Evening Grosbeak ~ Finches

For Outdoor Wednesday I wanted to show some more of my photos of the Evening Grosbeak Finches that have started visiting my feeder.

Visit Susan at A Southern DayDreamer to see more of the Outdoors across the country and beyond.

There was a lot of activity at my Apple Tree yesterday. I was delighted to see these Finches come and visit. They are a bit greedy at the feeder. There was a lot of flapping of wings and pecking going on to get the good advantage on the feeder.

Some waited patiently for their turn a safe distance away.

Most of the photos were taken from my kitchen window and a few were taken from my deck trying not to scare them off.

I was happy to see the female bird have a turn.

Evening Grosbeak ~ Hesperiphona vespertina

A chunky, short-tailed finch, size of Starling: has a very large, conical whitish bill. The undulating flight indicates a finch, and its stocky shape, large white wing patches mark it as this species.

Male: Dull yellow; dark head, yellow eye stripe, black and white wings, large pale bill.

Female: Silver-gray and yellow, large pale bill.

ht: A Field Guide To Western Birds by Roger Tory Peterson

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Ruby Tuesday ~ Finches

I bought a new bird feeder and it just happens to be a Ruby one! I put out two new types of seed. This is the first time I’ve seen these birds feeding from my kitchen window. From what I can see in my Field Guide to Western Birds this is a Evening Grosbeak Finch.

To see more Ruby Tuesday please visit Mary at Work of the Poet.

Mother’s Day 2010 ~

Mother’s Day was such a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest! We took a drive to Camano Island in the morning to enjoy a Mother’s Day Brunch together. My daughter’s boyfriend was here from Florida and joined us. The views from the Inn where we had our Mother’s Day Buffet were spectacular!

We are looking across to Whidbey Island and the Olympics beyond.

Later in the day my son and DIL arrived and the kids and Dear each had a hand in preparing dinner for all of us. Don’t you just love to see men working in the kitchen! I was showered with gifts and thank God for His blessings of love and grace that He gives me through my family.

Thank you Dear, Josh, Laura, Katie and Dan for honoring me….

A Hymn For Mother’s Day…

The Woman’s Hymn

Come, women, wide proclaim
Life through your Savior slain;
Sing evermore.
Christ, God’s effulgence bright,
Christ, who arose in might,
Christ, who crowns you with light,
Praise and adore.

Come, clasping children’s hands,
Sisters from many lands,
Teach to adore.
For the sin sick and worn,
The weak and overborne,
All who in darkness mourn,
Pray, work, yet more.

Work with your courage high,
Sing of the daybreak nigh,
Your love outpour.
Stars shall your brow adorn,
Your heart leap with the morn,
And, by His Love upborne,
Hope and adore.

Then when the garnered field
Shall to our Master yield
A bounteous store,
Christ, hope of all the meek,
Christ, whom all the earth shall seek,
Christ your reward shall speak,
Joy evermore.

Words: Fannie E. Heck, 1913

Happy Mother’s Day!

Land or Sea…

It’s time for the Round Robin Photo Challenge and I had to go to my archives because I’ve been buried in the garage packing and unpacking boxes from the condo. The boxes are from California so I thought it fitting to show you a California beach shot. This was taken in January of 2010. I am now in Washington State full-time so you’ll be seeing more Pacific Northwest shots in the future. Happy May 8th everyone and a very Happy Mother’s Day to any mothers that stop by!

Stop by the Round Robin Photo Challenge blog to see more…

FFF ~ There’s Light…

…at the end of my box tunnel!

I’m escaping the organizing and sorting and repacking long enough to throw this post together while I drink my coffee and hope it has some great reviving of energy effects on me! Boy, that was a long sentence! Here are my favorites in no particular order.

1. Seeing all the beautiful spring blooms around the Seattle area. Dogwood is so bright and pink this year. The wisteria is just getting nice. The lilacs are growing in everyone’s yards but mine.

2. Hearing that my daughter and her boyfriend are having a good time with my family in California. They were able to spend some time with the cousins and go to lunch with my folks and that makes me happy. They’ll arrive back here tonight sometime.

3. Reading this post about Nezzy and Nina’s hats at Jill’s World of Research blog. Nezzy and Nina were sisters and spinsters and friends of our family. Here I am sporting one of the hats at a Mad Hatter Tea Shower I attended where hats were mandatory!

4. Enjoying the birds singing in the wee hours of the morning.

5. There are only about 5 more boxes to go through in the garage!! The end is in sight and my house is getting more organized in the midst of the chaos. Just as a note of explanation…many of the items we had in our one bedroom condo were duplicates of what we have in our home in Washington. We honestly did not need any of it to survive nicely. So I’m opening every box and re-packing all our duplicate stuff (blender, coffee maker, utensils, pots & pans, everyday dishes, glasses, etc. etc. into boxes for our son Dan to set up in his own place at the end of this year or early next year. We keep telling him he has got it “made in the shade”. He chuckled when I asked him if he wanted a Christmas Wreath! I also told him it would be really good if he had at least 2 bedrooms!

Please visit our lovely hostess Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun!

Well I hope to visit your blogs during my box and organizing breaks today. Thank you for visiting me.

National Day of Prayer ~ Psalm 19:14

I want to take some time to pray today for our Nation, the World, my community, and all the churches we’ve visited in the last couple of months.

Ephesians 3: 20-21

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

II Thessalonians 2: 16-17

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Hebrews 13: 20-21

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Jude 24-25

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Yard Art!?

Maybe a car or motorcycle crashed into that tree…

This has got to be some of the strangest yard decorating I’ve seen.

To see more Yard Art on Thursday please visit Mary at Work of the Poet.

A Walkabout…

…the yard.

Merriam Webster defines “walkabout” as a 1908 coinage that refers primarily to “a short period of wandering bush life engaged in by an Australian aborigine as an occasional interruption of regular work”

Well after being sequestered in my garage all day working on boxes, boxes, boxes, I decided a walkabout the yard to see what’s blooming was in order. For the record I emptied lots of boxes and haven’t even gotten to the dishes yet. Oye Vay!

Two of my rhododendron bushes are blooming. I have to get some expert advice on pruning them this year because they are growing higher then the roof…

The Rosemary bush is at the end of it’s bloom. When the blooms are fresh it’s fun to use sprigs of it to garnish platters. We garnished our lamb at Easter with the sprigs but I forgot to take a photo.

I don’t know what this is but I like the color of the blooms.

Two of my Azaleas are blooming profusely. The two pale pink ones are just budding.

My garden gnomes are being overgrown…

We had some interesting changing skies yesterday and some fun visitors to the apple tree.

Mr. and Mrs. Duck spent a good portion of the day resting under our tree.

I’m linking up with Sandy at The Reluctant Entertainer this week. Here’s her theme for this week…

What flowers are in your yard right now, or in your kitchen window, or on your counter tops? Do you have any dinner plans to use them as a centerpiece?

Click on the image to get to Sandy’s to join in the fun. Today is Cinco de Mayo and I’m still working on those boxes so Dear is taking me out for some good Mexican food tonight. I won’t be setting a table till this weekend or bringing fresh flowers in till then. I’ll just have to take another walkabout to enjoy the blooms outside!

Sequestered…

amongst all these boxes. My brain won’t be released till I’ve gone through and sorted all this stuff. I hope to make a dent today.

As soon as the thermometer outside registers over 40 degrees I’ll pull out the cars, set up my table and get to work. This is just a shameless post to try to drum up some sympathy and also to let you know why I might be absent in Bloggyland. If I don’t surface in a couple days send out the troops to come rescue me…

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone…

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage