How to attract birds and wildlife during the winter months...

... especially if you live in a region that has been covered with snow and ice
the entire winter like we have been here in New England!

Invest in a heated bird bath!

Our newest visitors, ....

... the gorgeous flock of bluebirds....

...that have taken up residence...

.. in our yard, ...

... are thoroughly enjoying this never ending supply of fresh (unfrozen) water.

Of course that's nothing new to our regulars who visit many times a day 

throughout the harsh winter months. Mr. Blue Jay is a constant visitor to the bath.

Mrs. Cardinal, who had just finished her water...

... and Mr. Cardinal who was headed to the bird bath...

... when I spotted him.

You'll have to trust me that this was a flock of starlings visiting the bird bath the other day.

I have no idea what happened to this photo to make it so blurry!

The sweet mourning doves are always visiting.

Here's one waiting patiently for Mr. Bluebird to finish drinking.

Always gentle and patient, it now waits for a starling to finish...

... but it looks like it might take a while as Mr. Starling has decided to take a full bath.

Finally her patience pays off and it is her turn at the bath.

There's often a line at the bird bath, with someone waiting to take their turn 

as soon as the bird bath frees up.

My little Sammy's don't understand why it isn't called a heated squirrel bath...

.. because they visit just as often as the birds.

Now it doesn't hurt to offer the birds and wildlife a bit of food as well as fresh water, especially during these harsh New England winters. Here you see one Sammy drinking, the one to the left heading to the suet feeder hanging from the deck and yet another Sammy hanging upside down at the suet feeder hanging from the cherry tree.

In addition to hanging suet, we also have a screen feeder attached to our dining room window that we keep filled with seed and such during the winter months. Here's a little tufted titmouse visiting the feeder while Mr. Bluebird, who'd just finished drinking at the birdbath, is contemplating joining Mr. TT.

And when the harsh New England winters come to an end and food becomes more plentiful for my furry and feathered friends...

The screen feeder becomes a little window box, with flats of flowers sitting 

where the seed was once scattered.

Oh, what a welcome sight this will be after the winter we've had!

Can spring and summer truly be just around the corner?

And speaking of summer, although I don't put out as much food in the warmer months as I do during our frigid winters, I provide even more fresh water for my garden friends with multiple bird baths placed around the yard. It's essential that all living creatures have access to water, which is sometimes hard to come by during our oppressive, hot summer months, so they really appreciate a fresh supply of water. 

Here's a mourning dove perched on a small hanging bird bath. Quite unusual because the doves usually visit the larger baths down on the ground, like the one you see behind my bunny planter.

I even caught these young siblings a few years ago playing and drinking from the fountain on our deck one warm summer night.

The animals truly are grateful for the extra help during the long cold winter months, as evidenced by Sammy giving thanks before digging into his meal of fresh suet, seed, and corn. They give me so much more, just with their presence, than I could ever hope to give them.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! 

Warning - I'm going to be BORING you with more bluebird photos in the very near future! As I said, we've lived here for 33 years and have never seen a bluebird in the yard before, so the flock that has been hanging around since early March is the most unexpected delight!

Till next time,

Donna

Deja Vu Vu Vu Vu.....

It's another repeat of the same old, same old here in New England.

It's not fit for man nor beast outside...

... so Baby and I feel very blessed to be inside a warm, cozy house.

It's pretty much a sea of white outside right now.

Schools were cancelled this morning all over the state (Massachusetts)...

... and non-essential workers (both the private sector and government employees) were encouraged to stay home.

I haven't seen a single Sammy Squirrel out and about today...

But the birds are at the feeders and the suet holders...

... and the blue jays are swooping down for peanuts every time I toss some out!

Darn that Punxsutawney Phil, predicting 6 more weeks of winter! The latest weather reports are saying we should brace for another major storm this weekend!

Try to stay warm, everyone!

Donna

The beauty of a blizzard...

School cancellations, trips to the supermarket for last minute non-perishables in case of power outages, batteries for flashlights, and the list goes on. If you are one of those who escaped any of the possible downsides of this storm (flooding along the coast, downed trees, loss of electricity, etc.), it's much easier to appreciate the beauty of these storms.

(courtesy of picMonkey.com)

This was the view from our dining room window yesterday, showing the ivy that climbs our brick chimney and the new gate and fence hubby installed over the summer. I love the snow piled atop the arbor.

This is our dining room window this morning. I had to take the arbor photo from the upper panes on the right side of the window where there was no snow piled up.

Through the top of the left panes, the deck is visible. A brave Sammy Squirrel and Mr. Bluejay are waiting for me to toss out some peanuts...

...while a little junco waits patiently for me to brush the snow from the screen feeder 

so he can get at the seed.

This was the view from the family room slider. 

The snow was piled up to the first grid on the door section. 

The drifting snow was practically up to the patio table, and the chairs are barely visible at all.

It's going to be a while before we're eating out here, I'm afraid.

A bit later I tossed out peanuts for my friends, with most landing on the table.

The "gnome home" is also filled with snow, its window also covered with snow.

Oh, good. Sammy found one of the peanuts I tossed out for him. 

Now we'll take a peek out front and see how the snowy landscape has changed our view.

Here's a view looking down the street. I insisted that hubby, in his sixties, agree to having someone plow the end of the driveway for this 2+ feet of snow. He agreed, so we arranged to have that done. This photo was taken pre-plowing.

A while later, you can see that the end of the driveway has been cleared. They did a great job. But now we need to shovel a path from the house to the driveway and then unearth the vehicles. It's hard to see from this angle, but the snow is almost covering up our mailboxes.

Okay, this is better. From the front door you can see the mailboxes, barely visible above the snow. There's usually at least a 2' clearance between the bottom of our flag and the ground. But now, when not being blown by the high winds, the snowman flag rests on top of the snow.

And there it goes again, blowing in the wind...

This was our mini snowstorm of January 16th, just a few weeks ago. Even though there was snow on the ground, the mailboxes were still well above the snow and the flag had plenty of space below it.

I hope those of you who don't live in New England or snowy regions enjoyed these photos.

I hope those of you who do live here, but winter in Florida, are smiling, as you're reminded of 

why you made that choice.

I hope those of you who love to ski, snowboard, and snowmobile have a blast.

I hope those of you who don't (me included) have an early spring!

Donna

Eclectic Mirror Gallery Wall

Split entries are not known for spacious entryways, so rather than focus on my lack of floor space I've turned my attention to the entryway wall (which has been a work-in-progress for many, many years).

That's actually pretty sad, because I know many of you could have put this wall together in less than an hour rather than over the course of years. Although I've never searched for anything specific to hang on this wall, once I've spotted that 'something,' I know it's coming home with me. And I have to say, I'm beginning to really like how that method is shaping up.

For years our entryway looked like the photo on the left, with just the large white mirror and the rustic wood mirror above the coat hooks. The original painting, done by my mother-in-law, is the star of the entryway, hanging over the double doors. Last year I spotted a couple of rustic wood-framed mirrors at the swap shed of our local dump one Saturday morning, and I knew just where to put them. The photo on the right was taken after they were hung.

And little by little, as you can see, some other things have caught my eye!

This gorgeous "God Bless Our Home" vintage cross stitch is my most recent find.

The frame is pretty beat up, so it blends in nicely with the VERY rustic mirrors from the dump!

I needed something narrow for between these two mirrors. This crucifix, borrowed from our bedroom, was the perfect size. I think it ties in nicely with the cross stitch.

I've had this heart wall pocket and quilt-look print hanging in the entryway for a l-o-n-g time. I thought the saying was perfect for an entryway. However, the white frame and dove plaque above the quilt print are too stark white, so I plan to age them a bit. I'll share the "after" pix in a future post.

I couldn't resist this very inexpensive piece (99 cents) that I found at Salvation Army last week. It truly looks like someone just put a magazine page in a very inexpensive woodtone frame, but it spoke to me :)

Also, it ties in nicely with plastic dove plaque above the quilt print and the bird hooks for our coats.

At one time this was the only mirror in the entryway. I've had it since the girls (now in their 20's) were little. We call it the "monkey mirror" because of the carved top section. It looks like two little monkey ears, and the distressed wood almost looks like a face (if you have an over-active imagination and really squint!).

I honestly didn't think I'd ever add so much to this wall as I truly was trying to embrace minimalism.
I guess minimalism just didn't embrace me :)

The bookcases are still along the hallway wall, just waiting for me to get in gear and start moving my office studio into the larger of the two spare bedrooms. Now that the weather is getting cooler, we'll be doing more 'inside' projects, so hopefully that's in the not-too-distant future.

But today was GORGEOUS with no chilly weather in sight; just a balmy breeze and temps in the 70's. All the windows and doors were open. Here in New England, we know we won't have many more days like this!

So that's what I've been 'tweaking' lately!

I'm joining Brenda at Cozy Little House for "Tweak It Tuesday,"
Cindy at My Romantic Home for "Show & Tell Friday" ,
and Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for "Favorite Thing Saturday" this week.

Be sure to stop over and share a favorite thing or something you've tweaked!!!

Donna