David was up at 5:00 a.m, shoveling snow from the driveway and cleaning his car so he could get to work by 7:00. On our walk this morning, Ella was particularly ... frisky. She likes the snow. Here are photos from our walk and one of our backyard, post-snow. It's amazing how 2 inches of snow turn a mud-spattered, gritty, ice-spotted world to beauty.
While I made coffee this morning - which takes a few minutes because I use a manual drip filter Melita system in which the filter into which I pour boiling water by hand sits on top of a thermos - I stood at the kitchen window watching the bird feeder outside. I had filled up all 3 feeders in the last several days, but had not been seeing the same number of birds over these recent warmer days that we were seeing when it was so cold. I don't know how that works. Do birds need MORE food when it is so brutally cold, just to keep their tiny little bird hearts pumping to keep their tiny bodies warm?
Anyway, in the few minutes I stood there this morning, I saw pair of Blue jays that frequent this little section of the neighborhood, a Black Capped Chickadee, a veritable swarm of Starlings - 5 or 6 trying to land on the railing of our small hexagon shaped feeder all at the same time, another on top of it, another on top of the pole it hangs from, another hanging from the suet basket that also hangs from the pole, and 3 or 4 more in flight and squawking, batting wings at each other, seemingly trying to push one of those on the feeder off, to take their place. I went to get my camera, but they were gone before I got a photo.
But there also came a male Cardinal. I've learned from my own observations that Cardinals don't land on feeders - at least not on THIS particular feeder (I seem to remember Cardinals, male and female, landing on my long "sleeve" feeder - the one now hanging from the back of the garage - when it hung from a pole outside our apartment in Connecticut) - but rather land below the feeder, like Mourning doves and often Starlings, and scavenge the droppings that fall when other birds feed above. Today this Cardinal kindly alighted and perched for a few moments on a snowy branch of the fruit tree that hangs over the feeder. Long enough for this photo:
Yesterday David and I joined what is somewhat euphemistically marketed as a "health club." My hairdresser, Rockie - a lovely woman who volunteers at the local hospital with a cancer survivors' group to help with make-up and wig styling - told me about it. It's located in a local hotel - which has a metal sculpture of "the world's largest lobster" out front - right in downtown Rockland with a wonderful view of the harbor. The "health club" consists of a total of about 20-25 machines - treadmills, stair master type, stationary bikes, a rowing machine, various "Nautilus" type strengthening equipment, a tiny weight room - and - a pool. They were having a 50% sale for annual membership, and they offer a "senior couple" price that was pretty good before the discount. After the discount, the two of us joined for a year for less than any gym I've ever heard of charges for one person for a year. They also have good hours, opening at 6:00 a.m. Monday-Friday and open until 9:00 p.m. every day of the week.
Both David and I are feeling the lack of exercise imposed by winter weather. I'm hoping that the close location - maybe 5 minutes by car from home - and signing up for a year will take a way any excuse not to try going to "work out" a few times a week. I also saw an ad in our weekly paper for yoga classes - two for "gentle yoga" (which is definitely all I am interested in at this point) also in a downtown Rockland location, one on Monday and one on Thursday, in early evening hours. We'll see. This is not a New Year's Resolution - I'm just trying to create circumstances in which it is easier for me (and David) to do things that are good for us. Check back to see how we're doing as the weeks go by.
As I sit here typing this, I see out the window that it's still snowing. But weatherunderground says it is 35.8 degrees. On Tuesday the forecasted high temperature is 13 degrees, and Tuesday night, 1 degree. Welcome back, Winter.
Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day. How far we still have to come toward his "dream."
Peace.
