Jay in the Garden (Hi Nessa thanks for stopping by)

""Oh look!" 

There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple, 

Fearless and gay as our love, 

A bluejay cocked his crest! 

Oh who can tell the range of joy 

Or set the bounds of beauty? "

from A Winter Blue Jay

by Sara Teasdale

""Oh look!" 

There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple, 

Fearless and gay as our love, 

A bluejay cocked his crest! 

Oh who can tell the range of joy 

Or set the bounds of beauty? "

from A Winter Blue Jay

by Sara Teasdale

May long weekend, Victoria Day and snow.

"She sends me news of blue jays, frost, 

 Of stars and now the harvest moon.

That rides above the stricken hill"

from A Letter From Home

by Mary Oliver

"Then morning showed

Infinity's proportions, 

The proper height of the sky.

Becoming small

We were grown again."

from Growing up

Dorothy Livesay, Selected Poems [1926-1956] 

Helen began taking one of the dogs on a longer walk once she retied. 

Now that I am also home we can all go out at once taking long daytime

walks thru the neighborhood enjoying the small parks and the lovely 

mid-60's houses. Monday was a day of bugs and blossoms.

  

  

Tuesday was a horse of a different colour. When I let the dogs 

out I quickly joined them with a camera, initially not 

even bothering with a shirt. It was a unexpected treat with

snowflakes on the tongue and heads poking thru the snow.

I did eventually get dressed and leave the yard but it was the 

first glimpses that proved the most enchanting. When I came

into the house I knew I would turn to my slender volumes 

of the works of Canadian poets to look for quotes. although

 when I did I was attracted not to the poems about snow. 

But the poems about youth and magic.

"When the day bends over backwards

to bring forth the light

I must know by whose permission

I inhabit this place

in the holy congregation of animals

 and mortal stones."

from Magic Animals, 1972-1974

by Gwendolyn MacEwen 

"The blue jay scuffling in the bushes follows
Some hidden purpose, and the gush of birds
That spurts across the field, the wheeling swallows,
Have nested in the trees and undergrowth.
Seeking their instinct, or their pose, or both,
One moves with an uncertain violence
Under the dust thrown by a baffled sense
Or the dull thunder of approximate words."

from On the Move 'Man, You Gotta Go.'

by Thom Gunn

In many locations a Blue Jay would not be noteworthy

but here I do not see a lot of them. I suspect the Magpies

may fill a similar niche. But I have been stuffing the feeder

with peanuts just to lure the jays. Once they arrive you can 

certainly tell they are there, the house resounds with their

raucous calls. They are such a beautiful blue.

And a quote from an old favorite.

" Forked sticks upon the air,

Half-dead trees, where two

Blue jays shriek the summer sky

To a deaf world, their blue

The only water here.

The sun is axeman among dry

Slashing: he would clear

Kindling from these rocky hills:

The logos as belated pioneer,

One cry with the fanatic jay. ..,"

                          Blue Jay in Haliburton

                               D.G. Jones

Last Sunday we had a massive windstorm, the winds

reached 149km/hr and toppled trees, blew out the windows

in the office towers downtown and generally caused millions

in damage. We came through fairly well although you can

see the remains of our gazebo, it toppled over into our pond.

Last night and today we got a fairly steady snow. Nothing

to get excited about and a good excuse for pictures but

compared to last Sunday a very nice day. I also saw Juncos

in the yard for the first time this winter but I could not get a

good photo. So here are some shots of the gang in the

backyard and a few more from a stroll through the

neighbourhood alleys.

"A year indoors is a journey along a paper calendar;

a year in outer nature is the accomplishment

of a tremendous ritual."

The Outermost House

                Henry Beston

In my youth in Ontario I really enjoyed two of the

common feeder birds Blue Jays and Northern Cardinals.

Okay I liked flashy. We do not get Northern Cardinals

here and while we normally have Blue Jays in the

neighbourhood they are not as obvious as they are in

Ontario. I suspect the large numbers of Magpies and

possibly the Crows push the them down in the pecking

order. To see if I could attract them I put out a peanut

feeder with a home made squirrel shield. The squirrels

still get some nuts but it prevents them from actually

chewing the feeders apart as they do with other plastic

feeders.  The sparrows, finches, nuthatches and squirrels

enjoy the peanuts but while I saw a jay check it out a week

ago they did not come. I filled the feeder and went out of

town for a couple of days. When I got back the feeder

 was empty and yesterday I saw why, success. I also

noticed the jay seemed to be able to to take four or five

peanuts at once. So our yard is a more colourful and  much

noisy place.

This also gives me a chance to revisit a poem

I enjoy and one that influenced several quotes

etc. used in my blogs.

" Forked sticks upon the air,

Half-dead trees, where two

Blue jays shriek the summer sky

To a deaf world, their blue

The only water here.

The sun is axeman among dry

Slashing: he would clear

Kindling from these rocky hills:

The logos as belated pioneer,

One cry with the fanatic jay. ..,"

                          Blue Jay in Haliburton

                               D.G. Jones