Take Me Back

We found ourselves in the South without our oldest girl. She couldn't miss two weeks of school and was thrilled to stay with cousins and keep her regular routine. We hit the road with "our" three year-old spunky girl instead. Glorious, perfect weather everyday, bird-watching adventures, a great little zoo found unexpectedly by Oliver and me, visiting Hobby Lobby (we don't have those!), bonding as a family and attending a new church--just a bit of the good stuff on this blessed trip.

As we neared the final three hours of our 24 hour drive, my husband called out to his travel-worn family, "Okay, who wants to turn around now and do it all over again?" The kids answered that it was an amazing vacation but they were ready for home now. They'd begun to mentally prepare themselves along the way, imagining routine and things they love about Canada and home. We'd been gone for two weeks. 

But I simply blurted, "Take me back! I'll turn around right this instant!" Can you blame me?  :)

Day Twenty-Three: My Dear Wormwood

This was a week of letters for the older and the younger children. Learning about formal letter writing in an era of casual, slang, and poor grammatical communication is essential, in my opinion. Our Pastor was the recipient of two, and there was the other one penned for a friend, but it was the one written to a fictitious character that gave my husband and I that sense of satisfaction and pleasure that settles in between our mutual expressions when a child seems to "get it". We listened intently as Meg read her assignment that was designated by her Sonlight English course. She had just finished reading, The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, in which Screwtape, a lead demon, writes letters of advice to his junior, Wormwood, on how to secure the soul of his human "patient". Meg's homework comprised of writing from the perspective of the archangel Michael to a subordinate angel concerning the lifestyle of their "patient" and how to draw him to God. Meg's eloquence in using Lewis' style of language, along with her understanding of how to assist the secondary angel through doctrine of Scripture was impressive. The discussion that resulted demonstrated the wisdom and awareness she had gained about spiritual warfare, not to mention, an obvious growth in writing. Praise God!

And, of course, a trip to the woods was in order :)

 

Savannah Sparrow

 

 Night Heron. We were thrilled to see it! Stickers on that page in the bird books for three of them!

 Singing House Wren

 

Kingbird taking a rest.

Everybody Does Their Own Thing

It's a small window of time till those birds can no longer be spotted as easily and so we lay down the books and take advantage of the weather and the barely budding trees. As long as we bring along scooters, a bike, and snacks, everyone is happy. Everybody does their own thing and it makes for an enjoyable adventure!

 

Point Pelee is the birds' first landing place after a long and tiresome flight and so, my friends, Annie, Cathy and I cottaged there, hoping to catch them before they dispersed north. Two days of staring through binoculars brought me a little closer to the Creator as I stood many times, marveling over the intricate details of colours, lines and feathers. Breathing in the fresh air, walking for eighteen hours between the two days left us tired, peaceful and hopeful for what we'd soon be capturing in our binoculars at home.

This one likes to have her photo taken :)

Somehow, every little thing becomes a gun.

We received a sweet welcome from this Common Yellowthroat the other day.

Identifying the subtle differences between each Thrush keeps things interesting.

Aw, how cute is this Bay-breasted Warbler?

This Mourning Warbler flitted down beside me while the "professional birdwatchers" were looking for him at Pt. Pelee.

Sweet Redstart

Funny, how my friends were searching for this Wood Thrush and when we got home, we realized I had a photo of him on my camera :)

Tiny Yellow Warblers at Pt. Pelee were as plentiful as Robins are here.

Trying to view a flycatcher. We call this the "neck-breaker".

Friendly Chestnut-sided Warbler. He followed us around.

The little Loft Cottage we stayed in at Pt. Pelee. It overlooked Lake Erie.

I had never seen a Scarlet Tanager before!

This Northern Goshawk landed on my neighbour's roof the other day.

Picking flowers makes life lovely.

Loved hanging with this knowledgeable lady.

Funny Green Heron, oh, how you make me laugh!

Beautiful Bird-Nerd (Annie)

Married outdoors-ys :)

Mama-walks

I call this Cedar Wax-Wing, the Captain of the Guard.

My little birder. Oliver puts a sticker in his bird book on every bird he's spotted. He's my most interested kiddo.

Three of these Elegant Indigo Buntings in two days? My surprise from God.

Togetherness is the most important ingredient in all this nature-hiking we've been doing lately. I'm so thankful we can each enjoy our own thing while remaining within close proximity to each other and to the living, breathing creation. If you're not a nature-seeker, I encourage you to get a magnifying glass and binoculars and get out there! You'd be surprised what you're missing in your area!

 

 

Gratitude In The Search

When you're in another geographical zone, you don't have to look very far to see the extraordinary. At every turn there's beauty, wonder and much scope for the imagination. I photographed my children's curiosity and also, my own spectacular sights but now that we're home, I'm in search of that which would make a Floridian stand in awe over our sweet spot in Canada. After much loving of God's creation in that warm, tropical place we pulled into our snow-laden, icy driveway. His handiwork is here too and for that, I'm grateful, but for now, a journey through vacation nature photos :)

 

Gratitude:

1563. how they searched for salamanders after every swim

1564. spotting the alligator that lives at our vacation place

1565. spotting birds we don't have at home

 

1566. how they worked together to find tiny creatures

1567. some birds similar to home but they're singing here (come, Spring, come!)

 

1568. how I can get really close to some of them

 

1569. how the Great Blue Heron is predictably at our pond

 

1570. how Terry spotted the turtle (my favourite)

1571. warm sunset on a mockingbird

 

1572. spotting a shrike, which I've never seen, only heard about

 

1573. how a female can be more beautiful than the male bird

1574. spotting this guy over and over (not as frequent at home)

 

1575. evening light on my search team

 

1576. how she almost had him in her hand :)

 

1577. evening light behind a heron's wings

 

1578. how this anhinga nestled into the flowers

 

1579. palm warbler's sweet sounds

 

1580. how I have to go back and look up some of these ducks

1581. how these little ones scuttle along the beach