The winter e-letter and birds abounding

Finally, I?ve got the winter e-letter ready and I sent it out by myself. This is a triumph of technology that I can be trained to do something on this computer, however long and painful it might be. If you haven?t received one by now, it may be that somewhere along the line there was a glitch so e-mail me right back and I?ll get it to you immediately.Those who are unemployed, write blogs I now realize. Blogging takes a lot of time, and I haven?t been good about it, but now I?ve hit the wall facing little or no work, I can blog my little heart out. I?ll be on CBC Radio’s Fresh Air on Sunday morning between 8:30 and 9 across Ontario (99.1) talking about Christmas decorations, greenery and the garden at this time of year.

I love my garden right now. There are loads of shrubs holding the snow elegantly. And I had a meeting here today about a project I?ll explain later. One of the people said ?Well I can tell you?ve lived in Labrador.? And yes, I have, and yes it did influence the way my winter garden looks. It?s quite wild and there are lots of birds flitting in and out. I looked seriously at buying some food for them at a hardware store but decided I would wait and go to a bird store. Bridget Stutchberry in her great book The Silence of the Songbirds says to make sure you get the right kind of food for the birds that are wintering in your area.

I have never put out bird food before, but winter came so early and though there are lots of seeds and berries now, I can see the whole place is going to be stripped earlier than I realized. There is comfort in having all those little guys around. And we?ve got a huge hawk who hunts in the late afternoon. It?s magnificent. And we who are unemployed need company.