Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Art In Nature #16!
Hello everyone and welcome back to our “Art In Nature” series! It is always so much fun to look for the oddities in nature that would make a good “art” picture. And there is so much out there to enjoy! So many different plants or parts of plants that make wonderful art pictures, but also many other things too. Flowers are a good example for art in nature, though I don’t usually use them as such. I try to stay with things that people don’t generally even look at closely, so that’s what I like to show, to help us look a little more closely at the beauty that surrounds us. Like that one “chipmunk quotes” showed us, that we are so flooded with negative things, all the bad things going on around us, and we often forget that there is still so much beauty out there to enjoy.
Like this seed head from some grass in the above picture as I walked along the path to the river.
And then in the pic above we have the seed head from a Canada Hawkweed with a new bud ready to open into a new bright yellow flower. The two together like that just makes a wonderful bit of art in nature to enjoy.
And then in the picture above we have a different kind of seed head that has already lost most of it’s seeds exposing the long “rods” that held them all together. I think something like this is a wonderful piece of art in nature.
Then lastly we have some more seeds from a maple tree. Last week we saw some from a Mountain Maple, and these are from a Manitoba Maple tree. They are a bit different in color and are truly great and beautiful bits of art in nature to enjoy when we get up close to them and look at all the beauty of each seed.
Every time you go out for a walk, which is a good idea to do on a regular basis, stop and look around to see what you can find. These are all things that can be found in most neighborhoods, though they might be a little different depending on where you live in this big world of ours. But the beauty is there, stop and enjoy it for a little while, point these things out to your children, if you have any. Enjoy the beauty and think about the beauty more often, there really is less stress when you enjoy all the natural beauty around us. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©Steve McLeod.
It’s Coffee Time #109! Tuesday’s Tales.
Good morning to everyone on this very beautiful spring morning! Coffee is ready, Muffin has the cups lined up so nicely just waiting for all of you. It’s sunny with a clear blue sky. Oops, I see a couple of leftover clouds out there. But it will be sunny all day and the birds are busy this morning again too. But the numbers of juncos have certainly gone down again. I guess they are starting to spread out and head further north as well. I didn’t see any fox sparrows this morning either, or hear them, so maybe the last of them have gone now too. There is a flicker out there again, I can hear him laughing away from a tree in the distance. They have an easy to identify call even though it is similar to that of other woodpeckers. They are much more vocal than other woodpeckers and will do a lot of calling, especially in spring.
The evening grosbeaks were here earlier but something scared them and they haven’t returned yet. But I’m sure they will be back. I see a couple of them sitting in the tree right now. There was 2 pine siskins here as well. We had some in winter, but they disappeared, likely moving further north. Then we get some summer pine siskins every year, that’s what these are. There will likely be more show up soon. And goldfinches are not usually far behind them. I put sunflower seeds in 6 places this morning because there are so many grosbeaks and it didn’t take them long to find all 6 spots, and fill them. There was still as many waiting in the trees as there were feeding.
Then Jasper showed up, and instead of going to the squirrel feeder he decided to go to the birds biggest feeder. So I went outside and convinced him to return to his feeder. I think he was just jealous because the birds have a bigger feeder. I’m back again. I wanted to go out and see if I could get a pic of the grosbeaks using a new “feeder” I made. I like to recycle things. I get a lot of these plastic jugs that cat litter comes in now. I reuse them to store bird seed in them. But I was thinking one day about the feeders and bears. So I decided to cut out the sides of one of these jugs and hang it up for the birds. The grosbeaks love it, but it is a bit lightweight so it swings around a lot.
That doesn’t seem to bother them much, but it would be hard to focus in and get a good picture. So I’m going to attach a piece of wood to the bottom for a little extra weight. I figure if the bears destroy it, there is no big loss, I have more to use and they are free, unlike the $20 feeders that Bert has been destroying. So today I will make another one. This will work until I’m able to extend the feeders out far enough that Bert won’t be able to reach them. I hope. Thank you everyone for your concern for my safety. I will try to stay safe, I will not be taking chances. Hmm, it has become cloudy, that wasn’t supposed to happen. It’s still a beautiful spring morning. Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
©2021 Steve McLeod.
