Not what I was hoping for

So far, we have been lucky in the snow department...but for me it has still been too much. But now they are saying we may get 18-30 inches of snow by Wednesday with 50mph winds. I have been dreaming of tulips and daffodils and trilliums and Jacks....Oh dear...can I hold onto hope a bit longer?
This is good for me....learning to accept and find joy and beauty in what is...
for it is what is and I must live it as it comes
and it is my heart and spirit's job to hold onto that hope
and to embrace the beauty of the day given
My poor wards...I must get out and have enough seed and peanuts and catfood
for all of them..for this is going to challenge the best of them
and those Robins.....

My Boo loves to birdwatch

With all the traffic outside by the Hawthornes
Boo has insisted on a front row seat.
yesterday, he was chased around the house all day by my little grandson,Finn
who giggled everytime he whacked Boo in the head with the feather stick.
So, I guess I can open the shutters and let the poor fella have a good look
Have you ever heard a cat give the killing sound....? I was shocked when I heard little Boo,
my hand raised little Boo do this. I guess he is growing up to be a male cat.
Enjoy your look out the window....for that's all you'll get.
No cat killing going on in my garden....by my kitty.
I walked around the yard this morning... looking for some joy,
and found none...at least any worth taking photos of,
for you see..I have to stretch my imagination to see joy on
such a dreary day....and most of it is the same.....making it less joyful.
But I do hold joy in my heart with the birds and the squirrels, and yes the hawk
as I see him fly over
.....as I see the buds swelling a bit more on the Horsechesnut tree (I'm certain!)

Today, I am making "throw in what you have" chicken noodle soup
and cracking open a new book
all this while Boo is lost in the moment at the window

***

Starlings

They land in the oak tree en mass,and are very noisy,almost giddy.
In summer they are this way too,when I cast out bits of old bread.
When they arrive, everything else gets pushed out.
Their scout must have seen the robins or the squirrels in the Hawthorne trees
and went back to report this new source of food.
I don't mind these clowns of the bird world, they too bring me joy
watching them fight each other in the branches, the berries falling on the ground
for an attentive squirrel to find.
I am so happy that I don't let the landscaper cut my Hawthorne's..despite his protests that
they need it. 
No, my wards need the food source and you would trim them when they are flowering..for that is your way...and when you do that..there are no berries.
I may not be..no I AM not ...the best gardener around
but I have the best
Open Bar of Joy
around these here parts
!
!
!!!!

Finding Joy in winter

Some call you pest,
nuisance,rat
I call you Joy this morning
...running with your pals,feasting
on the Hawthorne berries
your mouth holding onto one
like gold

OMG

Just after I was moaning about dreary,arctic winter
Look who flew in
18 robins!!!!!
I am beside myself....and I don't know how to use this new camera
I am flustered...can you tell!?!?
Oh JOY JOY JOY
down in my heart
Those hawthorne berrries are doing what they are supposed to do
Oh joy!

winter day longing

Soon my love, soon

Do you look through your garden photos, like I do
on such Arctic winter days
when the sun is hidden behind whiteness
and the temperature is near zero?
I do....and it does warm my heart
and stir love in my heart for the garden
waiting just below winter

almost discarded orchid

Can you see it?
Hiding in the geranium pot?
blooming?
After it fell out of its pot in the summer after a storm
and because it was so withered I just
stuck it into the geranium pot
and then because the geraniums were so pretty
late fall...I brought them in...orchid and all?
Do you see it?
blooming!

tonight it will be cold

Eat up my little wards
it's dropping down to 10 degrees tonight
wind chill-35
eat up

Mugo pines

From the family room window
I saw the Chickadee hiding
in the mugo pines and I remembered
the late spring day that I decided to cut
these mugos down.
As I was ready to put cutters to branch
I saw movement and stopped,
spread some branches and saw
a tiny nest just below the top needles.

From the nearby climbing rose trellis,
 I saw a Purple finch balancing on metal
watching the danger that was near by its young.
The finch doesn't know that I am the one that leaves
food in the feeders for them,
or that I plant perrenials for seed,
or that I am vigiliant about keeping Hawk away.
It only knew that I had found its nest and babies
and it was helpless to do anything
but try to distract me.
Needless to say the mugo was spared

Now, on this winter day I am happy
to see that it provides shelter
for Chickadees, too,
away from the eyes of hungry Henry Hawk.

keeping faith

Keeping faith
it's all I have some days
especially these days of gloomy dull skies of white
where it's hard to tell where the horizon is..when the sun is hidden
Living in a dreary monochromatic world of winter
Sure, today it will rain and wash away most of the snow
revealing an even worst sight....a muddy lifeless garden
and later it will drop in temperature and there will be an icy layer over everything

But I must as the author states...keep faith in Spring...even when it is gone
I hope today to get my camera to transfer pictures so I can show you what joy I have found
even in all this protracted nothingness of dreary winter days.. when even a fire in the fireplace doesn't help
nor stew in the pot...it is color I seek...crave..and humming bees and flitting butterflies
and jumping toads.....and most of all the robins...
I even went so far as to listen to robin calls
on the computer
...now that is longing

I look to the sky
and call you by name
return,return my robins
I will gather twigs
and yarn and drier lint
scatter them across the ground
for your return, leave
a lace of tinsel
to decorate your nest
Rest up and eat
for your long journey back
I wait, looking to the sky
for spring

renovated birdhouse

Squirrel chewed through this birdhouse
I think for fun...or to relieve his need for gnawing
but one morning ( I can't show you because my kitty, Boo, broke my camera..)
while drinking coffee and watching the snow fall outside my kitchen window
I spotted a large furry mass stuffed inside this opening,peering out like he was all comfy and cozy
Ha! the image of squirrel sitting on the nest, was too funny
Joy,pure joy in the morning


I saw the hawk get a bunny yesterday
tear it apart, scatter its fur all over the lawn
broke my heart,but my husband says
he's in the rodent family and they are a food source
more are hiding in the bushes and under debris
But if I don't cry for his death ache for his suffering
life is discounted
and they bring me joy and now one of my little furry joys is gone
how can I explain my loss
The little ones scurrying across my path in the spring
will make me remember this bunny
and that even in my Open Bar of Joyall parts of life happen,even death..
..I must hold the promise,the rebirth of spring
in my heart and mind...and enjoy what is before me
and that is squirrel playing in the chewed out birdhouse
and yes, it is joy

Lantern

This lantern no longer holds light, but seed
two fragile glass sides broken years ago
but where one purpose is gone another arises
and I watch with joy as the chicadees flit in and out
grabbing a seed and flying away
until the squirrel is awakened by their need to cheep as they do so
and he comes down off his sleeping branch and parks
his bushy body and tail inside the lantern and dines until its all gone
One day he played statue inside these two remaining walls
while hawk sat in the nearby tree
Ha!

Squirrel

Really,little squirrel
do you think I would hurt you?
I see you hiding,hugging the trunk of
the Alder tree,fleeing from me
as I walk in the garden
I see your nest has blown apart
If you only knew that I would help you
rebuild it,shaking leaves off of the trees
leaving lint and string and branches for you
You and your friends bring me joy
and laughter everyday with your antics
leaping from tree to tree
hanging by your toes off of the feeders
upside down
..sometimes flipping over on the ground
in silly clown like manner
Now that is determination
and survival
No I would never hurt you

sweet woodruff

I found you stretching in the light this morning
surprised you were there dressed in green.
Haven't you been nipped by freezing cold
and buried under inches of snow?
But there you sit,
nestled in pine needles and  hosta leaves,
happy to greet me this morning.
But, my little dears, don't stick your heads up too far,
Old Winter is only taking a hot cocoa break,
he'll be back with all his fury
looking to spread his coat over everything
and stay

ornamental grass

Your beauty awed me this morning

or was it the morning light that took my breath away

bouncing and penetrating your flaxen stems

a vehicle for light to say good morning