Showing posts with label Milkweed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Milkweed. Show all posts

2/28/2011

Ready. Really.

This is the last day of February, and thanks to the modern miracles of technology and the Weather Network, I can just sit here in the frozen hinterland and hear all about the warm winds wafting over Bahamas, the "thunder'n' woodcocks" in Ohio,  the balmy breezes off Key West, Florida.
But up here? We're still waiting.


Bursting with hope, and patient for the breeze that will unlock
these pregnant pods, and then bring me a Monarch's kiss.


While the band's bus sits.  Tired, retired and rusty. Consigned to the field.
Waiting for the rhythm and the beat and the pulse of the music to echo on a warm spring night. Listening for the crickets and the peepers. 

Lines have been drawn. Stones offered up where before there were none.
If you're going to mend me, and help me to delineate your boundaries,
then now would be a good time.
I am waiting.
And sitting on the fence is not a decision.


 

A scratch, and nuzzle, a whisper, a hug.
Please.
I'm waiting.


We see you everyday. We leave traces and tracks.
But you never follow.
Our trails will disappear, and you won't know where we've gone.
But we will be busy. And you'll want to know.
We'll wait for you in the still of the evening,
down where the creek meets the river and the trickle becomes our sweet treat.

And then one day comes the moment of no return.
And for a singular, frozen second complete freedom reigns.
The waiting is over.
And it's time to make a splash.
Bring it.

7/05/2010

I Saw The Monarch Today!!

It was very exciting, because it's not something that happens every day here in the Ottawa Valley!
It was also a tad odd, because she was hanging about with a bunch of viperous has-beens. Not at all what I expected really. I mean we go to great lengths to cultivate the proper young guns that will attract and retain her attention around these here parts! She's definitely not here all that often and has flown 1000's of miles just to spend a few hot and steamy days in our midst, so naturally, we do all we can to make her visit meaningful.
However, come she did (we hope) and the rather fluttery thing by her side was  nice to see too! Her once and still charming prince...leaping up whenever she moved anywhere near him. Doing his duty for God and the Queen - I guess  he must take that rather literally!
Then all too quickly, it was over...all good things must, of course, come to an end...and like proper folk everywhere, they just discreetly folded up, and  sought a quiet corner  to recover from a very exciting time!
Oh...and Canada's Monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth was in Ontario today too accompanied by her Prince Philip. Coincidence? I think not!


She was likely much too busy attending dinners and eating cake to notice the real Monarchs among us!





The regal pose of a true Monarch in repose.

9/09/2009

Kodak Moments

A new camera is pretty much an open invitation to take pictures of any and everything in sight, play with all of the crazy settings and generally, lose your focus! This is, after all, a blog that is supposed to mention birds from time to time. But, peaches , log homes, sunflowers, Lola and Vera, and eggplants have pretty much taken over of late!
Time to remedy that!
I am so lucky to live in an amazing place, on the water, and with a back yard filled with mixed hard and soft woods. So on any given day, there's lots to divert my attention span, and render it to a series of Kodak moments.

Kodak One -

Black-capped Chickadee dee dee dee. I think these are the cutest little creatures in the world, and love it when they land on my hand to take the proffered sunflower seed. Like being touched by a fairy!






Kodak Two - Goose bums. I would love to get a picture of these guys under water. Are they standing on their bills?Are they tilted totally forward on their little webbed feet?

Is it a contest?








Kodak Three -Knock knock !
Who's there?

Gonna.

Gonna who?

Gonna Getcha!

What, you expected better from a bird brain?







Kodak Four - Private Screening. The awesome thing about this not so awesome photo is that I'm actually standing inside the screened in porch, and the tiny RTHB is sitting outside.
And the amazing camera has shot right
through the screen mesh!
Wow.















Kodak Five - Milkweed Seed Pod...no birds yet,
but once it opens, the American goldfinches love to use the fluff to feather their nests.
And all's right with the world.