A Bird Convention and A Great New Tote From C&T Publishing!

 

It's a convention! I sweep the deck daily but this is what it looks like before I get the broom out! 

This only a part of the deck too!  I have so much fun watching their antics and their personalities coming out

I wanted to mention another cool product that C&T has come out with. Have a look at these very roomy, well made tote bags that would be perfect for daily shopping, groceries, taking to work, using on a trip  (maybe take to a quilt camp?!) They are made of a sturdy plasticized material and have a full length zipper across the top. A handy removable insert keeps the bottom sturdy. and they fold flat for so that you could pack one in a suitcase for things like travel shopping or taking quilt shows. They are available in several different patterns from various quilt artists and, best of all, they are a real bargain at only $6.95 each!

It's For The Birds!

 Three little beauties pause for a sip

I find such pleasure watching birds. Often I just get lost in their cheerful antics and sweet songs. This is my favorite time of year for birds - so many have returned for the season and the morning air is filled with song.  My bird feeding habits have expanded over the last few years. At first we were only feeding the humingbirds - and that entails a lot of time since we have 6 quart sized feeders going that require twice daily fills. At dusk we have, no kidding on this, about 25-30 birds ( as many as I could very quickly count!) per feeder stoking up for the chilly nights.

Now my fixation has grown to include all birds. We have quite a few feeders and suet holders that also require daily (and sometimes twice daily) filling. In the morning I generally spend my first waking minutes filling feeders and changing bird bath water - about a half hour - before my coffee or tea! They make me smile so much though that it seems worth the cost in time and food!

We have two sets of Downy Woodpeckers who stop by at least twice a day. They are especially fond of the suet cakes and will stop at nothing to get to it. I have half cakes stuffed in several places for their dining enjoyment. This fellow stops by this feeder first ..... and then he moves on to the next place - where his weight makes the feeder sway. It's really pretty funny to watch him do this acrobatic display!

Finches are just so darn sweet - it's hard not to love them. 

This one has a bit of a wistful look - like she's saying "is this all?"

Goldfinches are our state bird - and I am always so happy when I see them return to the feeders in the Spring time - such a brilliant yellow - and such varied black marking patterns!

Every feeder is generally this busy!

The hummers are a continual delight to me - I can - and often do - watch them for hours!

Sure Signs of Spring!

The weather has turned decidedly warmer now and creatures are venturing out to see what spring has to offer. This pair of deer were ambling leisurely through the yard - the photos were taken through a screen - so they're a little bit fuzzy.

Best of all is that the Goldfinches have returned!! I am always thrilled to see their beautiful golden wings flitting around the feeders. Sort of the same way I feel when the Hummingbirds come home to feed in March. Goldfinches are so glorious - and they make me smile! Spring is full of these small gifts from Nature.

The following Goldfinch information is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - if you are a bird lover and don't know about the site yet - you owe it to yourself to check it out ! I love the feature that identifies the particular bird's song!

• Size & Shape

  A small finch with a short, conical bill and a small, head, long wings, and short, notched tail.
  

• Color Pattern

  Adult males in spring and early summer are bright yellow with black forehead, black wings with white markings, and white patches both above and beneath the tail. Adult females are duller yellow beneath, olive above. Winter birds are drab, unstreaked brown, with blackish wings and two pale wingbars.
  

• Behavior

  These are active and acrobatic little finches that cling to weeds and seed socks, and sometimes mill about in large numbers at feeders or on the ground beneath them. Goldfinches fly with a bouncy, undulating pattern and often call in flight, drawing attention to themselves.
  

• Habitat

  The goldfinch’s main natural habitats are weedy fields and floodplains, where plants such as thistles and asters are common. They’re also found in cultivated areas, roadsides, orchards, and backyards. American Goldfinches can be found at feeders any time of year, but most abundantly during winter.
  

View dynamic map of eBird sightings

My Morning Visitor & Journal Pages

Last night we had some of the coldest weather of the winter - as odd as that may seem! My feathered friends were really busy this morning trying to take in some calories. We have a pair of Downy Woodpeckers (this is the male) that come to feed generally 4 times a day. They are particularly fond of suet. I remember the first time I found Downy Woodpecker feathers on the forest floor. I was in awe of the lovely rows of white dots - and did not yet know what bird they were from. The Downy's have since become one of my favorite birds and I so pleased that they enjoy visiting us! We had 8 finches on one feeder this morning too and the Juncos literally looked like a moving ground cover! I hung the first of our many hummingbird feeders up this past weekend. Generally they arrive on or near St. Patrick's day, but this year, with everything else happening so early, I think they may show up early. I wanted to be ready for them.

These are two of three journal pages that are in a 'traveling' journal. Ultimately, the journal (which is one of three different ones going around) will be auctioned off and the proceeds will benefit a children's charity. The idea was the brain child of Kim Owens  (with Jennifer Maroney) on her Yahoo group called Blissfully Art Journaling. There are three journals that are making the rounds with themes based on love, friendship and an open category. These are for the 'love' journal.

The page below includes the Albert Einstein quote that says 'There are two ways to live your life; one is as though nothing is a miracle- the other is as though everything is a miracle'. Makes sense to me!

The page below contains an ee cummings poem that I have always rather liked. At first glance the words mean little but if you say it over and over the meaning becomes more apparent - at least to me it does.

Love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds

"The Owl & The Woodpecker" : A Wonderful Book About Birds

I love birds and we have been very lucky this year to have many different avian friends drop by our house. I have always been especially fond of Owls and Woodpeckers & we have quite a few of both varieties where we live. Last week DH gave me this wonderful book - it has some glorious photos.

These Downy Woodpeckers are daily visitors to our feeders -
they seem to be especially fond of suet.

Northern Flickers are one of my favorites - they also are daily visitors .
Highly visible & breathtakingly lovely

I think this is one of the sweetest photos in the book!

Two Northern Flicker babies waiting for breakfast.

Oh what an owl! I wish I could say we had these guys visiting every day! I always tell DH that I wish I could see more owls -he calmly responds " honey, you have to be awake after 10pm to be able to see them.." Oh! yes, well that's a thought!

A Luscious Apple Cake

This past weekend I attended a meeting that was held at an amazing place that's called the LongHouse Bed & Breakfast. We were treated to a very fine luncheon too since the meeting was an all day sort of thing. I managed to come home with the recipe for the apple cake that we were served. It was divine! I asked if I might be able to get the recipe for this heavenly cake - and thankfully Patty shared it with me. It was her mother's recipe and it is probably the best apple cake I have ever tasted. I made it yesterday. It came out just as good as the 'original' so I had to share it with you. DH, who seldom says too much about most recipes I try said that this was "really good" - high marks from him!

Patty's Mom's Apple Cake from the Longhouse B&B

4 c shredded apples
2 c sugar
1/2 c oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, beaten

Combine the ingredients above and then add:
2 c sifted flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 c chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 c raisens (I used goldens)

Pour into a 13" X 9" greased baking pan and bake for an hour.
Remove from the oven - poke some holes in the top (with a skewer or cake tester)
and pour the following topping over the cake while it is hor.

TOPPING for Apple Cake

1/2 c sugar
1/4 c of condensed milk (not sweetened condensed - plain condensed)
1/2 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt.

Heat the ingredients gently until the butter melts and pour over the cake.
NOTES:
I doubled the topping recipe on the advice of another friend who has this recipe.
I used a brush to get the topping spread evenly & well.
I stirred the topping mixture for some time to get the ingredients to blend well.
This is not called for though

Here are a couple of photo's of yesterday's avian visitors. The feeders sunflower feeders are draining daily now. The GoldFinches are back (yeah!!) as are the Swallows. Summer is surely fast upon us! The hummingbirds are going through 5-6 quarts of solution a day !! Almost a part time job for bird care around here right now! I did not have my telephoto lens on - but I am hoping that I will be able to get some great GoldFinch photos soon. There were SEVEN on the feeder below! but you can only see four in the photo. They play rather nicely together!

Progress Along The Way: Week 4: Impasse?

Chapter Four of "The Artist's Way" started off well enough. The title of the chapter is "Recovering a Sense of Integrity". I like to think of myself as a person of honesty & integrity, but there is always room for improvement. I thought it an interesting question though when the discussion turned to ' when you say "it's okay" & you want to say something else - what does that mean? I always dislike it when people say, with tears practically streaming down their cheeks, "I'm just fine". Yeah! Right - sure you are! The discussion is mainly about 'self' and being true to yourself. I like that. I especially liked explanation of the the Sanskrit word "kriya" which, it is said, means spirtual emergency or surrender. This part of the chapter was worth all of the reading thus far. Fascinating stuff - the mind and what it can do! I progressed to "Buried Dreams, an Exercise" and, rather smugly, did the written exercise. So far, so good. Uh oh! The next sub-chapter is entitled "Reading Deprivation". No! No way, no how, is this ever going to happen! Is this a deal breaker? I understood the thought behind this - that when you are not spending time reading you are open to do other things - like knitting, drawing, mending, re-wiring an old lamp - you get the drift. There is no way though that this is happening in my neck of the woods. I have gone to sleep only after reading for all of my many years and this sub chapter is not about to change that. I think I manage to do enough other things to re-connect with myself that I am not going to feel any guilt about not following along with this exercise! I finished the 'tasks' at the end of the lesson and did the weekly 'check-in' and will continue on without an ounce of guilt over skipping the reading ban - maybe if I was, in fact, in a class room setting I might play along a bit nicer with this - but sleep & reading are too enmeshed together in me that I doubt I would be very good at carrying through with that ban on the book!

I have been making pen rolls this week too. Safe places to put beloved writing instruments. The black is the area that the pens are slipped into - it actually has small 2 inch 'bays' to hold the pens. I use the full width of kimono silks and so, generally, there is enough space for 6 pens to snuggle in. The black fabric is lined with wool felt. The black and white patterned silk is the outside fabric and the red dupioni is the lining - I'll take some better photos soon. This one is about to go to a new home and it is one of my favorites so far. I do use some think batting in between the outside fabric and the lining - it helps to stabilize the silks and also adds a bit of padding.

One of things that I had really wanted to do once again when our cat population had dwindled down was to once again feed my small feathered friends. Now that we are down to two well aged felines I have been able to put out feeders once again. My spouse feeds the 'mighty' birds every day - the hawks and the eagles - and I am now able to feed the small birds. They are so happy for the additional fuel at this cold time of year. I can watch them for hours. Each species seems to have a time of day that they prefer for grazing. Right now we have juncos, chickadees, house wrens, nuthatches & rufous sides towhees , among others. The juncos are more comfortable it seems, to feed on the ground and so I put a generous amount of seed on a protected stump and a large flat rock for them. They seem to swarm earlier in the mornings andlater at night than the others. I just ordered a wood pecker feeder. We have a lot of them around here and I think that they will enjoy peanuts.

Hummers Back In Full

We have close to our full summer time complement of hummers now. At peak season we have 5 quart sized feeders up & they are drained by these hungry babies every day! Right now we have 3.5 quarts available & they are going through two full and part of the third in day. All of this hunger and there is SNOW in the forecast for tomorrow and Saturday. Go figure ! I always worry about them in such cold - even though I know how tenacious and hearty they are.

The New Adventures of Hummley The Felted Rufous Hummingbird

I finally am beginning to feel that I am managing to finish some of the projects that were on my must do list this past weekend. Hummley is the newest nestling in the family. This Rufous fellow is needle felted with a gilded gorget & polymer clay formed feet and beak. I perched him on a small madrona branch (a fabulous local wood that is, by itself, a magical thing) that I add some silk flowers to. The base is also made of polymer clay and says, Wish, Dream & Imagine. I was so happy to have finished him this week - since it is, historically the week that the Rufous hummingbirds return to our feeders. I got an order for an Eplet too this week. I will soon be starting to add Blue Birds to the nest as well.

Soaring

Yesterday was, at last, a beautiful day. Although it was brisk temperature wise, I just wanted to soak up sun! DH & I went on our route and were greeted by SO many birds. Watching Bald Eagles in flight makes me understand why we chose them, rather than a turkey, as our national bird! They are, truly, majestic to watch. I am partial to to hawks though - and the red-tails were there to greet us too. What I find is an unexpected pleasure with eagles are their sweet melodies;more of a true song than a sound.

The birds revisited

Blogging 365 sometimes poses content issues for me. I wish I had something new in the stitchery departments to share each and every day every day but that could get boring. Fast! Something like "...see I finished 10 more rows on this scarf" or "look at these three lines of quilting I did yesterday"... might make for worse content than some photos or mindless games now and then - so I hope that you will bear with me this year! I am also blogging everyday on my photoblog at www.photoblog.com/zquilts & on my shared photoblog with friend Kathy at www.photoblog.com/twozees. I AM almost done with those triangles (Amen!) and I will have them to share with you soon. Four more to finish unless I redo both of the smaller ones in which case it would be 6 to finish up. They are looking better than I had thought they would. I have to admit that I lost some steam for the project after I realized that the 10 I had made (which I liked quite well) were not what were called for in the simple directions. I am, therefore, pleased that I at least like this second batch well enough to send off - and by the deadline I might add !

I have also really been reconsidering what I am doing when I make something and why I am doing it. Intent has been on my mind a lot of late. I tend to fall into a trap of making something to fill a call for entry - or something like that - rather than necessarily making something because it brings me joy. I am going to be careful of this in the future. More careful at any rate. I will make things that being me pleasure. Traditional or art. Plain or fancy. Experimental or tried and true. I am not going to make things just for shows any more either. I want to finish my ongoing project of "Baltimore Beauty My Way" - and that just won't happen if I keep chasing rainbows. I need confirmation that my efforts are p[leasing and worthwhile from my family and friends. Ego strokes are always nice and always appreciated - I always seem to need reinforcement! So thanks in advance for critique and comments in the future!

The photo above is some of the "crew" that greets DH daily on his rounds. This day we had about 50 ravens (NO kidding!!), 4 bald eagles and 3 golden eagles and several varieties of hawks all vying for food bits. It's quite a grand sight!

A friend sent me one of those group emails this morning - and I really liked a part of it especially- which I am reprinting here. No author was noted unfortunately.

"...Be kinder than necessary,for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Live simply,

Love generously,

Care deeply,

Speak kindly.......

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning to dance in the rain..."

PS: I am still taking suggestions for a name for my beloved camera!