The first week ...

This first week of January is always a weird week for me. While the rest of the world slips out of the holiday mode and sheds their festive garb, I am still keeping up my decorations for one more week.

Every year we have a Christmas Party at our house with a gaming group we see monthly during the year. My preference is to squeeze the festivities into a period prior to January 1st, but those weeks are so busy that getting a date that works for all is pretty hard. So for years we have celebrated this party on the first weekend after the New Years!

Thankfully this party is pretty easy to pull off. We typically have a spiral cut ham and roast beef for those who aren't ham eaters, store bought salads, I make stuffed mushrooms and a few other easy dishes and someone brings dessert. And we exchange gifts. It is a fun and relaxing time for all because we aren't competing with all the other seasonal commitments.

Next week the tree comes down and the decorations get packed away - at least the ones that survive the yearly purge.

I am busy with what is best described as "puttering" - and it is making the house feel a little more organized and settled - especially after the last few unsettled months. I blogged about some of the changes a few days ago - and they continue. I still have a list of things I would like to complete, but for now I am happy to just take my time doing little stuff. It fits in with my winter mojo - staying focused on the home and scaling down expectations. I just love January ... I love the winter ... I love the fact that weather forces you to focus on the space within your four walls.

And the birds have returned to my deck with gusto - actually, it is fair to say that the Cardinals have returned in mass. I am always amazed at the number of Cardinals I have - it is nothing for me to see 4 or 5 males and an equal number of females every single morning. They far outnumber the other birds. It helps that I put out seed they like ... :-) I am pretty sure that they aren't showing up because of my sparkling personality.

And I am walking ... woohoo!! The little person on the top of my blog shows 4 miles towards my 1000 mile goals. Please, please! Keep down the applause. :-) I am just glad I figured out how to work the little person so it shows the correct total. My knees seem to be unhappy with this new push to be more active. Little do they know that I plan to pick up Tai Chi again come this spring ... and maybe yoga.

Visits to assisted living continue to go pretty well. Mom seems to have moved passed her moody stage. I have noticed she is moving things around in her room now ... sort of doing her own version of "settling." Last week I talked with her about getting her hair washed and cut this week ... which she promptly forgot, until the hair dresser stuck her head in the door this morning (while I was there thankfully) and said she planned to take mom (take her upstairs - not far) to do the cut today. Of course, mom put up a small resistance, but I just barreled on saying that we talked about this last week, and she agreed, and she always says how much better she feels after it is done, etc. etc. etc. By the time I was done talking, she was done complaining ... :-) Works well for both of us.

So the first week of January is pretty uneventful ... I am loving 2012 so far!

Oh, that's right, it is only January 3 - the year is very young, so much can go wrong!!

Yea for being female

Birds of all descriptions are streaming to my feeders. We had a brush of snow, and although it wasn't the feet of snow that fell within 100 miles of us, it was enough snow to trigger the feeding frenzy at the feeders.

The large feeder usually has seed but frequently my smaller feeder is empty when I greet the morning. I see the birds sitting on the bare tree limbs just off my back deck ... waiting, facing towards my glass slider, waiting, watching, wondering ... when is the "free lunch" arriving.

I seem to have a large flock of Cardinals in my back yard. It is not uncommon to see 8 to 10 Cardinals.

Most people love the look of the male Cardinals. They are brilliant red, showy and a bit cocky if you ask me. The eye is naturally drawn to them. Their color makes them very obvious against the winter shrubbery.

I actually prefer to watch the female Cardinals. They are harder to spot because they are not so bright in their colors.

They seem more polite, waiting their turn to feed. Their feather colors are muted - bright red beaks and touches of red on their wings and heads, but their bodies tend to have shades of color. They are a very appealing bird if you really look at them. The males are all the same - just red, red, and more red. The eye is naturally drawn to such strong colors, but the females are more artistically interesting if you take the time to notice.

And a day or so ago I saw two Blue Jays. They are beautiful birds as well, large in size and brilliant blue. But they, too, all look the same to my eye. When you have seen one, you have seen them all.

Only the female Cardinals are distinctive.

Yea, for being female.

Feathered Visitors

This picture of my two boys, Max and Wally, is pretty typical. The deck just beyond the slider is where I feed the birds and where the squirrels visit. And the two cats love to sit quietly and watch. In case the picture doesn't show it, Max is sitting on the chair above Wally who is on the floor.

We are allll bird watchers in this house.

And the birds have been fairly quiet this month. I guess there is plenty for them to eat without my seed. I haven't even seen much of the squirrels. That is unusual.

I get the typical typical Wrens and Chickadees - and we have a lot of Cardinals year round. But the woodpeckers have started to arrive.

Left is a Red Bellied Woodpecker (which is what the book says even though it is his head that is red and not his belly).

Right is a Downy Woodpecker. He wants me to go away.

I see these two guys all the time.

Several times this summer I saw a Blue Jay. He was big and beautiful, but recently he has been absent.

I am pretty sure the bird population will increase at my feeder as the season changes to winter. It is a busy feeder come December.

This evening all my dog buddies have gone home to their owners. The house is quiet beyond belief. We are a pretty quiet bunch - my mom, my husband and I. Meathead had another seizure this afternoon around 4:00. It was a short one, but all his seizures seem like hours to me when they are going on. As hard as they are to watch, I am always grateful I was present. The thought of him having seizures by himself makes me sad. It happens, of course, because he frequently is at home alone when my son goes to work. But when he isn't alone, we can give him meds to shorten the seizure and make sure he is OK.

Yesterday I put flannel sheets on all the beds. And today I heard that we are going to have a warm up for this week. Figures!! Think I will go upstairs and switch out my summer clothes for my winter ones. That should send the temperature gauge into the 90's with my luck.

I am also going to do a major clean out of clothing. A visit to the Good Will truck is on the agenda for tomorrow. And tomorrow looks like a killer day. Too many things to accomplish.

Happy Sunday to all.