Ice Storm Art: A Winter Garden Tour Revisited

 

If you think it's chilly outside this weekend, let me remind you of the weather we experienced during the third week of January last year. I'm republishing this blog post from Jan. 20, 2012 because so many of my readers enjoyed the photos of plants encased in ice. All day today, people had to listen to me whine about being cold. Then I remembered this.

 

 

Original post:

 



Here on Good Life Northwest, I've shown photos of my Tacoma garden in every season, but never any like these. To anyone watching me yesterday, I must have looked crazy, hunched down next to my plants to take photos while trying to protect my camera from frozen rain.

 

I can still hear the crunch of my boots through the crust of ice over what had started as 8-9" of snow but had condensed into a treacherous mess. That sound is preferable to the sound of breaking branches. We lost three huge tree limbs and can't tell yet what damage might be done to our shrubs. But at least we didn't lose power, like so many others, an estimated 230,000 across the state, according to Puget Sound Energy.

I hope you aren't one of them. I want to be able share with you these images of the beauty that can be found on even the most miserable day, if you take the time and have the inclination to notice. So pour another cup of coffee, feel gratitude for the roof over your head and all the other things we too often take for granted, and enjoy the show.

Don't worry. The feeder was thawed and refilled immediately after taking this photo.

All photos and text copyrighted 2012 Candace J. Brown

 

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Snowy Day Diversion: Amazing High Definition Videos of Hummingbirds

Here in my little home office in Tacoma, Washington, I'm trying to get some writing done, but the view out the window makes me feel as excited as a six-year-old. SNOW! One moment it's falling straight and the next it's like a blizzard, blowing horizontally. And it couldn't contrast more with what I'm about to share with you.

I am reminded of the day in January 2009, now three years ago, when I wrote a blog post called Hummingbirds at Home Through a Northwest Winter. I won't repeat it here, but I do have a delightful surprise to offer on this most wintry day.

 I just discovered a whole channel of high definition videos of hummingbirds. You can reach it through this link. (If the screen appears black, just scroll down.)

Close your eyes for a moment as you click on this example. If you, too, are living where it is snowing today, you are about to experience summer again.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Eating From My Hand (Part One) from Russ Thompson on Vimeo.

And here is another video about Rufus hummingbirds from the Northwest ending up in Ohio during the winter. If your feeders are still out, like mine, please remember to keep them thawed. You can read some great suggestions in the comments on my original blog post, here. Many thanks to all the readers who shared their ideas on feeding hummingbirds during these cold months.

Keep cozy, and thanks for visiting Good Life Northwest.


Winter Hummingbird from Wildlife Matters on Vimeo.

Hummingbirds Perch High to Spy on Human Homeowners

This little fellow likes a view.

       If it seems to you that hummingbirds never quit moving, don't be fooled. Every morning two males compete for the best vantage point from which to spy on us while we sit at the table in our Tacoma home, having breakfast.

       From the very tip-top of the paper bark maple tree, two stories high, they perch in complete relaxation for as long as a couple of minutes, and they seem intent on watching us. I took these photos through the glass, which is why the quality is rather poor, but there was no other way. I had to wait for a chance to catch profile shots because most of the time they stare straight in the window.

       I would love to know what's going on in those tiny bird brains. Is our window the hummingbird equivalent of a big flat screen TV for and are we a soap opera of human life? What do you suppose they find so interesting? Sometimes I think they just enjoy the view from way up there, or maybe like to play "king of the mountain."  After one has had his turn, the other comes along and chases him off. Then that one is chased off himself. Occasionally they will each take one of the top two branch tips and tolerate the shared position long enough to give us double the scrutiny. Is it my famous buttermilk scones they are after, or do I just look funny when I first get out of bed? For whatever reason, we humans and the hummingbirds enjoy a mutual fascination that has gone on all through the past year.

    That's right. I mean the entire year. Hummingbirds do winter over in the Pacific Northwest. I still get comments on a blog post from January 2009, called Hummingbirds at Home Through a Northwest Winter. I hope you'll take a look at it again, or for the first time, to learn more about their lifestyles. Speaking of lifestyles, I hope yours is the kind that brings you plenty of peaceful moments to observe nature and our fellow creatures, with whom we share a world full of wonders.

close view of paper bark maple limbs