I was in the mood . . . Share the Joy Thursday

Something most unusual happened this morning.  I was suddenly in the mood for  . . . wait for it . . . TEA.  This happens maybe twice a year.  Since it's only January 3rd, I imagine I will have another yen for tea eventually.  Of course, this enjoyment of tea does not include the occasional visit to tea rooms.  The tea room in Columbia, CA is currently on our list.  I'm hoping to go there this month.  But I digress.  So, anyway . . . 

. . . I had this yen for tea.  A while back, I purchased a glass tea pot, part of a Numi Flowering Tea set.  It didn't take me long to discover just how fragile a glass tea pot is and sooner rather than later, I was left with the Numi Flowering Tea and nothing to flower it in.

Enter the four cup coffee brewer.  All it took was a serious application of soap and hot water to all the brewing parts and voila!, I had a pot to bloom in.  

No sooner did I finish my tea than my brother, David, called and off I went to pick him up to take him to pick up his car which was at the repair shop.  We were talking so intently that when we separated, we simply joined up again across the road, pulled over next to a field and continued our talk.

Anyone who has read me long enough knows I love birds.  I have ooh'd and aah'd over bluebirds, cardinals, yellow finches, woodpeckers, chickadees, etc.  These birds are not in great abundance in my agricultural valley.  There are crows and robins and magpies and swallows and doves and sparrows and starlings - but - nothing terribly dramatic.

So -  at this point you have to be asking why I have posted a picture of a utility cable cover with the traffic on Hwy 99 in the background.  Well - Dave is something of a field biologist.  While in college, he was a liberal studies major with a biology emphasis (he teaches junior. high science these days) and the best part of his college years were the field trips and learning to spot and identify all manner of flora and fauna.  And he had spotted a bird - in fact, that blob of darkness on the top of the cable cover is - a Western Bluebird.

I grabbed my camera.  I was on the wrong side of the car and I knew opening the car door and standing up would chase them off.  They flitted around and stalked the grass for seeds and bugs, spreading their pretty wings making a flash of blue as they darted here and there.  Nevertheless, I was thrilled.  I could now say that I too had bluebirds in my area and I knew where to find them.

Western Bluebird from Google Images

Before long the Yellow Beaked Magpie intruded on their little food fest and the bluebird flew off.  But . . .

 . . . I count myself lucky.  I got me a bluebird despite the magpie invasion. And - some good conversation time with my bro.