We were sitting at our computers this morning, fiddling around with this, that, and the other, when a large white bird flew past the house heading north. We don’t see gulls up here, and this was not an owl, though a Snowy Owl would be an absolutely wonderful bird to come visiting (we can wish!!). It was gone too fast to get binoculars on it, and we chalked it up as a “mystery bird.” Mystery birds can be anything from a pterodactyl to an LBJ (little brown job).
About an hour later, Dan's eagle eyes spotted the hawk soaring in the valley above the river, circling up on an updraft.
Even though the bird was a mile away as the crow flies (or anything else flies, for that matter), with binoculars we could see nary a spec of color, and the silhouette and flight patterns identified our mystery bird as an albino Red-tailed Hawk. This is the first time we’ve ever seen a pure white Red-tailed. So, even though it WASN’T a Snowy Owl, it was still uniquely beautiful Buteo.
Speaking of beautiful birds, the Great Gray Owl is still around, making an appearance at dusk before the night is too dark to see anything outside the windows, perching on our solar panels. We hope he isn’t scratching the glass but it is still so cool to have that bird perching on the panels. The sun is setting behind the hills before 6 pm now. The longer nights and cold clear air out of the north are having a definite effect on overnight temperatures. It has been in the low 20’s the last few days (23F this morning).
The woodstove in the living room is busy these days, getting the house warm. The days are getting up near 50F for the high temperatures, and that means we don’t keep the stove going all day. We have to build another fire in the evening.
My latest obsession is making bead necklaces. Deb gave me some beads before she passed away and mostly I just play with them and remember her, until recently when I decided to use some of the turquoise to make a necklace.
Smooth round turquoise beads paired with polished natural stones, silver beads and sterling silver spacers.
Then I had some Rose Quartz beads to pair with some Garnet beads Deb gave me, and some larger Garnet beads I’ve had for several years.
Natural Rose Quartz paired with Garnet.
I made this for a friend's birthday, and it got me thinking about beads in general, and making some new necklaces in particular.
Fun!