The World From My Window

 View out my front door 11-1-11

Things are a bit cluttered here at the moment. The view out my front door is blocked by a snapped branch from my neighbor’s oak tree, remnants of the Saturday Nor’easter. Things just aren’t as they should be and I am a bit out of sorts.

 Branch that snapped at 11:35 PM on 10-29-11 during storm

When life or snow weighs us down, it seems we can all reach our breaking point. in the past ten days my Mom had surgery to remove a cancerous lump from her breast. I learned this past week that her cancer is more advanced than we thought and her treatment will be more extensive and severe. The news turned me into a lump. I sat on the couch for three days thinking, I need to blog…I need to blog… but no. I needed to process all of this.

 Branches blocking sidewalk 11-1-11

Sometimes we have obstacles in our path. We can let them keep us immobile and frozen, or we can find a way to go around them or remove them and move on.

 Dark-eyed Junco in my backyard 11-1-11

The October Nor’easter brought dark-eyed juncos back to my yard. While this is normal, the green leaves still on the trees in November is not. They cancelled or post-poned Halloween here in Andover and much of the state yesterday due to the continued power outages and downed limbs and trees.

 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) in my yard 11-1-11

I am happy to see the return of these little snowbirds to my yard. They are often difficult to photograph since they typically stay in the shade and their eyes blend into their bodies. Still, when they hop around on the ground looking for seeds, they seem so cheerful and friendly to me. They make me smile.

Downy Woodpecker 11-1-11 on my backyard feeder

I feel like this Downy Woodpecker, just hanging on and hanging in there. While this is typically a birding blog and it will continue to be, please don’t mind if once in a while I write about what is happening. I will be in and out with trips to Connecticut to help my Mom out, so if you don’t see me or hear from me for awhile, please don’t take it personally. I love to hear from all of you and visit your blogs. I have thousands of photos from my two recent Birder’s Who Blog, Tweet and Chirp outings as well as 10 days of adventures with my friend, Kathryn who came to visit me and see New England for her very first time. I will be posting stories as I am able and birding when I can. Winter is coming and it is bringing changes to my life once again.