Sunday, Feb 6

After an active day Wednesday, I was glad to play the homebody for the rest of the week (until church-time today). Thursday was quite busy - I designated it as baking day and that consumes the better part of the morning.  In between, I tried to get some pics of feeder birds.  The beautiful little pine warbler has been around all week, as well as the juncos. I participated in a Zoom class on how to utilize features of my camera in order to take better pictures.  I learned a lot!  I also found a great YouTube resource that I can use to learn even more.  One exciting thing I learned is how to use my i-phone to remotely control the camera.  This may be revolutionary in stationary bird photography. I was glad to have indoor activities on this rainy day.  Red beans and rice seemed a good comfort food for a damp day.  I cooked the beans with a meaty ham bone with a little bit of Cajun smoked sausage added.  I made one of the bread loaves into a French loaf and baked it first so we had warm bread fresh out of the oven to go with the red beans.

Pine Warbler just outside the front window

Junco, seen through a cloudy window

Red Beans and Rice

Sourdough French loaf fresh from the oven

 On Friday I spend a lot of time practicing with the new features and got a few nice shots. Again, I was glad to be home as the temperature dropped throughout the day.  Chilly on these old southern bones! We got LeRoy in the afternoon and he spent the weekend with us.  Laura, Mike and Amanda went to Roan Mountain State Park and had a snowboarding day at Beech Mountain in North Carolina on Sunday before coming home later that day.  (pictures below)

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Pine Warbler

Downy Woodpecker

Tufted Titmouse

Chipping Sparrow

Carolina Chickadee

Pine Warbler

Even without a specific focus or task, a day can pass quite pleasantly.  So Saturday passed.  We took a break from red beans and had a Saturday taco supper.

Sunday (today) was more purposeful because I had a Sunday School class to lead and worship and Lady Vol basketball on TV (they lost to UConn 😞.  After the game, se took LeRoy for a walk across the river on this sunny, almost warm afternoon before returning him home.  We enjoyed being out walking in the sun.  We saw one of the eagles flying, but it was not in photo range.

Matzek Photos:

Roan Mountain

Amanda

Amanda

Laura

On the slopes