No Winter Blues

Was out and about today pruning fruit trees. I enjoy walking this time of year even though there are no wildflowers in bloom. Out of habit, I am always looking and I do see interesting things.
Today it was a vine, Clematis virginiana, a native Clematis commonly called Virgins Bower. Suffice it to say that rather than trying to explain that to the grand kids, we always call it Clematis.

           

This week, I also saw an interesting bird at my feeders. I posted to several forums and emailed to experts and the consensus is that it is probably a common Purple Finch that has a condition called leucism which is a pigment deficiency that causes either patches and blotches of white plumage or an overall buff coloration. This guys white belly and white collar made me think I had a displaced rarity that would bring birders flocking to my home; willing to pay for parking and buy coffee at exorbitant prices. Oh well, it was interesting to watch, but I cannot afford another consuming hobby; I already have wildflowers, arrowhead hunting and collecting, metal detecting, bottle hunting and collecting and who knows what else. Its like Mark Twain once said, "When your hobbies get in the way of your work - that's OK; but when your hobbies get in the way of themselves... well...”. Birds could do that for me, so could butterflies, dragonflies and many other things which I just try to stay informed about, but not obsessed.  

Leucistic Purple Finch