just because

Evidently it's Wednesday... I forget that sometimes because I work midnights and sometimes the days just kind of blend together.

Apparently it's 79˚F, and the skies are sort of overcast and yet sunny — so there's that atmospheric light. It's humid, but it isn't ridiculous. It's warm, but it isn't sweltering. It's just nice...

And I've been sitting here, working at the computer this morning, indoors... until I finished what I was working on — which, as it turns out was the new background for my blog — which you may have noticed if you've been here before. There used to be a lot of #867cbb around here. But then I was meandering around my blogger profile or the blogs that I follow or something — and I opened this blog: http://bittersweet-enmi.blogspot.com/
And, yes, I was envious — in that I wanted a background and something maybe a little less generic — because her blog just looks cool.

So, yes, it's summer and it's nice outside and I've been sitting here at my computer tinkering and copying and pasting from my files like as if the design layout of my blog was the only thing that mattered... and actually, I didn't change the layout — I just changed the colors, made a new header and assembled 100 square samples of my work together into one large grid to make a new background — since I finally figured out that blogger will let me upload my own picture for the background.

So, thank you, Emmy Wahlback, for the inspiration.
And now, I suppose it's time to get back to cutting out butterflies... or maybe I'll go outside again.

Enjoy your summer, and the wondrous things that exist just outside the back door.

yes, it's a bird feeder

It's February in Michigan. And while the weather has temporarily calmed down — you know, it was a balmy 39˚F out yesterday — the scenery is still maybe a little bleak, or maybe I'm a little short on time to go wander around and take better photos.

There is a project that I started on 10 years ago that I never finished, and I'm engrossed in it at the moment. Every couple of years I return to this project, so time will tell if this is the time I actually just do it — finish it.

In the mean time, because I am a professional procrastinator, I finally put out some bird food. Well, that and as I said: t was a balmy 39˚F outside. Sorry birds, but when it's freezing it's just too damned cold for me to feed you — fly South.

Anyway, the crop of regulars showed up. There is a lone black-capped chickadee, the house finches, the gold finches, assorted sparrows, and the juncos.

Juncos are amusing birds. I've heard that they don't eat off of feeders - but that they scrounge around on the ground under the feeder. That was exactly what I saw when a small flock of them showed up yesterday. But they're making progress, at least one of them is. If the goldfinches and house finches can do it, then the juncos can learn it too (as evidenced by the last photo).