Winter Finches

what a difference a day makes!  Yesterday's perfect blue skies and temps in the low 70's gave way to rain and low 50's today.  Still, I spent some time out in the garden enjoying the comings and goings of birds, squirrels and chipmunks.  The number of pine siskins (smaller bird on right) seems to be fewer today which may signal that they are nearly done moving through...or it may mean nothing.  The purple finch (left) numbers seem to be holding steady.  And it was a delight to get both species perched on a beauty berry branch this morning!

The American Beauty Berry is a medium sized shrub that is native to most southern states.  Although not native to New Jersey, it does quite well here and I've had this fine specimen for many years.  It was actually given to me at the end of the season one year - it was in horrible shape but the woman at the farm said it would probably bounce back.  She was right.  It's delivered consistently year after year with absolutely no pampering.  Every spring it puts out tiny delicate flowers that are bee magnets and every fall it produces these beautiful tiny purple berries that last well into winter.  

I took advantage of the icky weather to catch up on some housework (yuck) and laundry (again, yuck).  Well, it had to be done and I guess a rainy day is a good time to do it.

Covid cases are rising here in the US and in many parts of the world.  It makes me very uneasy.  If there is any upside, it would seem that hospitalizations are lower than they were in the early days. But will that last?  

Safe, sane, kind...

xo
Debbi