Birds in the Snow

Well, I got what I could in the way of shots from the living room window today, and did find a new flock of Goldfinch visiting our feeders.  It kept snowing most of the day too, and added to the 18" or so on the ground - but it's the nice kind of snow, light and fluffy!

This is our outdoor view you're going to get familiar with.  My only trip outdoors today - those tracks across the lawn to refill the bird feeders.  The snow was about 18" deep there.  This would be perfect snow-angel-making-snow!

Our hard-working, almost filled-the-the-brim shed.  Notice the high roof profile we had put on it.  That gives you an amazing amount of extra storage, and works well.  We thought it would be too obvious, so close to the house, but now we think it looks rather nice.  I think the fact that I fit all I wanted to in it for the winter shows how I down-sized successfully!

And this is our hard-won 'Celtic Fish' sculpture, created by a blacksmith at the Celtic Roots Music Festival in Goderich a few years ago.  Mrs. F.G. wanted this, and she fought an unknown other bidder through the silent auction to get it.  Now it's so close to the window we really notice it and appreciate it more.  See where it is in the first picture above.

I should not anthropomorphize, I know.  So rather than pointing out how they just sit on the feeder and eat, I should say they have a feeding pattern that is well-adapted to survival.  Perhaps that's why we get larger flocks of Goldfinch.  They were the main birds we got at the other house, so it was nice to see them find our feeders here and sit around much of the day - a flash of life in the cold back yard.

And then I captured the Downy Woodpecker for the first time.  It seemed to look right at me from the feeder, took a seed, crammed it into a crevice of the ash bark, and ate it down.  Nice to have one of those coming to the feeder.

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Meantime, I'm being well taken care of.  I've always said that Mrs. F.G. is the world's best homemade soup maker as well as a great fibre artist, and every soup she comes up with seems to maintain that reputation.  This is the homemade tomato soup she came up with for me, and I've labelled it the best cracker soup ever.  Delicious.  I haven't been feeling like eating much, but food at home makes it so much easier!

Meanwhile, a friend came and blew out the drive this morning while Mrs. F.G. shovelled the sidewalk (she's a lady of many talents; she's also my nurse).  And that friend's wife brought over our dinner a while ago.  Friends and my son dropped around to visit.  Yes, I'm being well taken care of.  And I have to tell you, it feels so much more comforting to be in town with friends and services nearby than out in the country when you're in this situation.  I think we made the right decision.

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