thankful for december

I'm thankful for December
- when the bears settle in for their winter nap (we hope)
- bird feeders are back on our deck

and colorful birds gather on Saturday mornings
- it's the little things -

are blue jays bullies? - hmmm, I don't know - maybe

I'm just taken in by their beautiful blue coloring

I'm shallow that way...

Well, good morning!

Yeah - snow wasn't really my thing - I guess I'll just wait my turn

- ummmm - hello? - are you about finished?

This is supposed to be our feeder...

Is she still watching us?

Gee, lady - isn't it about time that you go take a shower or something?

Who knew birds were so perceptive?
- so that's what I did before heading to our local bird store

to buy these guys a new pole for their peanut feeder
(which was bent over last year, by a bear - bad bear!)
- and hopefully give this feeder back to the chickadees...

So - how can I go about getting that bear gig?
- a winter nap sure sounds good to me, right now

Have a wonderful weekend!

I'm joining Michelle for Thankful Thursday - and Tanya for Willy Nilly Friday 5

lazy saturdays

Our deck painting project seems to be putting a damper on our weekend adventures
- or rather, that would be Greg's deck painting project -
So far, I've managed to escape by heading to the farmer's market.

Anyway - last weekend after a morning of painting in the hot sun,
our Saturday afternoon conversation went something like:
"So - what would you like to do this afternoon>"

"I don't know - you?"

"I don't care - what do you have in mind?"

"Nothing, really - but I'll do something if you want to"

Sooooo... yeah... that went nowhere -

I started playing with the manual setting on my camera

and here is our lazy Saturday afternoon.

"Hello? Help? We have an uninvited visitor over here"

"What? Who - me?

Who says I'm not invited?

"hmmm Finches and Foxes -  Facebook update"

"Finches, Foxes, Facebook - whatever...

I found a sunny spot for my nap."

Yeah - I know - life on our side of the mountain is full of excitement.

Quick update at home:
Maggie has made it to Northern Maine and is somewhere in the "100 mile wilderness".
We hope she will make it to Mount Katahdin (end of the AT) sometime this week.
With any luck she'll be home by Friday - because
Laura and her fiance, Jeff, are having their engagement party next weekend.
And so, summer flies by.

How is your summer going so far?

misty mountain morning

It was a busy winter -

skiing, snowshoeing, enjoying a warm fire with a good book

(and maybe a glass of wine - or two...)

Then - it seemed that everyone was talking about Spring -

and I thought - Wait, what? Is it really time for Spring?

(which is probably a good thing - considering Spring is a late arrival here...)

But then - a couple of weeks ago, I woke up to the most beautiful misty morning.

I grabbed my camera, hoping to catch the light -

and stepped out on our deck to a balmy 40 degrees 

- yeah, I know - it's all relative.

But then I realized - hey, it is Spring.

Pouring myself a cup of coffee, I pulled up a chair and had a nice chat

 with my little feathered friend.

We both agree - it's definitely time to bid Old Man Winter a fond farewell.

hawk watch - take 2

Saturday was one of those bea-u-ti-ful New England Fall days,

and after hearing about the hundreds of hawks sighted over the last week, 

we decided to head back up to Putney Mountain for the hawk watch.

So - hawk watch take 2 - bust...

As soon as we arrived at the top of the mountain, we were treated to the sight of a hawk gliding the thermals.

I didn't grab my camera because -

 1) I was enjoying just watching and

2) I had no way of knowing that would be the only hawk we'd see all day.

So - what to do when there are no hawks to be seen?

Well - there's always watching the other hawk watchers....

and of course, enjoying the scenery, 

... and reading the count of all the birds I didn't see over the past week...

- and then there's the little maple stand in Putney where we consoled ourselves with a

maple creemee - (Vermont's very delicious version of soft serve)

If you've never had one, I'd suggest you get into your car

- right now -

and drive to Vermont. Yep, they're that good!

So if you happened to be keeping score -

Putney Mountain Hawk Watcher: 4,011

Me: 1 (plus a maple creemee)

Yeah, I'll call it a draw (smile)

Our World Tuesday

Random 5

Yipee - it's Friday and time for a little randomness.

Hey! Whatchu  lookin' at?!

1) A few weeks ago I bought my very first bird feeder.

Oh yeah, now we're the birdy party house!

2) I'm adding a bird bath this weekend
because - you know - I kind of want to be the hostess with the mostest.
More on that little adventure another time...

3) I'd really like to add a peanut feeder, but I should probably wait until the fall when the bears go into hibernation.
I really don't want to be the bear party house.

4) And moving on,
I've been testing both Feedly and Bloglovin. So far Feedly is winning, but they're both pretty buggy on an iPad.

 - or -

 maybe it's just me...

5) Next week is the 4th of July - can you believe it?

I am so looking forward to seeing some very special people!

For more randomness, head over to Nancy's for

Random 5 Friday

I am wishing you a wonderful weekend!

top shot - wild turkeys

A snowy December afternoon,

out with my camera - scouting for barns,

and flock of wild turkeys caught my eye.

Sometimes, I'm just not fast enough with this whole picture-taking thing,

but watching the wild turkeys flying through the snowy landscape was certainly a sight to behold.

And I always thought turkeys were such awkward birds...
I'm joining Weekly Top Shot at The View from Right Here

Thanks for dropping in!

a very merry Christmas to all

I was happily surprised by a little bit of snow this morning in Boston.

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for dropping in!