Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself. -- Leo F. Buscaglia



Wishing you all a very blessed Easter!

A Cute Coot!

I finally found out what this bird is - an American Coot. It's a pretty cute coot, hopefully it's not an old coot! *LOL*







Our "pond" has not receded much and I'm worried that we are going to flood out or something after the 9.5 inches of snow we got yesterday starts to melt. I went out in the backyard to fill up my bird feeders and the Swans swam close to the fence line. I ran in and got my camera and snapped a few photos - aren't they beautiful? They were not too concerned with me, I think that they would have come right up to me had I had something that they wanted to eat.



I love geese too! It's something else to see them (I call them the Air Force)fly right by our back windows.

Swan Lake

with Buffleheads, Mallards and Geese! Oh My! Our little "pond" in the back has grown considerably since all the snow has melted. I swear, it looked like a glacier came through. In February, we had one day of warmth followed by two days of rain and then more snow. So the pond grew and froze and now we have our own little lake, teeming with wildlife.

There are a couple of decent size lakes "over yonder" where we have seen Swans before, but this is the first time they have visited our little piece of heaven. It's been so much fun watching them all, especially the adorable Buffleheads - diving ducks. I am trying to get a photo of them - there are about 5 or 6, but they skedaddle when I go out on the deck.

"May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you
In the palm of his hand."

Bob, Bob, Bobbin'...

When The Red, Red, Robin
Comes bob, bob, bobbin'
Along, along,
There'll be no more sobbin'
When he starts throbbin'
His old sweet song.

Wake up, wake up you sleepy head,
Get up, get up, get out of bed,
Cheer up, cheer up, the sun is red,
Live, love, laugh and be happy.

What if I've been blue,
Now I'm walkin' through
Fields of flow'rs,
Rain may glisten
But still I listen
For hours and hours.

I'm just a kid again, doin' what I did again,
Singing a song,
When The Red, Red, Robin
Comes Bob, bob, bobbin' along.

"Spring, where are ye, eh?"

The Chicago Flower and Garden show started today and runs for two weeks. I'd like to go to it on Sunday. I'm craving the smell of dirt, flowers and plants. This has got to be the longest winter ever! I think everyone is ready to take off their parkas and mukluks. Mukluk - what a funny word, but one I'm totally comfortably using. I think that is what my paternal grandmother, Mimi, used to call snow boots.

I haven't seen a Robin yet -- that has long been my first indicator that spring is on the way. I found my organizer from last year and I noted that I saw my first Robin on March 1st. So, where are ya???

Birdie

Birdie came into our lives in December, 2001 after we tried for over a year (unsuccessfully) to have a baby. (I will write more about our infertility trials and tribulations in another post). Birdie's owner, Beth, had recently died of a brain tumor. Beth was a vet-tech and had a soft heart - she adopted over 5 wonderful dogs who were going to be euthanized, Birdie being one of them as her breeder brought her in to the vet as a puppy to be killed because she "had something wrong with her" - she had diabetes insipidus, the water diabetes. It's a very rare disease but with medication, she could function normally.

Ron and I were heart-broken over not being able to conceive so when we heard about Birdie needing a new home, we went to go meet her - I fell instantly in love! She was so petite and quite adorable, smaller than most Australian Shepherds. She was a little leery of Ron at first but soon grew to love him and he was nuts about her.

We went a little kookie over Birdie, as everyone should with their furry companions. We took her to obedience classes; bought yearly permits to our county's Forest Preserves, many of which have these wonderful dog parks. She went every where with us and I firmly believe that having her in our lives made us more relaxed and took our minds off of our infertility problems. The yearning for a child was so strong that in the spring, we decided to try going the egg-donation route, which is another long journey in itself. There are months and months of preparation and protocol which must be followed and we were willing to do it...however, like the saying goes, "God Works in Mysterious Ways" and something else happened...