For Lent this year I am doing Pray40, which is on the Hallow app. On Sundays, Father Mike Schmitz gives a Bible reading and homily. Yesterday, the theme was “Looking for Joy.” Father Mike mentioned the following quote:
“Suspicion often creates what it suspects.” C.S. Lewis from the “Screwtape Letters.”
My major takeaway was that if we often find what we’re looking for. If we’re looking to be disappointed, most likely we will be. Distrust can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. I realized that life truly is what we make of it. It’s was a reminder that our attitudes can be our destiny. If we look for joy, we can find it.
I’m sharing some bits of joy I had this week, birdwatching at home:
The joyful couple together at the Bird Buddy AI feeder.
I watched as Red fed Mrs. and then gave her a turn at the feeder, but I wasn’t fast enough with the camera to capture it. It was heartwarming though!
Quail Egg Update:
I’ve only peeked a couple times on our quail nest. Last week I said we had four eggs. We’re now up to a dozen! I wrote about our quail nest HERE.
When I fill the Bird Buddy feeder I sometimes spill a bit of bird seed. Then if a quail gets into the feeder, he kicks the seed down to the ground and all his buddies show up.
I mentioned this in a comment to blogger Edward Ortiz and he said he’d like me to post a video of it in action. I finally got a quail to cooperate and jump in the feeder and kick the seed out. As you can see from the photo above the buddies were more than happy to show up for their part. If you want to read some insightful, well written pieces about leadership, history, religion, and current events — check out his blog.
It’s not the best video, you mostly see his topnot bouncing around. But if you wait he’s gives a good kick on the birdseed. It’s interesting that the quail on the ground often use their feet to scratch and look for more food.
Red isn’t one to kick birdseed to the ground — or share!
I’ve got a busy week ahead with some long days. I hope I have the energy! I’m looking forward to Friday when our daughter visits from Berkeley!
This is the view from our small, local grocery store. It was a bright, sunny day and the mountain just popped out at me. What a beautiful location in Carefree. Although I loved the lush jungle Hawaiian scenery on vacation, I enjoy my desert landscapes, too.
So what was odd?
I got a change of address notification from USPS by email. It was from a stranger who decided to use our address to forward his mail from Virginia. Then I got a confirmation from USPS by snail mail and started getting this stranger’s mail. I took it to my favorite postal worker in Carefree and he filled out several forms to stop the mail forwarding.
I wonder how if you’re moving you enter a wrong address? Or, does this guy plan on moving into our casita? Maybe we will have a tenant?
Kidding aside, according to the postal worker, the guy entered the address online. He must have made a typo. Somedays I get a stack of mail, other days nothing. I’m sure when this person moves, he will figure out what his address is.
A bronze statue of a cowboy and horse in the Carefree Desert Gardens. A bronze sculpture by Arthur Norby titled, Stampede. This is close to our post office.
What else seemed odd?
We have a small chest freezer from Costco in our garage. My husband had this idea that meat prices were going to go up a few years ago. So he wanted to buy the freezer and stock it up with protein from Costco. We have enough steaks, chicken, and pork to probably last a lifetime.
Do I have to admit that my husband was right? Meat prices went up.
The freezer is plugged into a plug that shines bright green. This is handy because the GFI goes out when we have thunder and lightening. We know by looking at the plug if the freezer is working or not.
So to move on with my other odd occurrence, we woke up one morning this week with no green light on the freezer. There was no storm….but the meat was softening up. I managed to throw away a bunch of stuff we no longer eat, like Jimmy Dean Breakfast Sausage Sandwiches (too much sodium and calories) and a few things from Costco that we thought we’d like, but didn’t.
The beef, pork, oxtails and chicken I managed to save. I’m lucky we have the casita fridge. Plus, the former owners of our house left us fridge/freezer in the garage. I’m glad I didn’t get rid of it, because the day the freezer went out, so did the main fridge in our kitchen. It felt like I spent the day shuffling and rescuing food! On the bright side, I cleaned out all the fridges and freezers. I’m starting the year of with a clean slate. What are the odds that two units would go out on the same day, but for different reasons?
We had to get the GFI replaced. We hired an electrician who is married to one of my kids’ swim friends from childhood. They came out with their 10-week baby! What a wonderful visit. We went to their wedding last year and baby shower. The baby is adorable.
We found our own Stampede in a gallery in Carefree. The local artist only made about 10 of the replicas.
I took this photo years ago during a summer vacation in Santa Barbara. I can tell by the length of our son’s hair, he and his now wife (girlfriend at this time) were in college at UC Santa Barbara. He let his hair grow in college but cut it after graduation and starting his career. Our daughter did too!
Our daughter was in college at Utah but visited us during our summer vacation. We were waiting for friends to join us for lunch when I snapped this pic with my phone.
This week we are under one roof with these three and I’m taking the week off to be present in the moment! Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, Hanukkah or any other celebration and wonderful week with your loved ones.
P.S. I did make a short post for Wednesday, Christmas Eve with a beautiful Christmas song if you want to check it out.
I was reading Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” as part of my DIL’s syllabus for her AP English students. I had agreed to read along with her class. I wrote about that HERE and HERE. In the introduction to the play, there was a mention of Inge Morath who married Arthur Miller after his divorce to Marilyn Monroe. I had never heard of Morath. I didn’t know Miller married a photographer.
I had to prepare a presentation to share either my photos with my photography class — or introduce a photographer to my classmates. I looked at Inge Morath’s work and thought “this is it!”
Below is information I used as crib notes to share with the class. I talked off the cuff, but glanced down at the material for reference. I’m not posting my favorite photos of hers, because they are not in the public domain. The Inge Morath Foundation owns them. Instead I’ll post links to her work so you can explore them on your own.
I especially like her iconic llama photo she took for Life magazine, her bicycles in China and her photos from movie set of The Misfits — where she met her husband-to-be Arthur Miller. Miller wrote “The Misfits” for his wife Marilyn Monroe.
Here are the Inge Morath notes*:
Inge Morath (1923–2002) was an Austrian-born photographer known for her intimate and expansive portraits of people and cultures across the globe, who became one of the first female members of the Magnum photo agency. After surviving WWII, she worked as a photo editor before becoming a photographer in 1951, and later co-published several books with her husband, playwright Arthur Miller, whom she married in 1962. Her work includes documenting the sets of films like The Misfits, and capturing intimate portraits of artists, writers, and everyday people.
Early life and career: Morath was born in Austria in 1923 and grew up in Germany during the Nazi era. She became fluent in several languages, and after the war, worked as a translator and journalist. She began her career in photography after working as a photo editor for Magnum, where she learned by studying the work of photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Magnum photographer: Morath became a full member of Magnum in 1953 and was a pioneering female photographer in the male-dominated agency. She traveled extensively for her work, documenting life in countries like the Soviet Union and China, often preparing extensively by studying local languages and cultures.
Work and style: Her work is characterized by its cosmopolitanism, literary influences, and the intimacy she achieved with her subjects, whether they were famous artists like Louise Bourgeois or actors on a film set. She was known for both large documentary projects and candid, poetic moments, such as the staged but famous “A llama in Times Square” photo, which she documented for Life magazine.
Marriage to Arthur Miller: After meeting on the set of The Misfits, she married playwright Arthur Miller in 1962, with whom she had two children, Rebecca and Daniel. They collaborated on several projects, including the books In Russia and Chinese Encounters. Morath continued her own projects throughout their marriage, and she and Miller were married for 40 years until her death in 2002.
*I had copied and pasted pages of information about Inge Morath. I was editing it down to something manageable when AI popped up with the condensed version. I’m terribly anti AI, but in this instance it was a welcome aid! I guess there is some use for AI after all.
If you looked at Inge Morath’s photos, which did you like and why?
What thoughts do you have about AI? Do you think it’s useful or a crutch?
Saturday four Harris’s Hawks flew in and out of my backyard. I enjoyed getting their photos, but unfortunately never captured them taking off. They are so dramatic in flight, but I’m too slow with the camera.
I noticed they were panting! I’ve never see a bird pant before. You’ll notice on several of these pictures that their tongues are hanging out! Maybe they cool off just like dogs do through their tongues.
They are such majestic, beautiful birds. And no little birds were bothered during their recent visit.
Along with the top photo, this hawk was panting.
This guy looks like he’s posing for me!
Another panting hawk!
This was the last guy left in my yard. Then he flew on the neighbor’s chimney. Unfortunately, I missed the flight from our fence to the roof.
I had to look up if the Harris’s Hawks were actually panting — or if it was some other type of behavior. Here’s what I found:
Yes, Harris’s hawks do pant. Panting is a common avian behavior used to regulate body temperature, especially in hot weather or after exertion. Harris’s hawks, like other birds, rely on panting to cool down when they overheat, according to the National Audubon Society.
There you have it. Harris’s Hawks do pant when they get hot. We’ve had temperatures hovering around 110 degrees. Yes, I’d be panting too if I was out of our AC.
Have you heard of birds panting before?
What other animals do you suppose pant when they’re hot?
This quail poppa was standing guard over his wife and young ones.
I’ve been nervous about traveling to a wedding this week. It’s in Northern California and the venue is in a Redwood Forest. I was supposed to go to a wedding in the same venue for a good friend’s daughter. My daughter was a bridesmaid. But, I ended up having surgery the day before after I fell and broke my ankle.
I’m cleared to travel by my doctor. But I didn’t feel up to it and I stressed all week. Right now I’m sitting at the airport. I went through security fine and was excited that we no longer have to take off our shoes. However, they made me take off my ankle brace because it had metal in it. That meant my shoes and brace had to come off. It’s a complicated brace with three layers of laces and velcro straps.
Next, our flight was delayed two times. I feel like this trip wasn’t meant to be. But it’s for our Palm Springs friends who moved one mile from us in Arizona. They have three daughters and one son. This is their fourth wedding in two years!
Hopefully, we’ll get on the plane and headed to our destination!
Happy August First! My mom and I played a game that one the first day of the month, we’d call and try to be the first to wish each other “Happy First Day of the Month.”
