Hello, lovely!

It was a dreary, cold, wet day and I was resigned to staying inside and getting some much-needed work done. Until I glanced out late morning and spied a flash of orange in the cherry tree! My first Baltimore Oriole of the year! A female who must have just arrived - she was obviously hungry and quickly made the rounds of the feeders until she found the suet, where she settled in. She's been here all day - going from the suet feeder to the cherry trees up to the big maples and chestnuts in the back. I am daring to hope she might stay, although I've never had orioles nest on our property. I raced to the store and bought oranges and grape jelly - two things orioles supposedly love. She ignored both.

There were also several chipping sparrows, a recently arrived summer bird and another welcome sight. Still no sign of hummingbirds, but they will show up any day now. Several people in the area have reported seeing their first hummers already so I know it is just a matter of time. For now, I'm very happy to have an oriole.

If you'd like to see a couple of other shots of the oriole, the chipping sparrow and a very flirtatious finch, I've posted four pics starting HERE on Flickr.

Didn't make a lot of progress on packing today, but did get some paperwork done which was also a priority. Tomorrow I am going to tackled the Christmas stuff - need to get it all packed for the move rather than just tossed in a box as it is now. I've got a wonderful collection of hand-crafted Santas and I want to make sure they are well packed.

Thank you for stopping by...

Debbi