Ladybirds

I have always been particularly fond of female birds. They really have a difficult life what with most of the nest building, egg laying, rearing the young. And many of them have several broods every summer and then migrate a long distance for the winter. They often look quite exhausted at the end of the summer.

Here are a few of my favorite lady birds:

The female Red Crossbill isn't red at all. Her mate is a vibrant red while she is a muted grayish green.

The female Eastern Towhee is a bright bird, but her hood is a warm reddish brown while her mate's hood is deep black.

The female Downy Woodpecker is very similar to the male except that she has no red on the top of her head.

The female Ruby-throated Hummingbird doesn't have a ruby red throat at all.

The female Pileated Woodpecker is very similar to the male. Whereas the male has a red line off the base of his bill, she has a black line.

Many female birds are quite plain in contrast to their brilliant mates. But there is beauty in all of them.

Fridays are Golden

It's been a quiet week for the Golden Girls. The weather has been damp with sudden showers seemingly out of nowhere. The strong winds, thunder, and lightning meant no long runs through the woods.

So they have had one long walk in the morning and one long walk in the afternoon. The rest of the time outdoors was for short potty breaks. It surprises me that two such active dogs quickly adjust to temporary reductions in exercise. They seem content to follow us around the house and napping every chance they get. Sometimes I wonder if they are glad to have some time off. Perhaps it's because they don't like the rain.

They are always delighted when we have workers in the house. So many of them have dogs of their own and seem to like our girls. And you never know who might be carrying dog biscuits, either. This week we had our annual routine maintenance for the air conditioners. This is a great worker to watch, because he goes on three levels of the house and outdoors as well to check the indoor and outdoor units of the two heat pumps. He is in and out and moving all around...just perfect for following and watching.


Lucy and Ellie watch closely. We call this the "doggie door" since it opens to a small deck outside the dog grooming/sleeping room. Sometimes the girls seem to communicate wordlessly. I'm sure Lucy is saying something to Ellie.

Lucy looks at me as if she actually thinks I might let her go outside.

Both dogs watch the action outside. They wait patiently though, since they know they are not going anywhere.

The maintenance took quite a while, so the girls were tired when the work was finally over. Lucy had her head totally outside her own bed, and on to Ellie's.

I think Ellie would like for Lucy to move back into her own space.

Since Lucy remained where she was, Ellie made the best of the situation and tried to get some rest.

Another Friday is upon us, with May's promise that nice weather is coming. What a wonderful time spring is.

Have a wonderful and fun-filled weekend. Treat yourself to something you really enjoy. Go ahead...you deserve it!

The Mountains in May

The trees are coming into leaf

Like something almost being said;

The recent buds relax and spread,

Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again

And we grow old? No, they die too,

Their yearly trick of looking new

Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh

In fullgrown thickness every May.

Last year is dead, they seem to say,

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh."

- Philip Larkin, The Trees

"The air is like a butterfly

With frail blue wings.

The happy earth looks at the sky

And sings."

- Joyce Kilmer

"Sweet May hath come to love us,

Flowers, trees, their blossoms don;

And through the blue heavens above us

The very clouds move on."

- Heinrich Heine

"The world's favorite season is the spring.

All things seem possible in May."

- Edwin Way Teale

So when the earth is alive with gods,

And the lusty ploughman breaks the sod,

And the grass sings in the meadows,

And the flowers smile in the shadows,

Sits my heart at ease,

Hearing the song of the leas,

Singing the songs of the meadows."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

"It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what."- John Galsworthy

"Spring is God's way of saying,'One more time!' "

- Robert Orben

Oh, Dem Golden Finches

The American Goldfinch is one of my favorite birds. It is not unusual at all, does not have the best song in the forest and people do not drive for miles to get a glimpse of one.

So what draws me to this bird? Well, it is colorful and beautiful for sure. It is the second bird I recall being able to identify when I was a small child. (The American Robin was first.) It may well be the most common bird around our house. It's a bird we can always count on finding at our feeders sometimes in large numbers.

Perhaps the thing I like best about the goldfinches is that they molt into their summer plummage long before it seems necessary. A harbinger of spring, the males turn bright yellow a couple of months before breeding season. It does a body good to see the birds change into their bright yellow garb.

We have had rain on and off all last week. Our county is still listed as having below normal rainfall and still listed as a moderate drought area so we welcome the rain. It is quite scattered and there are times when I look out the back to see clouds and rain, and out the front to see the sun peeping through. The forecasts are almost always wrong, so we carry an umbrella with us all the time.

A Special Day

When God Created Mothers
by Erma Bombeck

When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into his sixth day of “overtime” when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”

And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order?
· She has to be completely washable, but not plastic;
· Have 180 movable parts... all replaceable;
· Run on black coffee and leftovers;
· Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;
· A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;
· And six pairs of hands.”

The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands... no way.”

“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord. “It’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have.”

“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.

The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, ’What are you kids doing in there?’ when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn’t but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say, ’I understand and I love you’ without so much as uttering a word.”

“Lord,” said the angel, touching His sleeve gently, “Go to bed. Tomorrow...”

“I can’t,” said the Lord, “I’m so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick... can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger... and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower.”

The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly. “It’s too soft,” she sighed.
“But she’s tough!” said the Lord excitedly. “You cannot imagine what this mother can do or endure.”

“Can it think?”

“Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise,” said the Creator.
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told You You were trying to push too much into this model.”

“It’s not a leak,” said the Lord. “It’s a tear.”
“What’s it for?”
“It’s for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride.”

“You are a genius,” said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. “I didn’t put it there,” He said.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !

Fridays are Golden

I thought you might enjoy seeing Ellie and Lucy when they were younger. This is a studio shot of them when Lucy was four months old and Ellie was two.

Their basic personalities shine through this photograph. Ellie is looking at me as if to say, "Is this all right, Mom? Am I doing it right? Oh, I hope I'm doing it right. I've never done this and I'm a little nervous." Lucy, on the other hand, is looking at the photographer as if to say, "Am I in the center? Is this my best side? Don't forget I'm the most important. This is what the people came to see."

Photograph by: Photographs by Michael

We had a repairman in the house yesterday. He kept going outside for materials and coming back inside. For a while the girls followed him from the door to the stairs; then waited for him to come back down. Finally bored of watching and following him, the girls found better spots.

Ellie chose the floor near the hallway.




Lucy decided she might as well be more comfortable, so she chose one of the beds.

We had several inches of rain last week. Normally we would have hiked to one of the waterfalls to see the increased flow. However, we missed a week or so of driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway so we decided to drive up there. We weren't disappointed. Spring is definitely emerging at the higher elevations. What a treat! I'll share more pictures next week, but this will whet your appetitite.

This weekend is Mother's Day. I believe it is a day to celebrate women, mothers or not. If you have a mother, grandmother, aunt, or special woman who helped shape your life, tell her so. Let her know how much she means to you.

Have a wonderful weekend. Play, laugh, and love those around you. Tell your friends and loved ones how much you really care for them.

Bird Quiz Follow-up

The mystery bird is indeed a leucistic female Purple Finch. Of course, we named her Leuci. We are so original with names.

I agree that the bird looks a great deal like a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but she was much too small to be a grosbeak. Additionally, the beak is much more like a Purple Finch. And finally, I sent the photographs to experts who confirmed it to be a Purple Finch.

Here is a normal female Purple Finch at our feeder:

And here is a female alongside a male Purple Finch photographed in the rain.

We saw Leuci for only three days and have not seen her in a week. I had rather hoped she might stay around.

Thanks for your guesses. You figured it out pretty quickly.