The Art of a Special Place

It's been a while ... I know, I know. Life got in the way.

I seem to be writing this with monotonous regularity on this blog.

So - I have decided, I obviously cannot keep up a weekly blog. I shall attempt twice a month. Is that a deal, dear readers?

I've been pondering now for 2 days, since I received a gentle reminder I hadn't written anything for quite some time, over what to write about. I have had an awful lot on my mind lately. I guess in an effort to deal with it, I have taken on a lot of chores or projects, etc. It doesn't help I have a half baked approach to most things coupled with a short attention span... you get the drift.

Then last night Lee had to go to a business mixer thing downtown, so I got out some nice cheese - a touch of Gambazola, herbed goats cheese, a tart Havarti with 2 slices of homemade bread, a proper Dijon mustard and a handful of sherry toms. I poured myself a glass of deep red Cabernet and settled down. I gazed out the window in comfortable solitude and looked at our canopy of trees.

We have two very large trees - an oak and a maple tree - in our backyard with a very bushy lush hedge around the porch. All was quiet. The cats lay next to me in quiet companionship and we were swallowed in to the dense, peaceful green.

Time in this house has not always been kind to us but I do love the back garden. It's a jardin savage but it's our private shield of green with lots of birds.

The birds on the suet feeder provide daily joy and entertainment. The starlings are the terrible hooligans we love. The dazzling blue jays are raucous. The bright crimson cardinals don't have a care in the world The red breasts are huge. I still, after all this time in the U.S., can't get over how big they are compared to our dainty plump English robins. The delicate wee nuthatches and chickadees look tiny and sweet. One of my favourites is the woodpecker who lives in the oak. He taps away on the tree and every so often, partakes of the suet. Apparently they have a fondness for suet. He is beautiful... simple coloring, black and white with a brilliant dash of red.

And joining the crowd of entertainers is the large squirrel who also lives in the oak. He can't get to the feeder, or doesn't try to, and he doesn't bother with the birds but he knows he drives the cats crazy. So he runs stomping his feet on the roof and then leaps along the branches of the oak before wiggling his butt at the cats who crouch down low in the attack position and chatter at him.

I always feel better after I've spent some quiet time in our green canopy. So I thought I'd tell you about it. And here's a photo I took of part of it to post on Instagram last night as it soothed me. I hope you all have a happy solitude place to go to when needed.