This Moment


A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Make Way For…










Ducklings!
Quack, Lack and Mack move over and let me introduce, Astatic, Lazarus and Buddy. Trust me- in a household that has provided shelter to a little girl determined that she should be called Harbor Light and another child formerly named after a Gaelic Queen who currently goes by her Elvin name, Niblet…the ducks got really simple names.


Baby ducks born in our living room? Of course!


Our female ducks have been “nest sharing” for weeks now. Is that really a term? Someone educate me please. It seems that the ducks have all laid eggs in one nest and take turns sitting on them. It is quite economical I believe. This way they all get to enjoy swimming and foraging outside while only one of them sits on the nest inside the chicken coop.


And then they started hatching.


Right on time, mind you. At day 28 we found a fully fluffed up, beautifully perfect and very DEAD duckling that had been thrown out of the nest. I am still not quite sure why that happened, but it happened again and again.


So when Ayla ran over to tell me that one of the eggs was cracked I rushed over and put it to my ear and when I heard the little duckling peeping inside of the egg… well, I had to intervene.


Astatic and Buddy both had beautiful home births on our living room floor complete with post partum hair drying. Lazarus on the other hand. He was one of those ducklings that got thrown out of the nest and by some amazing feat of nature came back from the dead on top of our heating pad. I know it sounds strange but he was cold and lifeless and now he is dabbling and swimming… swimming in our bathtub even.

Pandion Haliaetus

Osprey
pandion haliaetus




Pandion from the latin word describing the King of Athens and the father of Procne and Philomela. And Haliaetus means literally, osprey in latin. Ah, good thing we had 3 (yes, that is three) latin dictionaries when I went to check. I suppose that is what you get from starting latin in seventh grade and then marrying a (smokejumper) who majored in the classics.

I was just so amazed by this glorious bird, who most unfortunately met his match atop some electrical wires when they crossed. Trying to look on the bright side- I am so grateful that we got a chance to examine an animal that we see almost daily but never close up.
There has been an osprey family living at Spring Creek Ranch for years now, and we love seeing them circling the creek and the river looking for their next meal. I always thought that they looked pretty, and graceful soaring about. They even glided over several of our weddings- during the ceremony. Curious creatures.
This oprey’s wingspan was over 5 feet! As tall as a person! The feathers are so intricate, stripes, dots, white, grey, brown and charcoal. The beak hooks oh, SO sharply and the talons, really amazing. The bottom of the birds feet feel almost like velcro- a super smart adaptation if you are primarily picking up wet, slimy things no doubt!
I will forever now, have a new reverence for this bird and I hope that its’ offspring circle the pastures, pond and river surrounding Spring Creek for many years to come.

Highlands Day Trip

Visiting dear friends in the Okanogan Highlands…
we were greeted by this amazing spread. Feel the love on that table!
Wild strawberries were picked, garden tours were had, yummy dinner enjoyed and…
back home again. Our tips to the highlands are brief these days. But, oh so splendid.