Distracted from cleaning the windows

The day was somewhat sunny when I started domestic work: window cleaning. UGH.
The long winter left the windows covered with a thin film of salt grime from the sea and it showed in the sunshine! No way to get around the task.
I did the living room windows first.

Then I got distracted. :))
An inspiration hit me when I looked at this piece of driftwood I recently gathered on the beach.

It would become a simple DIY bird feeder! A feeder that I could place closer to one of the newly cleaned windows. 

A long nail was placed in the middle of the wool, a parasol pole was banged into the ground - Tadaa!

I had a new feeder.

This encouraged me to make another feeder. A terracotta flower pot saucer, some strings and an discarded basket. Another hanging DIY hanging bird feeder.

While I filled it with some black sunflower seeds the first curious chickadee circled already around.
A minute later I was inside and behind the camera.
There - the first guest was already contemplating the food offerings!

Now I just have to wait and see what other guests will come.

Beetle, Flounder and Texas

The weather was nice and sunny for a change, though the temperatures were not much above 41 F (5 C). I thought I should do some work on my flower beds.

Yours truly enjoying garden work

As always when I am close to the ground things capture my eye.
A water droplet glittering between the leaves of a budding Tulip

Water between Tulip leaves

and, a metallic ground beetle. They are working during the night and eating slugs and similar stuff. I swiftly put some dirt over him. Back to work! I hope he was about to eat the larvae you can see behind him when I disturbed.

some kind of Chlaenius, male

There was no need for me to cook today. My dear husband went to town for groceries and he came back with flounder. Now, he grew up on the shores of the Baltic Sea, so he could do it better than me.
Our dinner today: flounder fried in butter, topped with crisp bacon.

Dessert: strawberries - a taste of summer.

You see, there was not much happening, but there is always something going on.

Otherwise, there is a new chapter out from our travels in 2006. I started to publish February: here. We went from Big Bend National Park, TX all the way to Port Aransas, TX.

Look and you will see!

This morning I tried to take a photo of a little junco.
Look at the distortion!
I thought my camera could do it through these old windows with "wavy" glass panes. Nope, it  didn't work, but I kind of like it anyway.

A junco, seen through wavy glass

Later in the afternoon Molly and I walked the neighbourhood on the prowl for more objects.
At first I had the 55 mm lens ready - and too bad.
A fox crossed a property nearby and we were too far away. Though, when I blew up the picture you can make him out, if barely.

A fox? No - that is Molly!

Where?

Aahh! THERE!

After that I changed to a lens with a 200 mm zoom. Further down the road I took aim at a crow sitting on the lawn.

 A crow watching us ...

..our approach makes her wary...

...and she takes off.  Click, click, click 

The setting was with zoom, on moving objects and multiple shots, but I didn't manage to get it really focused. :((

No good combination. With a zoom I could get "closer up to the object", but it didn't work so good with the movement. I have yet to figure out how to do 3D tracking of a moving object. 

Well, I have to practise, practise, practise.

Then we went down to the water. The sun broke through the clouds and I just loved the mirroring greys and blues on the water's surface. 

I didn't see the gull down at the water's edge. Do you?

Trying to capture the colours...

...while a gull was watching me.

When I took the next shot it took off.
Beautiful!
Thank you!

Hope you liked my little excursion as much as I did. Thank you for your company. 

And if you like, take a look at the second part of our journey in January 2006. To Tuscon and Bisbee, Guadalupe Park and Carlsbad Caverns we went....

A Gloomy Day. Let's Go Birding!

Common Grackles

Two days ago I put up two bird feeders - a self-made one and a open nesting box. It didn't take long before the first guests arrived. The weather was grey and gloomy as I sat behind the living room window with no ideal light to capture the birds. 

They were about 15 - 30 feet (5 -10m) away; always on the move and fighting for the seeds.
(Click on the photo for a bigger view.)

My patience paid off. Suddenly there was a drove of birds around.... 

                      

   A Nuthatch on my self-made feeder (made of: mayo container)
and on the ground ....