Meet Harriet

I love watching all kinds of birds.  One of my favorites, of course, are the bluebirds.  I took my header picture in my backyard, and LOVE that picture.  We have a bluebird trail of 4 houses across a couple of acres, and the trail connects to more neighboring bluebird houses.  They are great fun to watch because they are such sweet, playful little birds, and are never aggressive to other birds except when protecting their babies.  They like to calmly perch on just about everything out in the yard, and when I see one perching nearby I always think it is my own personal little bluebird of happiness.  I wait for them to return every spring.

More symbolism.  I love all the different symbolism there is for various birds and animals. There seems to be both good and bad symbols for everything, but I prefer the good. (The power of positive thinking!)


Yesterday was a beautiful spring day here, so hubby and I and oldest daughter decided to take a drive down the Mississippi River in search of some eagles.  (Eagles symbolize so many things to so many different groups and cultures.)  Eagles are abundant in March on the Upper Mississippi River - though we do see an eagle or two all summer around home. We drove south from St. Paul along the river on the Wisconsin side, and then back north up the Minnesota side. It actually hit a record 64 degrees in Minneapolis in MARCH - crazy glorious spring sunshine!

Meet Harriet.

 Harriet lives in Wabasha, MN at the National Eagle Center. This staff member was outside with one of the 3 resident eagles - Harriet - isn't she pretty? (The eagle, I mean!) 

Edited to add:  Harriet was named after Harriet Tubman. See her biography here.  
  

  

We enjoyed the view of the river and the eagles soaring above, and just wandered around the town of Wabasha enjoying the sunshine.  We had lunch at this little pizzeria with the tin ceiling and fun nostalgic pop bottles.  I love old renovated buildings - they have so much character!

Lake Pepin is a 40 square mile lake smack in the middle of the Mississippi River, and is a popular area in the summer for boating, fishing, etc.  (Hard to believe a huge lake is in the middle of the Mississippi!)  This is what it looked like yesterday, with only a little ice left.  Certainly more beautiful with summer foliage, but being out in the sunshine after being cooped up all winter was just fabulous!

This is Lake Pepin from the Wisconsin side looking toward Minnesota:

Along our trek, there were a lot of eagles soaring up so high that you could barely see them.  And sometimes they would turn just right and become invisible in the sky - that was kind of weird - sort of like some alien spaceship.  Quite amazing to see the little speck flying up high and realize how large that bird really is.  Those little specks dashed my hopes of getting any beautiful pictures - they just look like specks :)

And this is Lake Pepin on the way back home looking toward Wisconsin from the Minnesota side:

 

Many people think Minnesota is all flat farmland.  I don't think they've ever visited these river bluff areas!

Can you tell I'm excited that SPRING has finally arrived? Woo hoo!  Vitamin D levels are rising.