Keep your eye on the birdie!

The goldfinch are steady customers at the window feeder again. They perch out on the tree, then flit in to grab a thistle seed, then flit back to their favorite branch over and over again.

As the time progresses, they feel a bit more comfortable lingering to peck out several beakfuls before flying off again.

I appreciate it when they linger; it makes taking their picture much easier.

Bitsy feels the same way, but for different reason I am sure.

Anyway...everyone in the house is enjoying the exact same hobby: bird watching.

Maybe the birds have a hobby too?
Wonder what it is that they like to watch?

A catchy song...

A goofy little tune that got stuck in my head...

I like it because the guy is falling head over heels in love with someone he just met (her car died on the side of the road), and he is already talking about making a family and having kids.

Signs

A heavy snowfall performed a white-out function in our world yesterday.
As we drove around a bend, a sign blasted colorfully at us, warning of curves ahead.

Each curve was posted; it wasn't hard to notice the warning when it was against such a colorless backdrop.

The speed limit sign was harder to see... and it advised a speed that was faster than advisable for the situation. 

Slowing down was wise both for safety and scenic appreciation.

Coming upon a place to pull over was a bonus for picture taking.

Most of the roadway was so snow banked as to make stopping an ill-advised plan.

When we did stop, I found beauty everywhere I looked.
I looked all around me.
I looked up...

And up higher...

The furthest views on high were shrouded with snowy fog.

 

I was using a tripod and a prime lens; both seem limiting to me as I couldn't just swing my camera around freely as I do when I am doing hand held shooting.

The prime lens allowed no zoom. 

The trade off:  learning to take the time to set up a shot, and then getting the shot in crystal focus.

Seeing signs while journeying...and life journeying.

Sometimes the paths are flat and one can see quite far ahead. Other parts of life seem to have warning of curves ahead.   Then there are times when you are headed into woods that seemingly have no signs or warnings at all.

(I was on snowshoes here, walking around a frozen snow covered lake while Bernie cross country skied a different trail.)

All this snow...yet just two days earlier I found another sign of sort.

I had been walking through a garden, a winter frozen dull place.
The bare branches and bare flower beds offered little visual beauty to me. 

As I rounded a curve on an up hill path...thinking that the walk had yielded nothing of interest...

I found another sign.
The first blooms of winter.
The snowdrop!

I sprawled flat on the path to nudge my camera close, then closer to commune with their bowed headed beauty.

Up close...I saw an early Valentine!  A green heart, hidden away, turned upside down.
Perhaps the heart was a Valentine meant to be seen only from the view of the earth while looking heavenward?

 

 

Lifting a blossom, I peeked inside.
How secret, how tiny is this winter braving bloom!

There were signs all throughout the garden; not a one was staked here to say that snowdrops were in bloom.
There wasn't much to see for anyone traveling swiftly by.
Sometimes to find refreshment of ones soul one has be humbly prone, with one's chin on the ground to really see life's garden hidden treasures.