I will confess that February got by me without much reading. Each month I am posting my daughter-in-law’s AP English reading syllabus. I agreed to do the reading, but not the writing assignments. If you want to follow along, my first posts of each month have the syllabus. Each month the reading goes back in time from current days — to now Shakespeare.
I haven’t been able to focus probably thanks to surgery and recovery. Plus once I get done preparing taxes, I hope to do more reading.
So what is keeping me busy? Social events. Photography. Sitting in my backyard, watching birds while reading Amy Tan’s “Backyard Bird Chronicles.” Also, I downloaded the Merlin App and I am learning what bird’s songs and calls are what. The first bird identified was — you guessed it — a Northern Cardinal.
I’m fortunate with March’s reading list. I’ve read “Pride and Prejudice,” “Hamlet” and “The Tempest.” Whew! As far as watching “Clueless” I can do that. I had no idea it was based on Jane Austen’s “Emma.”
What plans do you have for March?
What have you read on this month’s reading syllabus?
Did you know that Clueless was based on Jane Austin? Or am I the clueless one?
I captured a few more bird photos that I really liked over the weekend. I like how I caught the dove in flight as it wanted to take over a spot at the bird feeder.
A house finch caught my eye in the Firestick plant. Then it flew to a cactus. I really like the background of the photos. I’m trying to focus on the overall photo rather than just the subject.
Which house finch photo do you like better?
This squirrel found a perfect spot to sit upon a rock.
I cleaned and refilled the bird bath and a mourning dove was much appreciative of my efforts.
Red is hanging out daily immediately after I fill the feeder.
I had a great visit with my daughter. My only complaint was that it was too short. The mountain passes are clear so her drive home shouldn’t be too bad. She motivated me to take better care of myself. She’s on me to ice and elevate more often — as well as continue with my PT for my ankle.
My daughter was impressed that when I go outside the birds arrive and sing. She said, “They recognize your voice! That’s amazing.”
The secret is to keep the bird feeders filled.
Here’s to a good week ahead and getting the taxes done!
I was excited to see these “exotic” birds. The color was so beautiful. I called my husband in to look at them. He told me they were pigeons. Oh well. It’s my first pigeon in my backyard.
Off he goes. I didn’t see them again.
Isn’t the color striking?
I spotted a sparrow enjoying the bird bath.
Then he was joined by friends.
The water was flying. Now they must feel nice and clean.
A mourning dove waited for the waves to chill before taking a turn at the bird bath.
A quail walks by the other side of the bird bath. He was not interested in it.
It looks like Mrs. is having a conversation with her reflection in the camera.
Red keeps an eye out for any intruder at the Bird Buddy feeder.
I’m excited for my daughter to arrive soon! She should be here by 10 a.m. today. We’re going to the farmer’s market in Carefree and cooking dinner together. It will be a short visit because she’s flying this morning then driving our second car back to the Bay Area. She’s gone two years carless and has decided to join the world of driving again.
We recommended she buy our car rather than a used car from a stranger. Our car is in excellent shape and has low mileage. She did ask us for the CARFAX history! There are winter storm warnings through the mountain passes for her to get home. I’m worried about that, but she said she’d stay extra days in So Cal if the storm is still a factor.
What are your plans for the weekend? Can you believe we’re almost through the month of February?
I was given a Christmas Cactus by a friend four years ago. It looks pretty healthy, but until this past week, it’s never bloomed. Fellow blogger Busy Bee Suz who has a green thumb — which is something I lack — suggested that I move my Christmas Cactus. I moved it by the sliding glass door and a few weeks later it has two buds! How exciting is that?
While I switched from my 80-400 mm lens that I use to take Red and Mrs. photos to my 105mm Macro Lens, I took a few other photos. These were outside in the backyard.
We have three bougainvillea we planted a few months ago. They are thriving in the sun. In Palm Springs, we had bougainvillea that never took off. This is very encouraging!
Aren’t they beautiful?
Yesterday was my first day I managed to take a little walk post surgery. I was disappointed because my foot hurt in my tennis shoes. I had to wear flip flops with very little support. My foot is bruised and a little swollen so the tennis shoes rubbed my foot and were a no go!
It felt good to move around even though it was a short walk. My husband and I like to walk and talk. I shared a memory with him from my childhood. It was good to laugh together.
The Memory
When I was three and my brother was five, we went as a family to a church retreat camp staying in a tiny cabin in the woods of Washington. There were families from our Presbyterian church as well as ones from other parts of the state. Along with the small cabins, there was a meeting hall where we gathered as a group.
I remember sitting in the first row with my family, when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to share something with the group. My brother jumped up. He grabbed the microphone and belted out “Edelweiss” from the Sound of Music! I wonder what my parents thought? As his worshipping little sister, I was so proud.
“Blossom of snow May you bloom and grow Bloom and grow forever…”
These lyrics were stuck in my head after photographing the blossoms above. That’s probably why I remembered this blast from the past.
We have lots of these cacti in our yard. They are only about three feet tall, much smaller than saguaro — although they look similar. I think they are called Cardon Cacti and they are spikier than saguaro cacti.
Do you have any silly memories to share from your childhood?
What would you have thought as my parents when my brother sang Edelweiss?
This video from my new Bird Buddy feeder begins with a female Gilded Flicker. Then a male, with the red markings on his face, takes over. I see Gila Woodpeckers more than these larger woodpeckers. The flickers have spots while the Gila Woodpeckers have similar colors but a black and white pattern on their backs.
The new Bird Buddy has a longer battery life than my old one. I do have them both up and running, but I have to charge the older one more often — which I did yesterday. The birds seem to prefer the new feeder or maybe it’s the placement? I turned the feeder around because I was getting photos of my neighbor’s house. I don’t know the neighbors to the left of us, but somehow I doubt they’d want me making videos of their yard and posting them on my blog!
This video captures a Gila Woodpecker so you can compare it with the Gilded Flickers above. There are also House Sparrows and Mourning Doves taking their turns. The first two videos are from the new feeder.
These battling Mourning Doves are from my first Bird Buddy feeder. You can notice a difference in the quality of the video. Or maybe the camera needs to be cleaned?
Since I’m in Arizona, I’m keeping track of the missing Nancy Guthrie story. I hope the family gets answers soon!
Red and Mrs.also paid a visit to the new feeder.
What are your plans for this weekend? Are you rooting for the Seahawks?
I don’t know where January went. Probably because I’ve been laid up for half the month. It went pretty quickly, although some days dragged on and on for me. The Bird Buddies have been keeping me company. There’s always plenty to watch and enjoy with the birds and squirrels in our backyard.
I have a pretty busy week ahead so more time will fly. I can’t believe it’s time to post another reading list. I am getting further and further behind with my Daughter In Law’s syllabus for AP English. I had agreed to read along with her class, but I have a feeling I’ll be reading well into the summer to catch up!
READING LIST:
I’m looking forward to reading Emily Dickinson and Shelley’s “Ode to a Skylark.” Dickinson was one of my mom’s favorite poets. And because it’s a new month, my mom is on my mind. I’ve shared this before, but we called each other at the beginning of each month to say “Happy February First” or whatever month it was. It was a race to be able to say it first. I miss her. She was an avid bird watcher and when she was in high school she created a book of all the birds she’d seen along with sketches and paintings of them, much like “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” by Amy Tan. I can’t help but think she’s smiling down on me pleased with my bird photos.
Happy February to you!
What have you read on this months reading list?
One more photo of Red. He likes the birdseed that I’m buying. It has a photo of a Cardinal on the front of the bag.
Finally Red was hanging out long enough for me to get some photos of him. While I’m healing and recovering from surgery, Red was the sight I needed to make my day!
More photos of Red:
We put together the shepherd’s hook to hang the new Bird Buddy feeder. But it wasn’t working right. There was something definitely wrong.
Mrs. waiting for her turn in the new Bird Buddy.
I don’t know why the shepherd’s hook placed the feeder mere inches from the ground. It was low enough for a squirrel to jump on the roof. I was afraid he was going to get stuck inside with the camera. He’s definitely not very bright. All he needed to do was turn around and jump into the tray of seeds.
I hung the feeder on this massage tool which securely hooked around a branch of the tree. But before I could hang the feeder, Mrs. hopped on it to try it out. It worked out well to have the feeder there, but we may want to use the massage tool to get the knots out of our backs!
Voilà! I looked at the instructions for the shepherd’s hook and realized my helpful husband installed the hardware that attaches to the fence upside down.
Mrs. finally got her turn in the Bird Buddy. This movie was taken when the bird feeder was low to the ground.
I didn’t like this placement of the camera because the sun causes too much glare.
Do you have a favorite Red photo?
Do you think there’s any upside to letting my husband know he messed up on the shepherd’s hook? Or do I let him notice on his own that it’s in a new position?
