I went out to drop off a package at FedEx and took a camera. Marilyn hasn’t been getting out much unless you count visiting the doctor and tests, so I feel an obligation to always have a camera with me.
It was coincidental but has a lot to do with fences and a general pointedness that’s part early spring in New England. Everything is poking up, but no leaves are out so everything is poky, pointy, and spiky.
Marilyn, having squared my pictures, has deemed this the right pictures du jour.
Photo: Garry Armstrong – at the place where they sell boats (it isn’t a marina … no water in sight!)Photo Garry Armstrong – Pointy in Uxbridge. What IS that pile of dirt?Photo: Garry Armstrong – More fencing around the boat storePhoto: Garry Armstrong – Well, I think it’s pointy!
My birthday bouquet was drying up and dying and Garry thought I needed something new. Something bright and cheerful. Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out what needs doing and how to get it done.
I even dream about it. And I’m also worrying about Garry and what would happen to him if I’m not here to take care of all the stuff in which he has never taken any interest. Like how the bank account works. Or where to find the title to the house.
Sticks, no stones
So there are the “no special reason” roses that Garry brought home yesterday.
The feeder was almost empty. The birds hadn’t been coming. I wasn’t sure whether it was because they didn’t like the food or they had personal business to take care of.
Maybe the food had gone off?
Perhaps they were nervous about the hawk?
Were the squirrels pushing them out of the feeders?
Or they off elsewhere and busy building nests?
Birds of many colors!Hairy Woodpecker dines alone
There were a few. They would fly in, grab a seed, and fly off. And the big Mourning Doves had been gorging on the Red Milo which none of the other birds like but they love.
A yellow finch in flight and a waiting red finchRed and yellow finchesMore bright finches
But today, it rained and suddenly, everyone developed an appetite. Garry pointed out that we had to feed them because there was practically no food left. I had simply been waiting for the rain to stop. But I had to agree — somewhere along the line, they had gotten hungry and come back to the big buffet on the deck.
Maybe the squirrels and doves had eaten the food they didn’t like, but when we put out fresh food it was like the woodland telephone lines lit up and suddenly, out of nowhere … birds flew from everywhere.
Bright yellow and red birds, showing for the first time their breeding colors.
House FinchTwo finches and a chickadee and the tail of something else
The color changes are quite remarkable. The birds that disappeared were dull buff and greenish-yellow. The returning birds are bright red and brilliant yellow. Breeding colors because it may not feel like spring, but the birds know: it’s time to nest, time to make eggs and breed babies. And there is lots of food!
Love the tail pattern!
Which should, logically, mean that this year, at least, we’ll have a lot of birdsong in our woods as well as the loud clattering of woodpeckers. And very likely, lots of bushes and sunflowers and all kind of strange bushes growing along the deck.
I have a few pictures. I have a few more pictures, so this is the start, but far from the finish!
Last night, just as I was packing up and ready to go to bed Garry popped into the living room. He had already removed his hearing aids so he obviously didn’t expect an answer.
“I could be wrong, but it looks like a really full moon out there. You might want to take a few pictures.”
Of course, I wanted to take pictures. I’ve never been able to take successful pictures of the moon from this house. The trees have always been in the way. I do have a great lens now, but it’s not a fast lens. It’s perfect in daylight.
I thought it might work because the moon was so very bright, but when I realized I could feel the mist in my face, so I knew I wasn’t going to get the face of the moon. I hoped it would be clear tonight and maybe I make up for it … but it’s raining for real now.
Meanwhile, these are as interesting a set of pictures as I’ve ever taken.
This time of year, the woods are definitely poky, pointy, and spiky. Before the leaves are out, everything has a sharp edge. It isn’t as lush as it will be later in the season, but it’s much easier to take pictures.
Later, the leaves will be soft and lovely… and it will be very hard to get a clear shot of anything except the leaves.
Summer. Good news and not so good news. Kind of like life.
Once I got to editing, cacti and other pointy things just went mad in my pointy brain! So here are some more square yet pointy, spiky, jagged pictures … and keep them away from your eyes! You could put your eye out with one of those pointy things!
I don’t even know what these are. Maybe the edges of young ironwood tree?Cactus! Let’s not always see the same hands!
Those are some amazing barbs, too. You get close to these and they hop right on to your pants legs. These are jumpers!
The last time I remember anything, it was November and we were visiting Tom and Ellin in Connecticut. We came home in the snow … and we haven’t seen anything but a few flurries since. I twirled around twice and it was Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and now … almost New Year’s Eve.
We don’t do anything for New Year’s Eve. Not only is the weather always bad, but the roads are full of drunks … and these days, drunks who are also texting. This is the holiday on which neither of us will drive.
Blue-eyed cat in the barn
Well, honestly? I don’t like traveling on any holiday. One year it took us 14 hours to drive home from Philadelphia — which is normally about a five-hour drive. The only way to be away on a holiday is to leave at least a week before the holiday and come back at least a week after the holiday is over.
I digress. Time for me to post all the square pictures I have made that I never got around to posting.
Square traffic – talk about wasted time!
I can’t even think of a time-related thing for everything, but everything has a time, right? There’s the time you took the picture. The time you needed to process it. The extra time you needed to fix it because you over-processed it and you had to start again.
The time it takes me to process pictures often takes an entire day. Or two.
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