This and That from June...

In Spring and summer, there are certain things that create emotion.

I don't know what makes us so melancholy in the Spring and summer.

It just happens.

For instance, THIS fellow makes me both smile and get angry at the same time.

(He eats up all my bird seed, ALL DAY LONG!!):

And this little fluffy chipping sparrow twittering on the branches

just makes me happy:

The eloquence of a Columbine, makes me wonder about the miracles of Nature:

This was one of the farm dogs at the Alpaca farm I recently visited.

His sad, loyal eyes makes me want a dog again. Longing.

Really bad.

But I can't....I just can't:

A goldfinch in flight

just takes my breath away:

And seeing bright yellow in the trees after a barren, cold winter lifts my spirits up

more than I can describe:

And?

If he is FLUFFY??....

Well, it makes me darn right GIDDY:

The bright greens of hosta leaves and the delicate blue forget-me-nots

make me smile in wonder:

Finding a garden moose for my garden at a rummage sale for $4.00??

Practically DRUNK with joy!:

And spying a hummingbird aiming for spring blossoms?

Thankful to the angels in heaven:

May your day be full of this season's emotions....

and gratefulness to Mother Nature

for the joy the seasons brings us.

White, Yellow, Pink and Green and Birds and Dragonflies in between!

Continuing with the spring photos today..

and some late spring ones too.

I love the bright, sunny colors that the new plants and

flowers bring to spring.

Especially the bright, neon green of fresh growth and the sunny yellows, bright pinks and bright whites...

Marsh Marigolds (cowslips):

New apple blossoms sprouting on our apple trees:

(at the time this posts, those blossoms are now apples growing, about the size of a large quarter already!)

Cherry Blossoms!:

Chipping sparrow at our feeders (just threw that in because with Spring, comes all KINDS of birds to our feeders!):

I always know it is getting warmer when I see that

the

dragonflies have hatched!:

Bohemian Waxwing in our apple blossoms!:

I loved this log full of mushrooms overhanging a field full of fresh white

Trilliums!:

Bright green, unfurling ferns!:

Mother Nature really does a good job of putting fresh flowers

and colors on its table for us after a long, drab

winter, doesn't she??

I'd like to invite her over to help me do my delayed spring cleaning...

what do you say, Mom Nature???

Spring Birds in the U.P.!!

Enough of the Florida photos!!

On to finally seeing the Spring unfold in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.)

of 

Michigan.

As usual, we get Spring much later than the entire rest of the nation,

due to the fact that we are very far north and on the chilly shores

of

Lake Superior.

The photos below were taken the end of April.

We had a snowstorm then (our last one!)

and it seemed that every type of bird within 100 miles

started flying into our area.

I don't have photos of every kind of bird we saw within a few days, but we had so many different

migrating birds coming in..it was amazing.

Some of these birds stay all year round but some we only see for a little while

and they go even farther north.

The Flickers are still here, but we hadn't seen any until April this year:

We  had pretty Juncos this winter, but now in June they are all gone.

This little sparrow was hiding from the storm:

The grackles showed up late April and even more came in May:

We had a family of 13 blue jays that stayed with us all winter.  Then, they started nesting in late April and disappeared for a while..Now, in June we have seen 4 back:

We have several of these little chipping sparrows to keep us company:

I am amazed by the colors in the European Starlings...they showed back up in May:

Our 11 doves stayed here all winter!:

This fuzzy European Starling did NOT like the snowstorm either!:

We weren't sure what kind of bird this was...we thought a female finch, as it loved the thistle!:

We heard the distinct call of the Red Winged Blackbird before we actually saw one!  Now, in June, we haven't seen them come to the feeders much...but are still seeing them out in fields:

A Flicker and a European Starling sharing the suet!:

Two doves snuggling on the branch during the last snow storm of the season!:

We have been enjoying many more birds coming our way this spring....goldfinches, purple finches, hummingbirds, robins, house wrens, catbirds, and our biggest thrill at our feeders: Baltimore Orioles....

but

THAT is a story for a different day.......