BLOG BREAK OVER - I'M BACK

Well, it's taken a while!  I found that the more time I spent away, the harder it seemed to get back into blogging, and was truly surprised how long it had been since I last took a look.  But today I am jumping back in.  Thank you for the sweet comments left on my last post.  I will be replying to them in the next few days.  I have had a few friends and family members who have said that they have missed my posts and when was I going to start again, so bull by horns, here I am.   

A GREY CATBIRD AND A QUOTE - THANK YOU DAVID

"In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence."

~Robert Lynd~

BISHOP'S GARDEN AT THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL

In the above photo, near the second car from the right parked next to the wall, is the archway leading into the Bishop's Garden.  We are on the seventh floor where we can see the most incredible views.  The photo only shows half of the garden.  There is a large lawn to the right out of sight.

The roses were a little past their prime but I loved the sunflowers.  They were the star of the show today, not forgetting the Cathedral behind them.

I have a few other photos from here, which I will share later.  However, I wanted to finish this post with a pretty mockingbird atop an old carved stone in the garden.

THE MOCKINGBIRD AT MOUNT VERNON

After we had finished the tour of George Washington's home (Mount Vernon), we started our walk and this mockingbird was sitting quite comfortably waiting for his photo to be taken.  I obliged.  There were many passersby.  He ignored all of them, including me.  

He seemed as happy with the sun shining as we were, though he remained silent.  You might hear these birds outside your house singing merrily away, and not only in the day, at night too. I read here at All About Birds, that they "flagrantly harass birds that intrude on their territories, flying slowly around them or prancing toward them, legs extended, flaunting their bright white wing patches."

There was no flaunting of their bright white wing patches today. 


I am sharing with the following memes as they become available, with my thanks to all our hosts for bringing them to us.  You can click on their names if you would like to visit other participants.

Eileen at Saturday's Critters
Misty at Camera Critters
Anni at Bird D'Pot

Michelle at Nature Notes
Stewart at Wild Bird Wednesday
Jesh at Seasons 

N.C. Sue at 

Wordless (on Tuesday) at Image-in-ing

Linda Kay at Wednesday Wit and Wisdom