Wednesday, January 11

Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education Bird Count and Hiking

Last weekend I attended my first Bird Count at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.  We joined a group in progress, in charge of one quadrant of the nature space, we had to keep our eyes peeled for any flickering in the trees or shrubs and our expert birder helped us identify and keep track of what and how many we found. There was a surprising variety of species for the middle of Winter in Philadelphia, but he said this was the southern migration location for many Northern birds.

Birding guide helps our group spot species in the meadow

My sister in her new owl hat

Tuesday, January 3

New Cookbooks for the New Year!

I just found out I have a cousin who works at Powell's Books in Portland and I was so excited I asked for a gift card from there for the holidays. While most of the books are going to be for school, yesterday I ordered tons of cookbooks!  I found one great new book on making jams, pickles, sauces and crackers, then I browsed all the low priced used cookbooks and found book after book under $1: