for me

I was treated to a very special breakfast for Mother's day. While I was sequestered away in my bedroom, the youngest daughter was busy in the kitchen. She started the preparations the night before and finished it up in the morning. She even took a "during" photograph, thinking I might just want to see the in-between progress.

And when I was finally called out to the patio... this was presented to me. The older sister made the centerpiece and cut some fresh roses for me to enjoy.
Crepes! With homemade raspberry sauce and a smear of chocolate sprinkled with pecans. Her plating skills were very nice and the crepes were delicious!

If you have ever watched the TV show called Chopped, you will know the idea behind the show is that chefs are given a basket full of ingredients and go head to head preparing an appetizer, entree and a dessert, with those ingredients. They have just 30 minutes in each round to do so. They are judged on best use of ingredient, taste and presentation. The chef with the least tasty item gets "chopped" and leaves the show.

After tasting our crepes Rachel said, "Well Leah, you won't get "chopped" for this meal." To which Leah replied...

"But it took me an hour and a half to make it!"

A special morning for me.

for the moms

Although every day is Mother's day once you become a Mom...

It is nice to have one special day...
Just for you.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms I know.

Enjoy your special day!

Thank you to my three kids for giving me the opportunity to be a Mom and to be lucky enough to be called their Mom.

kaleidoscope thursday

Here we are...Thursday again.

kaleidoscoped image:

before:
Good-morning... bright morning sunshine on the orange roses.

Good-morning Mr. Bee having your breakfast.
Good-morning everyone.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

one little two little...

Hello baby quail.

Exactly 23 days later... ten little baby quail hatched from their little spotted eggs. What a cute bunch they were too. The pop quail stood tall on the wall leading to the courtyard. He was chattering back and forth to the momma as she was busy around her potted plant nest. They have been pretty comfortable with me being around as I am out there watering quite often, so I snapped a few photos.
Later, after Rachel came home, we watched (with our telephoto lens)as the momma was coaxing them up onto the side of the pot, over the edge on to the pedestal, where they bravely awaited their kamikaze free fall to the ground.
Then they tried out their little legs, some taking a bit longer than others, and started tottering around while Mom and Pop chirped and chattered around the patio.
Mom would jump back into the pot and coax some more and then jump back out and scurry around. While she was in the pot, the Pop quail would work on rounding up the little guys and try to keep them together.
It was just about as cute as it could be. These little babies are only about an inch and a half long. And just like the information about them said, they leave the nest within a few hours of hatching. It is hard to believe they get up and out so quickly. And more amazing is that they survived their free dive off the tall pedestal.
When they were over in the rocks it was almost impossible to see them because they blended in so well.
Isn't he sweet?
He was toddling around so fast it looks like he only had one leg.
Oops. He took a little tumble. Look closely and you can see their little topknots-they look like mohawks right now.
Up again and off he goes! "Wait for me!"
Mom and Pop rounding them all up.

Catch up you three...
A few hours later I went to the door to see if they were still out there.... but they were gone. Just as fast as they hatched they all had disappeared. I can hear Mom and Pop this morning chattering away as usual.. but no sign of the little babies. I'm sure that they are hiding somewhere amongst the rocks and cacti.

So, after confessing my misgivings of perhaps interrupting the nesting of the hummingbird yesterday, the momma quail pulled through and brought her little hatchlings full term. I will continue to feel pangs of guilt as I walk by that hummingbird nest, but just hope that perhaps something in the night had startled her, causing her to act strangely, banging herself into the ceiling.

These baby quail were so cute to watch yesterday. It has certainly been an adventure from the beginning, watching her leave more eggs each day. Seeing her sit in her nesting pot day after day and finally... being home when the quick hatching and nest leaving took place. I think I will miss seeing her sitting there in the plant.

Thank you Momma Quail for the excitement and I'm happy that 9 of your 12 eggs hatched successfully and you beat the odds this time. (Two eggs are still in the nest and one extra small baby just didn't seem to make it out of the pot).

Have fun with your little ones... hope I see them around the neighborhood!

erase the sign

I'm putting the sign away.

First report. The dove has not been on her nest for at least a week. One did this last year, in the same place. She made the nest. Then left her eggs, never to return.

Second report. This one has been plaguing me with guilt since I posted about it last friday. The hummingbird has not been back. I took the pictures on thursday after discovering her nest. I was very careful to not touch any part of the nest or the plant. But later that night she seemed to panic and act very confused. We heard a new commotion out on the front patio. When we looked out we found the hummingbird (assuming it was the momma) flipping out around the porch light. It was acting like a moth does around a light at night. She was banging into the ceiling and the brick wall, over and over again. We turned out the light, but she continued to do that odd behavior over and over again. It went on for hours. The next morning I heard her out there flitting around a few times and then nothing. And I have not seen her since. I've been so wracked with guilt that I might have scared her or confused her by taking pictures. Her tiny eggs are just sitting in her nest, alone.

Third report. The mama quail is still there. She rarely leaves the nest. She has her body puffed up really large, covering her eggs all the time. The information says that the incubation period is 21-24 days. I read about a different type of bird that says you count incubation days starting after the last egg has been laid. It has been 23 days since I discovered the twelfth egg.

I think that all three of these birds made their nests in a pretty visible and a pretty high traffic area. We use the doors off the courtyard on a daily bases. I'm out there watering very often, so peeking in the nests is not out of the ordinary. Well, dragging a chair over to get a look in the doves nest is not so ordinary. But, we are around that area quite a bit throughout the day. I feel so sad that I might have caused the two momma's to leave their baby eggs... by calling attention to them with my camera and the chalkboard sign.

If so, I'm sorry momma birds.

call the audubon society...

because I'm about to become an honorary member.

Yesterday afternoon was something. First of all, the oriole has been around the backyard every day. The nest is still way up in the palm tree, so I'm assuming there are some eggs in there. This bird is so bright and pretty.

It was being very still so I was able to quietly walk closer and get this picture. He was perfectly perched on the branch. I took these while I was in the backyard after witnessing a commotion. It was a nice way to calm down, watching this little beauty. The girls and I had been out watching the 'commotion', with our cameras in hand. I will tell you about it later in this post.
But first, earlier in the day, I had been in and out the front and back doors, watering plants and flowers and walking to the studio to work on graduation stuff. Every time I went out the front door, I could hear the little buzzing flutter of a hummingbird. It took a couple of times before it dawned on me that I had heard that same thing the day before. We have some flowers blooming right by the door so I just thought it must be attracted to them.

Here is the courtyard by the front doors. You will recognize the potted plant where mama quail is still nesting. And to the left, above the brick column is the dove's nest. Her eggs are still there, but she isn't around much. She was so flighty and would scare the heck out of us when we would walk by and I'm wondering if she is still interested in her nest. On the other hand, the mama quail is mostly calm. She will just sit right there while I slowly walk up and peek at her.
We added a sign. At first it said "Beware of Bird"...warning people that walked in to the courtyard, because when the dove and sometimes the mama quail would come flying out of the nests, it would scare you to death. But after yesterday, I decided it needed a new message....
Another look at the dove's nest way above the rest.
Here are her eggs.
And a reminder of the mama quail's collection. Still twelve. Still there.

And here is something new. This plant is in the corner by the door. After walking out several times and hearing that familiar helicopter sound of the hummingbird, I looked around a bit. And to my surprise...
Look at this! Look back at the photo above. See it? On the bottom leaf on the right hand side. Is that not cute?
But this is much cuter! Tiny, tiny eggs!
We were so amazed and excited! I knew I would never get a picture of her on her nest since every time I walked outside I could hear her humming and dashing away quickly. So, I went inside and did my best to focus through the little window of the door. It is a challenge since it is a glass window and a screen and metal door. But, I was able to get a few hazy photos.

The nest.
Patiently waiting... the little mama hummingbird.
She could actually hear the click of my camera and would fly off pretty quickly. But I got a couple. How cute huh?

So, back to the commotion. After getting the pictures of the hummingbird, I heard a big squawking and screeching sound in the back. I looked at Rachel and her eyes were wide. We both were saying..."what is THAT?" I had never heard anything like it before. Along with the squawking noise there was big flapping and rustling sound too. So, still with my camera in hand from the sweet little hummingbird, I stepped out the back door. It was coming from the big palm trees and I could actually see something dark up in the palms and could see a big turmoil of sorts. It was really noisy and lots of flapping going on. As we walked a bit closer it settled down. We had the small camera on record, but I think we interrupted what was going on so they had quieted down. We spotted this guy.
And another one. I think it is the same kind of hawk that we have seen before. This one stayed here where it was. Look at its claws!
It was turning around looking at us. The other one disappeared into the thick part of the leaves again and there was another big commotion and lots of flapping.
And then they took off. There were two that came out of our trees and two more that were circling from the neighbors trees. Look close at this one. It has something in its beak.
They just kept circling and screeching.
And then...darn it because we missed it with the camera...out of the tree where the commotion had happened, a big owl flew out with a big burst of its wings. So, the hawks must have been after the baby owls that we suspect are up there and the owl was trying to fight them off! Literally fighting. You've heard a cat fight before... well, that is how I can describe the sound and commotion. Only more noise. A bird fight. The screeching and hollering and the flapping of wings against all the palm fronds was pretty impressive.
And you know the whole time I'm looking up at the sky and the trees, I'm constantly checking around my feet for long skinny hissing creatures and looking over my shoulder for hairy snorting pig like creatures. I keep my eyes focused for darting lizards and sneaky cats.

I don't know...being a member of the Audubon Society might be too exhausting. But, I would much rather see the birds and the little eggs and hope for hatchlings... than see a snake.

kaleidoscope thursday

This one won't be a hard one to figure out, but I like it a bunch.

kaleidoscoped:
and before:
I love when someone gives me a bunch of tulips. They are one of my favorite flowers. Because we don't have them popping up in our yard here in Arizona, the Reptile Wrangler brought home a bundle for the dining room table. I love when they are more tulip like, in their tight little buds, but there is something about how they look when they are on their last stem, just barely hanging on, that I love too. The next day, these petals just let go and dropped to the table in a little puddle. They were done being beautiful. Although, there was something about the petals, still soft and full of color, that looked pretty just sprinkled around the vase on the table.

Do you love tulips too?