Featherstone Quiltworks

Today’s snow reminded me of a self-assigned photo project I did some years back.  It started with freezing rain.  I thought the ice on the crab apples was so pretty, I took a picture:

Then we had a picturesque, fluffy snow.  I decided to take a picture of it, trying to get the same portion of the tree that was in the ice picture.

Then the birds came in the spring and ate all the remaining crab apples:

And spring brought out the little pink buds:

Which developed into white flowers:

And summertime crab apples:

Into fall colors:

As we enjoy the changing seasons, try this with a favorite tree or view.  The bad news for me — the pruners came and eliminated my favorite branch!

–Sue

And it’s still coming down.

And piling up.

News Flash:  Our fabulous fall is over.

–Sue

The birds have been acting kind of crazy in the late afternoon, right about our dinner time.  The only thing I could think of is they are stopping off at our crab tree as part of some kind of happy hour mob-mentality behavior.  Where all day we would only have one or two birds stopping by for a seed snack at a time, suddenly the tree is loaded with birds.  Wild and crazy birds.  Different kinds of birds, all flying in and out of the tree, with leaves falling to the ground during the ruckus.

There were Robins:

And Cedar Wax Wings:

And Nuthatches:

The past two nights there was even a Blue Jay in the mix, but he didn’t sit still long enough for me to get a picture.  I also didn’t get a picture of the chickadees or the house finches.

I read on line that birds will do this kind of behavior for safety from predators.  My own personal opinion is that they got into some fermented berries somewhere.  They were CRAZY for about two minutes, then as suddenly as they appeared, they all flew off together.

I hope they do it again!

–Sue

The purple flowers I now know as asters (thank you, Pam D) are pretty much the only show in town in the village of wild flowers behind our house.  I didn’t see any unusual insects, damselflies, or green sweat bees, but there were lots of busy, busy bees  gathering pollen.

Since I’ve been photographing the flowers and the insects, I’ve become so much more aware of the changes occurring in the wildflowers from day to day.  A new thistle blooms.  Butterflies appear and disappear.  A new kind of bug.  Another bug has moved on.  Flowers drying up and other flowers finding it’s their time to bloom.  It’s definitely been worth the increased allergy problems!  I might even have to find a different tag than “Out My Window”.

–Sue

If you don’t know, we live in a townhouse.  We’re at the top of a hill, and the wild flowers and weedy growth behind us go down the hill towards the pond, and there are some woods around the pond as well.  I know squirrels live down there, but they apparently have little interest coming up the hill where the big commercial mowing machines buzz around every Wednesday, where the sprinklers go off at random times, and where the 10-year-old trees are mere sticks compared to the mature trees that line the path around the pond.  (I guess I could have taken a picture for you instead of putting all those words together!)

ANYWAY, a squirrel came up to visit Townhouse Land this week.  He caught my eye because he was digging around in the grass.

Then out of our fairly manicured lawn he pulled out what appeared to be an acorn.  Is he supposed to be eating that NOW?  Isn’t it for winter?  He’s as bad as I am.

He did this several times.  We don’t have any oak trees up here for those acorns to have fallen into the grass, so I’m thinking they must have been carried up the hill and buried in the grass. Then he decided to check out one of our little trees:

Then he had enough of life on the hill and slowly disappeared back into the wild flowers.

The End.

Gee, we have an exciting life!

Well, I could either write about the squirrel or about the new ceiling fan/light DH put in the guest room yesterday.  It was a close call.

–Sue

Yes, the hummers are back in town!  We had at least two different ones at our feeder, maybe three, and they are so much fun to watch.  First we saw this female red-throated hummingbird (or maybe a juvenile?); she really kept an eye on me:

Shortly thereafter, this male showed up.  He’s my favorite!  He sat up straight and posed for me!  Check out those delicate little feathers around his legs:

His throat only appears red if the sunlight hits those throat feathers directly.  This is a crummy picture, but you get a better look at the red:

There was a bee bothering him, and he reared back a bit and put his wings into gear:

It’s a good day if I can spend some time watching and photographing the hummers.  And today will be equally fun — I’ll be at the Minnesota State Fair!  Gotta go and put on my sensible walking shoes and grab my camera.

–Sue

ADMIN NOTE:  Sorry this video loads so slowly.  I think it must be because of the music I added to the background.  Next time I’ll try it without the music.  Too bad, as I liked the addition of music!

Warning:  In case you’re at work — there’s music, so turn the volume down!

Wouldn’t you love to be able to hear what he could hear?

–Sue