Daffodils and Cedar Waxwings (And A Song)

For my header photo just now, I have a bright yellow sunflower from a summer from years ago...isn't it nice to see that sunny color?  If you want more yellow, I got you covered!

Daffodils!  These are blooming at the Monastery now, this photo was from yesterday, Feb. 3rd. Now, I have told you this before, but it does bear repeating...daffodils are not native to the USA.  They were planted by the early English settlers and we have had them in this country since that time. This is confusing because you will see them sometimes in the woods here...but that means that the bulbs were planted once around an old home. (The settlers must have been homesick a bit, they also called the bird with a bit of an orange breast, a "robin" and it looks nothing like the robin in England! That is why we have the "American" robin and the "European" robin, two very different birds.)

   Speaking of birds, we also saw a flock of cedar waxwings on the tall tulip poplars in front of the Monastery. (Looking very yellow in the sun!) They were fluttering in and out of the treetops, eating the seeds. Hardly anyone else looked up and admired them. Of course, we did! Cedar waxwings are only winter visitors to Georgia.  You know that birds fly south for the winter in this country but some don't fly very far to the south.  The cedar waxwing, for instance, must think that Georgia is far enough! How nice that we get to see this handsome bird!  If you want to see a great picture, you may see it just here!  There, if you popped over to look at that, didn't I tell you?  That is SUCH a gorgeous bird! Guess what, you almost always see these birds in a flock and they are very sociable.  They will line up on a branch and pass berries along to each other. Nice to think of that, isn't it?

(If you want to know more about the history of daffodils, I have a link for you here.  Even though the daffodil has been on the British Isles for centuries, it was originally brought there by the Roman army from Southern Europe. It was naturalized in Northern and western Europe.  We are told in this article that "Daffodil" comes from affo dyle which means "that which comes early".  That sounds interesting but reading further I wonder if that is true about that translation.  Look here.  Regardless, the original daffodil came from Southern Europe.  )

Oh dear, I always have so much I want to post about and very little time!  Here, I have a song for you..it was at the very end of the "Dickensian" show that I liked so much.  Did you see it? It was shown in December here, I think.  Richard recorded it for me.  I really liked it.  "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls" is the name of the song.  Enya did this song on a record but her version is so sad.  I thought the actress, the one who played "Nancy" did a great job of singing this, not like a professional singer, but you know, like a real person, if you see what I mean. It is sung with such hope. And all those characters from the books by Charles Dickens, such an interesting idea to have their lives all intermingle...I loved watching this show, it was very well done.