Birding

I spent Easter weekend this year with my friend Lisa and her family in Grand Haven, Michigan. It was a lovely weekend in every way, but at the moment what I am most excited about is the bird I saw on Easter Sunday. I wish this were a picture I took, but I couldn't get one because I was inside looking out the window, and he was a few feet away perched on the railing of the deck.

Yesterday, I described the bird to Robin and she, remarkably, said, "Oh, that sounds like a grosbeak." 7th grade natural science class finally paid off. Google provided this image, and Robin was able to identify my bird as a male Pine Grosbeak. Pretty sweet. Today, I googled the bird and found from this blog that the Pine Grosbeak is a rarely seen. I feel so special!

Maybe I'll become a birder when I grow up.

(Also April 26, 2011 is the 226th birthday of the Audobon. Check out google.com today.)

an Easter poem

Easter Communion
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Pure fasted faces draw unto this feast:
God comes all sweetness to your Lenten lips.
You striped in secret with breath-taking ships,
Those crooked rough-scored chequers may be pieced
To crosses meant for Jesu's; you whom the East
With draught of thin and pursuant cold so nips
Breathe Easter now; you serged fellowships,
You vigil-keepers with low flames decreased,

God shall o'er-brim the measures you have spent
With oil of gladness, for sackcloth and frieze
And the ever-fretting shirt of punishment
Give myrrhy-threaded golden folds of ease.
Your scarce-sheathed bones are weary of being bent:
Lo, God shall strengthen all the feeble knees.

Irish Soda Scones Recipe

I made Irish Soda Scones this morning for my small group. Served warm from the oven with butter and jam or honey and a cup of coffee, they were quite good, if I do say so myself.

You just mix three cups of flour, a tablespoon of sugar, teaspoon of salt, and teaspoon of baking soda and then stir in a cup and a half of buttermilk. A tablespoon of white vinegar to a cup of milk worked just fine as a buttermilk substitute. That makes 6 large scones baked for twenty minutes (or maybe a little less) at 425 degrees. The only tricky thing about it was that the dough was very sticky and uncooperative. The recipe said brushing the scones with extra buttermilk and sprinkling with flour would make a "wonderful floury brown crust," but I forgot about that.

I think I'll make these again some time. Want to come over for tea?

Daffodowndilly

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
"Winter is dead."
- A.A. Milne

Brave, aren't they?