Thankful {things I love} Thursday...

It began as rain...

then freezing rain...

then sleet...

One of those days when you are so happy to be back home

safe & sound, kettle on, sheltered.

The wind is whistling & rain pellets hit the window.

The birds are arriving, bit by bit.  I have missed seeing them.

The feeders are emptying quickly.

As usual, the squirrels arrive first, and manage to tip most of it out ...

last night we had 3 bunnies happily nibbling at the scattered corn :-)

In the morning I hear the soft coos of the doves.

They are so gentle & not skittish like most doves, allowing me to walk right up to them ♥

I wonder where they will choose to build their nest this year ?

And then there's the squirrels who keep us laughing with their looking in the window stares which always results in me spreading peanut butter on crackers or bread :-)

***

But the true lover of rain ...

 has a deep inner enjoyment of the rain,

 as rain, and his  sense of its beauty

drinks it in

as thirstily as does the drinking earth.

It refreshes and cools his heart and brain;

he longs to go forth into the fields,

to feel its steady stream,

to scent its fragrance;

to stand under some heavy-foliaged

chestnut-tree, and hear the rustling music

on the crowded leaves.

~John Richard Vernon

"The Beauty of Rain"

1863