A Quiet Week with Flowers, Birds and Paint!

It has been a quiet week here. Rick is up north opening the cottage and he's had a great week for it. I've been weeding the so-called garden and being admonished by my physical therapist for doing so! It's not looking good (gardening is SO not my thing!) but I'm hoping to have a small strawberry crop (enough for cereal, not shortcake) -- if the birds don't get it first!

Don't you love how the berry grows out of the center of the flower? I do.

I'm very glad my neighbor Rosie gardens -- and does it well. Her yard is already abloom and more is coming! I get a great garden, just looking out of the window! 

Speaking of lovely things, does honeysuckle make you smile? On a recent walk to the ditch I was assailed by one of my favorite fragrances, honeysuckle. On closer look I found it.

I didn't know honeysuckle could grow into a tree. But as you can see from near the top of this one, it almost hits the power lines. 

I have strong sense memory of honeysuckle -- a lovely day traveling with a friend in New England decades ago. (It also reminds me of taking the fire exit door from the stairway in the building where I used to work!) It was a treat and I hope it sticks around a bit.

I can't say I'm all that fond of three paintings I did in my sketchbook as part of Este MacLeod's ColoriCombo challenge. The challenge "requires" that you used several specific colors and a neutral (black/white/gray, etc.) and work with a theme. Here were several greens and a neutral Payne's Gray. The theme for this challenge was "plants."

 

 

This one had the pinks, yellows and lavender and the theme was "floral."

 

 

The third was off-beat for her. Yellow and black were the two colors, but we were allowed to use other colors too, to reflect the art of Iris Apfel. (I might turn this one into a Halloween card.)

I had the most marvelous experience on my recent Ditch walk. It was a perfect blue-sky day and my Merlin app was picking up all kinds of birds, the most vocal of which was the red-winged blackbird. I paused and noticed some action in the grasses between two of the ponds and a closer look with a zoom showed me this.

Well, that was cute enough. Curious, I decided to wait and it wasn't too long before they were joined by another.

And soon the feeding began. 

I'm guessing this is a female red-winged blackbird, based on my Merlin and the wee bit of red on her wing area -- but I'm waiting for confirmation! (And I got it from David! Thanks!)

She came back a couple times, then disappeared for a long while. The kids were getting antsy, starting to move around in their nest, sitting tall. Finally, one decided to check out the buffet for himself. (The photo is a little dark, but the flying bird is on the right.)

The other was slower. He couldn't seem to get the wing action right, flapping but not quite getting anywhere.

Finally, he made it to another branch -- and then he was off! It was quite an experience to watch. I don't know that it was their first fledge, but it was still lovely.

 A quick check in on the goslings -- as you can see, they are getting darker every day -- and slightly bigger. 

On this warm day, everyone was taking a rest. I was worried that the parents wouldn't let me pass -- they were close to the sidewalk and both were on guard. But they didn't seemed concerned. I suspect they are relatively used to passersby.

They just crack me up when they sprawl out! You never see the adults sit that way.

I leave you with a bit of beauty.

I might have to try to paint this. No rules.

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