Goldfinches are Everywhere.

The goldfinches are turning to their full colors. I saw a Parula the other day. They are a type of warbler. Won't be long and the flycatcher will show up. Then I will know for sure that winter is OVER. And I am so ready. If we can't have snow here, what the heck are below freezing temperatures for. I sure didn't move here for the cold. If this keeps up I will have to move further south.
We need to start planning our big trip out to the West coast. We need to route it, and see how much the gas is going to cost and if we need to take out a bank loan. Ha Ha.
My new favorite show comes on tonight. It just started three weeks ago. It is called Parenthood and is not quite comedy but not full out drama either. But it is very well written. There are so many reality shows on television right now. The only two I care for are American Idol and I am growing tired of that and Jerry Seinfelds new Marriage Ref show. I have bluebirds looking. At my real estate. They sure take their time picking a house. Not much else new around here. It is a bit chilly now that the sun has gone down but had the windows open all day. Nice to get the electric bill down before the air conditioning takes over. Here have a Goldfinch. I call this one. The Thinker.

Spring is right around the corner

Today I saw a bee on the plum blossoms, some coral vine, and apple blossoms. And tomorrow it is going to be 72F and sunny. Can spring be far behind. Maybe a beach trip tomorrow. We are going to get to babysit Felicity in August for an entire week. She will be almost two. They have a new puppy named Lola who follows Felicity everywhere now that she can walk. I watched the puppy following her on skype. I have skype if anyone else has it and a high speed connection. You really have to have broad band. I have bluebirds looking at my bird houses every single day. I have pine warblers, goldfinch, yellow rumps, chipping sparrows. Can life get any better than this. When we babysit Felicity I promise to make a Flip video of the puppy following her. I hear she is hell bent on wheels now that she can walk. I'm ready. Nothing I like better than an almost two year old that says, NOOOOO
a lot. And I am not being sarcastic. I love that age. It's like thirteen only cute. I am getting my poetry printed into a small book. This one is not in the book so I will post it today.

~Halfway to Spring~


Dark is the morning,
cold is the frost,
but I saw a Robin on
Christmas morn.


Gone all the green,
shoots,
brown is the meadow,
but deep in the earth,
wait narcissus bright yellow.


Huge hang the stars,
on a cold winters night,
bright shines Venus,
come down from the sky.


Asleep in the winter,
when snow lays so deep,
dreaming of fireflies,
and summer warm heat.

Bluebirds are Back

Daily now the male bluebird trys to woo the female to the house in my front yard. I had put out mealworms and they checked them out. Must find a cheaper source. I keep their birdbath filled up daily. They love water.
I am waiting for a printing company downtown to get a booklet of twenty of my poems printed. They said they were swamped with work right now.
I hope we can head to California and Oregon in April. Not putting off anything now. Why wait. We still have goldfinches around but not as many pine warblers. I am waiting for the Parula and yellow rumped warblers to arrive. I think I need to put up another bird house for the chickadee. He is always fighting over these two bluebird houses. If I lived on the beach I would not have
bluebirds. Or really many wild birds at all.
I want to go see Alice in Wonderland. It will probably disappoint me but for the scenery and graphics alone it will be worth it.
And the costumes. The trailers look so awesome. Not much new to update. The weather is still cold in the morning but sunny.

Gone to the Sea and Never coming Back.

I went to Washington Oaks State Beach and Mantanza Inlet beach yesterday. Temperatures at home were 74 and sunny. But it was 64 at the beach and still sunny. If the wind is high it can be chilly. But it was beautiful. Where else but Florida can you enjoy the beach in February. I try and remember this when I am sweltering in July with the air so hot and humid you just want to stick your head in the freezer. And going outdoors is not an option. But still, we are considering moving to the mountains. Best of all would to be able to keep our little place here, only sell the other house and still have a winter place.

The birds were in abundance at the beach. By the time I left I was taking huge gulps and breath's of ocean ozone. I really think
they should bottle it and put a prescription on it. I understand now why they used to take T.B. patient's to the ocean shore. The doctors told my grandfather his emphysema would be better by the ocean air. So, I walked long walks on both beaches. I took many many photographs. But I remembered never go to the beach on the weekend. Too many people. Only mar were a makeup couple at my favorite state park on the rocky ledges. I'm sorry, it's a nature state park. Can't you take your kissing somewhere else. The ocean fuels me.

The Music of the Ocean

A sucking noise, like a birth,
spitting life out upon the sand.
tiny shells creating a musical windchime
as they roll to and fro.

A moaning across the waves almost
undetectable to the ear,
a keening of bird song,
a roar in the ear,
of crashing waves,
a foam spray kissing
your face with salt
a tugging of your soul,
a song beyond your hearing
the sound peaks like a
musical crescendo
the score written in the sand.

Bird Watching

My Downy woodpecker is always around here somewhere. He is my standby bird. He loves the suet blocks. He has built a nest in a hollow broken dead tree trunk over my pond. His baby birds were very demanding and noisy. It was the first time I ever had a chance to watch a downy raise babies.

The only other birds I have been lucky enough to have raise babies are eastern screech owl, chick a dee, flycatcher and once a bluebird. I think I will try a downy woodpecker house by my pond because the old dead tree trunk fell apart. A great part of my joy each day is seeing a favorite bird that is rare. I wait each year for the flycatchers and parula to arrive. Yesterday I swear I heard that buzzz of the hummingbird by my viburnum which is blooming. It is way to early to hear a hummingbird. But then it has been a very strange winter, so why not?

Wherever I move to. i hope, I know there will have to be birds.

Great Back Yard Bird Count

I am a total bird geek. I even buy meal worms and have a special cup to put them in. Next I will be breeding meal worms.
Hey, they cost more than red wrigglers. The other day the bait shop guy said, "What the heck are you feeding these too. I said
bluebirds. He said, If they will eat red wriggles they are a lot cheaper. ha ha.
This year I did not have a lot of rare birds. But I did have a lot of pine warblers. But not so many goldfinch and no yellow
rumped warblers at all. It has been a strange winter in North Florida to say the least. I think parts of the midwest got our
winter and we got their winter. The Northeast got dumped on. Up North got snow and we got just plain freezing.
I have chickadee's checking out my bluebird houses. I would run them out like I did last year but my son said he was going to
turn me in to the bird abuse society. So, whoever gets their nest built first. They are the winners.
I also have stray cats that I feed. And those are not conducive to feeding birds. I would like to strangle whoever turns their
pets out to fend for themselves.
Valentines Day almost did me in. One can only eat so many truffles. Trying to update these journals more often. At least
it is sunny today even if I did have ice in the birdbath. Later. Here, have a pine warbler.

Phoebe

Every winter running almost to spring. The PHoebe shows up. This year I think I have a pair. They have become my fairytale
bird. They are so elusive and hard to spot. They flit and shake their tail a lot. But I love them. They kind of look like those junco's. Like a nun bird. I call Junco's the nun birds because they have like a grey hood over their head and back. With an ivory stomach. Anyway. My passion for Phoebe's started few years ago. Kind of like my passion for blue buntings, grosbeaks and
painted buntings. (which one has never shown up, and the other two have only appeared in my yard in the winter once in 20 years.

Which, by the way, my husband and I just realized we have lived here for twenty years. In our entire married lives which is 43 years we have never lived anywhere more than ten years. So we feel it is time to move. We like moving. I don't like starting over with a garden or yard. I always try to get my husband to buy me a place in which some 90 year old lady gardener tended it most of her adult life, and it would have old rose bushes, and huge mature 100 year old tree's. Once, the first home we were buying we saw this house down in Miami, Florida. The house was "nothing" not anywhere near right for us. It only had one bathroom. And my husband has a rule. Must have two bathrooms. But it had the garden of eden in the back yard. And I don't mean that jokingly, it was like the garden of paradise, Every flower or plant I have ever wanted was in that yard. And i begged my husband to buy the place. But he refused. I have been known to buy a house for the yard. ha ha. Even sometimes for an awesome front
door. But I still remember that yard. I would not have had to plant a thing. Just keep the garden going. So, anyway, we are researching where we want to move. Tennessee has been looked at and mentioned. On our trip out West in April we will check out Montana. We just want change.

Ok, so I got a half way decent picture of my Phoebe to share with you. He/she was in the shade. But you can still tell it is a Phoebe. Also a new photo of me. I will try to update more often.