Three days!

My cardinal visitor has been here for 3 days, a personal record for a visiting cardinal here in Marsha's garden. I am beyond thrilled and hope he sticks around all winter.

He's such a handsome bird!

feeding the birds...

First up a few more shots of the surprise cardinal visitor...

He's still here this morning so I'm hoping he stays!

I love to watch the backyard birds and feeding them close to the house is a great way to spend the cold winter months when I'm stuck inside. In years gone by, I always had the feeder right outside the window by my chair but with the remodel this year, our chairs are now in the middle of the room and the previous feeder setup couldn't be seen. Now, the closest viewing area is through the patio doors so I bought hulled seeds (hoping for less cleanup in the spring) and planted my feeder pole in one of my flower pots right on the patio only two feet from the door. I watered the dirt well before freezing and the pole is now frozen solid in the dirt making for a sturdy feeder. I do have feeders further away from the house that are also filled but the photobug in me needs closer shots that I can shoot through the glass. :) As you can see the cardinal was not the only bird feeding and drinking yesterday...

back to blogging...

I've been too busy to blog this month so I apologize for the lack of posts. I've spent every spare hour for many weeks cross stitching a labor of love for little Miss Bailey. Here she is laying under grandma's christmas tree showing off her new stocking...

and here is the stocking hanging next to her cousin Brooklyn's on the fireplace.

Bailey and I are hanging out today and we were extremely surprised to look outside and spot a male cardinal! That is a very rare occurrence here at Marsha's garden, I can count on my fingers the number of times I've seen one in our yard. He must be thanking us for including him on Bailey's stocking :)

The cardinal has been feeding on dropped flower seeds as well as my feeders and prefers a drink from the ice on the pond rather than the flowing rock fountain.

Bailey loves to watch for him at the feeders but he was too shy to have her that close - only the chickadees braved coming while she was at the window.

Grandma is thrilled to have such a fun day with Bailey but seeing a cardinal as well is just the "icing on the cake"!

With the cross stitching project finished it's time to start blogging once again so look for more photos of the feathered visitors including the cardinal tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing all my readers (if I have any left after posting only once in November, ha!) a very Happy Thanksgiving! I'll try to be a better blogger in the coming weeks. Enjoy these photos of our granddaughters, Brooklyn & Bailey and our niece, Mari modeling their Thanksgiving finery and not cooperating with the turkey photo shoot :)

cute costumed kiddos....

It is always a joy to see the kiddos dressed up in their Halloween costumes. This year, I spent time with Bailey at her house and let the other nieces know where to find auntie Marsh with the treats. Mari was the cutest little ghost...

and Alexis was a cute little witch with pink accents...

and Ketcie, Keena & Kinley were all princesses but I can't believe I forgot to take their photo! Our little Bailey was the cutest little baby giraffe and Grandma painted her a little pumpkin to match.

Of course holidays like Halloween makes me wish Brooklyn lived closer but a 4 hour drive is a little to far to come trick or treating. Jayme took lots of photos of her activities including a parade at her daycare to share so we could see our little owl enjoy the day as well. Here are some Jayme shared of her and the little owl pumpkin Jayme painted.