Well it was a sunrise, but not quite, the sun did not appear although there were signs in the distance. In the meanwhile it is raining and cold and just plain miserable. Yesterday evening I hear a noise outside and opened the blinds to see what was happening. There was a deluge type of rain and very strong winds. The street lights showed the rain wafting from side to side. I thought our storm was now over, although we did get a rather large clap of thunder during the day.  I ventured outside and again removed the lid to the birdhouse food supplies as I did not want it to arrive in the neighbour’s garden by wind transport. This morning everything seemed to be under control and no damage done, so I replaced the bird feeder lid. I realised I am also running out of bird food and had to remove some from the bird feeder to put on the ground for the sparrows. Mr. Swiss did say they will not starve, but I feel a failure as the bird lady of Feldbrunnen when they have no fresh supplies. After filling a plastic bag and spreading it on the ground I retired into the warmth of the apartment feeling satisfied that I had not disappointed the sparrow population of our village.

The magpies paid a short visit yesterday. Usually I am busy with my morning chores and miss them, but yesterday morning I caught a flash of black, blue and white in front of the window, grabbed the camera and caught them as they were doing the magpie dance. It was quite  performance, probably to celebrate the gathering of the peanuts. They leave the big stuff to the crows like walnuts.

Of course the sparrows arrived afterwards to see what was left. After Mr. Swiss and No. 1 son had moved the birdhouse for repairs there was quite a lot of seed spread around, but the sparrows cleared it all away.

Otherwise it was a day at home yesterday. I was thinking about taking a wheelie somewhere in my chair, but it began to rain in the afternoon and so I had a lazy afternoon at home. Today I will again be on a supermarket safari. The list has been made, the menus planned so what could possibly go wrong. I notice when I make my list on my iPhone that I get little pictures of the things I write: a little peanut, a tangerine, and even a toilet when I need cleaning liquid. I suppose it is progress. We no longer need to write. After all even the Egyptians managed with only pictures. They would have really been good at icons on the telephone.

And I am now on my way, so enjoy Friday. At least most of us (even golden oldies) enjoy a stressless week-end. I do not have so much photo material at the moment. I think if it were not for the birds I would have none. However, the day before yesterday I noticed that the evening on our estate had a few interesting contrasts.  Have fun, see you around.