.a little birdie told me. . .

Dear lady, I cannot sing
not when caged up in this little thing.

Please let me out
and I will  promise to bring

wonderful news of the arrival of Spring!

She's almost here. . . can you feel it?!

.patiently awaiting spring.

I hope everyone had a beautiful Valentine's Day.  As for moi, a box of chocolate truffles, a nice drive with my two sweethearts, and some Japanese takeout. . . what more could a girl ask for?  Well. . . my hubby and I had other plans, but we were left without a babysitter.  Imagine that.  And on Valentine's Day?!  That's alright.  The two of us and our wee munchikin had fun so I'm not complaining.  Okay, well maybe just a little. 

It seems that these nice, warmer days we have been having are slipping away just as quickly as they came.  At least for a few more weeks anyway.  A brief "tease" for the upcoming change in season.  You can already see the trees starting to bud.  Some have even started to bloom a little.  When I first moved here to the South, I was introduced to the fact that there are supposedly several different "winters."  I should ask my Grandfather which one we are in now . . . is it hackberry?  dogwood?  Is there even such a thing as a hackberry winter?  I don't even  know.  What I do know is that I can hear the birds singing out my window when the sun is making his way out of slumber. . . there is the slightest hint of color on the otherwise bare trees in our backyard. . . and tufts of green grass are pushing their way up through the very barren terrain known as my front lawn.  With just these few things to keep me going, perhaps I may be able to sit back a little and patiently await the arrival of spring.  

.bird watching.

Birds. . . what wonderful beauties they are (unless they're planning to bombard your vehicle).  Here lately, I have become somewhat obsessed with the figure of these splendid creatures.  There is just something about the image of a bird that provokes thought.  They have become symbols for such things as flight, freedom, fragility, as well as ferocity, to name just a few.  Let's not forget Wisdom.  It's no wonder that you see them EVERYWHERE!  Artists have taken note of their symbolism and delicate beauty by implementing them into their designs.  

So today, while playing with the wee one in her room, I noticed a large flock of starlings (at least I believe that's what they were) swoop down from the sky and gracefully land themselves upon the many tree branches.  I ran for my camera and through the window, caught some images of them.  Some of them were a little fuzzy because of having to shoot through the windowpane, and yet I was still rather pleased with some of the ones I was able to capture.  In hopes of utilizing them for some projects I'm wanting to do, I have altered the images to "bring out" the silhouette of these birds resting upon branches.  I did this by first converting the images to black and white and then enhancing the brightness and contrasts (highlights and shadows) until I got the look I wanted.  I still plan on playing with these images more, I just haven't had the time!  Oh!  I have downloaded Elements 6 to my Mac, in case you were wondering.  ;o)  So we'll see what else I come up with.  Hopefully I'll have more photos to show all of you soon!