Snow~Birds

4SNOW DAY MOSAICS

Folks are becoming pretty tired of having snow and cold temperatures.

I decided to make lemonade with winter weather lemons. 

It’s still a little over two months until Spring officially arrives.  In the meantime, enjoy watching birds. Consider  joining The Great Backyard Bird Count.

The Great Backyard Bird Count 2010 information HERE.

The mosaics and editing were done in Photoscape and Photofiltre editing programs.

Answers

I was asked about this particular font.  I compose my posts in Windows Live Writer, which offers a large variety of fonts.  The font is Bradley Hand ITC, size 18 Bold.

Stop by Mary’s Little Red House, for Mosaic Monday.

We keep several feeders filled.  Our neighbors have feeders, also. A large number of birds visit both yards throughout winter.

~All Around Town~

A close up of an Azalea, in the garden next to our dining room window.

This morning, we visited the Library. J found a couple of landscaping books, he liked and I brought home John Jakes' Charleston. I absolutely love that city. Another book, I checked out, is Dictionary of Missouri Historic Places. I'll be looking for places, to make note of, for future day trips.

Speaking of historic places; Woods Fort is located on Main Street in our town. The marker is pictured below, followed by a photo of the Woods Fort cabin.

The following photos show some of our favorite homes, around town.

We drove through the park, where we saw these fellows.

We decided we needed something different in the berm at the edge of our front yard. We found what we were looking for, Home Run Roses, at the nursery, just outside of town. Home Run Roses are similar to Knock Out Roses, with the same growing habit. I'll post photos, when they bloom. We saw these water features at the nursery, also.

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Update photos of the patio Hosta garden.

Above, the garden beside the dining room windows. Below is a photo of the column/pedestal we're using on the front porch, this year. The porch faces west which makes it difficult to find plants that will survive there. We were told Portulaca will do well.

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Several readers have asked what camera I use. I have a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI. I'm still learning about this camera and having fun during the process. Before this camera I used a Kodak P850, which was a very nice camera, for point and shoot photography. I dropped that camera while visiting Mary Carol Garrity's Nell Hill's, in Atchison Kansas, last year.

~Snapshots~

A bit of summer sunshine in February.

J has been going through old photographs and organizing them. Some are very old and some are more recent, like the ones here. With the exception of the photo of the Gulls, all photos in this post, were taken on the farm, during the 1990's.

We grew Sunflowers in our garden. When I saw the picture, I knew I had to add it here. I edited it to show three different views. The Sunflowers simply say sunshine, warmth and summertime.

A field beside the lane, leading to our home in the back pasture.

A misty summer morning.

This cellar was behind the original family home. That home was taken down during the 1960's, to make room for J's parents new home.

Canadian Geese on the pond at the front of our home in the back pasture. There was always something to see, at the pond.

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While visiting Q's Corner, I learned the 11th annual Great Backyard Bird Count is taking place February 15 thru February 18. For more information about the GBBC and if you wish to participate, click this photo. J and I plan to participate.

Photo was taken on the shore of Lake Huron, Mackinaw City, Michigan, June 2006.

Have a wonderful weekend!

EDIT:

Hello again...I'm adding this edit after recieving an e-mail from my daughter, Xanti's Mom. You might remember Xanti's baby brother Elijah was born in November 2006 and only lived about 2 hours. Posterior Urethral Valves was the cause of his death. Since then Xanti and her Mom, have made and donated blankets to St Louis Childrens Hospital, monthly. The doctors of St Louis Childrens, worked so hard for our precious Elijah and continue to work for other precious children. Kim has a goal in mind, to make and donate these simple yet warm and comfy blankets for each child at Childrens. If you would like to read Elijah's story and perhaps make a blanket, please visit Kim's blog at: http://hugsforelijah.blogspot.com/ She has just begun the blog and has asked for my help in tweaking it a bit. Until then, Elijah's story with the idea for the blanket donations, has been published.

**The simple no sew blanket instructions are now at Kim's blog.

Thanks so much to all!

~February~

I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.
~Henry David Thoreau~
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The photo above, taken this morning, shows our concrete bench beside a sycamore tree, next to the wet weather creek.

As predicted, the latest snowfall began yesterday morning, just before noon. It snowed throughout the day and most of the night. We don't know the accumulation. It's a dry snow and has drifted. We accept whatever the amount, joyfully. Missouri needs moisture!

The following photos are from late yesterday afternoon.

Notice the Finch taking off from the feeder and the snow spray from the updraft.

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Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire; it is the time for home.

~Edith Sitwell~

Yesterday, I made soup from yellow eye beans we bought, in December, at a farmers market outside Asheville North Carolina. I served the soup with cornbread, made in an iron skillet.

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Away in a meadow all covered with snow

The little groundhog looks for his shadow

The clouds in the sky determine our fate

If winter will leave us all early or late.

~Don Halley~

My thanks to all, who dropped by the Back Porch during January. Just over a month from now, I'll celebrate my one year anniversary in the land of blog. It seems as though the year flew by!

~Like Ducks to Water~

As we were leaving our town this morning, we saw these beautiful birds on the pond at Fairgrounds Park. We stopped to watch them. They entertained us for quite awhile, their antics delightful!

The tiny building next to the pond is the duck house. In the distance is First Baptist Church. The park was once home to our county fair.

This was the only pair of Canada Geese, today. When we were at the park last week, there were several.

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The stop at the park was on our way to Michaels. I took advantage of a 60% off total framing order, not long ago and had this print of Shane Kindchi's pencil drawing of Biltmore framed. Michaels has always done great work with our framing needs. This time is no exception. The frame and mats are perfect for this wonderful print, a memento of our Biltmore visit.