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A hummingbird in the secret garden wonders if the dahlias will ever bloom. Of course they do bloom, but only at the end of the summer. We returned for Labor Day weekend from dropping off Sarah in France. We had fine weather here, with a briief visit from Jen’s parents. While we were gone, our […]

Sarah rode both bicycle and horse this weekend. Jen took a short break from jam-making to see what the birds were up to in Vlei Marsh.

The Ring-necked Ducks remain on the pond as we make the long transition into spring. There is still a bit of snow on the ground from last week’s squall, making it feel as if we have a long way to go. Other weekend events included an earthquake Friday and Daisy’s eleventh birthday Saturday.

Here are our steadfast avian harbingers the Ring-necked Ducks, on the pond at the start of March to signify the coming spring. They are camera-shy, and I scared them off, but they are back again this morning.

We had despaired of having any hay this year, given how rainy it’s been — but lo, here is some late October hay. A pair of bluebirds presided over the tedder. The round bales are handsome in the afternoon sun.

The pigeons, now a flock of perhaps fifteen, seem unhappy after being evicted from the barn. We chased them out and closed the barn doors after the barn swallows left, on August 30, to head south. We plan to overwinter with the aggrieved pigeons.

This weekend we had a visit from babysitter emeritus Lauren Ballback, who stopped with her dog Hamilton on her way from Brooklyn to Maine. Jen gave Lauren a tour of the secret garden, which is looking quite spiffy these days. It was great to see Lauren with Sarah again. Daisy also enjoyed visiting with Hamilton. […]

This handsome Baltimore Oriole stopped by to inspect our new copper beech tree this afternoon. Presumably having found things satisfactory, it flew over to look in on one of our new sugar maples. The trees seem to be growing and healthy.

I’m not sure snowdrops count as harbingers of spring, since, as their name suggests, they appear in winter. The bee at center bottom looks promising however. Ring-necked Ducks, on the other hand, are reliable harbingers, appearing on the pond for a couple of weeks each early spring. They came early this year. They were so […]

The Barred Owl is one of those things, like the morels, that have been here the whole time yet took us a long time to see. Not that we never saw the owl – every few years, walking through the woods, we’d startle him and watch him fly off. And we’ve often heard owls at […]