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 I'm celebrating the New Year with a sweet calendar created by Tessa who lives and paints in Wales. ********************************************* Resolutions? Pretty much a continuation of every year:   Yoga Plant Lady by Christa @ Wild Optimist
 This morning it was 28 F, bright and sunny! Our backyard was atwitter with so many birds. let me begin with a rare treat: a pileated woodpecker=woo hoo! the largest woodpecker in North America. We had our usual chickadees, finches, sparrows, and bushtits; also the Stellar jay, starlings, robins, and flickers; then, we noticed that our spotted towhees were traveling with a pair of Varied Thrushes! Oh joy, and they were having fun scattering the leaves along the edges of the path and in the garden boxes. The male is much brighter than the demurely colored female.   Backyard birding is one of the benefits of being homebound on our hill on an icy day. Cheers!
 Um, OK--I get that the weather is weird, but snow already?
It is definitely winter here in Seattle!  A Year Unfolding-Angela Harding Overnight, literally; no slow transition for the Pacific NW this year; we went straight from smokey, stagnant, 80 F weather, on top of a drought--to an inch of rain overnight, blustery winds, blue skies, and a backyard full of hungry birds.
So happy for sweater weather, saunas, and sitting by the hearth with hot drinks.   We have only had two days (since my last post) where the air quality levels were below 50. Even in the house, with air purifiers running, my throat is raw and my nose feels gummy. To add insult to injury, TPTB made the decision early on that there would not be an effort to put the fire out, just contain it, as it was mostly burning in wilderness areas; if businesses, homes, and people were going to be displaced then the effort to put it out would commence. I miss playing outside and having my windows open. Thank goodness that rain is finally coming to Seattle this weekend!   Flying over the North Cascades, I snapped this photo of the mountains appearing so serene and beautiful...but on land the air was smokey, hot, and stagnant. Checking the Washington Smoke blog:  Our yard and garden is covered with grit and it's weirdly dusky outdoors. Looks like a fine weekend to knit and bake bread.   Nature Photo Book pick: WILD HONEY BEES by Ingo Arndt and Jurgen Tautz. Dive into the biodiversity of a healthy forest hive. The images are absolutely breath-taking. For beekeepers and beepeekers alike. Scientific Inquiry: If you ever wondered about the honeybee "dance language" hypothesis, you need to read this wonderfully readable and thoroughly researched book.
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AuthorTracey Byrne~ 
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