Every day has a special magic,
if you only open your eyes to see it.
I certainly wasn't thinking that this morning
when I stumbled out to the kitchen
and started grinding coffee beans.
Source: knowyourmeme
I was grumpy
because Terry usually makes
the morning coffee,
and he was blissfully sleeping in.
Arrggghhhh!!!!!
Source: knowyourmeme
While the coffee was collecting in the pot,
I happened to look out the window.
Yes!!!!!
I ran for my camera!
Things were definitely looking up!
Muley Doe
Muley Buck
Coffee?
What coffee?
Canada Geese
Sometimes you just have to open your eyes
and see the beauty of ordinary around you.
And then something surprising landed on the deck's rail.
A meadowlark in its winter colors!
I had never seen one before at this time of year.
Meadowlarks usually winter further south.
Then you realize what an extraordinary gift
another ordinary day is.
What great photos this morning. There is something about seeing wildlife right in your own backyard that makes you feel connected with the world. Tonight a buck came to our neighbor's feeder. In our town there are quite a few people who feed the deer in the wintertime. The snow gets deep here and constant. We always feed the birds all winter. They give us such joy.
ReplyDeleteHi Peggy!
DeleteThanks you for your kind words How lovely for you to see the buck at your neighbor's feeder.. I need to feel that connection with the world every day ~ especially since I spent a lot of my childhood in remote areas.
I should put out some bird feeders. I know that the birds would give us joy, and certainly, getting photos would be easier. I've hesitated to because we're often gone during parts of the winter, and I worry about the birds becoming dependent upon my feeders. Our snow on the plains comes and goes over and over. I've been trying to get a good photo of a meadowlark forever, and suddenly he landed on the rail right in front of the window I was shooting out of.
I hope that you are having a lovely Sunday! :)
Such a beautiful post! That meadowlark alone would have made my day. Do those Canada Geese stay there? Or are they heading home to Canuck land? It's always such an exhilarating feeling when I see them arriving in the spring. I'm waiting for that first robin to show up very soon. They are the most joyous sight after a long, hard winter. Can't wait to have them and all the other birds arrive for the spring and summer seasons. Oh spring....it's so close now!
ReplyDelete"Sometimes you just have to open your eyes and see the beauty of ordinary around you." Truer words could not be spoken.
Happy Sunday morning, Martha! Thank you for your kind comment! A lot of our Canada geese stay here. They love our open spaces and reservoirs. I, too, used to love seeing great flocks of Canada geese migrating in the North. I'll never forget the flocks honking and cackling as they flew north over Lansdowne House in the spring. Bird watching is one thing Terry and I have enjoyed over the years.
DeleteYes, come spring, do!
So much wild life around you to be found. Truly is grand as you watch with your bit of a grumpy sound haha
ReplyDeleteYou always brighten my day with your funny words, Pat! I hope that you are having a happy Sunday!
DeleteSo lovely to see the deer...and the birds! Canada geese in flight to boot! Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda! We share our world with so many beautiful and sentient forms of life. Enjoy your day!
DeleteMeadowlarks are my favourite bird. When I was a kid on the prairies, their beautiful and distinctive song filled our summer days.
ReplyDeleteHi Debra! It must have been special to spend your childhood on the prairies ~ endless skies and horizons! I do love meadowlarks! Their songs are some of the purest and most beautiful sounds in the world. As more development happens, they are moving further and further east. We live on a golf course (ironic since neither of us plays golf!), and the meadowlarks nest in the natural rough areas around the greens. In the spring and summer I joke that they are our roosters! Have a great day!
DeleteI think you were ment to get up early this morning to make the coffee. So many amazing things to see.
ReplyDeleteHi Jill! You're so right! Sometimes I have to kick myself in the tush because I am surely among the most fortunate of women among countless generations to have graced this Earth. I hope that you have enjoyed a happy weekend!
DeleteOh deer-oh deer!!!!! LOL!
ReplyDeleteYou look out the window and there they are!
THIS IS SOOOO UNFAIR!!! Ggrrrrrr!
It would take hours on end in a hide to these pictures around here!!
Lucky you!!! ;-)
By the way, I doubt you meadowlark is one!
Sorry but I can't help it... I don't know much about american birds but to me this looks much more like a woodpecker, maybe a Gilded Flicker in winter plumage but with no certainty about the exact species.
The clue is: the 2 toes in the front and 2 others in the back: peckers are zygodactylic like parrots!
Lovely post Fundy!!
I often think of you in your hide, Noushka! I don't know how you do it, but I'm so glad that you do. Your photos are amazing!
DeleteAnd thank you, thank you for questioning my identification of the bird! I always loved it as a teacher when kiddos would challenge me! And sometimes I was wrong, and I loved that best, because everyone needs to question. That's when the best learning happens. You can be sure that I'm going to investigate this!
I was so sure it was a meadowlark because I thought I glimpsed a black V on its breast, but it turned side on and back on before I could snap a photo front on. I was so surprised when it suddenly landed in front of me. I just have this Canon point and shoot, and sometimes it feels like eons pass before the shutter clicks! We do have northern flickers around here, and they do have black thingies on their breasts, but they usually hang out along the creek bottom.
I am going to have such fun figuring out this!
Have a happy week, Noushka!
Oh I would have been in my glory!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Monica! That's why I have to kick myself sometimes! I grumble about having to do something like putting on a pot of coffee, and I forget about how incredibly fortunate I am to have the gift of another ordinary day! I was really pitiful yesterday morning! My sweet and gentle husband had everything ready to go. All I had to do was grind the beans, brush them into the filter, and press on! So the world gives me a wakeup slap to the head in a lovely lesson! I hope that you are enjoying a happy weekend! You have been hammered on the East Coast this winter!
DeleteNothing like the ordinary that's for sure. Skies / tree skeletons / wildlife just look and you will see. Photography has fine tuned my visual so much since I started blogging. Jim's view on the world has opened my eyes as well. We may be in our "almost sunset years" but I sure am not letting that slow mw down, neither you. Lovely captures today Louise!
ReplyDeleteRon
Thanks, Ron! I've always been visual and seeing things as compositions. Coming from an extended family of painters and with my love of photography since I was a small child, I had no chance!
DeleteJim has a wonderful perspective on the world. I've got a link to his blog in my post for tomorrow. OMG! I've got tomorrow's post done!!!!! Pat has suggested to me several times that getting ahead is the secret to consistent posting, but I'm always coming from behind!
Sshhh! No talk of "almost sunset years" okay? I'm only a couple of months behind you in our track through time!!!!! I like to delude myself!!!!! Have a happy day! Belly rubs to Sophie!
Amen, Louise. I always love the muleys and that bird is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.! What photos!
ReplyDeleteHi Audrey! Thank you! My friend Noushka has said it may be a woodpecker instead of a meadowlark, so I've got some investigative work ahead of me! Noushka knows A LOT about birds, and she is an incredible photographer! Have a happy and safe week! XOXO
DeleteKażdy dzień jest nowym lepszym dniem. :)
ReplyDeletePozdrawiam : Patrycja (photoopassion)
Dziękujemy za odwiedziny! Mieć szczęśliwy tydzień, Patrycja!
DeleteTaking full advantage of those ordinary days like you have here Louise is a must if we want to stay engaged.
ReplyDeleteYou appear to live on the grounds of a wildlife park! Look at those critters all around you! Glad you were awake enough to get these photos! thanks for sharing.
Now to go outside with Soph and Ron on this ordinary day which is FREEZING!!
Right on, Jim! Full engagement!
DeleteI could hardly see when I was focusing because I didn't even have my glasses on at first! I had literally stumbled into the kitchen looking for coffee!
This area has only undergone development for a little over a decade, so it was open prairie not so long ago. And the economic upheaval of the past five or so years slowed development down ~ long enough for the scrapping of an ice arena and YMCA and then an elementary school in what is now Red-Tailed Hawk Park. The RTH park links up with the Ponderosa Preserve (35 acres/14.1 hectares) via a long, skinny Aurora park along Piney Creek. Compliments of the Colorado Lotto and an open space tax in Arapahoe County and maybe some other things.
So, in a sense, I am near wildlife parks. We have three reservoirs not too far away and other wildlife corridors along Piney Creek that all link up. The Colorado Lotto has always benefited parks and recreation and open spaces since its inception in 1983. Politicians have tried to get their hands on the money for other uses, but so far the voters have stopped them. Yeah voters! that's why I buy lotto tickets!
I'll be by your blogs in a bit ~ can't wait.
Bet you weren't expecting all that wildlife! You saw the deer and that slowed you down to see the rest. Great shots.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alex! I'm glad that you enjoyed the photos. Lots of mornings there's nothing, and then some mornings it's pure magic! Have a great week!
DeleteYou need to get up and make the coffee more often!
ReplyDeleteLOL, Barb! I've got to make sure I look out those windows near dawn every day. Terry has spoiled me in the coffee department! But then he gets a wonderful, healthy, homemade lunch every workday thanks to me. Even before I retired!
DeleteOh ~ have a great week! And stay away from those avalanche areas! Which I'm sure you do anyway. Beautiful snow ~ but cruel danger. Take care!
DeleteAren't you lucky you had to get up and make coffee. What wonderful visitors to see from your window.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky, Mairéad! Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteI think the bird is a female flicker.
ReplyDeleteThank you, shsch! A bird expert blogging friend has pointed that out as well. I am going to do a post in the near future on the identification!
ReplyDelete