Our world was encased in ice again...almost 10 years to the day. This time, though, it didn't last, didn't do much damage, yet left our world sparkling and pretty...not destroyed and devastated.
And it was cold.
Just not this kind of cold...
This was taken in Iceland last December....and just got accepted into the juried photography show at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, sponsored by the Garden Club of America.
Who has time to knit any more?
That giant, viney weed prompted a little walk-about late yesterday. It was a blight on the view out the window next to my computer. It would have been a much more fruitful weeding outing if I had left the camera in the house.
That vine is gone, although I can see three more this morning that I swear weren't there yesterday afternoon. And the weeds in front of the hive are history. I'm fascinated by these honeybees. I don't know much about them; this is the second year I'm 'fostering' them (which means I get to look at them but not do any of the work to take care of them), and I love them more every day. They are incredibly docile. I merrily weeded in front of the hive....inches from them, and they totally ignored me. Busy doing their buzzy bee business.
The last two photos, though. WHOA. Bumblebees are a totally different animal. The vitex (chaste tree) is in full bloom and covered by bumbles. Later in the season they will compete with butterflies, but at the moment they seem to have the tree to themselves. And they are NOT WILLING TO SHARE THEIR SPACE! AT ALL. I s-l-o-w-l-y moved in inch by inch for a couple shots and three times ended up with a swarm (to me 10-12 bees buzzing in my face constitutes a swarm) trying their best to run me off.
They won. Maybe I won. I got away without getting stung, and made a bee-line (heehee) to the house.
To find this little guy clinging to my night blooming cereus (which hasn't bloomed in two years....it's overdue) right outside the kitchen door. Mom and Dad no where in sight.
But he had a guardian angel watching over him.
oh!!! little birdie!!!! what are you doing between the storm window and house window??? how did you get there? (probably the same way the leaf and dead beetles did)
The storm window slipped part-way down (old house----my usual excuse for all the wierd goings-on) and since I certainly had no intentions of opening the inner window during the winter, I didn't feel any immediate need to wrestle the windows to fix this. Spring will be here soon enough---and then I can shovel out remove all the debris that has flown in. I certainly didn't expect a feathered friend to find this 3" opening and fall through. I bet he felt a bit like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole.
Cute little fella, isn't he? (yes, he's a he.) At first I thought he was injured...see the little red spot on his head? No, definitely feathers. I only got a quick look....PapaGeek was h*ll-bent on taking care of this i.m.m.e.d.i.a.t.e.l.y and I could tell just taking the photo was pushing my luck. If he had to wait until I got out the bird book, I would have lost my helper.
Meet our Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula), the second smallest bird in the state. The 'hidden' ruby-colored crown was the give-away. I'm terrible at identifying birds. This little guy is apparently here year-round, and I'm sure I previously just identified him as another LBJ (little brown job), even though he's really more grayish-greenish-brown. They like to flit around low shrubs.....so NOW I know what dive-bombs me on my way to the car. We have a million of them. I'll be more attuned.
We (actually not me) wrapped him in a towel, brought him in to take him out, and deposited him on the patio. He immediately flew into the kitchen window. thunk. Cute, but definitely not the brightest bulb in the box.
wife, mom, grandma, knitter, photographer, traveler, gardener, antiquer, bookworm, cook--trying to tread lightly on this earth
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