{ Birds of Winter }

When we were stationed at Luke AFB, in Arizona, one of the things that I very much enjoyed doing was stepping into my backyard with my camera in hand.  I would sit on my patio chair and try to be as quiet as possible, allowing the birds to come closer where I could then take photo after photo after photo.

 

I shared a lot of them here on the blog.   

 

As this winter storm came around and the temperatures dropped, our yards filled with birds looking for shelter, water and food.  It provide plenty of opportunities for me to enjoy not only watching them up close, but getting some wonderful photos.  I thought I would share those here on the blog and hope you enjoy going through them.

 

Also, I do have a Bird Album over on my Flickr account, which I will leave linked for you, if anyone is interested.  There are some great shots in there.  

 

My cardinal friend is still sticking close to home and gracing me, and you, with it's presence.  I always sit and watch in awe, it is so beautiful and then the contrast between the white of the snow and the red of the cardinal is stunning.

 

 

{ Birds in the garden }

“Birds teach a great life lesson. All you have to do is listen to their song.”

 

 

We've been needing rain again, and the animals are craving water, so when they find some, they soak it all in as best as they can. 

 

Because we've been watering the garden with a sprinkler, anytime we turn it on, it's a party in the neighborhood.  And I just love grabbing my camera and watching them.

 

I've always loved bird photography and used to do quite a bit of it, when we were stationed back at Luke AFB, in Arizona.  I even have an album on Flickr for all the bird photos I took, so if that's something you're interested in, feel free to go over and take a look. 

 

 

I've never really sat and watched birds playing in the water, and boy was I in for a treat.  I don't know how long I sat at my window, but I couldn't pull away, they were just that cute.

 

I'm going to leave you with the pictures I took, and I do hope you enjoy looking through them, as much as I enjoyed taking them.

They take turns lifting their wings and letting the water soak into their feathers.  They play in the water puddles, fly back and forth, drink water, and just have a good ol' party.

Even the squirrels came to drink water and play.  So sweet to watch!!!

You know God provides for us, in all ways.  All it takes sometimes is looking outside our windows, at the simplest of things, to find joy.  Next time you have a moment, look outside, but really look, don't just glance, look and watch.  You will be happy you did.

{ Bird watching on a rainy day }

Remember when we were stationed in Arizona, I always took a ton of pictures of the birds around the house?

I used to sit for hours in the backyard, with my camera on a tripod, just watching the birds, taking photos, and enjoying them fluttering about doing their own thing.

I haven't really been bird watching since then.  Life got busy, and ashamedly, I stop doing a lot of the little things that I enjoyed.  That needs to be remedied.

So, this past weekend we had non stop rain, pretty severe storms at time, but in the afternoons, a calming, constant rain.  I sat out on the back porch with the camera in hand, and just listened to the drops falling on the table, or the roof above me.

It was so calming and just what I needed.

So many different species, colors, sizes.  I am always in awe of God's creation.

This little one in the back was cracking me up.  He kept peeking over the other one, then looking away, then again that little head would pop up to see what I was doing.  Hahah

I know, I know that is a lot of bird photos, but don't you just love them?

But I also did take a lot of rain photos.  I think sometimes it feels good to sit back and really immerse ourselves into the nature around us.  I for one adore rain, I love sleeping to the sound of rain, I love rainy days and cozy afternoons, and I absolutely love sitting out on the back porch watching the rain falling down around me.

After sitting outside for about an hour or two, I came back in and got some reading done.  My boy Marley is my little shadow, where I go he goes and if he is not right at my feet, he is nearby, watching, waiting.

It just felt good to take it as slow as the rainy day.  Recharged my batteries and made me once again appreciate the life I have.

{ Cardinals, cold day and hot tea }

The kind of day that you step outside with your camera in hand, thinking that you will try and get some good shots of the rain coming down, but really can only manage to be out there for 2 minutes before your hands freeze.

It's been steadily coming down, not stopping, not changing intensity.  Just a constant almost kind of misty freezing rain that leaves you chilled to the bone.

I will say that I'm enjoying it because it's been a while since we've had a good rain shower around here, but I'm also very eager for Spring to just arrive and this coldness to subside.

{ Living a beautiful, simple, God loving life }

I've stepped back from social media, and I've thrown myself fully into my homemaking, baking and cooking, crocheting and sewing, photography and just plain living, away from the chaotic going ons of life outside my home.

It's become too noisy and I don't enjoy being on social media anymore.  I rarely post anything of substance, maybe a crochet pic of something I'm working on, or a little sweet post about my family, but even those are few and far between.

I was sat on the couch yesterday thinking about how I'll go days and days without even logging onto Facebook or Instagram, and about a year ago, I would have been on every day.  It was like an addiction that I found myself constantly drawn to.

It's funny when you outgrow things, isn't it?

Those same things that seemed to be all you cared or thought about, now become just a fleeting memory that doesn't even make it to your daily barrage of thoughts.  I would say I made this change and shift on my own, but I would be lying.  I think God has been nudging me, ever so gently in this direction, for many years, and my soul was finally ready to listen and obey. 

Guess what I got out of it?  Pure and utter joy!!!

My camera has been set up near the back patio door, and I've indulged in countless sightings of nature's beauty, in the form of green grass shooting up after months of cold and icy conditions, trees brimming with new green shoots and the birds sweeping into the yard looking for food.

My hummingbirds are back, and I am actually in the process of making them some more feed.  I don't believe in buying if you don't need to, and hummingbird food is so easy to make.

This weekend I took up another old favorite past time of mine.

When I was young, I was obsessed with puzzles and I could spend countless hours, sitting in front of one.  Some took far too long to complete, there was always that elusive piece that would disappear mid puzzle completion, and no matter how hard you looked, you couldn't find it.

Others, I just dove right in and within a few hours, had it done.

For about a month or two now, I've been missing making puzzles and really wanting to get back into it.  While out this weekend, birthday shopping for Jasmine, I decided to pick one up.

I swear I was like a kid getting a full bag of candy and being told to go home and enjoy every piece.

Sunday afternoon, I pulled it out, set up my card table in the corner of the living room (out of the way), and dumped the pieces on the table.  It was like a rush of emotions sweeping over me, it's quite funny how something so simple as a puzzle, can bring about such strong feelings of joy.

I had my housework done, I helped Curt in the yard a bit, did some laundry, made us lunch and then sat down with a cup of coffee and worked on my puzzle.

It took me 4 hours (with breaks, obviously), to complete it.  I think it's one of the fastest puzzles I've ever made, but I enjoyed it so much that I'm already planning on getting a few more.  I'm hoping to get all in this collection, so that I can hang them up.  I've given this one a couple coats of mod podge and now I'm waiting to find a frame so that I can hang it up.  :)

I've also picked up my crochet hook again.  I hadn't crocheted in a few weeks, wasn't really feeling it, but I did have my eye on a new Helen Shrimpton pattern coming out, or rather, a crochet along, and I do so love her work so much, that I knew it was the perfect opportunity to get back into crocheting.

I think she just released the second Part earlier this morning, and I'm still working through the first Part, but I love it. Know what else I realized?

That even in crochet, I'm a creature of habit, and I tend to have specific colors for specific crochet creators.  For Helen's patterns, I tend to stick with the same color combo.  This new one, called the Cosmic CAL, is reminding me a lot of my Mandala Madness.  Ooohhh I can't wait to continue working on it and see it coming to life :)

My kitchen has also become my safe haven again.  I've always loved being in there, so much so, that last weekend when I was gone to San Diego, Marley kept looking for me in the kitchen.  How funny is that?

But I've been digging into my cookbooks, baking and cooking and enjoying feeding my family.  For so long it felt like a chore.  I can't believe how far removed from my life I was becoming, not enjoying being a homemaker, not really enjoying cooking and always trying to get out of it in some way or another.  It's sad when I think back on it.

Anyway, I am back at it, above I actually have some Amish Friendship Bread started, I got it going this morning and will have to feed it and take care of it for the next 10 days.  I'm trying brown sugar instead of white sugar, after seeing a few people making it that way online.  Fingers crossed I like the result.

Also pulled out my Pampered Chef Apple Peeler and Corer which I had completely forgotten about.  It came very handy yesterday when I had a ton of apples to peel, core and slice so that I could make use of them before they went bad.

I wasn't quite sure what to make at first, I did consider an apple pie, but decided to go with an apple butter instead to which I also added bananas that were over ripe.  It was the first time I added banana, but my word, it is so tasty that I think I'll add it from now on. 

Everything we make in our homes is made with such love, our families appreciate it even if they don't always tell us.  I'm blessed in that both my husband and children often tell me how much they love what I make and do for them.  Certainly makes the mundane daily tasks seem worth it, don't it?