“Daffodowndilly” by A.A. Milne
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
“Winter is dead.”
When the little package arrived in the mailbox that sunny afternoon in May, I was not sure what to expect inside. My two daughters were busy playing in the backyard, so I was alone when I cut open the cardboard box and found the five tiny caterpillars inside a little cup. It was just what I had ordered. The cup had a thick layer of gooey brown food on the bottom and a nice tight lid on top. This project was to be the highlight of our homeschool unit on butterflies, but I secretly feared these caterpillars were dead upon arrival. I could not detect any movement whatsoever.
Continue reading over here at The End in Mind.
“The fattest and most scrumptious of all flowers, a rare fusion of fluff and majesty, the peony is now coming into bloom.” –Henry Mitchell, American writer (1923-93)
I consider it no small grace that, in His wisdom, God ordained only a few days between the lovely lilacs losing their luster and the puffy pink peonies popping open and pouring out their powerful perfume. Glory!
Sometimes as birdwatchers, we find that the tables turn and we are actually being watched by the birds instead!
Peep is a male American goldfinch who especially likes people watching.
He shows up at our windows, sometimes knocking on the glass with his beak. Then he just stares at us, making me feel guilty about not keeping the windows cleaner.
After a minute, he moves on to a different window and stares some more. If he weren’t so cute and yellow, he might come across as creepy!
Eventually, Peep gets hungry and joins his darling little wife at the feeder. They make such a cute couple all dressed in bright yellow feathers.
Oh, and if you want to share the love of birdwatching with a small person or two in your life, check out this great list of 10 picture books about birds over at House Full of Bookworms. I found many of these are available at our library and will be perfect for summer reading.
Happy reading, happy summer and happy birdwatching!
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” -Matthew 6:26
One of our family’s favorite hobbies is birdwatching. And since we have a variety of birds that visit our backyard, we hang several feeders on our deck. These feeders are easy for us to see from the windows in our dining area, and it’s delightful to watch the birds eat while we sit together as a family. We usually keep our binoculars and a bird identification book right on the windowsill.
Whether they are woodpeckers, orioles, hummingbirds, grosbeaks, red-winged blackbirds, goldfinches, or something else, they all seem to appreciate the food. As we watch them eat, it is entertaining to imagine what each bird might be saying or thinking about his meal, his feathers or that day’s weather.
This rose breasted grosbeak looked rather dapper in his red tie. He ate first while his beautiful wife perched nearby.
Isn’t she lovely?
Certainly the way to any bird’s heart is through its stomach, and nearly all of our bird friends love this particular suet feeder.
We usually don’t see robins eat from our feeders — they find plenty to eat chasing worms in the grass. But one day I caught a brave robin trying to eat the suet. He kept flapping his wings madly — pretending to be a hummingbird, I think — as he attempted to hover near the feeder and stick his beak into the suet to steal a bite. He’d often watched the woodpeckers and red-winged blackbirds do it and was feeling left out, I suppose. It wasn’t easy, but he did manage to get a few bites and then afterward he perched on the deck long enough for me to capture his picture.
Do you see the bit of food still on his beak? He really needed a napkin.
Coming up next is a story about people watching — and it might not be what you think!
It’s a family tradition to visit the arboretum’s lilac exhibit every spring, just to embrace the beautiful blooms and their lovely fragrance.
This year, great-grandma comes along, too.
She and my oldest daughter compare the various lilac blooms.
My youngest loves the white lilac blooms best.
Of course, the lilacs aren’t the only blooms at the arb. The tulips look incredible.
And the magical crabapples are dripping with blossoms.
The cheerful daffodils dance on the breezy hillside.
And a few magnolia blossoms still linger for our delight.
I’ll close with a throwback of me embracing my mama’s lovely lilacs a long time ago.
Now please close your computer or set down your device and go outside! Find something alive and blooming and beautiful to smell!
Ticonderoga Black Pencils As a writer and homeschool mama, I have become totally snobbish about pencils. I absolutely detest pencils that fall apart as I sharpen them or — worse yet — have erasers that don’t actually erase! These black #2 pencils are durable, write smoothly, and have excellent erasers. Ticonderoga Pencils are now the only writing pencils allowed in our house, except the occasional mechanical pencil.
Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils My children’s favorite art teacher once encouraged us to buy these colored pencils, and I am forever thankful. Their colors are splendid and so vibrant! These will totally ruin you on ever using inexpensive colored pencils again.
Kleen Slate Dry Erase Paddles and Markers I bought these mini dry erase boards and markers last summer and they are a big hit with my 3rd grader and 6th grader. They are the perfect size for students to handle and they have a nifty spot that holds the marker, which includes an eraser on the end of the lid. Genius! We bought ones that have a graph side and a blank side. The graph side is especially useful during math lessons.
Norwex Enviro Cloth This microfiber cleaning cloth allows me to clean using no chemicals — just water. Silver fibers make the cloth antibacterial. It works great on most surfaces — including mirrors.
Norwex Window Polishing Cloth I use this cloth to polish mirrors and windows after I clean them with the Enviro Cloth. My husband steals it to use on the inside of the car windows. It works well and does not leave behind annoying streaks or lint.
Norwex Microfiber Dusting Mitt To be honest, my daughter uses this more than I do. It is a super-absorbent mitt that works wonderfully.
DaySpring sticky notes Am I the only one who loses entire pads of sticky notes amongst the clutter on desks or countertops? These are such pretty sticky notes, and because they are held together in a nifty 6 by 8-inch folio, they are much easier to find.
Bluecorn Naturals 100% Pure Beeswax Tapers These tapers were recently a gift we received from a dear friend, and our family enjoys having them lit during dinner time. They burn for one hour per inch of length, plus they are paraffin-free and lead-free and handmade in Colorado. I want to try their tea lights next.
Mpix Quality Prints As the granddaughter and niece of professional photographers, I inherited rather lofty expectations in terms of photo finishing. Both my grandpa and my uncle used Miller’s Professional Imaging, which was founded in 1968 and is this country’s largest professional photography lab. Mpix is a division of Millers, and it does an outstanding job with print quality, not to mention the speedy turnaround time. Mpix prints all my 4 x 6 photos, enlargements and canvas prints. It does take some time to upload images and wait for the box to arrive, but the exceptional quality of the end result makes all that worthwhile.
These are a few of my favorite things! What are some of yours?
“Just remember in the winter, far beneath the winter snows, lies the seed that with the sun’s love in the spring becomes the rose.” -Amanda McBroom
“Won’t you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you.” ― Richard Brinsley Sheridan
“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow’.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” – Abraham Lincoln
“And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
I’m just taking a moment to rejoice over the roses of last summer. I never got around to posting the pictures when the flowers were in bloom. But oh, seeing these now, I can almost smell the roses.
And my dear peonies!
It almost feels like a stroll through the garden.
Thanks for visiting!
Partly sunny and 42 degrees — January doesn’t get much better than this in Minnesota.
We soaked up the warmth at the Arboretum this afternoon — rebelling against winter by taking off our gloves now and then. One of us left her heavy winter coat at home, and another left her coat unbuttoned.
The girls took turns practicing with the camera.
The greenhouse felt warm and lush. What a joy to be surrounded by real-live, green, growing plants with leaves! My youngest was determined to do some sketching, and she liked what she saw from this little bench. My oldest, who is studying botany this semester, liked that this is a “please touch” greenhouse, and she especially appreciated the orange trees and herbs.
I especially appreciated these blooms.
Thank You, God, for the gift of this unseasonably warm January day!
I mentioned earlier this week that winter has made a premature arrival here in Minnesota. Just as we finished hauling off bags of leaves and dilapidated jack-o-lanterns and were only beginning to crave a turkey dinner, our scarecrow turned into a snowman. Just. Like. That.
Today I looked out the window to see a strange stillness and an all-too-familiar whiteness settling upon the lake. I grabbed the binoculars and searched for the slightest wave.
Nothing. Autumn had up and left without a farewell or even the slightest wave good-bye.
In disbelief, the girls and I hiked down to the dock. We gathered a few big sticks along the way to help us get an almost first-hand feel of this strangeness.
It took some significant poking for the sticks to break through the layer of ice, which was lightly dusted with snow.
These two are looking forward to ice skating soon — but not too soon.
Stay warm, Minnesota, and happy Nov-winter?!
Starlight Writer 