The visitors I’m talking about are not the kind you might think.
There have been some interesting birds, animals and insects around my house this summer. And thank goodness they have all been outside! This spring the vultures had their babies in the vacant barn behind our house. These are some really big birds. One Saturday morning Joe and I watched as the mother bird was attempting to get one of her babies to fly. The mother and baby where on the roof of the garage, close to the edge. The mother was very gently pushing the baby towards the edge in an attempt to get it to fly. The baby would take a very tiny step over, then another very tiny step over towards the edge, look down and push the mother back to where they had started. This continued for over an hour. It was very entertaining. We’d not seen the vultures much during the summer but all of a sudden they started coming into the birdbath to drink the water. My dogs, Sasha and Tillie, do not like these backyard visitors because they are bigger than my dogs!
We might have to think about a bigger bird bath! It seems like the line of a joke could be forming here…How many vultures does it take the fill a bird bath?
Our next group of visitors moved in under our front porch. There are a lot of people who advised that we kill them, but Joe and I think they are too cute and could never kill them. As I work in my computer I see the little groundhogs out on the porch, almost every day. They are so darn cute. Just look at that cute face peaking over the edge of the porch.
And sometimes the family hangs out together. Come on…really…I could never kill them. They make me smile every day when I see them relaxing or playing on the porch.
Now, from Joe’s window he sees this. Joe calls me from the kitchen when the hummingbirds come in and I walk very slowly over to the window and with the glass between us I am only inches away from the hummingbirds. Nature never ceases to amaze me. We get some of the biggest and some of the smallest birds in our yard.
People always ask me what influences my work and where do I get my ideas. It’s all around me. I just need to see it. I can honestly tell you that I don’t think the vultures or the groundhogs will end up in one of my quilts. But, who knows….