The week that never seemed to end.....

Gosh this week just flew by....what's up with that??. I've had a busy week. Monday and Tuesday I was in my program and on Wednesday I went into work for my first day of the gradual return to work. Well true to form my employer forgot I was coming in and the arrangements that we had made for orientation went out the window. So I took it upon myself to review current literature...check out what was new and do some housekeeping stuff. Needless to say I was not impressed. After I left work I rushed home packed my stuff and caught the ferry for the mainland. On Thursday my youngest daughter had her annual oncologist check up hence the purpose of my trip to the mainland...it all went well. After her appointment we went and did a little shopping. She is so much fun to buy for...being so petite everything looks smashing on her. After our shopping adventure off to my brothers we went for coffee. He then asked if I could take him somewhere which I did and then youngest daughter and I made our way to pick up her sisters who were joining us for a visit back to the Island. The ferry we wanted to catch was full...it left over 20mins late which then ended up putting it an hour behind schedule....it was 1030 at night by the time we finally got home. Hubby had made us something to eat...and then it was off to bed for me as I had to be up early to go into work on Friday. After work I washed my truck and then middle daughter and I cut the lawn and trimmed the hedges.

Phew....I am out of breath.....today I am just going to chill...well maybe do a few chores but nothing big...the girls and I are going to get out and about....maybe the four of us will go for a run...and then find an adventure.

Well not much more to share.....I will leave you with photos of some visitors we had yesterday evening.......I think if you click on the photos you can get a closer look....in looking closer at this photo I see there are two Purple Finch in the photo.....can you find the other one?

American Gold Finch, Purple Finch male(that's the reddish one) and the Pine Siskin

American Gold Finch(males) top picture, Pine Siskin (striped wing and yellow) and Purple Finch

The Great Outdoors.........

By now most of you know how much I love being outdoors...and how much I enjoy birding. I still consider myself an amateur birder but maybe I am not as amateur as I thought. The other day hubby and I went to an open house at a fish hatchery not far from us. There were booths set up and one of the booth was from the Naturalists society in our area. We walked over and were checking out some of the nests they had on display and bird information, anyhow, I started chatting with one of the ladies who was tending the booth and described a bird I had observed in the tree the other day...I told her about it's plumage, where I spotted it and it's call....I think she was impressed with my description...she then went on to give examples of birds she thought it might be...but when she started saying their names...I was able to say...oh no it wasn't that I have seen that...and so on....it got me thinking....maybe I know a little more than I give myself credit. I still haven't determined what the bird was...even after looking in my bird books with one of those being Sibley's the bible on birding.

Anyhow, this lead us to a lovely discussion about birds and one common bird the Stellar Jay...our provincial bird. She and a few of the ladies around her were saying that they haven't seen hardly any this year...I told them they needed to come to my property....we have a high bird count sometimes as high as 14...but generally around 4. They were happy to hear that, as they say that they can be migratory and move out of the area.

I am learning to keep the camera close at hand, and now my binoculars so I can get a close up view of some of the birds that have been showing up around my place. Apparently, this has been an incredibly good year for small birds. I commented that I have been pleasantly surprised at the variation of birds and the increase in numbers. Yesterday was no expectation.... While preparing dinner I looked out at the bird feeder and here is what I saw....

Golden Crown Sparrow...notice the yellow stripe on the head...very distinct for this bird..along with the grey breast and the speckled wings.

As most of you know I live in a rural area....one of the things that comes along with that is you often see things that you just wouldn't see in the city. The other day hubby was coming home and just on the side of the road he observed these......

Can you see them? On a closer look.....

Aren't they just gorgeous.....they do have a home...but I guess they just decided they needed to get out for a stroll.

Happy Friday

I am off to Victoria today. I go see the neurologist, maybe I will get some answers...but I won't hold my breath. With Spring break starting next week, youngest daughter is coming over for a visit for a few days, so on our way back from Victoria we will stop at the ferry to pick her up. It's going to be a busy weekend as my niece and her family will be coming on Sunday and spending a couple of days which will be absolutely lovely. So If I am not around very much you will know why.

So with that being said, I will leave you with a few photos, hope you enjoy them.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend and remember to smile at someone, who knows you may be their ray of sunshine for the day...but most of all be good to yourself....cheers!