Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Chilly days, some frost happening, sometimes blue skies … and still I continue my lovely daily walks.  Many years ago I used to walk and walk everywhere .. for I hadn’t a car!  Fast forward and I’m back to daily walks again.  And loving it.

So many places to go.   Things look so different compared to driving, I’m discovering streets and neighbourhoods that I hadn’t known existed.  And learning names of streets.

Decided that I’ll strive to continue my daily walks to the Swan Lake Sanctuary .. there are a variety of entrances/exits that I can take that will add variety to my walks so they don’t ever get to feel boring.

So yesterday at Swan there were still flooded paths, frozen sections.   Signage up to show everyone how to take alternate routes.

Found myself near a huge old oak with the female eagle perched atop.  Looking for lunch.  Looking down at a nearby duck-filled marsh.

Decided to walk across the grassy meadow in order to get a closer look.

and so I decided to get a closer look

What the hey … perhaps I can get closer yet .. ok .. I think this is close enough.  She is giving me the “eye” and I read body language enough to understand that she doesn’t like me standing beneath the tree .. so close.  Bye bye ..

This is part of the Sanctuary, where she was seeking a good tasty morsel for lunch … and below there was a marshy area full of Mallards .. swimming and just having a good time.  Hopefully they were ignored.

Some lovely colour ..

Ice edged the shoreline of Tuesday Pond

I’d successfully walked through the deep puddles, I was heading to the little bridge at Tuesday Pond .. a little water wasn’t going to stop me!

Nor was a patch of ice going to deter me.

However, I have my limits and then I turned around ..

Tossed some flatted oats on the icy sections for the Mallards to feed on.

The mysteriously banded Mallard is still here ..  no one I’ve spoken to at the Sanctuary knows where she came from, last year.

Party time ..

The eagle wasn’t out at this time .. and I couldn’t see the hawks .. so all the ducks were out, enjoying the water.

Some icy covered rocks along the way

Brrrrr

The sun tried to shine through ..

And the Robins chirped merrily along.

Ok .. now I can talk about other things.  I’m still in the process of decluttering.   And discovering that hindsight is great. I had a number of Anne Perry books which I hadn’t read, so bundled them all up for donation to the Blue Box (reading program).  Kept one book …and tried to read it.  Historical novels have never held my interest.  So, although I’d collected Anne’s books, I’d not made the effort to actually read one.

Oh, well …. what can I say.  One page read, started the next and the next and a few pages in, I’m totally hooked.  Her characters are rich and she shows such a wealth of human understanding that I am hooked.  I’ll definitely be looking for more of her books at the next library book sale.   Never say never .. that saying is true.

While in the process of choosing which books to keep and which to give away .. I had to flip open the books and scan the first page .. to see if I’d read it before.   If I had (and they weren’t written by Maeve Binchy – which I keep for re and  re and re-reading, they are so very wonderful) then away they go into the box.

Now for my gardening books.   I’d already given away quite a few of them.  Now that I’m “enlightened” in my gardening ways, I’d decided to give away all of those that don’t fit my new way of gardening.  Still .. I have many, two bookcases full.  So I’ll need to go through the books again and just be firmer with myself.

As I’ve looked through some of the really old Organic Gardening books (the small format) .. I’ve read articles on soil and what lifeforms live in the soil.  Before I took my Organic Master Gardening course, I’d just skimmed over these articles  The same information is also (I am finding) written about in great detail in quite a number of my gardening books.  Ok … so the information was there all along … and I’d ignored it.  I only paid attention when I paid good money and took the course . … which I’m glad I did .. otherwise ….

And sometimes, I just wish that I wouldn’t look through books before I decided to discard them.

Case in point the 2011 Farmer’s Almanac.  Leafing through the book, saw an article on page 91 “Hungry Trees” and read that on Washington’s Vashon Island, there was a tree which grew around a bicycle.  The bike had been left leaning against the tree, decades ago.  Now the tree has grown around it and the bike is 7 feet off the ground.  Incredulous, I searched for any verification .. and sure enough, it’s true.

Although there are many blogs which mention this (and other strange tree happenings) … I found this delightful blog:  http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vashon-island-bike-tree

An amazing blog site: http://www.atlasobscura.com/about-us  one I plan to visit!
🙂