Carols of gladness ring from every tree. Frances Anne Kemble

Being back home has been truly amazing. I think we forget how much like Paradise this place is to us.

One of the first mornings back I let the dog out and heard this funny bird call. It was one that I wasn’t familiar with. I dashed back inside, grabbed my camera, then started chasing this bird down the street in my pajamas and bedroom shoes.

He was a very vocal fellow, so I could keep track of him easily.

This is a Gold Fronted Woodpecker.

One of the advantages of living next door to a birder is being able to take pictures and then asking him what was it I had just taken a picture of. Dennis identified him and a couple of other birds for me.

The same morning I saw a Logger Headed Shrike

And a Meadowlark

Sometimes I cannot believe that we actually live here!

Monday I planted some flowers in our little flower bed. I don’t have much of a green thumb, but here’s hoping.

Tuesday we went to the Dodge Arena to see the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees play hockey. It was a Winter Texan night, so we all got in for six dollars apiece, and many refreshments were available in small sizes for a buck each. A gaggle of Retama Village people went.

The Bee

New Years Eve night we had a party at the Retama Club.

There was food and dancing.

The girls line dancing.

Me having a good time

The blue moon on New Years Eve

I had another pleasant surprise out side our bay window the next morning – a sharp shinned hawk!

He is so handsome.

The big news over at Bentsen State Park was the first recorded sighting of a Bare-Throated Tiger Heron. It has never been recorded as being seen in the United States before.

I was dying to get over to the park to see if I could get a glimpse of it, but I had no real hopes of doing so. Well, as luck would have it, there was a group of birders on the levee that had already spotted the bird, so I not only got to see it, I got two decent pictures of it!

Isn’t he a strange and wonderful bird?

There were so many beautiful birds to see at the park yesterday.

So that was my week. I’m so happy to be back home!

Books this week:

Absolute Rage

Cold Truth

Gil's All Night Fright Diner

P.S. Your cat is dead