May on the Meadow

It's gone from late winter gray to MAY!!

 The meadow comes alive with swallows and sandhills and hummingbirds

and geese and coyotes and deer

Our rescued honeysuckle is an ancient bush, still, she is giving us some blossoms this spring

as if to say "I like it here, I'm home."

 our greenhouse is giving us some early spring greens

 Willows and wildflowers just beginning to bloom

 An Osprey on the wing

 Pixie Cups and lichen reach for the sun

 and wild strawberries too

A beautiful time of year and spring could go on and on and on

It would be alright.

April on these 48 acres.

K.  I changed my mind.  I can't quit our Homestone blog.  :)  I just can't.  Especially at this time of year when there is so much beauty to record and share.

And so ... I'll continue on with our Warmth of Wood Blog and this 'home on the meadow blog' with perhaps a little less frequency.  

While it is now the second of May ~ I want to share some pics from April on the meadow.

This is such a spectacular time of year.  The arrival of spring.

 we pressed our little flat bottom boat into service to enjoy

 our naturally flooded meadow ~ which gives us a shallow lake for about a month this time of year.

  

 A wonderful and very different way to explore these 48 acres.

Mr Beaver doing what beavers do

  and some forest floor pics

  

                         

 Life is good.  We are so blessed ~ and ever thankful.

Soon, some 'May on the Meadow' pics.

and a quick moment with one of our late April arrivals.

A Slow Motion Spring

It's the last day of March! Spring is just now springing from the snow packed ground. The melt has begun and the birds are returning.  The male Red Winged Blackbirds have been joined now by the females and their mellifluous conversations fill this 48 acre bowl we call the meadow. 

Our first arrival Canada Geese are back.  Yesterday the most magical thing happened ... I was standing outside on the grass when I could hear them honking from over a mile away. As they flew over the house and out toward the hay field, I said "hello you guys, welcome back" and they did an abrupt turn around and flew back over top of me ... so low... closer than I've ever had them come to me in flight ... I knew it was their hello.  

Spring is nothing short of miraculous!!  It's so amazing to be witness to the natural world waking up from winter, a world we know so well after all these years.
We watch for the first Dandelion.  And yesterday, there she was ~ her yellow flower open to the sun.

There have been a few ducks dropping by but the creek is still frozen in lots of spots and the hay fields hasn't yet turned it's snow pack into the temporary lake that we, and the waterfowl, look forward to.  

The warmth of spring is quite a bit later this year than last.  We enjoy the slow melt to spring ~ the slower it goes the more we can enjoy the change of season.  Spring in slow motion.
This is what it looked like last year on about the 28th of March.  And what we have to look forward to.

As you may know, I have written two separate blogs since early in 2005.  I believe it's time to join these two blogs into one.  And so, I am not abandoning "The Homestone", simply moving it all over to the Warmth of Wood blog.  

Our Facebook page is titled; Touch Wood Rings, 48 Acres.  It's an ongoing conversation about what's happening around the meadow and about the work we do (Touch Wood Rings) and the people we have the pleasure of working with.  

I sincerely hope you will join us at the Warmth of Wood  and also follow along on Facebook if you are one of the millions of people who use social media. With love and thanks.  Nicola (and David)

Sing a song. It's Spring.

Our first Blackbird of 2016 arrived this morning.  I wrote a post on our Warmth of Wood Blog if you want to check it out.  Waning Winter and Wooden Rings  

Rather than bake a pie with 24 of these beauties under the crust,

springs first blackbird makes me want to sing though not a song of sixpence.

  

Most of us are familiar with The Beatles 1968 Blackbird tune ~ but my personal favourite is kd lang's heart opening song 'The Valley' lyrics by Jane Siberry.  

I do love a good kd croon.  

And so, today is that magical musical First Blackbird day when it takes all my concentration to stay at my computer and do the work I need to do.  And love to do. Don't get me wrong... it's just, well ... the sun is shining, there are birds everywhere and I wonder what the inside of the greenhouse looks like right now.  

I know that the raised beds are blackened with the tail ends of last years greens and that the ground will still be frozen ... but it's the promise of things to come. I know that the willows at the edge of the creek are showing their first furry catkins and that the creek will be raising her voice as little pools of open water appear. 

I did wake up this morning with a song of gratitude in my heart.  

This simple conscious thankfulness changes the colour of the day. It's a practice I am working on ... wake up and be grateful.  

Specifically grateful for at least 3 things in my life.  

Sounds easy and natural but there are still too many days when I forget to begin this way.

To change the colour of my day. 

  

Note to self:  Wake with gratitude. Bake a pie (with blueberries not blackbirds). 

Sing a song. It's Spring.

January 2016 ~ a wintry world

Arriving home from a trip to town any day is a treat.  We especially enjoy driving the last 7 km which is basically our own road. David plows it and looks after it and keeps it open in the winter months.
These pics are from that 7 km drive and then arriving through our gate and down the last stretch of driveway to our home sweet home.
It's a beautiful drive, regardless of the season but I'm pretty partial to these frosty winter days.  I'm guessing we have about 20 inches of snow right now and we will see more, there's no doubt.  We're thankful for it too ~ us and the trees and the forest floor and all the critters who rely on having four distinct seasons.

We hope you are also enjoying the kind of January you like best...
Till later.  Thank you ~ as always for dropping by.