Down on the farm

This morning Jason and I checked out the newest forest preserve in DuPage County called St. James Farm in (I think?) Winfield. I think it actually just opened this year to the public, and it's only open on weekends. They had about 10 nice volunteers there when you walk in that are just desperate to talk to you, and they are very interesting and knowledgeable about the history of the place. They offered to give us a 1 1/2 hour tour, but we asked for the abbreviated version. We saw the green caboose there that McCormick used as his little private get-away. Here's us with the life-size dolphin fountain.

The property used to be the family farm retreat of the McCormick family (same folks that owned Cantigny, and also the powerful Chicago family that the McCormick Center is named after). There are many barns and stables there because it used to be a working dairy farm and show-horse place. There are no animals there now, except that people do bring their horses there to walk the trails. Walking in there feels like you are transformed somewhere else. It's a huge place with pleasant country-like walks between tree alleys and white-fenced clover fields and English-looking barns. And we saw a horse and hound cemetary, which was kinda interesting.

Also there are some really great quality forests and meadows, because we saw quite a few great birds, including a red-headed woodpecker, a veery, and a scarlet tanager. And we heard the most angelic-sounding bird of all, the wood thrush. There were two of them dueting in the woods. It's very quiet and as-yet pretty undiscovered. So we'll tell you about it ... but don't tell your friends!

Jason also made friends with a mourning cloak butterfly. I got this pic by video-taping him and then doing a video capture photo of the brief second when he opened his wings. We also saw a ton of dragonflies, including ebony jewel-wings.

Pre-Fireworks

It's 7 AM on the 4th of July and Kelly is asleep beside me. Without a doubt I am more in love with her now than I've ever been.

Just felt like documenting that on the blog. :)

Happy Egret-ster

We enjoyed a lovely traditional Easter brunch with my parents and sis and Evan and then later went birding at the Morton Arboretum. Jason was devastated that they cleared some prime birding territory of underbrush in order to "pretty-fy" some of the grounds, those goons. We didn't have much birding luck until we walked by the prairie, which had been recently burned, and was brimming with bugs and birds having a regular Easter feast.

The Great Egret was chilling out right by the Arb entrance. Jason nearly ran us into a ditch yelling out "Egret! Egret!" The Great Blue was not far from the prairie area, and the brown creeper is a bit tough to see because he wouldn't stand still, but we just love those guys.

Daffodils and squill in bloom. Starting to recognize more of the spring ephemerals putting up their leaves. Virginia Bluebells will be exploding on the scene very soon.

My favorite thing Jason said ... (by the prairie, we were scoping out some of the burned fields that were covered in Robins and Cowbirds pecking around, scanning in case some other species were mixed in)

Lady walking up the trail: "Hi. Seeing anything interesting?"
Jason: "All nature is interesting."

First Spring Ephemerals and Pelicans Redeux

A lovely sort of spring day. Though the weather is still undecided about what season it is, we continue to be optimistic. We started our spring day with breakfast at our favorite diner in Geneva. Jason had the ham n' scram, because it is fun to say, and I had the 2 by 3 pancakes, smothered in so much syrup that later I had a pretty devastating sugar crash, but no matter. We feel a little like we are saying a prolonged Good-bye to Geneva since Jason is changing his address, but we hope to return to our favorite places even after it's no longer his home.

We started out our adventure at Delnor Woods in St. Charles. The warblers and the flickers just love this little preserve, and so do we. We saw our first kinglets of the year flitting about like their tailfeathers were on fire, an eastern phoebe catching flies over the water, and a shy brown creeper. Not to mention the ever so handsome and flashy yellow-rumped warbler who waggled his yellow rump for us. We tallied the birds for that spot and came up with a whole lot.

Also of note -- we found our first spring ephemerals of the year. Bloodroot (white flowers) and Siberian Squill (blue flowers) were poking our from the carpet of last year's leaves. I imagine the snow we got soon after turned them to toast, but they were gorgeous. Can't wait to see more.

And then we returned to Nelson Lake. We'd heard that last weekend the lake had been covered in hundreds of pelicans. But we had missed it, and only caught the stragglers. There were tons of different ducks on the lake, but unfortunately too far for our binoculars. We are wishing for a spotting scope, but wondering if this would make us too bird geeky. Got pics here of a Turkey Vulture flying over and showing his distinctive wing pattern, some pics of pelicans coming in for landings on the lake, some pelicans paddling around, and one pelican who was having a nap and couldn't be bothered to show his beak for a clear picture, so he looks like a lump of white frosting.

Who can? Peli can!

On this day we took advantage of some spring weather and headed out to Nelson Lake marsh, our favorite bird haunt, to perhaps see some good ducks. And what we saw there made ducks look boring and rather tiny -- we saw American White Pelicans! Just a handful. Even Jason, bird extraordinaire, was surprised to see them, but apparently they make a stop here on their annual migration. We plan to come back again to see more, hopefully. We also got to see some Fox Sparrows thrashing around in the dry leaves.

My pics of the pelicans were from very far away and came out blurry, so I decided to liven up the pic with some picassa magic. You may notice that the colors are slightly acid-trip. This is to denote artistically how we both thought we were tripping when we saw the pelicans, but I can assure you that we were not. Unless you count the time Jason tripped and completely fell butt-backward over when he thought he heard a Fox Sparrow and forgot to keep his eye on the terrain. Or maybe it was a result of the McD food we nabbed on our way over. I think they may put acid in that stuff to make such terrible food taste so good.

V-Day

On this romantic day, the day before our loviversary, Jason surprised me with flowers and candy and presents, and also this groovy little disco frog. I believe he had no idea that this little stuffed toy also came with a voice, and I also believe if he'd known, he would've thought twice before introducing it to me. Sometimes I enjoy playing the frog song next to the phone when we talk at night. I am convinced that Jason boogies on the other end of the phone every time. It's too catchy.

On this special night we also went to Salerno's for dinner in St. Charles. We had a pleasant time but we will never, ever, ever go out for dinner on Valentine's day ever, ever again.

Binary Star System

We’re moving through space and time on a small planet orbiting a medium-sized star, along a spinning galaxy in an expanding universe. A cosmic wind didn’t blow us down and the trees aren’t bent to the ground

So we evolved. We got to stand and think and build and progress. We’re all a part of it…

One star out of billions keeps us warm.

We’re living in a microscopic section of geological time. We don’t see mountains grow or much of evolution show but we have singing birds and blooming flowers after spring storms. I've got grass beneath my feet and a kite in the sky on a breeze

Because I’m alive. I get to play and learn and wonder and grow. I get to love you…

Two stars out of billions keep me warm.

Muddy Shoes and an Owl at Nelson Lake Marsh

We went back to the marsh to find those owls again ... and only one complied. This guy is definitely a Great Horned Owl. He was just hanging out in a tree, watchin for snacks, and he also kept checking over his shoulder to see what we were up to.

Saturday was a gorgeous psyche-out springy day and all the snow and ice was melting. We had to wade through a few spots on the trail, and as we headed back the water had risen a bit.

Also saw -- white-tailed deer (2), red-tailed hawk (1), northern flicker (1), canadian goose (a zillion, mostly overhead)

And we drove up and down the Fox River looking for winter ducks, but all we saw were mallards and those canadian geese.

Snow-Shoein' Nelson Lake Marsh

Today we went for a snowshoe walk around the nature preserve of Jason's childhood. We circumnavigated the entire lake. We saw very few birds, and even fewer people. And we saw owls, which completely rocked. Jason thinks they were long-earred owls since he's seen them there before, but we'll need to go back to confirm it. One was even carrying prey in its talons. The lake was frozen solid and the marsh grasses were smothered under snow. All was beautiful and quiet.

Jason picked me a bouquet of freeze-dried marsh and prairie grasses and forbs, which now adorns my door. Some people would think that it's lame to give a gal a bouquet of dead flowers. Those people are dumb.

Lost in our Food

Lately we've been getting together Wednesday nights to watch Lost. And sometimes we cook. Check out this kick-butt chicken marsala we made from our romantic Cooking for Two cookbook. The best part is drinking the marsala wine while cooking. At 18% alcohol content, whatever you make doesn't even have to taste good at the end. But it did anyway.

Inuit Kiss

A record has been set in our relationship this morning: at minus 21 degrees Fahrenheit, today is the coldest day of our two-year relationship. Luckily, our morning kiss took place indoors!

Canada Collage

A few pics from our trip to Toronto and Niagara Falls ...