Scattered patterns, a mosaic of rich humus, and golden colors braided with brown, dabbled in sunlight: this is where the flower lives that bows and nods in the breeze, remaining upright despite the elements that seem to conspire against her, yet in many ways are her friends. She has a lovely view from here, looking out from the rocky outcropping of her front porch to the sky and at the trees, big and tall, that tower over her little spot in the woods.
She sometimes gets a visitor. Her lovely guest with his brightly colored gossamer wings and tiny feet tickles her as he prances lightly around her head. The ferns sometimes lean over and nuzzle her and she tries to nuzzle back, but all too soon they move away and return to their position above her. Flower is mostly alone; other flowers of various colors and sizes grow nearby, but they are all so quiet, clutching their own little piece of the world.
Flower turns her face towards the sun, soaking up its warm rays. She loves her home here in this carpet of dried leaves, moss and grass. She feels joy in the wind. She absorbs love from life. She has such peace, such contentment, because all that she has to be is this flower, and she knows that. There is no striving to become what she never can - a bush, a tree, a snake, or a bird.
Sometimes she is paid a visit by a fawn who sniffs her, and she waits to be eaten, to be useful in some way to some other living creature. If that doesn't happen, or if she isn't trodden on by careless footsteps, she will return from where she came. She will display her lovely colors for awhile, for all who see her to enjoy, and then she will wither and fade and soon will drop to the forest floor, disappearing beneath the other plants and foliage that will use her abode in another season.
Congratulations to Betsy, who won the scarf in my giveaway! Betsy, please e-mail me your home address and I'll shoot that scarf out to you pronto! Although it is probably too late to use it here in Tennessee for this year, except perhaps on cold mornings, I know you'll enjoy it come winter!
Thank you who participated in this giveaway. I'll be doing more from time to time; I have lots of scarves, and other goodies as well, to give away!
Because I only have dial-up (and don't expect to get anything better in the near future), it takes forever for me to upload pictures onto my blog. If I upload them directly into blogspot, it takes hours for even 2 or 3 pictures, so I have been using photobucket, which has still taken a long time, but at least it was quicker than blogspot.The other day I discovered photobucket's bulk uploader. Now, instead of taking hours to upload pictures, it takes minutes! I am so impressed! How do they DO that? Why can't every website do that? It is great!I just wanted to pass this along in case there are other bloggers out there with the same problem. Try photobucket and try their bulk uploader!
Last evening my husband called me to the kitchen window - come quick! I was amazed to see a hawk on the driveway tearing apart its prey. I felt bad for the dove - but I realize that the hawk has to eat. Far better that a hungry hawk get it rather than a domestic cat or dog, who would usually only kill it for "fun"! I believe this is a sharp-shinned hawk. We watched him for a few minutes, and then he flew with his dinner to a nearby tree.
A few days ago five turkeys - four males and one female - came around to the pasture. (No hunting is permitted on our property. It is turkey hunting season here in TN, but those that squat on our land are safe!) It was obvious they were all vying for the female's attention, and four of them looked on enviously while one guy strutted his stuff!
A friend made us two new birdhouses. My husband put one up fairly close to the house and I had my doubts about anything using it. Well, thankfully I was proven wrong several days ago when the chickadees took it over. Then, a few days later, the bluebirds decided that they wanted it. It was fun to watch the battle of wills between them, but in the end the bluebirds drove the chickadees away. These pictures aren't that great; it was a foggy morning when I took them. Look closely and you can see one bluebird on top of the house and two chickadees in the bushes to the right of the birdhouse. The chickadees are planning their next move, but the bluebirds are confident that by the end of the day, they'll win, and they did. Soon we watched them bringing grasses in to build their nest.
Mmmm. . . . don't they look good? And they were! Thanks to the pure maple syrup that I won on Cedar's giveaway! Thanks, Cedar!
Is that a snowflake or a butterfly that just passed my window? Oh dear, it's a snowflake! Well, it appears that here in Eastern Tennessee, Winter is giving its (hopefully) last hoorah and in celebration of that and in memory of Winter, I'm going to give away this scarf. 
I have a whole bin full of scarves that I crocheted and knitted, intending to sell them, but never did. This one is crocheted with Paton's cha cha yarn. It is pale blue (so at least the color is "Springy"!), 60 inches long (so you can wrap it around your neck several times) and almost 3 inches wide. Besides being long, this scarf is also very soft.
I know that scarf season is for the most part GONE for this year - yet when I look out my window, I'm not so sure - but don't worry, it'll return next year!
I will randomly draw one name from all of the comments that I receive on this entry, by April 15. Good luck!
We've had a gray fox coming around our place for a year now, eating the cat food that we had originally put out for the raccoons - but hey, whoever gets there first is welcome to it! Well, other than the fox and raccoons, we have opossums, skunks, and two particular deer that eat it. The two deer are a doe and her fawn from last year. The doe started eating the cat food, and when the fawn got bigger, it did also. And they also have their own food -- sweet feed that we put out just for them! We have quite the show to watch from our kitchen window right before dark, and even after dark when we turn the outside light on, which doesn't seem to bother the critters. Angel Kitty watches, too - safely from inside, of course!
Here was a little drama that took place out of our kitchen window last evening.
First I saw the fox approach the feeding area from the front of the house and I took his picture . . .
Oops! I think he saw me!
Isn't he beautiful? Must be all that cat food he eats . . .
Well, NOW who's watching him?
Oh, of course - that deer again! He's keeping his eyes on him! (note the deer in the right hand side of the picture)
Okay, now the deer's on the move. Just a few more quick bites . . .
Time to skedaddle!
And Up the hill he goes. Long after he's gone, the deer continue to maintain a vigil.
Last year I got a video of the deer chasing the fox away from the bird feeder area where we used to put out the cat food. The fox kept sneaking back and the deer kept chasing him away. This went on for some time and it became obvious that it was just a fun game for them to see who's faster and smarter - fox or deer. Although the deer were pretty quick and I know those hooves could do some harm, the fox was pretty sly when he slinked down behind the trees and crept up to the food! I wish I could upload the video, but my dial-up internet makes it time-prohibitive!
Some trivia about the Gray Fox: It is primarily nocturnal, but can sometimes been seen foraging by day in brush, thick foliage, or timber. It is the only American canid (canine) with tree climbing ability, and it occasionally forages in trees and frequently takes refuge in them, especially in leaning or thickly branched ones. It favors den sites in woodlands and among boulders on the slopes of rocky ridges. Well, that explains why we have gray foxes here, with all of the rocky ridges we have -- and caves, too!
