I will confess that February got by me without much reading. Each month I am posting my daughter-in-law’s AP English reading syllabus. I agreed to do the reading, but not the writing assignments. If you want to follow along, my first posts of each month have the syllabus. Each month the reading goes back in time from current days — to now Shakespeare.
I haven’t been able to focus probably thanks to surgery and recovery. Plus once I get done preparing taxes, I hope to do more reading.
So what is keeping me busy? Social events. Photography. Sitting in my backyard, watching birds while reading Amy Tan’s “Backyard Bird Chronicles.” Also, I downloaded the Merlin App and I am learning what bird’s songs and calls are what. The first bird identified was — you guessed it — a Northern Cardinal.
I’m fortunate with March’s reading list. I’ve read “Pride and Prejudice,” “Hamlet” and “The Tempest.” Whew! As far as watching “Clueless” I can do that. I had no idea it was based on Jane Austen’s “Emma.”
What plans do you have for March?
What have you read on this month’s reading syllabus?
Did you know that Clueless was based on Jane Austin? Or am I the clueless one?
I noticed a squirrel sitting on a rock across the pool in the morning sun. I like how the sunlight highlights his fur.
Count Your Blessings was how our weekly zoom call ended. Every Thursday, I have a zoom call with about a dozen other people where we discuss the world’s geopolitical problems, religion, local politics and news. We were on a dour note talking about how the world has changed from when we were young whippersnappers and how on earth our country is going to survive with 38 trillion dollars in debt.
Then one member of the group, who is a former history teacher and Jewish, said some insightful things, like there’s nothing new under the sun. If we think things are bad now, remember our country survived the Great Depression, World Wars and people of his faith faced the Holocaust.
He said to count our blessings. He said he looks forward to every Thursday morning to have an in depth discussion with a group of intelligent people who want to make a difference. He reminded us that none of us are homeless, we’re in good health, we have our families and our homes. He said in the Jewish faith they say blessings all day long. His favorite blessings are for bodily functions. He gives blessings that God has given him a miraculous body that still works!
I googled blessings because this was something new to me. I learned that people of Jewish faith aim to say 100 blessings a day.
We left the zoom call with positive feelings and gratitude for the important things in our lives.
A squirrel on a bench in our backyard.
I’m grateful for my family, my home and the wild creatures around me.
I spotted a Gila Woodpecker feeding somebody in the Saguaro Cactus nest.
He’s been going in and out the past few days. Maybe he’s preparing the nest, or there’s already babies in there.
I scared him away with my camera.
What are you grateful for today? What do you think of counting your blessings?
This was the entrance to our Palm Springs home of 28 years — inside our courtyard.
The courtyard photo above is inside this big gate.
We do have wonderful memories living there. When we moved in, I was pregnant with our first child. We raised our kids here and it was the only home they had growing up. We had swim banquets in the backyard. Plus, lots of kids over to play hide and seek and a game called sardines. We had several prom dinners and get togethers, too. So much good stuff.
But the last two years, 2019 and 2020, things changed. I was reminded of this with the creepy videos from Nancy Guthries Nest camera.
We had our own creepy guy. This is him. We called the police when we found him asleep in our courtyard on the steps to the backyard. For the first time in 26 years, we had to close our wooden gates daily and at night. They had metal rods that fell into the ground and could only be opened from the inside — or so we thought.
The police said his name was Marco and that he was harmless. But he thought he bought our house and left us notes that he’d physically remove us. My thoughts were that he was harmless until he wasn’t!
The pounding you hear is Marco breaking through the gates. Then he’d move to the steps and archway and pound on that lock.
He was relentless. Once he moved a barbecue into our courtyard. Every time we’d travel, I’d check the Nest feed and there he was. I’d go for walks to the park and when I’d return, Marco was in our yard. We had a friend’s daughter house and cat-sit for us while we were on vacation. She found a pile of blankets and called to ask if they were ours. No. She was terrified and her dad took over.
A neighbor helped us install padlocks on the gate. This is Marco checking out the gate in the daytime.
This was not top of mind until the Nancy Guthrie videos were shown. It’s scary to think there are so many people wandering around people’s houses at night. The police felt sorry for me because I was so frightened. They’d take Marco to jail and he’d be right back within two days. There wasn’t anything the police could do.
I prefer visitors like the bobcat above entering my yard, compared to Marco. I’m happy to be out in the wilds of Arizona with wildlife and not living downtown in Palm Springs.
Have you had strangers in your yard like Marco? If so, what did you do?
What are your thoughts about the Nancy Guthrie story?
I captured a few more bird photos that I really liked over the weekend. I like how I caught the dove in flight as it wanted to take over a spot at the bird feeder.
A house finch caught my eye in the Firestick plant. Then it flew to a cactus. I really like the background of the photos. I’m trying to focus on the overall photo rather than just the subject.
Which house finch photo do you like better?
This squirrel found a perfect spot to sit upon a rock.
I cleaned and refilled the bird bath and a mourning dove was much appreciative of my efforts.
Red is hanging out daily immediately after I fill the feeder.
I had a great visit with my daughter. My only complaint was that it was too short. The mountain passes are clear so her drive home shouldn’t be too bad. She motivated me to take better care of myself. She’s on me to ice and elevate more often — as well as continue with my PT for my ankle.
My daughter was impressed that when I go outside the birds arrive and sing. She said, “They recognize your voice! That’s amazing.”
The secret is to keep the bird feeders filled.
Here’s to a good week ahead and getting the taxes done!
I was excited to see these “exotic” birds. The color was so beautiful. I called my husband in to look at them. He told me they were pigeons. Oh well. It’s my first pigeon in my backyard.
Off he goes. I didn’t see them again.
Isn’t the color striking?
I spotted a sparrow enjoying the bird bath.
Then he was joined by friends.
The water was flying. Now they must feel nice and clean.
A mourning dove waited for the waves to chill before taking a turn at the bird bath.
A quail walks by the other side of the bird bath. He was not interested in it.
It looks like Mrs. is having a conversation with her reflection in the camera.
Red keeps an eye out for any intruder at the Bird Buddy feeder.
I’m excited for my daughter to arrive soon! She should be here by 10 a.m. today. We’re going to the farmer’s market in Carefree and cooking dinner together. It will be a short visit because she’s flying this morning then driving our second car back to the Bay Area. She’s gone two years carless and has decided to join the world of driving again.
We recommended she buy our car rather than a used car from a stranger. Our car is in excellent shape and has low mileage. She did ask us for the CARFAX history! There are winter storm warnings through the mountain passes for her to get home. I’m worried about that, but she said she’d stay extra days in So Cal if the storm is still a factor.
What are your plans for the weekend? Can you believe we’re almost through the month of February?
Not only did we get our second violation, the City of Scottsdale recycling cop came in person and knocked on our door to talk to us.
I wrote about our first offense and our bad, bad neighborhood along with coyotes HERE.
This time we were told we have one more chance at recycling. If we have three strikes we are OUT! The recycling police will take our bin away and we will put everything in the regular trash bin. This time it was plastic bags from the grocery store. I always thought they were supposed to be recycled, so I learned something new. I’m super careful about what gets recycled and break down all the boxes from Amazon that seem to be flowing freely to our house daily. It was a shock to get an in person visit.
On my small walk yesterday, I saw a neighbor had a pink slip on their recycling bin. I wanted to take a peek at what offense they had committed. I walked over to the bin to see what their pink slip said but my husband thought I was being nosy and objected.
On a brighter note, look at how the Christmas Cactus bloom I posted Wednesday looks today!
Here are a couple nature shots I took this week:
Mourning Doves at the bird bath.
The squirrels eat the blossoms on the barrel cactus.
Here’s looking at you, Red!
Have a great weekend! What are your plans for this second weekend of February?
I was given a Christmas Cactus by a friend four years ago. It looks pretty healthy, but until this past week, it’s never bloomed. Fellow blogger Busy Bee Suz who has a green thumb — which is something I lack — suggested that I move my Christmas Cactus. I moved it by the sliding glass door and a few weeks later it has two buds! How exciting is that?
While I switched from my 80-400 mm lens that I use to take Red and Mrs. photos to my 105mm Macro Lens, I took a few other photos. These were outside in the backyard.
We have three bougainvillea we planted a few months ago. They are thriving in the sun. In Palm Springs, we had bougainvillea that never took off. This is very encouraging!
Aren’t they beautiful?
Yesterday was my first day I managed to take a little walk post surgery. I was disappointed because my foot hurt in my tennis shoes. I had to wear flip flops with very little support. My foot is bruised and a little swollen so the tennis shoes rubbed my foot and were a no go!
It felt good to move around even though it was a short walk. My husband and I like to walk and talk. I shared a memory with him from my childhood. It was good to laugh together.
The Memory
When I was three and my brother was five, we went as a family to a church retreat camp staying in a tiny cabin in the woods of Washington. There were families from our Presbyterian church as well as ones from other parts of the state. Along with the small cabins, there was a meeting hall where we gathered as a group.
I remember sitting in the first row with my family, when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to share something with the group. My brother jumped up. He grabbed the microphone and belted out “Edelweiss” from the Sound of Music! I wonder what my parents thought? As his worshipping little sister, I was so proud.
“Blossom of snow May you bloom and grow Bloom and grow forever…”
These lyrics were stuck in my head after photographing the blossoms above. That’s probably why I remembered this blast from the past.
We have lots of these cacti in our yard. They are only about three feet tall, much smaller than saguaro — although they look similar. I think they are called Cardon Cacti and they are spikier than saguaro cacti.
Do you have any silly memories to share from your childhood?
What would you have thought as my parents when my brother sang Edelweiss?
