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?
I don’t know where January went. Probably because I’ve been laid up for half the month. It went pretty quickly, although some days dragged on and on for me. The Bird Buddies have been keeping me company. There’s always plenty to watch and enjoy with the birds and squirrels in our backyard.
I have a pretty busy week ahead so more time will fly. I can’t believe it’s time to post another reading list. I am getting further and further behind with my Daughter In Law’s syllabus for AP English. I had agreed to read along with her class, but I have a feeling I’ll be reading well into the summer to catch up!
READING LIST:
I’m looking forward to reading Emily Dickinson and Shelley’s “Ode to a Skylark.” Dickinson was one of my mom’s favorite poets. And because it’s a new month, my mom is on my mind. I’ve shared this before, but we called each other at the beginning of each month to say “Happy February First” or whatever month it was. It was a race to be able to say it first. I miss her. She was an avid bird watcher and when she was in high school she created a book of all the birds she’d seen along with sketches and paintings of them, much like “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” by Amy Tan. I can’t help but think she’s smiling down on me pleased with my bird photos.
Happy February to you!
What have you read on this months reading list?
One more photo of Red. He likes the birdseed that I’m buying. It has a photo of a Cardinal on the front of the bag.
One of my favorite actresses passed away this weekend. I believe we are all mourning the loss of such a talented actress. (This image is free and may be used by anyone for any purpose. This file is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)
Diane Keaton was a resident of Southern California and she owned a home in Palm Springs, which she and her family used for vacations. Her daughter was a swimmer, like my kids, and we’d be surprised to see Keaton on our pool deck during holidays. Just like other swim families, kids often drop in on local teams while the family has vacation. There’s not many days of missing practice in the swim world.
One year at Summer Junior Olympics in Mission Viejo, I spotted Diane Keaton on the pool deck. She was dressed in her usual Annie Hall attire. I learned this weekend that Hall was her maiden name and Annie was her nickname. Also, that her personal wardrobe was used for the movie of the same name.
Other parents at the Mission Viejo pool spotted Diane Keaton that weekend, too. Within minutes there was a murmer around the pool deck that Diane Keaton was there!
One of the dad’s from our team was face to face with Diane Keaton. He said, “You look just like that actress…” He couldn’t remember her name.
“Diane Keaton,” she said.
“Yeah, that it’s it. Diane Keaton. You know you really look like her.”
“I am Diane Keaton,” she replied.
He didn’t believe her. Keaton asked him if he wanted a selfie with her. She took the selfie with his phone. That dad rushed back to our pop-up tent and blurted to the group of parents, “I just got a picture with a woman who looks just like Diane Keaton.”
We all answered in unison, “That IS Diane Keaton.”
What a special person she was who didn’t put on airs for being famous, but wanted to live a quiet private life in spite of being an iconic figure and major actor.
Palm Springs annual Easter Egg Hunt in Ruth Hardy Park. My kids are standing on the right with their friends.
When my kids were young, they’d mispronounce a few words. Sometimes, we’d continue to say words the way they did. Eventually those “words” were adopted into our family’s lexicon.
Take the color “lallow.” That’s how my daughter said yellow.
I pushed my son in his stroller downtown Laguna Beach before little sister was born. He said “high gone” or “Hai Gòn.” I was confused at what he was saying. We stopped in our favorite bakery/deli and I bought him a chicken drumstick. He raised it high in the air and said “high gone!” To him, it looked like a helicopter. Chicken drumsticks became “high gones” in our family.
My daughter kept asking me for chicken when she was a toddler. I’d cook baked chicken, chicken and dumplings and every type of chicken I knew how to cook. She was always upset because it was the wrong chicken.
One day I made pan fried sole. My daughter said, “That is the chicken I like.” So we called sole “that chicken.” We still do.
What words did you or your children use that were unusual?
Happy birthday to my sweet, funny and witty daughter.
Kat in a dry suit at the beach with big brother Robert.
I love this photo of my daughter because it shows her personality. I used to write about her all the time. But she told me to stop it. She said “I’m not your content.”
We used to spend summers in Laguna Beach to escape the high heat of Palm Springs (most days are over 110 degrees and some days reach 125 degrees!) Those are my favorite memories. My husband would be stuck working at home, except for weekends, while I took the kids to play in the waves and sand during the week. My daughter was a little princess and hated to wear a wet suit as a toddler. She’d strip naked as soon as her suit got wet. I brought a bag full of swim suits to keep her comfortable and clothed.
Now she’s a sufficient adult, working and making ends meet. She’s interested in comedy and has taken classes in writing comedy as well as stand up. She’s courageous enough to have performed live on stage in San Francisco. I can’t say how proud I am of her to do that! Talk about taking a leap and getting out of your comfort zone. But maybe it is in her comfort zone?
There’s a sad side to her birthday for her and many of us. A friend she had in college shared the same birthday. I wrote about Lauren McCluskey HERE. I’m now making an annual donation to the foundation her mother set up in Lauren’s memory ever since I found out Lauren and my daughter shared birthdays. Lauren was shot and murdered while talking to her mother on the phone, walking home from night class. There’s a lot more to the story that is really hard.
I am so grateful to have my daughter in my life. I can’t imagine the pain that Lauren’s mother goes through on her birthday and every day.
Here’s a link to the Lauren McCluskey Foundation if you care to make a donation on her birthday. https://laurenmccluskey.org/
Two blog posts I read this week had me reminiscing about our cabin in the woods. I’m referring to Wynne Leon and Brian Hannon who have their own blogs as well as writing for The Heart of the Matter. Here’s Brian’s post about a cabin on Writing From the Heart with Brian. Wynne’s blog is called Surprised By Joy and that is a link to her post about a recent vacation in a cabin.
Both of their cabin stories hit a soft spot in my heart. The photo above is the cabin my mom and dad built before I was born. My dad designed it and mom and dad used their own two hands to bring the idea to life. The large-paned windows came from my grandmother’s shops in Marysville, Wash. The cabin was located in Robe Valley on the Stilliguamish River.
I say “was located,” because years ago my brother and I decided to tear it down. It had been repeatedly broken into, trashed and even lit on fire. It was a hazard. All that remains is the beautiful property and the fireplace.
Our property on the Stilaguamish River. That’s Mount Pilchuck in the background.The road to our cabin through the woods.
I have many memories from my cabin when I was very young. There used to be a sandy beach that I loved on the edge of the river. As you can see the river has changed — it’s all rocky.
We fished, rode the rapids on air mattresses with friends and jumped off the giant rock into the river. We used our cabin in the summer. There was no running water, no electricity, but it did have an outhouse. I remember fishing early in the morning and late in the afternoons. Mom would fry trout on the wood burning stove. Outside the cabin was a pump for water.
We spent my early days with grandma and other relatives. It was a gathering place. Then as we got a little older, my brother and I got to bring friends to the cabin for weekends.
There was a certain smell of evergreens at Robe along with a musty tinge inside the cabin. It had one room with steep stairs to a loft and the balcony overlooking the river.
My grandma was an artist and painted a picture of the cabin as well as one of me playing in the sand.
You can see the giant rock we’d jump off of across the river.
Here’s the sandy beach plus the large glass windows in this painting.
The story I heard from Mom was that her father bought a mile of riverfront property during the Great Depression. He envisioned it as a place where family would gather for generations. He gave parcels of land to his three children, plus to other relatives. When they first started using Robe, the family stayed in “The Lodge” which was formerly a post office for the town of Robe. Robe was once a silver mining town with a railroad. When my grandfather bought property there in the Great Depression nothing of the town was left, except the abandoned post office building.The road into Robe is straight and was the railroad line. I’d like to research history of Robe. I see a project in my future to find out more.
My extended family on my Mom’s side holds an annual family reunion at Robe each summer. I’ve gone a few times, but mostly I don’t go. I honestly don’t know the ever growing family except for my aunt and first cousins.
On my mom’s birthday two years ago, my aunt and I drove up to Robe to spread her ashes in a place my mom loved. I wrote about that HERE.
What special memory do you have from childhood of a family place you’d visit or spend vacation?
