Last year after the Hurricane Sandy I was sitting there watching the clouds swirl and then the full moon popped out. It was quite the impressive sight! I was able to see the slate grey clouds back-lit by the moonshine swirling in a northerly direction. The trees were gently swaying as the storm slowly made it's way up the coast. After a while I could see the clouds change direction as they started to move in a southerly direction, still back-lit by the moonshine. The storm was on the move further up the coast, leaving lots of damage along the shore but also leaving a beautiful image in my mind that I will not likely forget.
I also have a beautiful front garden that I can spy on from my vantage point. Actually, the garden takes up pretty much all of the front yard which means less grass to cut! But at times it also holds secrets that can only be seen from above. Like rabbits. There are three cottontails that hang out in the garden. They have the most marvelous antics to watch.
The three of them will charge around the plants as if they were playing a game of bunny hide and seek. One will sneak up on the other and scare the Be-Jesus out of him/her. The rabbit that gets "scared" literally jumps two feet up with paws a-flailing. It is quite the comical sight.
On some days there are dozens of butterflies flitting from flower to flower. They will hang around for hours and just as mysteriously as they appear they will suddenly disappear.
In the late summer as the cone flowers have bloomed and are starting to go to seed I will have several gold finches balancing ever so delicately on the head of these flowers as they gently tug at the perfectly ripened seeds. Each year the number of finches has grown and in late July I start looking and listening for their calls.
This is the newest section I added this spring. I imagine that next year I will simply join the two sections into one. May as well as that swath of grass between them is getting smaller and smaller.
Part of the garden I have set up for my birds. They get quite the treatment here with fresh water and bird seed on a daily basis. I have yet to find a "squirrel proof" bird feeder. Correction: the one that is hanging claims to be squirrel proof but it isn't!
Once in a while I even have some mallards that show up.
So back to my window and leading tying last night.
I took a look out to see what I could see and I saw. Snow.
Snow? Naa...wait a minute that's not snow. What? Feathers? Really? Feathers gently floating down past my window from above me.
Ok. Wait a second here. There are quite a few feathers falling down here....
Oh oh....
The hawk.
Yup. I have some hawks that take to hanging around the joint and once in a while I will see a poof of feathers in the front yard where either a red tailed hawk, broad winged hawk other predatory bird has had a snack.
With this in mind I headed out the front door to take a look up to see what happened. Just as I suspected, a broad tailed hawk had snagged a sparrow and was busy pulling the feathers off while perched on top of the chimney cap.
He finished off his meal all the while keeping a wary eye on me. I didn't dare go get the camera because I didn't want to spook him, but it was cool watching him until he finished and flew off.
So now I will get back to my desk for some more leader building and then perhaps some fly tying. Oh, and I will keep an eye out my window just to see what I can see.
