Splish splash, I was takin' a bath . . .

Frigid temperatures lately mean birds have no drinking water, so I've been helping them out with water bowls on the deck.  Every morning I swap the frozen for fresh.  Look what those silly birds did with their nice clean drinking water yesterday!

California Quail Return!

 First a pair and now two, these busy birds criss-cross our yard several times a day.  The males have taken a liking to perch and keep guard on the back of the adirondack chair that was left out on the lawn a day or so ago.  The females peck their way across the lawn and into the flower beds.  I believe they are the culprits who have been scratching away the soil from around my two little tomato plants.  I don't mind because they're endlessly amusing.


Last year, a pair of adults and ten little babies suddenly appeared out of the hedgerow.  All the wee ones survived to full size and I guess they are starting to come back now.

Right outside the dining room window, one of the females got real involved in scratching out a nest size depression, under the protection of the Oregon grape while the male kept guard.  I thought perhaps she would lay some eggs, but she disappeared into the thicket.


That would have been a nice sight to balance out the views of eagles killing seagulls lately!

Tiny Treasure

I startled a tiny bird
It seemed to cower and cry
Back with camera in minutes
"Captured" from both sides.

Mid-January Blahgging

In an email from the Nature Conservancy I just saw some very beautiful nature photos, finalists and honorable mentions for 2008. You can vote on your favorites, but you can't vote on the honorable mentions, and that's where my favorites are. The link is over there in the upper right hand corner of this page. See what you think. l love the White Sands, Butterfly and starry sky at Arches.

Do we have wood to burn now! What a wood pile! Jake even built an extension to the shed to cover it all. I was worried we'd have to resort to electric heat this winter, but not now! Neighbors gave us very well-seasoned wood they no longer needed, plus we actually bought a cord from a local guy, plus Christine shared her secret source from a golf course in Seattle with us, so that will be good for the future along with the very knotty pine David hauled over from Queen Anne Hill, plus all the stuff we've logged right here and all the stuff yet to be logged . . . keeping warm is serious and time-consuming business around here.

It's slow time for sales at the gallery, but we're busy with social events. We're having a community-wide inaugural celebration on the 20th, we're busy seeking out new members, and we've planned the first in a series of artist coffee and talk times for Feb 5, 3 pm. It's a good excuse to get out of the studio and see who's doing what these days.

Today I finished painting around 3 and as it was low tide, I took a long walk on the beach, further than ever, not too cold since the wind was at my back and not blowing too hard. Saw several great blue herons and wished for binos to check out the smaller water birds. Eventually came to a steep road that led up to the road that connects to our road, passing through the gate with all the stern warnings not to trespass on private property. A couple of kids said it didn't matter. I didn't think so, either.

Netflix streams dvds for Mac users now -- I tried it out tonight with season 2 of 30 Rock. Love that wacky humor!

Winter is Upon Us Now

Today I have been working on a small painting and watching birds flock to the snow covered deck for the bran flake crumbs and quinoa I put out for them to supplement the suet that hangs from the eaves. They seem very hungry. Right now one of the flickers is on the suet, a hummingbird just buzzed its feeder, and the chickadees, towhees, juncos and sparrows are flitting back and forth. They get aggressive with each other each time I put out a new little stash of something tasty for them. Eventually, they begin to share.
White-capped waves are rolling toward us today, but nothing like two days ago when the wind was howling out of the south, making the biggest waves we've seen so far. That day the lights flickered a couple of times and David went outside and made preparations for hooking up to the neighbors' generator, if we should lose power. Fortunately, we didn't. It's so cold we're actually running the electric heat plus the wood stove, as the fire isn't quite enough to cut through the chill that settled in over night. Besides that, we're running very low on seasoned wood and trying to burn the fresh cut as much as possible.
Looks like we got almost an inch of snow last night but it came late enough not to interfere with our opening and anniversary celebration at the gallery. David opted to stay home. Even the enticement of a string trio couldn't pry him out of his chair. He was tired from a long bicycle ride he'd gone on with the local club, those few members who weren't put off by the frigid weather. The gathering at the gallery was festive and fun. People are in good spirits in spite of the news that several members are dropping out. I'm excited about getting the notice posted in Artist Trust and hoping to get a good response.