Thursday, March 18, 2010

Not A Dream!

For many mornings now, I thought I dimly heard a robin calling in the wee hours. Perhaps it was just a wishful subconscious, but nope, yesterday I saw my first robin! She (or he) was hopping around in a barren ash tree not too far from my house. It trilled briefly, and took off. And naturally, I did not have my camera!

I did not have my camera either last week when I left for work late. The unmistakable, carefree toodle-ooh-doo of the house finch made him easy to spot. I think I'm going to be in for an early walk on Saturday morning - one of my photography goals is to get a nice picture of a robin. And if I get a house finch - all the better!


Front yard


It's scenes like my front yard, above, that make me wonder why I live where I do. I have been to Lexington, Memphis and Seattle; half of my heritage is from the Mediterranean. All these places are lush and humid in comparison to ol' dry Alberta. But, if I ever left Alberta, I wouldn't leave the prairies. There's so much I love about them, but I haven't been able to really express the "why". I think this little ditty sums it up nicely though:



Ask why the eagle soars in the air
Or builds so high his craggy nest,
Ask why the fishes love the sea -
Then ask me why I love the West

(attributed to John D. Higenbotham, 1933)

9 comments:

  1. Great shot, still looks a bit cold. I am with you I love the west. I have had Robins for a few weeks now and this past weekend we had or first hummingbird visit our feeders. We put our feeders out early in March as we know they are close.

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  2. Oh wow what a perfect quote / poem for Alberta!

    I love it here too, and your right it can be sooooo dry! But I moved back to Ontario 10 years ago for a few years and oh boy I missed Alberta, I just didn't feel home and yet I was born in Ontario and lived my first 9 years there before moving to Alberta the first time!

    I hope you get a good shot of the birds, I just love this time of year when the birds are starting to come out more!

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  3. Nice shot. I love robins. I saw them here in Florida a couple of weeks ago when it was in fact very cold.

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  4. Brrr Carole, I don't know how the robins do it. Last year or the year before, we had a bad spring snowstorm and you'd see them peeping out in the tree. Our neighbourhood has a lot of cherry trees, so I think they eat off those until they can get some fresh worms :-) In a couple of months, it will be a much nicer shot!

    It is a cute little poem Pam! I found it in a book called Colombo's Little Book of Canadian Quotations. It's full of pioneer lore and poetry. Alberta is definitely a place that always feels like home. I'm going to London, Ontario, in May, so I hope it's nice :-)

    Congrats on having hummingbirds Marlene! I'm envious. I should get a little hummingbird feeder and see what happens - everything else comes into our yard, they're bound to make their way here :-)

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  5. I love the poem =) I have never been to Alberta - but it is dry (and much warmer =p) where I am. There is something about Arizona, too - it's just home. No robins yet that I have seen, but I spotted a meadowlark!

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  6. Thanks Pam, I can't wait to go, even though I'm sure April will fly by.

    I hope to see more of Arizona Kathy. I only set foot it in it when went to Hoover Dam, but I would love to see Glen Canyon Dam and the Grand Canyon of course! Have you always lived in Arizona?

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  7. I was born in LA, but my parents moved back to AZ when I was a year old. Aside from a couple of years in Washington state, I have always lived in AZ =)

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  8. PS - sorry for the late comment - been really crazy around here! lol!

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