Tiptoeing into spring...

I am glad for calendars, because if I had to rely on what things look like out in the garden, I would never know that today heralds the first day of spring.  The garden is still covered in a blanket of snow and I started the day by tossing a handful of cracked corn out for the sparrows.  I did a bit of intentional over-exposure on this shot and used Photoshop to get rid of the distracting bits of corn in the frame.  I decided not to crop it by much because I like all the negative space in the image.  As always, I welcome your thoughts.

This dainty little sparrow is an American Tree Sparrow in the genus Spizella.  It is sometimes called a Winter Sparrow, I suppose because we only see it here in the continental US in the winter.  It breeds in the far northern part of N. American in the Alaskan and Canadian tundra.  Soon, this tiny flyer will be on her/his way north.

Had MIL over yesterday afternoon for a visit and supper.  She was a bit out of sorts at first, but we eventually got her to laugh.  She is experiencing more periods of confusion now and we're just not sure if it's something temporary or a permanent decline.  Such an insidious disease, as so many of you know.  She was in relatively good spirits when I visited her today, although confused about which of her sons I'm married to.  We never tell her about Philip's passing anymore - it serves no purpose.  I'm not sure which is harder - to lose one's mobility or to lose one's memories.  Both are horrid in their own way.

On a happier note...the bluebirds were back in the garden this morning, checking out the two nest boxes that they seem to be interested in.  Much singing and fluttering about.

Several hours later, a small Sharp-shinned hawk hurtled into the garden and went feet-first into a snow bank, after one of the small sparrows.  It came up empty but gave everyone quite a fright before it raced off into the trees.

The snow continues to slowly melt.  The next few days will be above freezing, so hopefully we will soon start seeing patches of grass coming through the snow.  I shudder to think what my little iris must all look like right now!

The "great moss and glue gun" experiment yesterday went relatively well and I now have a couple of interesting perches out in the garden.  I did manage to burn the hell out of one of my fingers - they don't call it "hot glue" for nothing!  And the birds carefully avoided the two new perches for quite a while - the first to brave it was, of course, a Tufted Titmouse, who can be seen here on the moss

Thank you for continuing to stop by, in spite of my poor commenting of late.  I do try to get around and visit as many of you as I can, but I am hopelessly far behind right now.  

xo
Debbi