Wild Kingdom

The warm weather has really brought out the animals! 

Little anoles are everywhere, warming themselves in the sun.

The pond is full of turtles and ducks again.  Geese come in at dusk and add to the cacophony of sound!

This red-tailed hawk is having a quick drink at the pond's edge.

We hear frogs and toads all the time now.  This southern toad hopped right by my feet the other night when Todd and I were playing Scrabble by the water.  Don't his eyes look like beautiful amber rings?

Birds are absolutely everywhere, but I was delighted to catch one of my favorites in a gardenia bush this morning...the towhee!

And then the usual suspects...

 The unusually warm weather has really caused rapid plant budding.  This tree went from this...

...to this...

...in just a few days!  Buds, buds everywhere.

The weather has pushed our azaleas into a bit of a premature bloom.  The front bushes are absolutely frothy with flowers.  The others are starting to bud and will all be going soon.

The camellias are still going strong.  Which means, of course:  more bouquets.

Todd mowed down the leaves in the back yard.  It's dirt now, but soon the ivy will take over and we'll have green again.

Nights are balmy now.  Bring on the board games!

Have a great week! 

Holes in Sweaters & Better Weather

We are slowly inching toward spring here.  Warmer temperatures, green shoots on trees, sprouting bulbs, and a sudden proliferation of birds are all good indicators, but I'm waiting for the one true sign, which for me only comes from the Eastern Towhee.  Late spring, summer, fall, and winter, he has the same call:  Tow-heeeeee! or Cha-WHEAT!  But in late winter/early spring, he changes to my favorite call:  Drink your tea!  Drink your tea!  When I hear it, I know that spring is really here.  I'm listening hard every day, but nothing yet. 

Lots of other birds around.  This beautiful male Cardinal preened in the bushes outside my office window:

His mate was singing nearby.

A Northern Flicker worked his way down a tree trunk.  See how he uses his tail for stabilization?

I caught an elusive Titmouse resting in a sunny spot. 

Tabitha watches everything with great interest.

The sunrises have been so beautiful here...

Even foggy mornings have their own special kind of beauty.

With the rain, bright patches of moss are springing up in the yard.

I love this time of transition!

In other news, I've had a pretty brutal week with knitting.  Both my new cardigan and newest pair of socks have developed holes.  We don't have moths, so I'm not sure what happened.

Repairing them will be a grim process, especially the sweater.  The yarn is dark and fine, and the youtube tutorial video is 30 minutes long, so I'm putting it off until I can face the task. 

Not one, but TWO PAIRS of hand-knitted socks went through the washer by accident this week.  One pair consisted of half acrylic and half silk/merino wool.  They shrank.  I did my best to stretch them out on sock blockers...

...but although I was able to stretch them enough to wear, the legs are stiff and loose, and they generally feel rough and uncomfortable.  The other pair was made with superwash yarn, I think, because they didn't felt.  I'll re-wet them and dry them on blockers, and hopefully it will be better news. 

Meanwhile, I'm nearly done with a new pair...

...and I'm working on inspiration in other areas, like quilting.  I'm intrigued by this new book I purchased, A Paper-Pieced Garden.  I love the idea of incorporating images of nature in my quilts without the sometimes overly fussy look of applique. 

With more muted colors and the incorporation of finely patterned squares/triangles, I think I can eventually make something that fits my style.

I've been baking lately, too.  Now, I'm a firm believer of eating REAL food in moderation, and that includes sugary treats.  But with the discovery that I gained just over 20 pounds in 2015 - ouch! - I'm having to be a little more moderate.  I've been tweaking some old recipes and have come up with some new and healthier versions.  I adore this recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  I cut the recipe below in half and make four massive muffins.  Todd eats two, I eat two, and I feel completely satisfied.  The original recipe comes from allrecipes.com, but I've heavily modified it.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 TB baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 TB canola oil
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
4 TB chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix flours, salt, and baking powder together.  Separately, combine pumpkin, oil, egg, vanilla, and sugar.  Add dry mixture, alternating with milk.  Finally, stir in chocolate chips.

Ladle into greased muffin tins and place in oven.  Immediately turn the temperature down to 350 degrees.  Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes, until done.

It's no great "diet" food - each muffin has about 240 calories - but they're quite large and very satisfying.  It's a great treat, and these are the types of things I'm incorporating into my daily life now instead of, say, a pint of Ben and Jerry's.  It's all about moderation! 

Have a great week! 

I hear a symphony...

"Whenever you're near...I hear a symphony..."  Diana Ross said it first, but I have been saying it all week.  The Eastern Towhees, so elusive in early spring, are now everywhere.  I just can't say enough about their bombastic "CHA-WHEET" and "DRINK YOUR TEA!"s.

Have a listen.

It's hard to actually catch a Towhee outright, because they like to hang out in bushes and brush.  However, I caught a glimpse of a beautiful female recently.  She's brown headed, but has that distinctive orange and white coloration on her abdomen:  

Most of the time I see males, and mostly in the shade.  Their red eyes are so beautiful in the sunlight, but they move so fast through the underbrush, they're hard to photograph.  Usually I just get a glimpse, like this one. 

They are singing their hearts out now, and so many others are, too, including one mystery bird who runs through a dizzying scale of notes, over and over.  I have my binoculars handy and hope to catch him soon. 

The music continues at night with the frogs and toads.  I was working in the garden recently and saw this tiny Cope's Tree Frog.

Theirs is the predominant song we hear at night:  Cope's Tree Frog

But there's also this guy, who I found in a front flower bed, burrowed in the dirt among the weeds.

He's an American Toad, and also much heard:  American Toad

I would never, never disturb a nesting creature, even if it meant forgoing my only sun bed and leaving a protective patch of weeds in its center.  However, toads lay their eggs in water, so I knew he was just having a rest.  I weeded around him...

...and then built a protective cover of leaves.  I went back the next day and was happy to see that he stayed around:

I also saw a juvenile version in the brush:

!!Creature love!! 

There are so many others.  I caught a glimpse of a raccoon just outside my office window yesterday, climbing a tree.

 Up, up, up...

He watched me from his high perch until I went back inside...

...then climbed back down and ambled off into the woods. 

A White-Tailed Deer (that nuisance!) has been here, as if I didn't already know from my sadly chewed hydrangeas:

 More creatures down by the pond.  So many fish, from the numerous schools of "normal"-sized ones...

 

...to our monstrous three-footers.

 

So many turtles, too.  We just look for the "sparkle" on the water and inevitably, it's a turtle's head popped up.  

Now that summer is unofficially here, we can sit by the water and watch the scene unfold in front of us.

There's still more yard work...

...but we're enjoying the things that happen automatically, without any help from us, like the blooming of the irises. 

So beautiful!  It's no wonder that my baking and craft work has taken a back seat to nature lately, although I may try to squeeze in an extra blog post soon so that I won't fall so far behind on projects.

I hope you're enjoying the beautiful weather and lovely creatures somewhere, too.  Have a great week!