This weekend, I noticed lots of bulbs starting to come up around the house--crocus and daffodils, for sure, and I even saw a cluster of snowdrops blooming in the flowerbed with the raspberries. I was quite excited, and I was all set to take pictures to document the springiness of it all.
And then, this kind of happened. Pretty, but it's a definite obstacle in terms of flower growth:
This is how it looked just a few days earlier. Note the happy sight of the bare ground.
Still, the snow kind of makes it look like I live in a gingerbread house, and I do like that:
And, I love watching the birds who hang out at the following feeders:The "Robot-Looking Ones That I Bought for A Dollar Each Because They Were Shiny and $1 and That Suck Because the Birdseed Freezes in The Bottoms of 'Em When It Is Cold"
"The Dr. Seuss Feeder" (I don't know why I started calling it this--it just seemed Seussish--like something that would hang in Whoville and feed flocks of exotically-colored birds with whimsical names--the Whirlsnobbler and the Fandiddler and the, uh, "Robin," etc.)
"The Iron Maiden"...Okay. It's not that bad. Let's just call it "The Feeder That I Can't Get the Top Off of When It's Cold and I Freeze My Fingers Off Even When I'm Wearing Mittens (ow)"
"The Carousel"--This one was here when I moved in. I think it belonged to the elderly woman who lived here for decades--I like to think that, anyway, because she sounds like a lovely woman.
Note the homemade bird food lurking in it--I made that yesterday because I ran out of birdseed. It's all stuff that they should, technically speaking, enjoy: chopped peanuts, crumbled corny stuff, dried cherries that I meant to use in something (couscous? cookies? no idea) but have been sitting in the cupboard for a year. I saw a couple of bold juncos trying it out as I peeked out the window, but then they all just started hanging onto the empty "Iron Maiden" feeder and pecking at the little seedless holes which was a very sad sight indeed.I kinda knew this would happen--and I'll be heading out to purchase more birdseed as soon as I finish working on someone's resume. 'til then, I've emptied a few bits of non-frozen birdseed out of the robot feeders and mixed it into this stuff--trying to disguise the homemade birdseed in a way that reminds me of when my grandmother tried to get my sister to eat liver by pretending it was meatballs.
Anyhoo, in keeping with the Spring is coming thought, here are ideas for "Children's Lunch Bags and Picnics" (chicken fricassee? lobster stew?). I like the old-timey "blueberry grunt" and "raspberry shrub," as well as the "Desperate Mother's Quick Frank Stew" (why doesn't the desperate mother just use her power to make fire and hand the child a stick and a hot dog?) and while I can't quite remember what "Scotch Eggs" are (maybe hardboiled eggs rolled in sausage and breadcrumbs and fried? Dunno) I like her line: "They also like Scotch Eggs because they look like yellow eyes, a child once told me..."
From this Book:
Later today, I think I'll go try to dig out the snowdrops--I can sense 'em there, blooming pluckily under a foot of snow--after I shovel off the bulkhead and carve out a racing track for Lily in the back yard.Hope you have a great day!
