birds — Page 50

A Lovely Day, Indeed

July 5, 2016 at 9:44 am by Claudia

It was a perfectly lovely day yesterday, made even more lovely by your wonderful comments. Thank you, dear friends!

We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant, stopped off to visit a few shop owners that we know, had a lovely dinner (Don gave me – that sneak – a little miniature rose plant and a pine scented candle) and we watched The Music Man on TCM. My father and I used to watch that movie together whenever we saw it listed in our TV Guide. He had a major crush on Shirley Jones. So, we toasted my dad as the movie started. I hope he was watching with us.

I didn’t give Don anything because, and I confessed this to Don, after Father’s Day and his birthday, I was fresh out of ideas! I couldn’t come up with one – not even an appropriate card. He didn’t care, thank goodness.

Caught on camera the other day – a lovely goldfinch.

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I love seeing that flash of bright yellow. We have a lot of finches that hang about the property and they are at the birdbath fairly frequently.

We stopped in at Postmark Books yesterday.

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This is one of Maggie’s flower arrangements. It’s simply gorgeous – she’s so talented!

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I took this picture because I want to remind myself to read some more John Irving. I read so many of his books years ago but I haven’t been keeping up and Jesse (the owner) told me Avenue of Mysteries is really interesting. I also want to read Mycroft Holmes by multi-talented Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

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Hurrah – Postmark Books now has a lovely bag with their logo on it.

I wasn’t going to buy anything – we are having to be really frugal at the moment – but I couldn’t resist this book (and Don was loving it as well):

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My beloved Elements of Style by Strunk & White – this version illustrated by Maira Kalman. The illustrations are whimsical and charming and they are based on sentences in the text.

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Lovely.

This reminds me that a re-read of Elements of Style is in order. It is the wisest source of sound, basic advice for the writer and I think I’ve probably acquired a few bad habits that need to be corrected.

Our period of birthday and anniversary and Father’s Day celebrations has drawn to a close. It’s been lots of fun, but now we’re back to our daily routine. By the way, Meredith thanks you for all your Happy Birthday messages. She tried to write to everyone, but some of you are No Reply commenters so she couldn’t respond. She was very touched by all the good cheer sent her way.

We’ll close with Sunday evening’s sunset:

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Happy Tuesday.

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Flowers, Fireflies, and Little Bunny

June 27, 2016 at 9:32 am by Claudia

The TSP/The Studio weekend has ended. As I’m sitting at my desk, I still look to my right expecting to see it on my work table. It’s been there since we made the move into this new space. It’s now in its new home – at least, for the time being – on Don’s desk. Needless to say, Don had a great birthday weekend. He replied to all of your birthday greetings yesterday, so if you don’t get replies emailed to you, check back on Friday’s post.

We’re still in recovery mode, with a dollop of sinus yuckiness added to the mix. I have to say this has been the worst spring/summer for allergies and sinus trouble that I can ever remember. It’s been relentless.

The garden, as of yesterday:

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6-27 hydrangea

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Daylilies, hollyhocks, coneflowers, bee balm, hydrangeas – old fashioned flowers in a country garden.

Oh, and down by the road:

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Our tiger lilies are in bloom. I say ‘our’ because these beauties bloom alongside the road on most of the properties around here. I love these splashes of orange – they’re so beautiful

And the fireflies are back again.

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This little one is usually seen in the early morning hours and at dusk. Sometimes he’s alone, at other times, he’s with two adults. If he gets scared, he runs under my car. This morning he and my favorite mourning dove were within 6 inches of each other on the ground. I ran to get the camera, but the dove had moved to the birdbath by the time I got back.

Catbirds, mourning doves, a house finch, bunnies, rabbits, and a wild turkey feather found on the ground. Early Monday morning here at the cottage.

Happy Monday.

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Civil Disobedience, Flowers & A Dove

June 23, 2016 at 8:44 am by Claudia

In this house, more often than not, these words are spoken: “There’s nothing on TV!”

Last night, however, we were glued to the television as House Democrats, led by one of the heroes of the Civil Rights movement, John Lewis, took over the House floor, staging a sit-in. Paul Ryan gaveled the session and ordered the cameras that C-Span uses shut off.

Ah, but this is the age of social media and tech-savvy Representatives used Facebook and Periscope to broadcast what was going on and C-Span tapped into it. It was real, it was raw and it was incredibly powerful.

I just checked. They’re still there and they’re still broadcasting. They’ve been at it since 11:30 am yesterday morning. I tweeted my support to them last night and tweeted my disgust to Paul Ryan (more than once). It’s a simple request: a vote on two relatively mild measures, one to close a loophole in background checks and one to prohibit the selling of guns to anyone on the No-Fly List. I mean, really, what could possibly be problem here? It’s a no-brainer.

Watching this civil disobedience in action is inspiring. There are times I feel that no one in Washington DC is listening to us. These brave Representatives are. And John Lewis has more moral fiber in his little finger than Paul Ryan and all those who pander to the NRA combined.

They’re taking a stand. #HoldTheFloor #NoBillNoBreak

See? I’m using hashtags.

Moving on.

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The spirea, hydrangea, roses and clematis are in full bloom.

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The bee balm is just about to pop.

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Pretty roses.

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And just-about-to-open roses.

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Yarrow self-seeds and plants itself right in front of the chicken-wire-fence-garden, tall and strong and beautiful.

We are desperate for rain here. The rivers are low, the grass is getting brown, and we didn’t have much snow pack this winter. Everyone around here has a well that needs to be replenished.

It was supposed to rain today, but the forecast changed overnight. No rain. Maybe some on Monday. Fingers crossed.

Yesterday, I saw two mourning doves on the driveway. A pair. I wondered if my ‘lonesome dove’ had found a mate or if this was an already established pair. Later on in the day, I saw the dove on the edge of the birdbath:

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Such a gentle beauty.

Tomorrow is the big day. Will you stop by and leave a birthday wish for my sweetheart? I promise to shoot a little video of his reaction when he sees the Top Secret Project and I’ll probably share it with you on Saturday. I’m also putting together some photos of the whole project and I’ll write a separate post with all the sources and other pertinent information.

Happy Thursday.

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A Lovely Day, Indeed

Flowers, Fireflies, and Little Bunny

Civil Disobedience, Flowers & A Dove

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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