lives via my niece who was looking for homes for five little kittens. I hadn't planned on getting another cat after Zach passed on. But Christopher had gone into a major decline. He had become an only. He didn't like being an only and sat around all the time, sleeping, hiding, and generally moping. He was in deep mourning for his buddy Zach.

Eleia at four or five months old was not allowing that. Though I kept them separate for the first week or so, she soon figured out how to get down the window well of the church windows to the main floor. There was the usual hissing and spitting as Christopher tried to tell her to get lost.

She ignored him. Just as she is looking at me with innocence in her eyes in this photograph, she was secretly planning her next attack as cats are wont to do. She would jump on him. They would roll around on the floor until Christopher would be the one to take off  - in disgust.

It didn't take long.

Her playfulness finally got to him.

Now whenever they see each other they touch noses, sometimes when one is going out and the other coming in. Christopher sleeps on the bottom of my bed. Eleia sleeps in the guest room but comes in throughout the night to cuddle with her buddy - he licks her head, she licks his ears. And then chaos erupts and they battle for a while before going back to sleep. Sometimes they just cuddle, but more often I'm awakened by the silent struggle as they bat one another's heads or play pattycake.

They have become best friends.

Eleia hates the cold, getting her feet wet and wind. So she  hasn't been going outside much all winter. since Christopher often heads outside no matter what the weather, she often has to play by herself.  I find small sponge balls coming down from the loft into the living room or into the kitchen sink where there is another window well up to my bedroom. Or she races from the front of the house to the back leaping on top of furniture, rushing at the dogs, or just running around like a mad thing for the sheer exuberant joy of being alive.

Cat play.

Amusing.

Fun.

And a reminder that it's not only me that can hardly wait for spring! I think everyone everywhere is ready for the season's change. How about you?

That was a short spring!

So much for spring!

Yesterday the winds were so high I nearly got blown off my feet and had to hang onto the car at one point. But walking with the dogs in a field protected by woods, it was pleasant - warm even.

Today back to reality!

It's too blowy and snowy out there this morning so I grabbed an image from a year ago, to show you what the front will look like if the sun shines again  today

It has been an extraordinarily gray winter.

In did notice however that the mourning doves are grateful for the seeds this morning and yesterday I was able to shovel up buckets full of wasted seed and put them on the edge of the field for the rabbits.

On our walk, the dogs rousted a huge hare - I've never seen Bliss run quite so fast. He was about ten feet behind the bunny when it went over a hill and out of sight. It was five minutes before both dogs returned, tongues hanging out. They collapsed soon after, glad to catch their breath in the back of the car.

So it will likely be cold for another few weeks, but definitely spring is in the air. Can hardly wait.

Stay warm and safe today.

Promise of spring

This morning there is more snow on the ground from "flurries" last night... four inches of flurries.But the sun is out, peeking from behind scudding clouds which whisper "more snow on the way."

Inside on the table is a beautiful pot of tulips, each with a scent that pervades the whole house - partly because it's a tiny home, partly because the perfume is so lovely and it carries everywhere.

Often when I come in from the cold and the snow I catch this wonderful scent and it lifts my heart - glance at the brilliant colours that brighten a corner of my "great room" and my spirits soar. It's like a little bit of sunshine and spring inside and promises that soon I will experience this when I go outside my door.

My gardens will show signs of spring even before the snow drifts disappear. Under the snow and leaf cover I will find the tips of tulips, daffodils and hyacinth - first harbingers of spring. Gardening time again.

So every day that the sun sets just a bit later, that I can walk the dogs in daylight a bit later, or gather wood from the drive shed, my heart sings. And I know that I can enjoy this day and what it brings even more than just the joys of watching birds and feeling the nip of a cold wind on my cheeks - spring is coming! My brother saw a robin the other day - spring is coming!

Robin's worry

Christopher, my black cat seen here, waits to be allowed out. He woke me at 5 this morning, patting my shoulder with one velvet paw. I suddenly realized that I was listening to the "Buck buck buck" sound of a robin (above) calling to its fledged young. Was Christopher telling me Eleia, my other cat, was out on the deck?

Would she find the baby on the ground? I raced downstairs and brought her in. She will stay inside most of the day and hopefully by that time the baby will be strong enough to fly to safety.

Robin babies often spend at least 24 hours on the ground after they leave the nest - flying short hops from here to there to gain strength and confidence. So many of them don't make it since they are truly vulnerable during these early stages.

Robin parents call repeatedly to the baby - I'm assuming this is an encouragement. However I've heard a frantic calling from them which I also assume is a warning - danger danger - specially when I walk close to the baby or there is some other presumed threat. Of course I get dive-bombed by the parents who make a huge fuss trying to divert me from their wee one.

Bluebirds also do this alerting and encouraging their young. There is a pair of these tiny harbingers of happiness brooding in one of my nest boxes at the moment. So exciting to see the flash of turquoise as they search for flies, grubs and other insects in the lawn grass.

Fledging of all birds is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, since so many baby robins, bluebirds and several ground nesting species like meadowlarks, bobolinks and red-winged blackbirds seldom make it beyond this grounding day. Conversely, I've watched baby swallows fall out of their nest boxes, but their wings pop out like mini-parachutes and they swoop into the sky - "Look Mom - I can fly!" Then the whole family dives and floats, swoops and skims the tops of the high grasses - pure delight to watch.

So if you see a baby robin on the ground - it might just be in the first stages of fledging - not necessarily unable to fly, but only able to fly a short way. Give it room and watch... one of nature's little miracles.

cheerio for now -

Swan dive images