Quick Comments

Boy! Did we get a sharp rebuke by the weather today!! We have had temps in the upper 60's and 70's for two weeks now and the weather man said no more rain this month. Well today it poured down and the wind blew like crazy and blew my daffodils over three times. (Man of the House had bought another five the other day). Not only that, but the temperature was 45 degrees at lunch time. The temp dropped five degrees in less than an hour. That will teach us!

I should explain about my previous blog, that the red crested cardinal is found in Hawaii, and on some islands this bird does not have a crest.

BY REQUEST

Red-crested Cardinal as requested by Sandy

Beautiful Weather -- New Birds

Cassin's Kingbird
Such excitement, because this is a new bird to be found in our back yard. This picture taken from one of my bird books. He has an olive green back and head, different from the Western Kingbird. Haven't been able to get a photo yet, if ever, but there were a pair of them in a tree and flying around for about 10 minutes. Very kingly looking bird, but like the scrub jay his voice doesn't match his looks. All the other birds are busily singing their spring songs since the weather has been so wonderful for a week now, but when the king bird arrived and let out his squawk, there was suddenly silence. They did start up again after a moment or two but I wonder if he is a predator (on eggs). Probably not, because he is categorized with the flycatchers.



















Heerman's Gull He is really a very sharp looking gull. The red beak sets him apart from other gulls. I took this photo a week or so ago when I was visiting the beach.

Unlike most birds, he raises his chicks in the Gulf of California (south of us,) then meanders northwards. Found mainly along the Southern California coast.

SPRING IS HERE!

The man of the house arrived home Monday from the islands (Micronesia). He really had a fruitful time there. I bought these daffodils on the Saturday before, as a coming home present. We are part Welsh and both love daffodils. They were only $3 and all except one were tightly budded. I keep flowers out on the patio because of my allergies and they last longer. On Sunday night I almost brought them inside because of the rain and 'cold' temps we were expecting, but the next day they had just perked up so brightly that I'm glad I didn't. They obviously loved the rain. Anyway, here we are a week later and they are just beautiful.

The little greenery in front of the flowers is my Maiden Hair Fern which shriveled up and died in the fall. But when I bought it, the lady in the line behind me said, "It will die off, but just cut it back and it will bounce back as bright as ever. " And it has!








Here it is when it was thriving in the summer:

HENRIETTA: The Saga Continues

Between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. every evening, Henrietta has a last scratch around for a few more morsels, then gently cawing a lullabye to the few birds that are still flitting in and out of the bushes, she toddles off around the back of the house to her roosting place.



"The 5:00 p.m. flight to the Olive Tree is now boarding. Please have your tickets at the ready."

















Whew! That was a steep flight up to the 6 foot level for take off!























Hmm. Got a good way to go yet. Better just catch my breath.





















"Fasten your seat belts, as we will be taking off momentarily."




"Flight Attendants, please prepare for take-off"























Woosh!! Made it! It's so nice to be home!

































(She's in there somewhere. I saw her go.)




If that was Henrietta's Saga, then this is the 'Cat's Tale'

Groundhog Day in Carlsbad

These petunias and geraniums have been blooming all winter long.
Yes, that is scarecrow mingling with the blossoms in the picture below.

It is a good thing that Groundhog Day wasn't yesterday as it poured with rain all day and half the night. But as you can see, he did see his shadow on the 2nd of Feb.

Last night, about midnight, another squall blew in and the wind rattled the windows and howled around the house. I lay there and listened until I thought I was back in Flamborough.

Speaking of which, I am so pleased because I have been receiving email from people who either lived in Flamborough about the time I lived there, or they would visit for holidays. Equally important, they found me through my website. I had over a thousand hits on my web site in January!

Posts Coming Soon

Sorry I haven't posted since Sunday. Will try to do better this weekend. I have been working on my website http://www.flamboroughhead.com (What a pain to work with! I need a better web program) and also on "Homesick for Flamborough" my blog of particular interest to Flamborians: www.blogstoday.co.uk This will take you to Flamborough Today, then click on list at the left : Blogspot
I'm not sure how to use links but am hoping these will automatically take you to those sites. If not, please look at the right hand side bar of this page, scroll down to FLAMBLOGGER'S LINKS and you will find them listed in my Flamborough Links and they should work from there.

More stuff coming up -- (more snow coming down in Toronto as I understand it. What a winter they've had!)