As many of the East Coast snows are now becoming annoyances of the past, I think it’s safe to show this without having rocks—or snowballs—thrown at me.

This is another one of my treasures and few eBay purchases—a glass bird feeder, originally meant as a gift, but kept for myself. Selfish? Meh. Having a too-small seed tray, it’s more decorative than functional, and although smaller peeps such as chickadees have taken to it in the past, it has for the most part, remained food-free. Hanging in front of the big picture window in the living room, it catches the morning sunlight and tosses it back in a glorious shower of iridescence. I love it. All the more reason that I should’ve brought it inside come late autumn, as I knew harsh weather could mean disaster. While I was out of town the big snows moved in and the bad weather slowly took its toll. The poor feeder became more and more indistinguishable as each storm rolled through, leaving it with yet another frozen coat—only the bottle green peeking through indicated that there was anything there other than ice. When its wire hanger could take no more, it plummeted to the two plus feet of snow below. The icy tentacles dug deep, yet were far from reaching soil. W and Lucy took notice too, as one of the daggers broke free and impaled a plastic window cover with a loud crack. Amazingly, it landed upright and kept in one piece, well preserved in its icy womb.

So, like my spider plant that means so much to me, but was so awfully neglected last winter, the iridescent glass bird feeder has lived to hang another season—no thanks to the animate objects with whom its care rests.

Many thanks to W for chronicling the event through his fine photo!