three dogs & a redstart

Winnie with Emma Jane Louise in the background

Yesterday at supper time as thunder boomed and rain came down hard in sheets, I lay on my bed beside an open window, listening to both the rain and the wind in the leaves and I could also hear a bird in the lilac tree outside my bedroom window. It's a song that I've heard a few times recently in my garden and one that I felt sure was not a song from one of our usual suspects. A new bird, a visitor. Pulling back the gauzy sheer curtain (that side of my house is completely covered in a lush, big leaf, ivy vine and curtains are not really even necessary) I could see a small greyish bird flitting madly around from branch to branch and all the while singing this new (to our garden) and distinct song. This little bird managed to stay still for a minute and close enough to my window that I could see a few flashes of brilliant yellow on it's wing and tail. Hhhmmmm. Peterson Field Guide of Eastern Birds to the rescue - simply the best nature guide books that I know of. A female American Redstart. They're preferred habitat is forest which I guess is why she's hanging around my yard - in my overgrown and tree filled yard and garden she thinks she's in the forest. You can listen to her very distinct song at this site

Finally cooler temperatures and overcast skies here in our little village this morning. A break from the sweltering heat and humidity that's been fairly constant for the last several weeks.

These are Holga photos from a few years back - a cheap little plastic camera that takes 120 film, a much larger negative. I love the dreamy quality and the perfect saturated colour. And sigh ... more memories, captured forever, of my most amazing three dog life. Em, Jake & Miss Winnie Dixon.


Miss Dixon and my handsome boy Jake comin' ashore with his sticks