SWEET BIRD…

 

Sweet bird, thy bow’r is ever green,

Thy sky is ever clear,

Thou has no sorrow in thy song,

No winter in thy year. 

~Michael Bruce~

(1746 - 1767)

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - TOO EARLY?

No, no jokes today.

Oh you remind me of Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol dear little Cardinal. He said, "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

~Charles Dickens

Well, my dear friends, Santa is a little bit early, so I'll keep knitting more red Santa hats (only in my imagination as I never learned to knit - shocking I know). It's been jolly cold around here lately. They do need them. 

And that as we say here, is how it goes on a 

Saturday Morning at the Bird Feeder.

Thanks for visiting and looking at this week's attempt at a little bit of whimsy.

Have a great weekend!

For our international friends to translate the words in the photos:

Photo 1:

"I am trying to ignore the man with the white beard. He keeps asking if I've been naughty or nice. What a cheek! He is way too early! I need more time."

Photo 2:

"Offer him milk and cookies, and maybe a wee dram. No, don't do that, he's driving."

"Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Photo 3:

"I have heard he is a jolly old elf. Why don't you tell him a joke."

Photo 4:

"Where did these hats come from?"

"You have to ask?"

"I am hiding."

"Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Photo 5:

"I may be very naughty but I refuse to wear any strange looking red hats.

"He has always been a bit of a rebel."

"I don't have to worry. I was born with my own little Santa hat. I feel Christmasy all the year round."

NO RECIPE TODAY BUT ANOTHER RESTAURANT

I am having a case of déjà vu, feeling I have shared these photos before. After my mistake of sharing one set of photos on two different blog posts not so long ago, I am doubting myself. So, if by any chance you have in fact seen these already, just put it down to my foggy brain, which I seem to have had a lot of lately.

We didn't do a new recipe this week and just stuck to simple foods, simple stir fries, sandwiches and ate what needed to be used up out of the veggie/fruit bowl, fridge, freezer or from the pantry. And more importantly it was one of those weeks where neither of us felt like fussing too long in the kitchen. There is a restaurant called First Watch that hubby suggested we try, and it was a good choice. A way of replacing my usual Monday morning recipe post, for lack of a recipe.

The mural was on the back of the building. I couldn't get a full straight-on photo. It is in a busy intersection of a shopping parking lot and there were too many cars going back and forth. I couldn't stand in the middle of the road so I took what I could. The second photo was taken from the passenger side as we were driving by on our way to exiting the shopping area onto the main street.

A view of the shops seen as we are at the entrance of the restaurant, looking to the left...

and straight on.

Hubby dropped me off at the door and went to park the car. I signed us in with the young lady at the desk, took a seat in the waiting area. 

Gregg arrived and within five minutes we were being shown our table. We had the information board right above us.

I had my own coffee pot and I was a happy camper. Gregg doesn't drink coffee, or tea for that matter. He said I had a big smile on my face when that was placed in front of me. True! It was good coffee. I used hazelnut creamer that I took out of the little pot of creamers on the table. I had two or three cups with my breakfast. At home I normally enjoy a single cup of black coffee in the morning.

It's probably too hard to read the menu but this is what it looked like.  Feel free to enlarge the collage, or any of these photos for that matter. Top and back of the menu...

and a separate one showing the spring menu. If you go to this link it will show you a clear look of their menu in pdf form. 

Ours was the skillet hash plus an order of their million-dollar bacon which we shared.

I liked this old rustic window on the wall...

and the male Nothern Cardinal on another wall near the exit.

We enjoyed this place very much and wouldn't mind going again sometime. They are open from 7.00 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.

I realized later on doing a search of my blog, that we had been to another First Watch in another location back in 2019, and that post you can see here. It closed a few years ago. This place is newly opened and replaced another restaurant in this location. There are a few of you who may have seen our previous visit as I recognize a few blogging friends there, but it's been a while so you might enjoy it again.

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

 

And that's how it goes on a Saturday Morning at the Bird Feeder.

Thanks for flying in. I hope 

your day is a great one

and...

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - WHAT'S THIS?

 

The birds are in a bit of a quandary.

Word of the day!

“Quandary”

Meaning, unsure or confused. 

“The backyard birds are a little worried about what’s coming next. They are in a quandary.”

As for Camera Lady, she wants to plant lots of trees, just like Johnny Appleseed did with all his appleseeds.

 

A FEW FEATHERED FRIENDS FOR YOU - 1-23-25

As you may already know, I get a lot of joy from seeing all our feathered friends out back, especially as I am not able to go too far afield lately. I am starting off with an American Goldfinch who managed to get a drink of water. The snow and ice were melting in the bird bath. I have put links on all the names of these birds if you would like to find out more information, and hopefully I am not repeating the same photos. I know you've seen the same birds at some point or another.

Next I managed to get a photo of a White-breasted nuthatch, before he darted off with seed in mouth. He is a flitterer, in that he flits in and he flits out.

A closer one of the Northern Flicker. Such a handsome bird. You can tell this one is a male because he has a black mustache. Females don't have them. I will do a post on him later with more information. Because he has only just started visiting, I am enjoying finding out more about him.

Next is an Eastern Bluebird. 

For years we never saw any out back, and now we get several and often. 

Here's a White-throated Sparrow.

A Carolina Wren on one of our snow days.

I am finishing off with another Eastern Bluebird, a male Northern Cardinal and a few House Finches on the same snow day. Our Christmas tree is showing on the right. I had to move fast to get them altogether, no time to frame it out of the picture, and I didn’t want to cut the cardinal out.

That's all for now. I hope you have enjoyed.