it was a wonderfully sunny warm day with temps in the 60's today. 
i decided to take advantage of it and experiment with a different lens.

the grape hyacinths are happily standing in the garden spotlight today. it's interesting how these particular ones are a darker purple at the bottom than they are at the top.

our calico kitty Cricket joined me for a while. she was quite interested in watching the bird feeder which got me to thinking that i should try and get some shots of the birds . . . but i had to wait for her to move on before they felt comfortable enough to begin feeding again.

there was quite an assortment of hungry birds and this one was charming and quite unafraid once the kitty went on her way.

the yellow headed blackbirds are a lot more assertive than most of the other birds. they push and shove and gobble up as much as they can as fast as they can.

i like the small wren-like birds with the cherry heads and rosey breasts.

after i became too sore to sit on the ground shooting birds i decided to snap a few of my grand-dog Suki. she is very playful and energetic and doesn't she have the sweetest face~!?!~

today's gifts included:

• continuous birdsong
• my daughter's company (and Suki's too)
• the sight with which to see so much spring beauty