Sunday, June 19, 2011

Startling Beauty

A few nights ago I had 4 mockingbirds at the back feeders; I guess I know now who's eating the suet cakes. Nice to have mockingbirds back.

A beautiful goldfinch came swooping up to the front (thistle) feeder , and a tiny (fearless) chickadee was hopping around 2 feet in front of my face. The (male) goldfinch popped his wings to brake and made a golden flash that was so startlingly beautiful, it made my heart ache. And I thought, "Well, I guess that the $8.50 a bag for thistle seed is totally worth it." -- duh. Startling beauty is always all around us, if we take the time to see it.

Replaced my bird bath yesterday. The old one was metal and was more holes and patches than metal. I started out patching with lead exoxy, then switched to silly putty (don't ask) when I ran out of epoxy. The new one is plastic, fits into the same holder, and holds more water. I haven't seen any birds use it yet, but it's rained a lot the last two days.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Biked Today

I missed last weekend. My granddaughter Lucy was here with her parents, which gave me a great excuse to dodge the nasty 90+ heat.

Heat has finally broken. Did 28.9 miles this morning, 2h25m, 1 stop, top speed 35.4 mph. Parkers Mill to Ft. Springs / Pinkard to Old Versailles to Rosalie to Bosworth to Elkchester to Redd to Old Frankfort to Paynes Depot to Waizenberger Mill. Back in Leestown to Alexandria, out Parkers Mill and cut through Cardinal Run park.

No sun the whole way, about 77 degrees, cool breezes. What a relief!