Coffee and Calligraphy

I love my morning coffee. Most days it is the only time of day when I’ll drink a cup. There are occasional afternoons when I’ll indulge in a mocha, but typically it’s that first morning cup that gets me going.

Earlier this month, when we were visiting in Maine, I was in a country store where I saw a sign with the saying “I drink coffee for your protection”.

Loved it.

So I recreated it, in a small way, for myself. Having some fun with my calligraphy, I wrote that saying on a small card and added a bit of paper to the back to make the card stand up on its own. This is the result.

And I mean every word of it!

A Different Squirrel

One of the things that I love about living here is what I might see each day. It could be looking up to find a deer watching me, spotting an unusual bird, discovering an owl in a nest box, raccoons at the feeders with their young, new fawns, or even a skunk outside when it’s time to let the dogs out at night. Just to name a few…

This morning I spotted a different type of squirrel at our feeder. This one is much smaller than our usual gray squirrel. The tail is less bushy. It has browner coloring to it.

Whatever type of squirrel it is, it didn’t like me taking pictures of it. This squirrel put up with a few flashes, and then started wiggling its tail rather violently in my direction. I tried opening the door to get a clearer picture of it, and it high-tailed it (pun intended) out of there.

Never a dull moment here.

Eyes On Me

Early this morning I was filling the back feeder and when I looked up, this deer was watching me.

I think she’s our mama with the twins, although the twins were not in sight. Regardless, she was eyeing me and the sunflower seed. Of course I saw her as hungry. And since I can’t help myself, I put out some extra sunflower seed right on the ground, just for her.

As I stepped away, she moved closer. Sure enough, she went right for the seed. What animal wouldn’t?

For this one morning anyway (and maybe another odd morning or two), I was glad to help her out. If the seed wasn’t put on the ground, she most likely would have hoisted herself up on her hind legs to eat out of the feeder I had just filled for the birds. “Our” deer often do that.

Oh, and now that we’re back home, the deer can’t quite as easily come up and eat our new grape-leaf growth, and the impatiens I had on the front deck. Which, by the way, are all gone now.

I’m keeping an eye on them too!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Our family arrived back home a few days ago after a week-long trip back east. We were in Massachusetts for my mother’s memorial service, and then visited with family in Plymouth, MA and in Naples, Maine. We spent our last full day there driving down along the Maine coast.

We’re still getting caught up, but alas, time moves forward whether we’re ready or not.

Today is not only Father’s Day, but our dog Gracie’s eighth birthday. After being boarded at a doggie daycare for a week, she is content to be home and have things back to normal.

Same goes for Mia, Kitty, Hubert (our lovebird), and Budy (Justen’s parakeet). And our beloved wild birds are rediscovering food at the feeders again.

As we resume normalcy once again, we are celebrating our eight years with Gracie. She is a Scottie-poo who loves her walks, loves her treats, loves bananas, carrots, and apples, and loves to cuddle.

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Peaceful (?) Morning

This morning was the first morning this year that we woke up with our windows and doors open. Birdsongs and birdcalls were our morning music.

Coffee in hand, I went outside to sit in the sun and watch all the activity. There were the birds visiting the feeder, finches landing in the garden where the drip hoses were watering, a woodpecker jumping up a garden post, a robin sitting atop another garden post, and swallows swooping up high in the sky, sometimes landing on the roof. I watched as a pair of mourning doves flew to the first garden bed, and then proceeded to move over to each of the other four garden beds, one after the other. Whether they were eating bugs or eating the seeds I planted last weekend, I’m not sure.

It’s nice to know this is just the beginning. There will be many mornings to come where I can listen to and watch all the bird activity, the garden grow, and the deer that come around on a peaceful weekend morning.