Life Out Our Window

 Lately we have greatly been enjoying looking out our window towards the river. We have discovered there is a whole lot going on our there. The thing is in the past few weeks the ice melted in the middle by our house. Our neighbor just to the East of us still has ice (though I think it will go in the next week) but for the last week or so the open river has ended at our house. There are a lot of birds coming through that love the open water and so we are very privileged to see them. The kids have been busy naming them and coming up with their life stories. We are not actually sure that we are seeing the same birds each day but it makes life more interesting to think that we are. :-)

The other day there were two Canadian Geese out by our house. They were just waiting around and doing various odds and ends. Their names are David and Elody (Mara's been doing the naming lately). Then all of a sudden two swans (Edgar and Rosalie) came swooping in. Just in time - the two couples had a lunch date up river. Off they went.

 The swans can go pretty fast. They started to leave the geese in the dust (or is that water?).

 Oh that wasn't very nice, we had better slow down. So good to see you again old friends.

 A rather gray day isn't it?

 David and Edgar got to visiting and Rosalie and Elody came along behind visiting too.

They have been back many times. We did our stretches with the swans the other day (we were watching from the inside and the swans were out on the ice) - the kids found it much more fun to follow their antics than they like to follow mine. The swans bob their heads and stretch their necks in such funny ways before they take off flying. Flying didn't work so well for us when we tried.

   The kids say there is another gander that is trying to get Elody's attention but the crow is on David's side. They have their home site all picked out for them. We shall see if they use it.

 I hope you enjoy the pictures that Mara took for the swans and the geese and all or our silly imaginings as we have fun watching them.