... after a long winter nap...

What a nice surprise to find a lady bug on my window sill this afternoon. After snapping a few shots of her on the rather plain white background of the ledge, I carefully scooped her up and put her on one of the pansies outside. She very quickly scurried into the foliage!

While I was uploading these shots, I glanced out the window to find a half dozen bright and dapper goldfinches darting in and out of the shrub outside my office window. Amazing how well they blend in, even with their splashes of brilliant yellow.

Okay, so you want to hear the grisly details of yesterday's fluorescent explosion... there really isn't that much to tell, just another day in my topsy-turvey life. When I had the tumor removed from my head, I also had one of two vestibular nerves removed - which simply means that I have some challenges in the balance department. My brain has actually done an excellent job (atta-girl, Brain) adjusting and making allowances for the faulty circuitry, but the end result is that I stumble. A lot. And when I don't take my time and start "flitting", it gets worse. Simply, yesterday I was flitting in the garage, moving way too fast, and when I lost my footing (as was sure to happen) I grabbed what I thought was the wall but was in fact two fluorescent fixtures that we had carefully taped together and put safely out of my reach to be taken to a recycling center. Ka-boom! Those suckers really explode when they hit concrete, let me tell you! So, it was a stupid accident, one that would have easily been avoided if I'd just slowed down the tiniest bit. Therefore, a bit embarrassing. That's my story and I'm sticking with it...

Thanks for sending my cranky looking grackle to the Spotlight page yesterday! All grackles look mean, but they actually seem to be very nice birds who are pretty well mannered - well, other than getting over-excited and pooping in the bird bath. Hey, it could happen to anyone...

Happy Monday!