Spring has sprung
Spring has sprung
The grass has riz
I wonder where the birdies is
Okay that's not a very good poem. Here's a good one (which I've posted many times before.)
Pied Beauty
by Gerard Manley Hopkins:
GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
I needed a break from doing taxes so here are some pretty pics.
Spring arrives in the Pacific Northwest in January. We have had blue skies and 70* weather for three days now. Blue skies during the day meaning freezing temperatures at night but the cold nights are worth it when you look at the stars. When you step outside of our house on a clear night the sky almost glows. When I was a kid I would lie on my back on the lawn and look at the stars.
All the years since then, I've lived in cities where you're lucky to see the moon let alone the stars. Up here, the Milky Way is a jewelled arc stretching across the night sky. Chuck and Andy, who are a lot younger than me and grew up when there were electric lights everywhere had never seen the Milky Way till we moved here.
Tomorrow the rain comes back. That means mild 45* nights and cool 55* days. It was nice to have a break and see blue skies for a few days. But I don't mind the grey skies. I least I really get to notice the blue skies on sunny days. When the sky is blue all the time, I just take it for granted and hardly ever look up at it. We've had 18 inches of rain in January. That's as much as San Francisco gets in a year if they're lucky.
So spring is in the air. That doesn't mean it won't be cold until April. We'll have lots of rain mixed in with a few sunny days and frosty nights before April. It might even snow. It has snowed up here in April before and even in October. And we'll have plenty of thunderstorms and hail before summer arrives.
Pic one: cherry trees are the first to blossom - they started last week already.
Pic two: Then come the flowering quinces - they'll bloom next week.
Pic three: Stellar's jay - these live here all year round. I just love them. They are so noisy, aggressive and comical.
Pic four: The Oregon junco - these live here all year round too. They're a ground sparrow and spend their time hopping around on the forest floor looking for food.
Pic five: Western bluebirds live here all year round too.
Pic six: The first bird to arrive in Spring is the grosbeak and then it never stops singing till fall. I'm not sure if you can call it "singing" because the poor thing is tone-deaf and it's more like karaoke in a bar full of drunks.
Pic seven: Then comes the northern flicker. This little woodpecker announces itself by hammering on the roof as soon as the sun comes up. The first spring we were here, it drove us nuts. One chilly morning Chuck climbed up onto the roof to chase it away. The ladder shifted into a dangerous position and he was stuck up there in his jammies freezing. He called for help for nearly half an hour until I finally heard him and put the ladder back in place. Since then we don't mind the flicker. You get used to it. Apparently he raps on the roof to announce his territory.
Pic eight: Next to arrive is the pileated woodpecker. Thank God he doesn't rap on the roof because he is louder than Woody Woodpecker. You can hear him rapping on trees nearly half a mile away in the forest.
Pic nine: Then comes Allen's hummingbird and you have to fill up the hummingbird feeder. They're pretty aggressive and fly right into your face when you sit watching them on the verandah. They have a beautiful mating flight where they soar hundreds of feet into the air and do a complete circle in the air while their wings whistle like little rockets. They are the only singing hummingbird. They sing only when resting on a branch. They have terrible dog-fights at the feeder dive-bombing each other.
Pic ten: The other hummingbird to arrive in spring is Anna's which is not as aggressive as Allen's. Anna's mating flight is similar but, instead of doing a circular flight, they soar and dive again and again until the final dive makes the wings whistle.
Pic eleven: Last spring visitor is the purple martin which arrives as soon as the first mosquitoes do. They nest in the sand banks behind the house and dozens swoop across the meadow in front of the house catching insects. The dogs love chasing them but they are too swift.
Those are just some of the birds of Robin's Wood.
The grass has riz
I wonder where the birdies is
Okay that's not a very good poem. Here's a good one (which I've posted many times before.)
Pied Beauty
by Gerard Manley Hopkins:
GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
I needed a break from doing taxes so here are some pretty pics.
Spring arrives in the Pacific Northwest in January. We have had blue skies and 70* weather for three days now. Blue skies during the day meaning freezing temperatures at night but the cold nights are worth it when you look at the stars. When you step outside of our house on a clear night the sky almost glows. When I was a kid I would lie on my back on the lawn and look at the stars.
All the years since then, I've lived in cities where you're lucky to see the moon let alone the stars. Up here, the Milky Way is a jewelled arc stretching across the night sky. Chuck and Andy, who are a lot younger than me and grew up when there were electric lights everywhere had never seen the Milky Way till we moved here.
Tomorrow the rain comes back. That means mild 45* nights and cool 55* days. It was nice to have a break and see blue skies for a few days. But I don't mind the grey skies. I least I really get to notice the blue skies on sunny days. When the sky is blue all the time, I just take it for granted and hardly ever look up at it. We've had 18 inches of rain in January. That's as much as San Francisco gets in a year if they're lucky.
So spring is in the air. That doesn't mean it won't be cold until April. We'll have lots of rain mixed in with a few sunny days and frosty nights before April. It might even snow. It has snowed up here in April before and even in October. And we'll have plenty of thunderstorms and hail before summer arrives.
Pic one: cherry trees are the first to blossom - they started last week already.
Pic two: Then come the flowering quinces - they'll bloom next week.
Pic three: Stellar's jay - these live here all year round. I just love them. They are so noisy, aggressive and comical.
Pic four: The Oregon junco - these live here all year round too. They're a ground sparrow and spend their time hopping around on the forest floor looking for food.
Pic five: Western bluebirds live here all year round too.
Pic six: The first bird to arrive in Spring is the grosbeak and then it never stops singing till fall. I'm not sure if you can call it "singing" because the poor thing is tone-deaf and it's more like karaoke in a bar full of drunks.
Pic seven: Then comes the northern flicker. This little woodpecker announces itself by hammering on the roof as soon as the sun comes up. The first spring we were here, it drove us nuts. One chilly morning Chuck climbed up onto the roof to chase it away. The ladder shifted into a dangerous position and he was stuck up there in his jammies freezing. He called for help for nearly half an hour until I finally heard him and put the ladder back in place. Since then we don't mind the flicker. You get used to it. Apparently he raps on the roof to announce his territory.
Pic eight: Next to arrive is the pileated woodpecker. Thank God he doesn't rap on the roof because he is louder than Woody Woodpecker. You can hear him rapping on trees nearly half a mile away in the forest.
Pic nine: Then comes Allen's hummingbird and you have to fill up the hummingbird feeder. They're pretty aggressive and fly right into your face when you sit watching them on the verandah. They have a beautiful mating flight where they soar hundreds of feet into the air and do a complete circle in the air while their wings whistle like little rockets. They are the only singing hummingbird. They sing only when resting on a branch. They have terrible dog-fights at the feeder dive-bombing each other.
Pic ten: The other hummingbird to arrive in spring is Anna's which is not as aggressive as Allen's. Anna's mating flight is similar but, instead of doing a circular flight, they soar and dive again and again until the final dive makes the wings whistle.
Pic eleven: Last spring visitor is the purple martin which arrives as soon as the first mosquitoes do. They nest in the sand banks behind the house and dozens swoop across the meadow in front of the house catching insects. The dogs love chasing them but they are too swift.
Those are just some of the birds of Robin's Wood.
posted by Joubert at 3:12 PM
The Alliance
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