...so...the Man was right...I absolutely LOVE my little Valentine's presents...
...first up...early in the day...these flowers arrived...
...I can't really say they were a surprise because I can't ever remember a Valentine's Day...even when we were in High School that I didn't receive flowers from the Man...
...and they are beautiful...of course...
...and I should have mentioned these yesterday as we got them over the weekend...one of our parishoners had given the altar flowers in honour of our servicemen...we only have two in the congregation right now...Our Airman and a nice young Marine...so each family got to take home the flowers after service...they are really pretty and they smell amazing...if you like the smell of carnations...and I do...
...now...on to the presents...
...I used to have both a Birder's Handbook and the Audubon Bird Guide...but we had given both of those...and the one for lizards...snakes...seashells...etc...to Our Airman...and so they all got packed up in his 'stuff'...so I no longer have ready access to them even though they are still in my basement...haha...
...so the Man got me a new Bird Identification book...
...not sure why I've not mentioned this before...I do keep a Bird Journal...of sorts...
...when I started the journal...in my early married life...you can see that I chose a rather non-descript generic composition book...and although it's not the prettiest...it has definitely served me well over the years...
...it started out completely red...but now because of years of lying on the dash of a sunny car or truck...it's got this cool faded effect...
...and this is a pretty typical entry...I always write the time and place and weather conditions where I saw the bird...I keep my pencils with the notebook and do a quick sketch...and then usually when I'm home...I write up some notes from the handbook...
...this sighting of a peregrine falcon...which used to be pretty rare...they're more common now...includes a sketch of the bird in flight as well...but usually they do not...
...and remember when we lived in North Dakota...I passed down my
bird-watching trait to the next generation...
...anywhoo...I should have done a whole post about the journal before now...
***as I was reading through my blog list...I came across
Beth's Blog - BLD in MT : Living a Simple Life in This Interconnected World...and believe it or not she just posted about her 200th sighting...I'm always amazed at how like-minded we are here in this little community...CONGRATULATIONS to Beth on her 200th sighting...***
...and the present that he was so sure I would LOVE...is a puzzle...
...and a BIRD PUZZLE...so TWO things that I love...it's so pretty...
...and puzzles always kind of make me feel like I'm on vacation...as we always took a new puzzle to the beach with us...and found a place for it...to just be there at the ready...and we'd work on it here and there...throughout the week...and then leave it for the next family...
...we went through the 1000 pieces and got them roughly sorted by colour...
...but the important initial sorting was to get all of the 'edge' pieces...do you do that?...find all the edge pieces first...or do you just dive in and start working on the most eye-catching part of the puzzle...
...so...before bed...we had managed to get all of the edge pieces in place...
...do you like puzzles?...
~Have a lovely day!
Ha! This is wonderful, to be synced up with you like this. It makes my heart glad.
ReplyDeleteYour birding journal is a real treasure! Excellent drawings! I hope your new field guide helps as you add to it. Such a location-specific guide would be a swell tool, I think. Much less page flipping through birds that only live in Alaska or whatever...
That is a fantastic puzzle--enjoy! What a perfect gift indeed! Also, I have to have another chuckle at how in step we are because I have been drafting a post about puzzles and puzzling with other people and observations on differences in technique (starting with the frame vs diving right in, say) over the past week or so. Two peas in a (blogging) pod, I guess! I used to just plunge right in with whatever was the most colorful or fun looking bit, but have subsequently been convinced by Matt and his parents to accept that the frame first is a useful strategy.
Have a nice day, Teresa.
Hi Beth,
Delete...it really is amazing to be so like-minded...
~Have a lovely day my friend...
I love that you keep a bird journal! My grandparents always had a birdfeeder by their picture window, along with a bird book or two on the bay window seat, so I grew up enjoying watching the birds. Around the time the pandemic started, I finally got my husband to put a birdfeeder up outside of our picture window, and he was like, "...okay, fine, this is a weird hobby, but whatever." And now, he loves the birds just about more than I do! They provide so much entertainment, and I would never have known how many woodpeckers we have if it weren't for this feeder! They're just so enjoyable to watch. I'm already looking forward to this year's crop of babies and how they hang out on the feeder with their wide-open beaks and wait for their parents to stuff them full of food. :D
ReplyDeleteSuch gorgeous flowers! Tell your husband he did a great job! :)
Hi Stephanie,
Delete...we have a bird feeder outside our den windows...they are so much fun to watch...and we have a three post clothesline in the backyard...and there are three birds building nests...one in each hollow ended post...
~Have a lovely day!
Lovely flowers! I bet your house feels a bit spring-like inside! I see that the puzzle came with a printed poster of the artwork. That's a cool one - I've never seen that before. So much better than looking at the small box cover for hints about a puzzle piece. Love, K
ReplyDeleteHey K,
Delete...we got the flowers again this week...in honor of the kiddos anniversary this time...
Love,
T
lovely gifts! I have two bird books to identify what I see at my bird feeder. I love watching my birds :)
ReplyDeleteHi Karen,
Delete...we have a bird feeder outside our den windows...I keep hoping for a 'new' bird to add to my journal...but none so far...
~Have a lovely day!