Blue

I'm a proud mountaineer girl, born in Beckley, WV.  I spent the first two years of my life in the huge metropolis of Blue Jay, WV (it had an elementary school, a Methodist church, and a post office).  To this day, when I see mountains or hear a blue jay, I feel like I've come home.

For years, I didn't know the bird I heard so often at Grandma & Grandpa's was a blue jay.  Don't know why it took me so long to make the connection, but I felt pretty stupid when I did!  I know a lot of people don't like blue jays because they can be a bit, um, overbearing, and usually pretty noisy.  Yet, they are such beautiful birds, and their noisiness is usually to warn others of an encroaching predator (including humans).

Last summer I decided I was going to attract blue jays to my back yard AND I was going to get at least one fabulous shot of a blue jay.  I was thrilled to succeed at both.  What worked for me was to put out peanuts for the jays, and try to find ways to prevent the squirrels from eating them all.

I haven't heard a blue jay yet this spring, but then I just put the peanuts out (seriously, I just came in from making sure they were out).  Hope to be hearing them in the very near future.

I miss going to the mountains (and it doesn't seem to matter whether they're in WV or UT or somewhere else).  There is something about the majesty, as well as the solidity and solitude of the mountains that feels comforting and comfortable to me.  It's been a while since we've had a family reunion in WV, and I haven't been back to go whitewater rafting either (awesome experience!!).

One thing that I get a kick out of is hearing some of the "down home" comments, and asking us where our accent is from.  When my sister was a teenager and had braces, we needed to stop at a drugstore (I think it might have been a CVS) and ask for the wax for her braces.  They must have asked us 4 times to repeat our question because they couldn't understand our SW Ohio accents!  We still chuckle over that every once in a while.


Sorry, I think I need to take a mental vacation to good ol' Blue Jay, WV.  Time to search for some photos and then close my eyes and picture myself sittin' on the front porch listenin' to the birds and wavin' to the passin' cars while sippin' on ma sweet tea.  I'm startin' to relax already . . .