Cedar Waxwings stop to eat all the Holly Berries

These happy birds 

come  daily to dine on the  Holly Berry Tree.   These birds are fast flitters, they don't sit long or still and I was really meaning to be unpacking boxes so I didn't dedicate too much time to photos, but like many opportunities in life, it is one of those seasonal events that will suddenly be over. 

A blogger in Texas who calls herself Wayside Wanderer, her name inspired by this quote she shares: Never lose the opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

asked me what kind of tree was pictured in my previous post and it reminded me that I had tried to capture a few pictures of the birds in the same tree. 

I remember the first time these feasters got my attention.

  When we first moved to this house in the late eighties, one fall day I pulled into the driveway and saw that the Holly tree, much smaller then, was bouncing with 30 or 40 birds. The crested head, black mask and yellow belly helped me to identify them.

They are  Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum)  and once they have systematically eaten all the berries ( they start at the top of the tree and work their way down) I probably won't  see them around here.

The Audubon description of the bird mentions that they have a yellow terminal tail band and this little fellow turned around and showed me  that he does indeed have such a band.

Audubon also says that berries are their main food source in winter, but they revert to fly catching in milder seasons.  No flies on the menu this week...they are drunk with bright red berry juice.

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Bare Bones Anatomy of a Move

There is a great antidote to times like these...when you've rolled up the rug and  are packing up and saying good-byes and wondering how you ever got so many books 

and what box you put the aspirin in..

                                         You just leave your drawers on the floor...the desk was already in the truck...and your keyboard  perched on a cardboard box

and let someone you had only met via her blog take you for a lovely walk in a canyon you have never been in before.

Nothing to do here but to wonder at the forces that shape our world...the winds off the Pacific can topiary even the Redwood trees.

                                       Yes, thank you Katie and blessings to Steve's memory.

 But back at the ranch ( think seahorses) ... that truck is waiting...to be filled to the gills and not everything we had to pack would fit in a box.  Klaas had gifted us with plants that had grown big and beautiful and we didn't want to leave those behind.

Fortunately we didn't pack alone.  David and Susan came armed with  boxes and wrapping paper and know how!

Blago got back in town just in time to make one more amazing dinner for us on the fire in front of the cottage.

Jeanette not only squeezed me onto her busy acupuncture calendar but came over after work to take a walk with me.

 Bashar, who is very dedicated to the new World Education University,  came and sat on the cliff with us.

The ever faithful Faisal hosted us at his and Bashar's restaurant, wonderful Dametra.

Bonnie and Steve met us for a lunch  out at Jeffrey's.

Artist Daria braved our rough stone paths bearing her energy giving chocolates.

 Debi and Stan stopping by with yet another present after a lovely tea in their home.

Angel helped us constantly and then his beautiful wife Victoria showed up with homemade tamales.

Yes, you all helped us to get on our way, but ironically it is also you who made it hard to leave...and yet...

                                 On Tuesday October 1st  I followed Mark who was driving the big truck, northward bound. We left  Carmel around 4:30 pm.  Our first stop was Inspiration Point on Highway 280  where we  watched the sun set over the Crystal Springs Reservoir but

we couldn't  linger as the rest stop we really needed was one exit north.  So we stopped again and that's where I broke out Daria's chocolates; I don't think I could have driven much farther without them!  

No more stops after that, but a moving truck is slow way to travel. It was after 9 pm when we pulled into the inn behind the old train station in Sebastopol.  We'd be ready to face the next stage of moving in the morning, but for the time being all we could manage to do was sleep...and we did!  In the morning we watched the sunrise above the mountains to the east of us, got coffee and drove the last little way home.

                                       It's overgrown and a little worn down in some respects, being the man who fixes everything hasn't lived here for seven years, but we are oh-so- happy to be back in our own little house.

And the weather has been so lovely that even though we aren't all unpacked we keep running outside to do a little gardening.

So that's it ...just  the bare bones of course...but I've kept you from your own glories long enough for today.

best wishes!
Jeannette