A Time to Pause

Our theme this month in the Everyday Journals group is A Time For... Valerie Sjodin asked us to think about what it is time for in our current season of life. For me, this month it is a time to pause, even as the school year begins and my schedule picks up the pace. My hubby and I generally take a vacation in September or early October and rent a cottage east of us on Lake Erie. We love these fall vacations. The summer season is done and school is back in session so the lake area is quiet and uncrowded. We can relax and enjoy peaceful surroundings.

We started our week visiting our area's newest Metropark. Howard Marsh just opened in May and we have not had a chance to visit it yet. Since it is on the way to the cottage we decided to head over early and spend some time there. We were not disappointed! Toledo has incredible Metroparks. The new one was formerly a large working farm that the park system in conjunction with ODNR has returned to wetlands - 1000 acres! We saw many types of birds and other wildlife and enjoyed walking the trails and boardwalks.

This morning I went for a sunrise walk, which is a habit of mine when on vacation. I love how calm the beach and lake are in early morning, and the light is incredible as the sun climbs. Early morning walks in the city just don't have the same feeling of peace.

The clouds last night looked like they had been painted.

I photograph this old dock every time. I just love it!

I also enjoy creative time while on vacation. Creating with limited supplies tends to stretch me creatively. I have found that I have been in a bit of a creative rut since I did the Colossians Words challenge, which isn't unusual for me when I lead a challenge. It requires a lot of attention and energy writing the devotional Bible studies, making the art, posting daily, and managing the Facebook group. So I usually will find myself struggling with what to create for a few weeks following a challenge. To help stir those creative juices I started looking for something with some prompts for journaling. In that search I stumbled on The Reset Girl and her Faithful Life Club which offers a monthly Scripture journaling challenge. The theme for September is A Fresh Start and the weekly Scripture passages tie into that theme. I came upon the group mid-month but started with week one anyway. I've done one page so far. I also picked up the journal I made for Roben-Marie Smith's Salvaged Journal class this Spring and brought it along to make some nature themed pages. 

Week One Faithful Life Challenge

Everyday Journals Group

Nature Journal

I hope you are enjoying your last week of summer and are finding time to be creative. :)

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Bernice Hopper, Valerie Sjodin and I are using one journal to record events, experiences and relationships and  to explore our word’s meaning in visual and fun ways. We are each blogging about our experiences and our art. If you would like to connect with others about creatively organizing your word, your ideas, thoughts, prayers, events, or your projects all in one journal, you are invited to join our Facebook group: Everyday Journals – Living Your Word of the Year.

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Check out the other blogs:

Bernice: http://www.newlycreative.com/

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/

Spring Birding Part 2

It is a tradition each Spring to go with my mom and my friend Rox to Magee Marsh Bird Sanctuary on Lake Erie during Spring migration. Birding is huge in our area during Spring migration because of the number of Warbles that come through here and rest along the lake shore before their flight across Lake Erie. The birds actually will wait for the right weather conditions before crossing the lake. In a previous post I wrote that the second week in May is known here as The Biggest Week in American Birding where literally thousands of people flood the area from all over the nation and beyond. Well, we wait until the following weekend each year to avoid the crowds. There may not be as many varieties of Warblers but we still see a lot of birds.

This year we took my young birders with us, SaiVion (9) and Corvieon (12). And it was quite a treat! I honestly don't know how SaiVion made it through church. His excitement level was at high alert from breakfast, through church, and never waned the entire afternoon! Spending time with the boys like this is great stuff. The more we do this the more we start to see a glimpse into how God is shaping them and the interests that are forming in them. SaiVion has such a true love for animals and nature and his passion for art is really developing. He is constantly thinking in terms of drawing and capturing his memories on paper. Corvieon is developing a talent for photography. A friend of ours let him borrow his old digital camera for the day and that opened up a new world for Corvieon. He really has a good eye and had a blast with the camera until the battery died!

We had a good day, saw a lot of birds and the boys learned a lot. The highlight of our day was getting close to an Eagle's nest and seeing both the parent and the youth. It was fun experiencing their first time seeing an Eagle in the wild. And my track record for Eagle-spotting continues to grow. This was my fourth spotting this year!

Gray Catbird

Swallows

Yellow Warbler

Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

We saw both Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets. At first the boys thought the smaller ones were babies but we looked them up in the bird book and learned the differences between the two.

Saved the best for last!

Spring Birding

Not too far from where I live is an area along the Lake Erie shore that is known among the top birding sites in the country. This week is called "The Biggest Week in American Birding" (see the local website here) because it is the week when the largest numbers of songbirds, and especially Warblers, make their way through our area on their spring migration north. What makes our area so popular among birders is that the birds stop here to rest and refuel before they cross the lake. People flood the area this week from all over the country and beyond. So, it seems appropriate for me to do a post about birds this week. We plan to go visit the wildlife refuge next week when there are not as many people.

In April and early May spring has brought the return of many birds to our area. Our backyard has seen quite a few winged visitors. A few weeks ago some American Goldfinches started frequenting our feeders. The male's vibrant yellow has returned and they enjoy sitting in the trees singing to us.

A new bird to our backyard last week was the White Crowned Sparrow. This is the first I've seen this bird. My hubby says their back and white striped head makes them look like their wearing bike helmets.

I saw a lot of birds during my weekend along the lake with my friend Bernice. A few were first time sightings for me: the Eastern Bluebird, American Coot and a swallow that I think is a Tree Swallow since it did not have any orange on it's chest like the Barn Swallows do. I love that the shore birds are returning.

My trip to my sister's house included a bit of birding in her backyard. It was fun watching a young Blue Heron hide behind the boat when he heard some geese land on the water near him. The Sandhill Cranes are also back at the lake but I was notable to get any pictures of them this trip.

While Bernice and I were driving along the lake we spotted an eagle sitting in a tree and pulled over to take some pictures. This is my third eagle sighting this year.

Eagle spotted with Bernice

Eagle spotted in March while on the staff retreat

Eagle spotted on vacation in Charleston, SC

At the office this week we were visited by three Baltimore Orioles but my camera pictures didn't turn out and the next day when I brought my camera to work they had already left our area. On that day, however, the Barn Swallows entertained us as they fought over a nest about the office door. 

Hopefully we'll spot some Warbles at the refuge next week. Happy Spring and happy birding!