Winter Birds

Brilliant Winter Cardinal 

7:21

8:41

Well, it's 8:15 and I can say with confidence, winter has returned.  Blowing snow, foot high drifts, 14º, snow plastered on windows, and schools closed.  I don't feel like getting ready for yoga, rather just relaxing in my warm living room, fireplace blazing, wind howling, snow falling, listening to the news on NPR.

Dining Room Windows

Yesterday, despite the cold and snow, I went to yoga, after cleaning off my car, no big deal, just something we have to do since we don't have a garage big enough for three cars!  Class was small, so we were able to get more individual attention.  And I was not feeling so good, so I hoped class would remedy that.  It did some but I still felt off if you know what I mean.  The weather continued to worsen when I got out, but I wanted to get my tax returns in Jamestown, so I drove there carefully, parked and picked up my returns, with I might add, a hefty refund enough to pay for our washer/dryer combo.  Evie was happy.  I then picked up a few things at Wegman's which I forgot to pick up the day before.  I never can shop without forgetting to pick up something.  This time I forgot to ask for the senior discount.

Fluffing for Warmth

Fighting For Food, Flexing His Wings

Keeping Warm

Stately Cardinal

When I got home, Evie was busy photographing birds, as you can see from the many photos.  We have a feeder in the kitchen, and a small tree off our TV room where the birds love to perch and preen.  Since we were having a Slovenian dinner, pork chops, sauerkraut,  and beans and potato soup, but she needed some bacon fat for the soup.  So I was able to have BLT's for lunch, along with some black bean soup from the freezer.  Cool beans.  We watched some more of a Wallander before I got tired of it and took a good nap.  Evie continued with prepping our dinner, so it was ready to go by 5:00 so we could have a nice cocktail hour and enjoy the winter dusk even though it was unpleasantly light out side.  We love a late afternoon/early evening cocktail hour in the winter and yesterday we got it.  It was difficult to leave our comfortable chairs for dinner.

Sparrow

Hairy Woodpecker with Sunflower Seed

Hungry, Perching Junco 

Dinner was just what we wanted, another one of Evie's favorites from her childhood, something every good Slovenian makes, especially the beans and potato soup, just water, beans, potatoes and a little bacon fat.  There was not much to watch on TV, so we stuck with the 'breaking news, two pages of Trump's tax returns from 2005.  Big deal!  We stayed with it until the THIS IS US finale, currently our favorite show along with The Americans.

Snowy View This AM of  Feeder