Category Archives: Birds

Nativities

…the occasion of a person’s birth. A picture carving or model representing Jesus Christ’s birth.

Even though the Wise men from the East did not appear on the scene till months after the birth of Jesus they are depicted in many traditional Nativity scenes. I like to try to put them far off as if they are still traveling.

“My Christ he is the Lord of lords,

He is the King of kings

He is the Sun of righteousness

With healing in his wings.

My Christ, he is the heaven of heaven

My Christ what shall I call?

My Christ is first, my Christ is last,

My Christ is All in All.”

I had to wait till dark to get a good shot of the nativity set we like to put above our front door.

When JJ was here last Monday afternoon, he set this Little People Nativity on the window ledge.

‘Welcome to our wondering sight,

Eternity within a span!

Summer in winter! Day in night!

Heaven in earth! And God in man!

Great little One, whose glorious birth

Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.’

Quotes taken from Christ’s Glorious Achievements, What Jesus Has Done for You. by C. H. Spurgeon

Here are the last few sentences from this book:

“I hope that among those who have read these pages there will be many whom the Lord Jesus has specially redeemed with his most precious blood, and I trust he will appear at once to them, and say, ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’ By grace omnipotent may you be  made to yield to the Lord with the cheerful consent of your conquered wills, and accept that glorious grace which will bring you to praise the seeking and saving Saviour in heaven.”

May the miracle of Christmas and the redemptive, saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross lead you to repentance with belief and new life in Him. He alone gives us grace and peace.

For the Birds

A couple of weeks ago we started building this birdhouse with Addy and JJ. The involvement with hammers and nails and glue made me fail to get photos of A and J while they were working on it.

Both Addy and JJ are good with directions and the whole building process. Addy’s window is a little more detailed than JJ’s.

It was Addy’s idea to add the B. We had to let all the glue dry at this point and it was time for Addy and JJ to go to Awana. The finishing of the roof would have to happen at a later date.

On Monday afternoon JJ was here while Addy was at dance so we started on the shingles on the roof. The royal ‘we’ was JJ supervising me and giving me tips while he ate an orange.

Here’s an older Autumn photo of Addy and JJ.

I wanted to update y’all on the fires in our parts. The closest fire to us is 74% contained and another fire a little farther from us is 46% contained. The folks from our church who had to evacuate have been able to go back to their homes and they weren’t destroyed. We had a downpour on Sunday and that was helpful, too. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

This and That

We have had some rainfall that gave me a break from watering.

The little toddler quail are hard to see but are so much fun to watch. We are inundated with quail, babies, toddlers, and teens. They grow fast.

If they didn’t blend in so nicely with their environment they’d be easier for predators like this next one who flew in on Monday.

Today is mowing day. What’s up where you live?

Oh Deer

We’ve had many visits from bucks, does and fawns lately.

A regular stag party on this evening.

This little one tried to crash the party but was called away quickly by it’s mother.

On another day there was another gathering.

Then we had several visits from the fawns and their mother.

We also had a visit from our hawk.

On to our humans!

Our Grands had a great week of Vacation Bible School.

Jamie worked hard as a leader all week! Marvel at Jesus, Live for His Glory!

The weekend ended with a birthday dinner party for our Grands Granny. Our Grands are blessed with lots of adult love.

Things are heating up around here again this week. I’ll have to resume some watering. What’s going on in your corner!

Over the River…

We drove to Bothell last Tuesday early and spent several days with our Westside kids and we had a bonus visit with our Niece and our Grandniece. We were able to see our Grandnephew, too, at a choral performance. We drove back home on Saturday. I’ll post soon about our time away.

The photo collage is from our drive home on Saturday as the sun was rising and as we crossed the Vantage bridge over the mighty Columbia River.

On Saturday after we got home and unpacked this beauty entertained us.

Then during our relaxing afternoon after church this hawk paid a visit probably looking for that chubby quail!

Happy Victoria Day to our neighbors to the north in British Columbia.

Q is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Saturday April 19th, the day in between Good Friday and Easter.

Q is for Quail. We enjoy a covey of them that visit regularly.

Quail in Spring.

Quail in Winter

Quail in Autumn

A California Quail on a Quilt square from a Quilt that Greg’s mother, Verna, embroidered and quilted when we just had 48 states in the U.S.A. There are 48 squares with each of the states represented in the year she quilted it.

 

H is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Wednesday April 9th and a two post day. Wednesday Hodgepodge will show up after this post.

H is for Herons

These Heron nests were located behind the Kenmore Park and Ride in Kenmore, Washington. Photos taken in 2008.

 

Goodbye to March

A month to climb and hide in trees.

A month where birds return and greet the morning with song.

A month to wrap up homeschool projects.

A month to try new things…

Sweet Tamarind was a thumbs up. Don’t swallow the seeds.

Red cactus pear was a thumbs down.

Trees are blossoming at Josh and Laura’s.

We are still waiting here on the northeastern edge of Washington State to see blossoms and blooms. The daffodils are just shooting up out of the ground. No yellow blooms quite yet.

What’s blooming in your neck of the woods?

Lavender is Buzzing

The bees enjoy lavender and our bushes are waning but they were full and fragrant through the end of July and into August.

Hummingbirds have a buzz of their own and they really love this new feeder we picked up at an estate sale. I have not been able to keep up with them with this feeder. We have had 5 at a time trying to push off others to get their turn.

The old feeder is okay when the new one is full of visitors.

A rare moment to enjoy this one all by itself.

This week we are having Vacations Bible School at our church and my job is to sell the t-shirts and hats each evening. At only $7 dollars they go fast. We don’t make a profit and probably even take a hit because of what we sell them for but it makes it more affordable to all.

Hope you are all having a good week.

Current Visitors

This mama deer comes to forage in our yard but leaves her fawn in a neighboring area to our property.

Our state bird has paid us some visits, too.

Mama Deer comes back a few times a day to nibble on all the pretty stuff and some weeds, too.

We had a surprise visitor today who was running back and forth next to our slider and seemed to want to come in an pay us a visit. This was the first time we have seen this critter in our parts, a long tailed weasel!!

Since this critter eats mice and chipmunks we wish it well!

I’ll be missing in action for a few days. I’ll catch up when I can. Have a great last weekend in June!