Sunday Pic Spam - birds, buds and left-overs.

[curiouswombat]

It's Sunday - it's pic-spam day.

Yesterday I went to see Mum, go out for lunch with her, shop, the usual. And for the first time I actually managed to get a picture of birds at her bird feeders - usually I only have to think of getting the camera out and they all disappear!


Also yesterday D-d arrived home for a fortnight - very tired and in need of a little coddling and cuddling. She drove from York to Heysham and brought Po (her wee car) home - the amount of books she needs to study from over the fortnight would have taken her into excess baggage by air without bringing anything else!

After going to church, she and I went to Tescos and stocked up on healthy food, and then I have done a small amount of garden tidying - so I took some pics of the small signs of life in the garden.

Also, I have been looking at some of my picture files from the past year, especially at some of the pictures that I didn't use as a 'picture of the day', but they are still worth sharing... left-overs! Today I chose three that have lots of green in them - to remind us that there really will be leaves and more flowers soon!

So - click for


Birds - as you can see, Mum simply has bird-feeders pegged to the clothes line -



A goldfinch and a sparrow caught in the act!


Now for signs of spring - out in the yard we have tiny leaf buds unfurling - or just sitting there...

One of the blueberry bushes -



The clematis -



And the pear tree -



Down at ground lever things have been moving - last week I had this picture of one of the hyacinths - this is the same hyacinth today -



These are close ups because they are pretty - and because most of the surroundings are still plain compost and empty pots!


The scillas -



And the Glory of the Snow - which actually waited to flower until the snow was gone...




And now, three pictures from last summer to remind me that, although almost all the trees are still bare, the place will be greener soon.







Taken in early May, mid-June and September respectively.



I'm off work this week - I plan to ... well not do an awful lot really! Go to the garden centre to see if there are any bedding plants in yet, go out for lunch with D-d and Mum - and S2C if he wants to come too, go to Church on Maundy Thursday, finish the current chapter of the Winter Tale, and hopefully finish the whole story, but that might be pushing it a bit!

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Your corner of the world is genuinely beautiful. I'll probably never see it for myself, so thank you (quite genuinely) for sharing it in your photos. It's gray and chilly here, so your flowers and sun and promise of green are very welcome.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It's one of the wonderful things about LJ - this chance to see so much of the world - it's sunny today - but not exactly warm yet!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I'm planning on not being beautifully relaxed like a lady who lunches!

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

*is thunderstruck*

Your goldfinches have red faces?

*goggles*(as well as googles)

Ours look like this (http://sdakotabirds.com/species/photos/american_goldfinch.jpg).

(Not that yours isn't a very pretty bird! Just unexpected.)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It really is a goldfinch - I actually checked on The RSPB site (http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/g/goldfinch/index.aspx) before I posted! I managed to get him on such an angle that the gold bit doesn't show.

It is fascinating, isn't it, how the European settlers took the names of their familiar birds from home and gave them to local ones, so that we have lots of different birds with the same names. I think your goldfinch is probably more deserving of the name than ours is.

[kitty-poker1.livejournal.com]

Lovely pics. They make me want to jump on the ferry and head for your beautiful part of the world.

Have a lovely week off, and I hope D-d has a chance to relax properly and put away the books occasionally. Sounds as if she needs the break.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I do guided tours...

D-d's friends have a couple of days out organised and so hopefully she will get away from the books for a little while.

[manoah.livejournal.com]

Lovely, lovely, lovely.

His Lordship is lamenting that we are still not quite to spring yet, despite the daylillies starting to grow. We have snow predicted for Tuesday. Bleh.

I'll come back and look at your lovely pictures if it does!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The flowers are only a small spot in an otherwise pretty bare garden - but, along with the long-awaited beginning of the leaves,they do say 'winter is over'.

But there is snow forecast for Scotland, so not far away.

[kathyh]

Lovely photos. I've never managed to take a successful photo of a bird yet so I'm most impressed.

Have a good week off.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I did it with the zoom from about ten feet away - but outside the yard where people often walk along the path, presumably why they were less inclined to take off as soon as I picked the camera out of my bag!

[winsomeone.livejournal.com]

Lovely pics-I quite liked the leftover ones. It's gray and drizzling today, so the green was a nice pick-me-up.

Enjoy your visit with D-d.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I thought that little blast of green might be a pick-up for a lot of us.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Spring is springing!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

'Bout time, too...

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's so hard to believe it can ever be that *green*, isn't it? Your flowers are looking lovely... I bet the hyacinth smells heavenly!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It does smell rather nice. I felt we could all do with a reminder of what green can actually look like!

[jerusha]

Lovely pictures! I hope you have a wonderful week off!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I just really enjoy not getting up in the morning apart from anything else!

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Those summer pics are most welcome. Spring looks to be coming along in leaps and bounds for you. All the rain seems to have helped a bit hear but there's still not a lot of grass [ever my yardstick!]

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The fields still look a bit colourless, but the new grass is sprouting - I shall take some pictures this week to show you!

The summer pics are a nice reminder, though, that things can look better...

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit ahead of you, although substantially behind most of my neighbors; my pear trees are just today breaking bloom, and the random remnants of abandoned cow pear orchards (that stand where the freeway or subdivisions took out the original farms) have been blooming for a week.

Of course there's double curls of storm systems out in the North Pacific today and I may well have pears when other's do not!

Julia, the trees in the middle reminded me that you are on an island, indeed.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think, given a couple of weeks, the pear tree should start to look more decently covered. Especially as the clematis grows through it (http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/curiouswombat/garden/?action=view&current=garden001websized.jpg) too.

I have to admit that I really like that tree picture - the only reason it wasn't the 'pic of the day' when I took it was because it was a rather 'tree heavy' week - and the cows were pretty photogenic.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

If only my yard looked like this! It's nice in the spring and summer, but not nearly as nice as yours. :)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Mine has a lot of empty pots and dried leaves around too - I just didn't take their picture!

[ukamikanasi.livejournal.com]

Pretty flowers! Your goldfinches look quite a bit different from ours. That sparrow is very familiar however-- someone imported them to the US sometime in the past and they are very successful here!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is fascinating the way that the European's named the bird species in their new homes after those they had left behind - so the names crop up attached to very different birds in different places. And weirder the way they took ordinary things from home, like sparrows, to the four corners of the world when there were perfectly good resident birds!

[clodia-metelli.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the pics -- they make the world a little brighter! Especially the buds. :D

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Buds are good - but I think I will rejoice when there are, finally leaves!

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

I love your super-close-up pictures! I can never seem to get my camera to focus when I'm that close. Looks beautiful!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

My camera has a 'macro' facility which enables it to focus close-up - one of my favourite features!

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

It will be spring soon. So I tell myself, although it is beautiful today, and I've made myself stay indoors. I'm not allowed to go outside and play in the dirt until I get these dratted tax papers ready to go to the accountant.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

We don't start our tax forms until April - and have until September to collect the bits of paper and fill it in. But it's not difficult - only 4 sides of A4 or so if I remember correctly.

Although, when we first came home, Manx tax still regarded me as one of S2C's goods and chattels - my income was regarded as part of his (which was very insulting, but also funny, because at that time I was the wage earner and he was the stay at home parent) - so I told him he could do all the paper work, I was obviously not capable of it! Even though the law has, since, changed I still give everything to him and get him to fill in the paperwork.

But I did help D-d with hers the first time - it took us about 10 minutes and she made a profit. (She got back about £500 as tax credit as well as the £50 or so she had paid as taxes in her summer job that year.)

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

You live in such a beautiful place! Thanks for posting.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I kind of think of it as 'small but perfectly formed'. Although not really perfect.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Ah, those photos do my heart good ...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Spring really is on the way. The picture of the pear tree reminded me of your icon when i took it.

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

Very pretty. And such a color bird.

We have a couple of screeching bluejays trying to build a nest about two feet from our bedroom window. I shoo them, but they come back. I'll probably be getting woken up by the sound of bird shrieks at 5:30 every morning very soon.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Fortunately the presence of the cat prevents birds nesting in our tree - I can do without that sort of noise, too!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

These are just beautiful. Hope you have a lovely time with your daughter.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think I get her to myself on Wednesday... She works hard at maintaining her friendships with the people here and has a big circle of local friends, either others who are still away in higher education or those who have stayed when they left school. So today she is going out with someone for the afternoon, tomorrow she is meeting a friend to shop and have lunch, Thursday is lunch with another friend and the evening out, Friday seems to be booked from 12MD to the early hours of the morning and so on!

Still, I see her for breakfast, and it is good that she is having some 'social time', so I don't mind at all.

[me-already.livejournal.com]

Lovely photos. Especially the goldfinch on the feeder!

We have melegyrn in common. I'm adding you, do add me back if you'd like to.
:)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Hello! Thank you. Welcome.

[melegyrn.livejournal.com]

Hoo boy. Better late than never. I finally have a few stolen minutes to say thank you for the "springiness" from your perspective. This year I'm just loving seeing all the leaves peeking out, here as well but in your photos, too. And all your pics of blooms.

Can you tell me what kind of tree is the one on the right in the third photo from the bottom? I just love its shape.

Uuhhh, Jack is now using my left hand for a pillow--again, so I must go. I'm a terrible wus about that, I know..shaking the cat off, I mean.

But thank you for the photos. I'm glad you're still posting them. I'm enjoying them just as much as your 365 posts.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Would you believe that spring is currently huddling under a blanket of snow? Wet snow, but definitely snow...

As for the tree - I took the picture for the shape of the tree too - but I'm not sure what it is, possibly an elm but possibly not... the shape owes a lot to the way the wind blows I think.

[melegyrn.livejournal.com]

Forgot to say--hope you're having a wonderful week off!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - it's been pretty lazy so far as it just isn't nice enough to tempt me out very far. But I am about to set off on a day out, in the sleet and snow, as D-d has to go to her dentist who happens to be on the other side of the island, about ten or eleven miles away, and we thought we'd then head up that side of the island to the north end and visit my Mum.

[ningloreth.livejournal.com]

The close-ups are really beautiful and I love the shapely tree.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is just such a lovely shape that tree. I have decided that buds and shoots are rather fascinating when seen close up.