Still not spring, but my new Martin house is ready!

It is the 26th of April and it is colder than a well diggers ass. I think that is from a Tom Waits song; either that or a Danny O'Keefe one. Anyway I thought I would send you these pictures taken this morning. Above is my brand new purple martin house.

This one is a male White Throated Sparrow in breeding plumage. I had to go out early and put out some more thistle seed and some sunnies for them. Note the junco in the second picture?

And these are my fish, huddled together in the pond. All in all we could use a break in the weather.

On the good side I have seen 6 crocus so far this 'spring'. Usually they are all gone before we get here. Since I planted nearly 200 and never see them it is a welcome change, even with the snow.

Wow, two of them close together! Mostly it is one every 6 feet or so.

Love,

Nancy

Juncos and a few other birds

Did you check up on Juncos yet?

I went to the Cornell website and it is a 'Dark eyed Junco, adult male, oregon form.

Here is a link

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Dark-eyed_Junco.html

Love from Abbie, who knows her juncos

(they are all over Clifford in the fall and winter)

Potpourri

So you saw Sally Melville. What did you think? I remember when I saw her, she talked about Yin Yoga and I ran out and bought a book and CD which sit here in my office, keeping me company, but never calling out. Yet.

I have a question for you. Do you know which bird this is?

It is a teeny-tiny bit bigger than the chickadees that it often arrives with, but not as timid. It will hang around pecking at things, while chickadees swoop in, grab a seed, and swoop away. Brian couldn't find it in our two bird books. It's got a gray breast, slightly darker back, and a black hood over the head, as you can see.

My time these days is spent in schoolwork, and doing physical therapy for a rotator cuff injury - remember I talked to you about it at Christmas? It's getting better - they tell me that I caught it before it became "frozen."

So - you and Jeni together. I am jealous. Send pictures. Love, Mary

Creativity

Hi Mary,
It is sleeting out. We are possibly getting 4-8 inches of snow but I think, hope, it will stay warm enough that we only get a half an inch of ice.
I went to a talk by Sally Melville tonight on Creativity. She said that you are most creative when you get the most sleep. Your brain does most of it's problem solving in the last few hours of an 8 hour night.
Mine too. Nine is better.
She also said to lay still when you wake up and try to visualize your dreams and then put words to the visuals. The visuals are right brain and the words are left brain. If you wiggle around you will 'jiggle' the visuals and they will disappear before you can remember them.
And she said there are no mistakes, just learning experiences. I say your mistakes aren't mistakes, they are just design elements. It is about the same thing.
It was a good talk and then we got to feel a whole bunch of her sweaters. I also had her sign the one book I brought down that had a design of hers in it. My Meg Swanson edited book on lace called A gathering of Lace.
Sally designed a sweater that is in it and she signed the page.
Another thing I learned while there was about this book called Great Carriers, Purses and Totes, which has a wonderful pattern for a felted bag in it. The lady sitting next to me was carrying one and knitting one. Lots of fun to see. I don't know who wrote it but I know a librarian. Maybe she will tell me.
Love,
Nancy

Mom Says "Hi"

Hi everyone,

I took my camera and Alice to the Park Rehab Center today. Alice greeted Mom and then went under the sofa. Mom allowed me to take a few pictures.

Dad spends lots of his available time with Mom holding her hand.

Mom told me that when she was in the hospital he would pet her

constantly and set off her monitors.

She is done with those monitors now and is happy to be free of

them.

Love,

Nancy

April Fools

STOP THE SNOW ALREADY!!!

Ever since the middle of March we Minneapolitans have been expecting Spring. And, ever since the middle of March we have received SNOW. There are people who call this Minnesnowta.
We are rather tired of it this winter.

The latest storm started on the 31st of March. It ended on April Fools Day.

Here are a few pictures.


Love,
Nancy





This was taken at 4 a.m. Tree had just left for work.






Here it is when I woke up for good at 7 a.m.





Jim doing a little pre-work shoveling.



Interesting views on the way to work. This snow was really
heavy so it didn't blow off the trees till late in the day.
Have fun at library school.
N.