Friday, February 10, 2012

birds, books and baking

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine's son noticed on my blog that our robin's are different from theirs. He asked me to keep a look out for a crow so he can see how different the Irish and the American crows are. great tits on the bird feeder

So, finally Mr Winter I am posting some pictures for you. These are some of the birds that we see commonly in our garden that I thought might be of interest to you...


blackbird
I'm so happy that the black birds are back again, their songs are so cheery and really make me feel that spring is on it's way :-)

Robin

jackdaw

and finally a crow.


So there you have it, I'll be interested to hear which you also have and which, if any, are different :-)

I also thought that I would share with you some images from some of our favourite books. I am always looking for lovely book recommendations so I thought I'd pass some on to you...
The Brave Cowboy: Santa brought this book for Benny and it is just perfect; about a little boy being a cowboy. The illustrations are beautiful and it is a wonderful observation of imaginative play.

Pirate Girl: We love this one! Molly is captured by pirates but is tough and strong and won't give into their demands and she is eventually rescued by the most fearsome pirate on the seas...her mama! So nice to read a girl orientated pirate story!

Where the Wild Things Are: This was one of my favourites as a child and I found it for Benny last week in a charity shop and he loves it too. Reading it this time I noticed that the wild rumpus is totally silent, in that for the three pages of the rumpus there are no words or sounds. The imagination can make so much noise than the printed word!

A Busy Day at the Building Site: This is lovely (my wee brother's favourite), there is so much to see and spot and talk about...and of course concrete lorries and diggers...boy heaven!

In the Town All Year Round: The most beautiful picture book ever. There is so much to look at, talk discuss, it follows the same characters in the same settings throughout the seasons of the year. If we could have only one book I would choose this one!

Enjoy:-)

The weather has been fairly mild and I have been trying to get the kids out into the garden as much as possible. I think that outdoors and 'work' in the garden may just be the key to Joa. He is free there to do what he likes, to explore and run and fall and do stuff and I don't have to keep saying 'no'. So Benny and I decided to make a sand kitchen. We took the wagon down to the beach and filled it with sand and transported it back up to the garden where we filled the old guinea pig cage with it. We took out old pots and pans and set the kitchen up on a table (for ease of access for the kids and also to stop Joa from just sitting in it).

and they love it! Plenty of water is of course needed, but I limit them to transporting one old milk bottle full at a time.

the most amazing cakes are being baked

and much fun (and peace and fresh air) had!

Wishing you all a very lovely weekend :-)

7 comments:

  1. that's a great idea to put chicken wire around the bird feeder!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is as a result of Andy's on-going battle with the jackdaws that want to eat everything he puts out and scares off the smaller birds. It really works :-)

      Delete
  2. Laura, this is so awesome! The kids were super excited- your birds are indeed very different from ours. Our blackbird has a red bar on his wings- the "red winged blackbird." The others do not live here as far as we can tell, though your great tit looks like a version of our black-capped chickadee, and Winter tells me they are both in the "tit family." :) Thank you so much, we had so much fun seeing them! Oh, and the kids all agree your robin is a bit cuter than ours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, I didn't realise that we really aren't sharing any birds. Will you ask Mr Winter to see if he can find a bird that we do share? Perhaps we have some that migrate between us? I think that then name chickadee is much cooler than our great tit! The black bird is my fav at the moment because of their wonderful songs. I do also love the robin, we had three in the garden today all showing off their red chests to each other trying to get the upper hand. We were wondering if the robin who died in the garden a few weeks ago was 'the boss' and with him gine they are still trying to establish the pecking order. Our robins seem v different from yours. Ours are very territorial and you rarely see more than one, and for us they are a winter bird not a spring bird like you said on your blog post. Anyway, this is turning into an essay. I'm glad you like the pictures, love to you all x x

      Delete
  3. I have a picture for Benny of a baby bluejay we befriended last summer : http://dotingondeirdre.blogspot.com/2011/06/right-now_29.html

    I had no idea that our robins were different! How neat :) I loved seeing the puffins in N Ireland. I knew we had different animals but not birds of the same breed (especially since I am on the Atlantic so we're not too far apart vs. the West Coast.

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh and here are some of a baby wrens (but the blog they're in is a sad one) the photos are nice though! http://dotingondeirdre.blogspot.com/2011/07/haunting-close-call.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh my gosh Nicole that is some story, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up!! x

      Delete