The Homestone

Sunday, March 22, 2009

A Western Meadowlark Morning

Sunshine and a rare gift this morning; a Western Meadowlark arrives to herald the first Sunday of Spring on the meadow. He finds bare grass outside our living room windows to graze and peck for insects and seeds. David has his camera at the ready! Western meadowlarks are a member of the blackbird family which perhaps explains the moment when one of our (now) forty-odd Red Winged blackbirds dropped down on the ground next to the visiting Meadowlark ~ just for the briefest moment ~ as if to say; "Welcome, Cousin! "

Time now for David and I head out of doors and enjoy the rest of this warm spring day.

As a post script to the day ~ the meadowlark stayed all day.

Think, every morning when the sun peeps through The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove, How jubilant the happy birds renew Their old, melodious madrigals of love! And when you think of this, remember too 'T is always morning somewhere, and above The awakening continent; from shore to shore, Somewhere the birds are singing evermore. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Tales of a Wayside Inn

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Coyote on the meadow

Some pics of a recent visitor ~ a healthy looking coyote who wandered onto the meadow the other day, made his way along the creek and then up the ridge and off into the trees...

Monday, March 16, 2009

The last 7 km of our 55 km road to town

Some pics of our road ~ the 7 kilometers that David plows. On our journeys homeward we always let out a big sigh of relief as we turn off down our 7k. It's a beautiful road AND we're almost home . . .

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Marching through the last days of winter

It's the middle of March and we're still enjoying winter. We had another pretty major snow storm on the weekend and the day before sighted the first of our spring birds. David's snapshots of a Cedar Waxwing flitting from post to post along the creek. From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; here is a recording of the song of a cedar waxwing. The waxwings were back again yesterday. Sunday, March 15th; the real harbingers of spring arrived ~ our red winged blackbirds. David saw them first declaring; "The boys are back!" The males of this species always arrive a few weeks before we see the females. Again from Cornell ~ here's the beautiful song of the Redwinged Blackbird. The birds arrival was cause for celebration on a sunny Sunday. At least it was sunny earlier in the day. Then came the freezing rain and overcast skies, but we'll hold the sunshine in our thoughts till it's back again tomorrow. Little dog and I have been poking our noses into the greenhouse. I survey the left over debris from last years crops and the still frozen ground and look forward to being up to my elbows in the dirt.