Winter feeding begins

I've been delaying beginning my "winter bird feeding" until I was pretty sure that the natural world was not supplying enough of what they need. Of course I don't really know when that is, but when the birds started to check the empty feeders more vigorously I thought that it may be time.

These plain old common chickadees are just about my favorite. Yes, they are everywhere and yes, they don't seem too special, except for their coloring, but I love them anyway! It probably has to do with the hand feeding they let me do a couple of years ago...what a treat that was.

Ditto for these, just plain old brown sparrows, I think. There seem to be scores of them around and they aren't too nervous, as they let me get close to them---which I certainly can't say for both the male and female cardinals, woodpeckers and others that appear at our feeders only in the winter. 

I have this window feeder in my room, one on a pole outside below my windows, and one right outside the inner courtyard doors. Keeping them all in food and with a little water in the nearby bird bath, takes some real dedication, especilly when the snow piles up. But, the sisters (and I) love to see them throughout the winter months, so it's certainly worth it.

Building update

Back on August 13th I posted two photos of what seemed to be clearing of the woods west of us across Troupe Rd. Rumor had it that a developer was looking to build an events center in the midst of these woods. Anne and I had trooped through the woods and ruts to get some early pictures of the progress.

This weekend, three months later, we trooped out again, albeit easier this time. Not a whole lot has happened except that it is greatly cleaned up and the entrance from the road now looks like it could manage trucks without their risking being stuck in the mud. With colder temps and snow coming my guess is that things will stop now and pick up in the spring. One of the sisters reminded me that she read that the new building was scheduled to open in 2025. So, if that's true, there's a lot of time to work on the project; especially if the builder is doing much of it himself, as we also heard!

 

Archives

 

The larch in our backyard has started to drop its unique pods /seeds. I'm not sure of the proper name.

They are so very unique, we never get tired of looking at them.

This week the archivist for our Federation is here for some business. It is such a treat to have "access" to her expertise and advice. She'll be meeting with our community archivist and I hope to get her in town to look at what we're doing with Sister Joan's literary works, too. I am such an amateur at this but I really love the work. It is such a joy and so rewarding to organize and preserve the best of an organization for the future. 

I've called myself "Sister Nancy Drew" for the many times I find something out of the blue, that we didn't know we had, and turns out to be so valuable. Archives seems to be a subset of detective work.

Remembering

Every November, the month of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, our Catholic bishop has a Mass in remembrance of all of the sisters, priests, oblates and associates of the diocese who died in the last year. This year three of our sisters were among those remembered: Sister Mary Lou Kownacki (January), Sister Mary Miller (May) and Sister Mary Therese Egan (September). 

One of our litugists put the liturgy together, the readings, the hymns and other appropriate rituals. It seemed to go particularly well this year, helped by the addition of new songs and the fact that it was held on a clear Saturday morning and not what was often a windy and cold November evening. 

It is a rather sad time, the remembering of good friends who are greatly missed, but there is some consolation that the people of faith who attend are joined in prayer and fond memories of these friends who have recently died.