More Birding (Hey, It's a Short Season)

Skip and I got up at the crack of 7am this morning to go birding at Thickson's Woods. It was a first time for both of us. There was certainly a lot of bird life present but it's getting harder and harder to see them as the leaves are starting to come out. There are only a few days of good birding left.

Here are some things we saw.


A Baltimore oriole (icterus galbula),








a downy woodpecker (picoides pubescens)










a tree swallow (tachycineta bicolor) guarding the nest.








an American goldfinch (carduelis tristis),










and some lovely red trilliums.









We also saw some yellow-rumped warblers, Nashville warblers, barn swallows and a house wren.

I'm working on the plans for a couple of knitting classes I'm going to be teaching at Kniterary. One will be on knitting cables without a cable needle. Another will be a beginning knitting class and a third one will be a 'Christmas in July' class knitting miniature sweaters. It uses remnant sock yarn and the sweaters can be used as Christmas tree ornaments or as part of a gift tag. Here are a couple I have knit over the last couple of days. The second one, I started and finished during our Sit 'n Knit on Thursday evening. These sweaters are actual size on a 17" monitor.

Lots O' Photos

We got home from our birding trip to Point Pelee and Hillman Marsh yesterday and I've finally gone through my photos and selected the best ones.

This house finch (carpodacus mexicanus) was high in the tree in front of our house as we were getting ready to leave home.




This Canada goose family (branta canadensis) was getting ready to take a swim. We estimate that the babies were only a couple of days old.



Black-and-white warbler (mniotilta varia)






















Black-throated green warbler (dendroica virens)








Common yellowthroat (geothlypis thichas)







Baltimore oriole (icterus galbula)










We stopped in at the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada on the way home. Most of the donkeys were out in the pasture but we visited the half dozen or so that were by the barn. It is a very peaceful place. The donkeys who are brought here are usually rescued from neglect or harm. They get to live the rest of their days being well-fed, well taken care-of, with lots of donkey companionship and peace.

Birding @ Point Pelee

Today we got up early and headed to Hillman Marsh to see shore birds with our new spotting scope. We saw three types of plovers: semipalmated, American golden and black-bellied as well as the odd kildeer. There were barn swallows, tree swallows; Caspian, Forster's and common terns; lesser yellowlegs, sanderlings, dunlins, blue- and green-winged teal and Northern shovelers.
We then headed to Point Pelee National Park to have lunch and get ready for our escorted walking tour with Peter Read. There were about 16 in our group. Peter was very skilled at identifying bird calls and then spotting the bird after. We saw a Mississippi kite who is WAY off his usual flight path, a blue-headed vireo, warbling vireo, house wren, blue-gray gnatcatcher, Baltimore oriole, yellow warbler, black-throated, green warbler, Blackburnian warbler, black-and-white warbler, common yellowthroat, blue jay, red-bellied and downy woodpeckers. I think I missed a couple in there but that covers most of them. The park at Point Pelee was packed. I can't even imagine what it will be like there on the weekend.

We then headed back to Hillman Marsh to use the scope again with the light coming from the west. We saw many of the same birds from the morning and another blue-gray gnatcatcher but this time prompted by a group of enthusiastic birders, spotted a sora. According to them, it was the bird of the day.

After that we drove into Leamington and had dinner at another Mennonite Mexican food restaurant, 'Family Kitchen'. I had perogies filled with dry cottage cheese and covered with cream sauce. They were served with sausage, corn and a side of canned peaches. Skip had ham and noodles covered with a cream sauce and a side of corn and a dry bun. Unusual, starchy, rich but tasty.

Tomorrow we're headed to the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada outside of Guelph. I became enthralled with the place last year so we thought we'd make a return visit. The website now has a bio and photographic portrait for each donkey. Too cute!

¡Felíz Cinco de Mayo a Todos!

Today is a regional holiday in the state of Puebla in Mexico. It isn't really celebrated beyond that in Mexico. However it is recognized outside of Mexico as a day to celebrate Mexico and Mexican heritage. To this end, Skip and I had Mexican food for dinner at a little Mexican food restaurant in Leamington, ON run by Portuguese people who have some connection with the fairly large Mexican Mennonite community in that area. Confused? We were, too.

Tomorrow we are birding at Point Pelee. But now, I'm tired and heading to bed.

Packing Again...

I'm making lists and getting ready to pack for a wee birding trip to Point Pelee for a couple of days. It's a mecca for birders as Point Pelee is the first landfall for many types of migrating birds at this time of the year - particularly warblers. We've booked an escorted birding tour and plan to do some on our own as well.

Last night was James' piano recital. He performed his pieces very well - Für Elise by Beethoven and a Bourée by Telemann.
I continue to work on the second Good 'n Plenty sock. I'm doing the eye of partridge heel flap right now.

The French Market Bag is also still being worked on. The stocking stitch is fairly mind-numbing but will be perfect for the 4.5 hour drive. I just found this cute washcloth pattern as well. I'll take the pattern and materials with me. When we get back, I'm going to block the Must Have Cardigan pieces and get the shoulders stitched together so I can get the button band done.

Now to find binoculars, the GPS, the camera battery charger, the iPod charger, my birding book, etc., etc. Oh yeah, and my clothes and stuff, too!

"Tra-la, It's May!" (just catching up)

I'm back in the world of the living. Pharmaceuticals and nasal spray have helped ameliorate many of my cold symptoms and I'm feeling much better, thank goodness. I actually left the house to do some shopping today.

Our new LCD TV was on the fritz again yesterday - no audio - so I called the nice people at LG and once again made an appointment with the local LG TV repairer to come over and replace the DSL motherboard. We bought the TV in December and in January had the motherboard replaced. I turned another TV on in the house and there was no audio, then another, then another. I quickly realized this was not a TV issue but a satellite issue. I called the nice people at Bell ExpressVu and got the technical support I needed to reset each of the 4 satellite boxes. I then called the TV repairer back and said the problem was solved. He had already ordered the motherboard and I was still getting a warning message every time I turned on the LG TV which was easily removed by pressing the volume button. He decided to keep the appointment.

The repairer showed up today and instantly made the annoying warning message go away forever. I told him the audio problem had been a satellite problem and had been fixed yesterday. He called his boss and the boss said to replace the motherboard anyway. He then re-hooked up the TV and went on his merry way. The way he hooked up the TV, I don't get any audio for the DVD/VCR and the audio for the TV is going through the home theatre system and can no longer be controlled with the TV remote or the satellite box remote. Argh!!!! So I'm going to have to spend some time figuring out how to hook the VCR back up to the TV because Skip wants to tape the Kentucky Derby tomorrow. Scooter's piano recital is inconveniently at 6pm and we'll miss the race.

After my shopping trip I finished the second 'embossed leaves' sock. I haven't taken pictures of them but here's a shot of the first one.

(click on the photo for a closeup of the detail of the sock and some pesky cat hair on the rug)






I'm still puttering away on the French Market Bag but have spent most of this evening preparing for our upcoming birding trip to Point Pelee.

And now - I'm going to try and get the DVD/VCR hooked up properly.

Being a Shut-In

I've been leveled by this cold which has now made its way into my respiratory system. I felt well enough to go to the Sit 'n Knit but decided against so as not to infect my knitting colleagues. I refuse to put the furnace on again so have been wearing a lot of woolly clothes. It was 60F in our bedroom last night so we did put the electric blanket back on the bed.

I haven't left the house in three days and haven't even felt like shopping. That's how I know I'm really sick - LOL. I have continued to work on the French Market Bag and also am finishing the second 'embossed leaves' sock in the lovely Arequipa yarn. I feel compelled to finish some UFOs before I get started on my new knitting projects.

I have also bought two cross-stitching patterns recently. One is "Baa Baa Black Sheep" from X's and Oh's. The other is a wee Lizzie Kate Boxer 'Summer' kit I ordered to complete the 4 seasons. I'll hang it in my front hall and rotate them all as each season dictates. I bought the Spring one while on vacation in San Antonio during March Break of 2006. Don't worry, I haven't really gone over to the (cross-stitching) dark side. Before I was a fanatical knitter, I was a fanatical cross-stitcher but will always be a loyal knitter (cross my ♥). I am looking forward to the Grand Opening of Hedgehog Stitchery on May 10 and the 2nd anniversary of Kniterary and the 1st anniversary of Martina's ownership of the business.

I am also all 'geeked up' for "The Sex and the City Movie" which will be coming out in North America on May 30. I read it's being released in London, England before that - what's up with that? I saw the cast on 'Oprah' today and it got me all excited. I even watched 'Oprah' twice (on the satellite from the Atlantic provinces and again from Toronto). Chris Noth (rhymes with 'both) really turns my crank. Lorna and I plan to go. I may even have a Cosmopolitan after (or during - tee hee)!