Reaching out...

Making Days Count 22

Today, on my walk, I was looking for heart shapes for Louise to send her some loving care as she has been suffering from laryngitis and feeling under the weather. So for you, Louise, here's a collection of hearts to let you know I'm thinking of you :) I hope that the love they stand for can reach right across the world to you and bring you back to health and happiness... (I coloured the first one pink)

It was a grey day, but pleasant enough. Because I was walking with my head down (looking for heart shaped rocks), I nearly walked into a dog! He let out a loud bark and scared the living daylights out of me. I continued along being more aware of my surroundings heading towards Harzel*, who was not sporting anything heart shaped that I could see. I have illuminated him with glowing edges in the photo below.

The tide was not fully in so there was a touch of sand on the other side of the 'rock band'. It was good to see a bright horizon sandwiched in the distance. Perhaps it was the silver lining :)

Staring at rocks as I walked along was eye-boggling...and when I saw this, I had to take its photo (and put it in my pocket). "What the heck?" I gasped.

Earlier in the day, the feeder was visited once again by a cluster of small birds. After I had taken a photo, and had a good look, I still didn't know what they were. I emailed the photo to a birding friend, and he sent back this message:
Your latest critters are Bushtits. These tiny little guys usually travel in flocks. They build a beautiful sock-like nest out of moss and lichen.

Once I knew that they were Bushtits, I was able to look up more information. I saw one of their remarkable 'sock nests' a couple of years ago and even took a photo. I wonder if I'll be able to find it.

*ShySongBird is wondering who Harzel is...and for those not in the know, here's the story.


Flighty mentioned a link to Tree Year on his blog.  The idea is to follow a tree during the year and take note of particular aspects of its growth, etc.  More info is here.  I decided to use this opportunity to pick a tree about a 15-20 min. walk away, to encourage me to get out for a walk as often as possible.  Originally I called the tree Harry, because I think he is a "Harry Lauder Walking Stick" tree, however he seems to be fond of aliases, because Flighty found out he is a "Corkscrew Hazel".  The combination of Harry and Hazel became Harzel.  And that's the story.  He is also known as a Convoluted Filbert, but, hey...