Five on Friday ... Spending Time in my Backyard

Now that the really warm springtime weather has arrived, I'm finally able to plump up the chair cushions and spend time in my backyard again. How I love to sit outside enjoying the sound of birds singing and calling to their mates in the springtime with the sun warming us all up again!

I'm linking up with Amy's Five on Friday this week. Thank you Amy for hosting this fun meme :) Be sure to stop by Love Made My Home to see what five things others have posted.

1. One of my favourite springtime birds is the Redwinged Blackbird. They have such a variety of calls, from scratchy chucks, to a short and sweet warble. I remember when they would arrive at our country home, and in particular when they would all gather to roost at night in the maple trees lining the forest's edge beside our house. What a chorus of song they put forth, it was really noisy, but so welcome after the silence of winter. If I keep the bird feeder topped up in my backyard and the birdbath filled with clean water, I can encourage a few of these birds to stick around all summer ... even though I know they would much rather be down at the marsh.

2. Cody is feeling his years now. More and more we find him soaking up the sun's warmth. When he was a young puppy he couldn't stand being in the sun for very long. He's ten now, and we're noticing his markings on his head are a bit more sprinkled with white than they used to be. Apparently, when I leave the house without him he howls!

3. The ferns are all coming up again. I love these ferns. I love the way the sun filters through them and creates a beautiful mosaic of brilliant lime green and dark forest green beside the pond. When the wind catches them it makes them dance and sway so beautifully! 

4. Stepping stones that I had given my parents over the years. I made these stones for them out of coloured cement. These are laid down through a garden that never did well under a large overhanging bush. I gave up on it, laid down large bark "nuggets" and set these stones where the dog runs through from the patio. It looks much better with the bark on it rather than dusty, dry dirt. The nuggets still look good even though I haven't replaced them in the 5 years that I've had them down. Good investment :)

5. I like to keep the niger seed feeder topped up for these colourful guys. The American Goldfinches are attracted to the yellow of the feeder. I know I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. When I first moved into town I was buying some bird feeders and read on the box that the yellow feeder will attract goldfinches within a few hours. I had never seen a goldfinch in my town yard at that point, but I thought I'd try. I was amazed when after a couple of hours, the feeder had goldfinches at every port! Since then I've always had a niger seed feeder for these sweet birds. We once had a canary in a cage and we would put him outside in the summer. The wild goldfinches would come and sing together with our little Percy ... so cute!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Wendy