WATCHING MOTHER ROBIN

I love to sit on my front porch and watch the birds.  We planted this River Birch to give us shade and a place for the birds.  This year Mother Robin decided to make her nest in the crotch of this tree. Her nest is about  9 feet off the ground.  She started this on March 22.

Each day she brought twigs and mud and moss and strings and grasses to build her nest.  She would sit down inside it and wiggle and smooth the inside surface.

By Day Five she had it completed.  Now it is so deep that I cannot see down inside it from my lower front porch.  I wanted to get pictures each day as she laid her eggs, so now I go to the upstairs front porch and use a zoom lens on my camera.

Here is the view from upstairs on Day 5.

On Day 6 we found our first egg. 

I could hardly wait to see what I would find on Day 7 and then on Day 8.

Sure enough on Day 7 another egg and on Day 8 yet another egg.

This is Day 9 and it is raining.  It is just a slow, steady drizzle with no thunder and no lightning.  I am on the upstairs porch with my camera and the golf umbrella.

Look who is sitting on the nest with her wings spread to keep everything covered.

Do you see the raindrops?  Maybe the rain will stop and I will be able to see what is under her.  I will keep checking during the day.

Well, she has not disappointed me.  She has laid egg #4.  According to my research she could lay up to 7 eggs, always only one per day.  However, in this part of the country a clutch is usually only 4 or 5.  We will see what she does tomorrow and see if that will be the last egg.

This is Day 10 and Mother Robin has sat on the nest most of the day.  It has been a rainy day, but when she did fly out this afternoon I could see that she had not laid anymore eggs.  Now we will wait for the next two weeks until the babies begin to peck out of the shell.  I will update as they begin to hatch and certainly into fledgling.

Hope you have enjoyed this.  I have really loved watching the nest each day.

-sandi



MARCH 28 IS A SPECIAL DAY

This sign says "Happy Birthday".  On this day in 2003 a special baby came into our lives and has become a nine-year-old boy that we all love very much.  He has lots of energy and a great sense of humor.  He is so much fun to be with.  We love to watch him wrestle and watch him jump on his trampoline.  He is a very good student and he brings joy to all of us.

Today I went down to have lunch at school with him and to share some time with two of his friends, Evan and Jackson.  What a trio!!!

I arrived at school near noon.

I love going into elementary schools. 

The hallways are always so colorful and bright.  This butterfly made me smile.

Look at these frogs that Nick and his classmates made in Art Class.  And you know how much I love frogs.

The Third Grade Hallway was covered with  student work.

Nick ordered me a Deli Plate lunch.  I had a ham roll up, carrot sticks, Dorito Chips, and an apple.

 After we ate our lunch I walked back to the classroom with Nick



Here is Nick sitting at his desk.

And this is Mrs. Marshall, Nick's teacher.

What a fun lunch break!!!  Driving five hours round-trip is well worth seeing this smiling face!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NICK!

I LOVE YOU . . .

-grammy

WEEKEND PROJECT

Recently we painted our breakfast nook.  I wanted it to look airy and bright so we chose white for the walls above the chair rail and a terracotta of sorts for below.  I wanted the paint below to match my furniture.  I think it comes close.

The decorating started with this piece that I made for my Modern Quilt Guild project when I was the monthly moderator.

This is the view from the living room into the breakfast nook.

I decided that four of those same blocks would make a beautiful valance.

You can see the lovely sunshine coming in the window with a view to our back garden.

With the scraps left over I made a couple of place mats for our table.

Now I love to be in my nook.  It is relaxing and refreshing.  Just makes me feel good all over.

Often I choose to sign wall pieces instead of adding a label. 

 N.A.Fogg Creation just about says it all.

Just so you will "see" what we see from our little breakfast nook window, here is a picture with the Red Japanese Maple, the Green Japanese Maple, the Yellow-Twig Dogwood, and the Pink Loropetalum.  The landscape has the same palette as my project --  or, perhaps, it is better to say that my project has the same palette as the landscape.

GARDEN WALK

I love spring because it brings "firsts".  I can hardly wait to tour the gardens each day to see what has its first bloom of the season.  The following showed their first blossoms this week.

One of the most beautiful sights in our landscape is the Cherry Tree.  It fills with blossoms and then drops them to the ground like a snow fall.

Isn't this a wonderful sight?

Purple Iris




Columbine

Solomon's Seal

Dianthus

Virginia Bluebells

Lamium

This is a Fothergilla shrub.  It is an old shrub that has made a little bit of a comeback in gardens.  The feathery blossoms look like spidery mums.

                                                         There is a chill in the air today and for the next few days.  We call this "Dogwood Winter"  the time when temps fall so the dogwood blossoms will set bloom.  Well, I think this year the dogwoods did not get the memo because our trees have been in bloom for  several days.  Today they turned the beautiful clear white instead of the soft creamery white when they are just coming out of bud.

   

There will be quilts coming soon.

                                                                         -sandi

MEDITATION IN GREENS

Remember when I posted these and asked you to guess what they were

Next came this step

                                                                           that eventually turned into this

and finally all these pieces became this:                                                         

MEDITATION IN GREENS

This piece was done to meet the challenge of my Art Quilt Guild for a Monochromatic Piece that used several shades of one color and one additional color.
It is machine quilted on a domestic sewing machine.

                                                                                   -sandi

ON THE GARDEN PATH

I spent some time in my gardens today.  I did some clean up and some refurbishing.  Then I just admired what was blooming. 

About 15 years ago I decided to make a birdbath using 2 clay flower pots and 2 pot saucers wth some adhesive to hold them together.

Then I painted it blue and yellow. 

 It has been weathered over the years and the saucer  is in pretty bad shape.

              Time to refurbish.                     I love my flamingos so I decided my birdbath should be pink, too.

So I found the spray paint and started spraying.

Now I have a PINK birdbath. . .

The Flamingos are still talking about it    

   

Saw lots of new blooms today as I moved all around the garden.

Loropetalum on the staircase.

Forsythia along the walking path.

Trillium under the trees.

Native Azalea  First Spring Bloom

There were other things that caught my attention.  The goldfish are starting to come out in the ponds.  The moss on the ledges of the ponds has turned a bright green.  Then there are all my other little doo-dads around and about.

  I love the waterfalls.  The sound is so soothing.  Since it is spring time we have lots of frogs making all those frog sounds.

These little signs make me smile when I walk along the paths.

YOU ARE CERTAINLY WELCOME TO COME VISIT IN MY GARDEN WITH ME ANYTIME!!

-sandi