Holy Waxwings!

I put up a bird- feeder last spring and began to see an impressive variety of backyard birds. I'd seen pictures of cedar waxwings and started looking for them in my yard, neighborhood and local parks. No luck. I just never saw this particular bird around town. This morning my husband asked me to look at a bird that was sitting on a wire over the road beyond our driveway. He thought it was a jay but when I glanced out I suspected it might be the elusive waxwing. I rushed for my binoculars and was absolutely stunned. There were waxwings by the dozens!! What a sight! They were sitting all over the wires. What a way to start the day!

Enchiladas!

The Good Times of Summer

My friend and coworker when we visited another friend at her lakeside campsite last August. Another summer is just around the corner with the promise of evening sunsets, leaves rustling in gentle breezes, colorful wildflowers and fun times!

Creative Maxie Photo

My older daughter got artistic when creating a memorable photo of Maxie the Schnauzer.

Spring ain't all good!

We recently took a memorial Day weekend trip to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont. When we arrived in the late afternoon we were shocked to see so many roads closed. What was going on?? After several detours along potholed dirt roads and through darkening forests we finally arrived at the general store we always visit when in St. Johnsbury (which is usually just minutes from the motel) and we were told of a horrific thunderstorm that had passed through the area the night before. We were told that 5 inches of rain fell in just 2 hours. Creeks had flooded causing roads everywhere to collapse and many of the dirt roads had washed out. The next day we visited a local campground run by people we had met on one of our earliest visits several years past and were saddened to see the destruction caused to their property which sits next to the Moose River.

So truth of the matter is...Spring can actually suck sometimes!

Cabin Fever

I love winter. I love a peaceful white landscape or the feel of cold, sharp air under a clear starry sky. I love walking streets that are empty and all mine because people don't want to come out into the cold. I love the look of pines covered in snow and the sun low in the sky. No matter what time of day it is, it looks like the soft light of early morning or late afternoon. No blazing, blinding high noon in wintertime. I admit though, I do have my limits. I love the wildflowers that grow with abandon along roads and in fallow fields in the summer. I love the colors: shades of purple, lavender, yellow, pink and even white. I love the sweet scents as they rock beneath the hot sun, and the sound of muted buzzing from insects that flit from petal to petal. I love the sound of silence as I stand alone at the edge of overgrown fields that sway beneath the drifting fair weather clouds. Heavy sigh... but for now I have my pictures, and memories.

The Shopping Cart Constellation

I have to get up early for work, and in the Fall and Winter months it's usually still dark. I like getting up in the dark because while I walk the dog around I get a few minutes of stargazing before it begins to get too light. One sight had me taking out my binoculars and I was pleasantly surprised by what I viewed. At first I saw what appeared to be a very small, tight constellation. It looked like a miniature Big Dipper, but it really reminded me of a shopping cart. So I called it "The Shopping Cart" constellation until I was able to find out its true name. I saw these stars every morning and so I decided it was time to take a better look and brought out the binoculars. Through the eyepieces the stars went from faint to brilliant! Bright, white and luminescent. But even more than that the whole field of vision was filled with stars. A whole cluster! I was soon to find out from my guidebook that it is the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters. I put the binoculars down and there were no stars visible around the now faint "Shopping Cart" constellation. I again looked through the binoculars and saw the circle filled with stars set off by the brilliance of the Pleiades. Work was a let-down after that beautiful discovery.