A chuckle from the county fair.
; )
Category Archives: Whatever
Blackberry
It’s hard to appreciate in this photo, but when the sun hits it just right…
: )
So long as it gets me to work and back I’m happy, but a new car is kind of an occasion…
and this one makes me laugh when I see it…
IT’S PURPLE!!
and it reminds me not to take myself too seriously…
(important!)
I christened it properly this evening with a trip to the beach and a gallon of sand.
What I’m craving
change * sun-streaked hair * a warm Jersey tomato * beach, beach, beach * a Lensbaby * pure silliness * a sundress occasion * a picnic in the shade * easy laughter * floating docks * a good nap * daring in the face of reality * courage for a new plan * strength to say what i want, need and must have *grace enough to accept the fallout * a bubble bath * beach plum jelly * Luka kisses * a thunderstorm * black raspberry ice cream * blackberry pearl (please someone talk me out of buying a purplish car!!) * room in your sunshine * a book to get lost in * camel pose * honesty * ice-cold strawberries
Blue hydrangea with blurry kingbird
As you can see, all this time away from the blog has not improved my bird photography skills one bit.
😉
I love having kingbirds around; they’re among my favorite summer birds. A pair has nested in the neighborhood the past two years and I waste a lot of time just imagining explanations for their funny personality quirks…
I knew their babies had fledged this past weekend based solely on the increased frenzy in their parent’s shrill, chattering cries.
I was hopeful that there’d be a snapshot like last year’s, but no.
One of the parents, scaring up bugs in the hydrangea off the porch, was my best chance at a snapshot and I missed it. Darn misbehaving camera.
😉
When I didn’t know what hit me
I’m working on a different kind of list here in the last couple days before that birthday-which-must-not-be-named.
😉
It’s wanting to be a really long list and I’m having fun with making it. It’s a list that commemorates the unexpected things that can happen over the course of a year, little moments that I never saw coming, things I had no idea I’d do in a run of 365 days…
I can’t lie; it hasn’t been the easiest year. There’s been parts, in fact, that were so painful I can barely stand to speak of them.
But this is how you get over, I think: you make a list of the good.
So…
This year I:
watched an adult male harrier float over the red of an October cranberry bog
had dumplings in chinatown and alligator sausage in a cream sauce that’s to die for
went to a major league baseball game. my first ever. on opening day.
(and the home team won!)
shared black raspberry ice-cream on the first day of summer
realized that I need someone who’ll read poetry with me, or write it for me
😉
spent an afternoon photographing a coworker’s adorable babies
wished on a falling star in the mountains at Christmas
learned to like hugs from my big brothers
(well, almost.)
stood high above the New River bridge and then way down below it, again
hosted THE bird-blog carnival and survived
unknowingly started an airport postcard collection
had my hair blown wild as seaweed in a boat on Lake Superior
(and didn’t puke!)
got hooked on lavender lemonade and yoga on the boardwalk
watched lots of spectacular sunsets
found the singular most beautiful orchid. period.
got my first ever parking ticket and had my first ever car accident (today!)
(the good in that isn’t immediately obvious, but I’m hopeful)
learned to make an omelette and pump gas
finally got over some of my little-girl fears of swimming in the ocean
played poker for laundry money
learned what real heat and humidity feel like
found my 5th grade teacher on Facebook and she remembered me!
saw flamingos!
spent the better part of an afternoon lost on Rte. 3 and found myself at José Tejas
watched ravens weave invisible patterns with the wind
– – – – – – – – – – –
Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don’t unravel. ~Author Unknown
I’ve been blessed this year, for sure.
Yesterday
A visit to NYC…
(which felt kinda counterintuitive on Memorial Day Weekend, considering the horrendous traffic heading OUT of the city)
but I live at the beach
(lucky me, I know)
😉
I saw Strawberry Fields, finally, and was reminded of my best friend growing up and her total adoration of all things John Lennon…
I wandered around The Ramble in Central Park looking for photographic opportunities and good birds…
and loving the fun edge-aberrations of MevetS’ wide-angle lens.
I was prowling for stranger pics and found many…
NYC is especially good for that!
A happy bride on a beautiful day…
Somewhere along those wooded paths, by a bridge, we came upon a drumming group… but this one had singers!
My sense was that they were Cuban and this old guy…
😉
He totally stole my heart and my imagination and reminded me, somehow, of a long-dead uncle who I wish had lived long enough to share his stories with me..
I very nearly got run over by a bus to take this shot on 42nd street…
NYC is madness!!
death by bus or yellow cab, I wondered, as my short life flashed before my eyes
It’s Fleet Week and Steve forced me to talk to lots of handsome sailors…
😉
Who insist they HAVE TO wear the uniform and don’t do it just to pick up girls…
(Right.)
The real reason for this crazy goose-chase across NYC was Manhattanhendge, which we somehow missed…
??
At the end of the day, in Times Square, I felt very much like a country-bumpkin, out of my element, distracted with the bright lights and the madness of city life… and very glad for the little patch of sand waiting for me at home by the sea.
: )
Lakeside
I’m sort of going through the motions here…
Have you noticed?
Of course you have. I apologize.
Someday soon I’ll get back on track, find a place to write from again.
In the meantime, I’m marveling in Spring as much as my full-time job in a cubicle allows. There’s lunchtimes spent with strip-mall birds and evenings beside this little lake with swallows and night herons and kingbirds for entertainment. There’s been whole weekends devoted to wildflowers and birds and traveling to be with friends.
I wander with my camera, annoyed with this crappy lens, annoyed with how little of the magic I see and the wonder I feel that it seems able to capture, annoyed with my inability to describe any of it in words.
I’m in some sort of a funk, probably.
I’m reading again instead, finally. Voraciously, somehow, after months on end of not being able to concentrate on anything as solid as a book. Probably that’s the fuel I need to have anything of import to say here.
Maybe.
😉
I’m reading about horses again and I’m afraid I might finally have decided what I really want for my 40th.
(laugh)
Bear with me.
Ave querida, amada peregrina
¿A dónde irá veloz y fatigada
la golondrina que de aquà se va?
Por si en el viento se hallará extraviada
buscando abrigo y no lo encontraré…
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Where are you going, swift and weary
swallow, why are you leaving here?
And what if you lose your way in
the wind, looking for a home you’ll never find…
A snippet of a traditional Mexican song, “La golondrina” is often sung as a farewell at funerals for those who’ve died far from home. I was reminded of it this afternoon watching the swallows feed low over the lake in the rain.
*Lyrics from “La golondrina” by Narciso Serradel Sevilla. The translation to English is mine and is far from precise.
😉
A reminder
You’re writing your story everyday; you just need to decide what happens next…
Bad bird photo of the week
Birds on wires
Any guesses?