Cedar Waxwings are here

Personally, I love foggy days. There is just something mysterious about a day that tries to hide so much from you!!

Yesterday morning it was foggy, misty, chilly. In other words, my kind of morning.  After weeks and weeks of feeling sick and weak and "old", the joy of digging and transplanting is hard to describe.

The joy was only increased when  clouds of Waxwings landed in the old cottonwood tree and then lifted off and settled on the tippie top of the Chinaberry tree. They were here in February and I thought they wouldn't be back.

Oh yes, and while watching the Waxwings, I noticed a pair of Bluebirds settled on a branch waiting for me to leave.

Who needs more? I don't know if I will catch pictures of the feeding frenzy, or the Bluebirds.  It is a marvel to watch Waxwings  hanging upside down on a branch feeding and Bluebirds busily filling the birdhouse with nesting material. 

This morning, it is foggy and low 60's.  I spent an hour and a half drenching the soil around transplants and the trimmed Salvia greggii

The Waxwings arrived around 8:30AM. I didn't even bother to put up tools.  It is time for me to eat breakfast and let the Waxwings feed. They are here to feed on the Yaupon bushes.  Yaupons are a messy, invasive bush and should never, never have been planted where they are.  Hubby has a problem "killing" a living tree and I have learned to "pick my battles". So, the berries ripen and fall and make a nasty mess on the stone path and patio.

This is a short explanation of the Waxwings and the Yaupons.  Years ago, the bushes had started the ripening and dropping sequence and then, one day the berries were gone?  We were both working at the time and wondered what had eaten all the berries.  We watched every year and never caught the culprits.
Retirement frees a person to be in on a marvel of nature and anticipate it every year.  I realize full well that had I not been outside enjoying my garden, I would have missed the visit again!

Winters past

Don't forget to click on picture for larger view

As last week's cold is fading in memory.  Looking ahead to warmer weather.  
I was going through those mysterious folders on my desk top that were an idea for a blog.

This folder is such a nice memory of winter 2010.  "Just another winter day".

The male Cardinal perched at the edge of the patio is actually checking out seeds on a piece of newspaper between my window and the feeders.  Worth mentioning is that the Cardinals rarely, if ever come to the patio.

One or two of these pictures are a few of the "good ones".  Still making friends with my camera at the time and took tons of not so good pictures.  Thank goodness for digital!!  I have wished many times for one of those magical, mysterious DSLR cameras for "better shots".   There would still be a learning curve.

My camera and I were stationed at the kitchen window with the screen off and the window even open, for the best I could do.  Cold, yes. Crazy, yes. Caught up in the magic of capturing, YES.
No better way to spend a morning in my mind.

                                                          ,,"The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination." ~Ward Elliot Hour
                                                        










"Surely as cometh the Winter, I know
There are Spring violets under the snow."
-  R. H. Newell

Winter isn't over

3" over ice, no big deal?  Not safe for me thank you

Life can be frustrating when your "brains grow in". TG&T

This morning, up in the wee hours as usual. I rambled to the kitchen for coffee and it was bright as day outside.  I peeked out the kitchen window and there was the moon in the trees and beautiful shadows.
I got so excited, forgot the coffee and went for my camera.  I adjusted it for night time and hooked up a tripod and headed for my garden boots.

Then, the brain kicked in; 75 years old................dark shadows......................ice last night........................

This snow will all be melted by this afternoon

 I put the camera down on the kitchen table and
went to my bedroom and my book.
                                                                                           

There is ice under all that lovely snow

Front porch view

 Even the messiest yard can benefit from a nice cover of snow.  Much prettier views than bare ground littered with leaves and Sweetgum tree balls.

March came in like a Lion

 Winter is a time of promise because there is so little to do — or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so. ~Stanley Crawford, A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm, 1992

February was our winter all month.  Unrelenting rain, snow, and ending with ice and snow.  Not the snow the north had, just enough to turn things a lovely white blanket for a time.

It was also a month of health ups and downs.  I hope this month will be better!

The gardens are needing a good cleaning and raking.  Time to think of what plants I want where.  

Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat. ~Author Unknown

We have a new visitor. A gopher has been in the area of the gardens.  If it tunnels under there and makes mounds it can be a problem.  I need to check out how to get rid of him.

I am in hopes that we will have more rainy weather. We are still in drought conditions.

These are California poppies.  Beautiful plants on Feb 15.  Don't know what they look like now but I can guess