Happy Mother's Day

 

To all the mothers everywhere. I read that some huge percentage of grown children who buy their first homes set as the most important criterion in choosing a location being close to mom. I agree.

Happy Mother's Day to my own Mommy Owdice who is undoubtedly in Heaven, even if only for putting up with me all those years. That, btw, is what I called her after having been chastised for calling her Alice. (After all, that is what the grownups called her.) After scolding my tiny self, she said I must call her Mommy. Ever one to get my way by hook or by crook, Mommy Owdice it was. (I pronounce things a bit better now, but not much.)

Also to my daughter, Liz, and daughters-in-law (and in heart), Jen and Amber. Thanks for all those lovely grandbabies, who range from tiny and cute to nearly as tall as I and fierce as  small tigers. They are a bright, sassy, bunch and we love them all madly.

To the aunties, too many in Heaven, but a special few still with us, who were moms to me when I needed them and still are...I can't call Mommy Owdice up there near the throne among the clouds, but I can call you when I'm lonesome...and thanks.

And to my sisters-in-law.....I got me some good 'uns!

My own Mother's Day started with rain...no aurora here...and dropping a log on my foot. Fortunately, I wore my boots and lucky bathrobe out to fill the stove so no harm done. It also started with glowing dog's eyes piercing the night and a sleepy Song Sparrow muttering a half-hearted song when the light from my headlamp glanced across the lilac bushes.

All in all, everything I could ask for.

"For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well."

I hope you all have a fine day with special family, coffee and toast in bed if that's your thing, and love, lots and lots and lots of love.

Have a good one.

Spring Things

Spring means Mack can be out in his run most days and he is a happier dog for it.

It means grubbing mugwort out of everything, everywhere. Stuff is a curse.

 I get to lug all the geraniums I grew from seed last spring down from the empty bedroom to the east and out to the porch and yard. A tedious chore for sure, but I can't wait.

Spring means ducks in trees
Cavity nesting Wood Ducks in search of a hollow tree

Female Common Mergansers perusing the housing market too

It means singing, long, loud, lovely songs from every corner of the farm and yard. All week we have had at least four Wood Thrushes fluting from the corners of the nearby fields and up on the hill as well. Until yesterday the hill roads were dry enough I could hike up there without gathering giant balls of clay on my boots until I walked like Frankenstein. That situation will probably be a while in returning after the weekend downpours.

Spring is the invasive weeds that I deliberately cultivate in the yard coming into stunning bloom for the early pollinators and hummingbirds....which are back in small numbers btw.

I love Deadnettle...so subtly elegant in shape and shading.

Speedwell, the daintiest of delicate, rich, pale blues.

A couple of sorts of forget-me-nots shining in the corners. Stuff like that. I let hem grow where I want them and chop them out where I don't. They are a whole lot easier to control than mugwort. Lord, how I hate that stuff.

A pretty Palm Warbler, just passing through

A mild winter allowed the herbs to winter well and I am grateful. It was a wonderful thing to be preparing the meats and cabbage for golumpki casserole yesterday (I make up the basics and Becky constructs the final product...) and to be able to go outside and clip herbs for seasoning.

Traffic

Even the giant hyssop came up from the roots and is already several inches tall and thriving. Normally it may reseed, but this makes for a much better start.

Anyhow, as I sit here in the living room waiting for it to be time for everyone to start their day, I hear a House Wren right outside the window, a Tufted Titmouse whoo-whooing from the dying ash in front of the house and see the robins shuttling worms to the nestlings on the porch.

I have blackfly bites all over my head from standing still in a little marsh listening to a Barred Owl's inquiries in the distance, but Spring makes it all worth it.

Song Sparrow

Holding Out

I'm holding out and holding on for Saturday. Supposed to go on some kind of bird thing  with a friend and I am hoping I get to do so.

The week impending is full of visits to practitioners of the medical arts and working to understand which guy will be doing what thing in conjunction with which other guy doing some other thing. Also when.

It has come to my attention that if I am not involved nobody communicates with anybody else and nobody understands anything. Thus even though I have the worst case of white coat fever on this or any other planet, I am going to have to get these guys talking to one another and talk to most of them myself.

So I am holding out for birds, before, after, and between. They don't  often fail to redirect my mind when it derails as it does, over and over again. The tracks are not something I seem to comprehend these days.

Hope you have a great week. Thanks for reading.

Eclipse Frenzy

Black-capped Chickadee collecting cattail fluff

Or lack thereof.

My only concern about this massively-hyped event is whether the children in my life, both mature and otherwise, have sense enough not to look at it.

Otherwise, meh. I've seen eclipses before. They fall under the heading of kinda cool but not this cool. 

I guess I will do a bird list or two while it is going on, just to say that I did...

Speaking of birds. Suddenly things are happening. After what feels like weeks of constant north or northwest winds, I could smell the woodstove yesterday. Yeah, a little breeze from the South. We scored four new species for the year in-county yesterday, a Pied-billed Grebe, a Red-shouldered Hawk, some Swamp Sparrows, and the first twittering flutter of Tree Swallows during our travels. I think we found some new ones out of county too, but I don't keep very close track there.

This morning at 530 one or more American Woodcocks were going crazy dancing over the backyard, while the sky turned crystal and orange against the dark blue of almost-dawn. Then the robins, cardinals and assorted sparrows tuned up and drowned them out. It was beautiful but frigid.

I am hoping to see some more goodies today, as the maps are starting to light up a bit.

Oh, and American Robins appear to be building a nest on the pillar on the sitting porch. Yay, just as it gets warm enough to actually go out there, they will start clutching their pearls and gasping in horror every time I go out the door.

Anyhow, keep your eyes OFF the prize today, and have a great day.

Happy Birthday

 

To my favorite son......Happy Birthday, Alan!

Just Plain Nice

On the way home from a particularly stressful morning...if you know, you know...we stopped to get the mail in town.

Included was a small, utterly unexpected, out-of-the-clear-blue-sky envelope. It contained a package of Lion's Ear seeds and a lovely note, from someone who reads Northview, remembered my struggles last summer to get the gangly plant I purchased going, and wanted me to have a better go this summer.

I was beyond delighted. It has been a challenging couple of months, and not getting easier anytime soon, and to have this wonderful surprise gift from a stranger meant a lot. She had to take quite a lot of effort to track down the address and get the seeds to me and I am much grateful.

So, thanks Susan, I will be planting them inside as soon as I can. 

I did get last summer's version going eventually and it was a real conversation piece. It reached the top of my little arbor and peeked merrily in the kitchen window at me whenever I was at the sink. (Is there anything better than a window over the kitchen sink? I don't think so.}

The hummingbirds were wild for it late in the summer and early in fall when so many other plants were past their best.

I look forward to having this unusual and fun plant again this year!