Tag Archives: Arizona

Seeing Red

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My dear friend Red.

I was walking outside to photograph cacti on the side of our driveway when Red called. I was focusing on the cacti when I realized that Red was singing to me! I looked up at him in the tree and said, “Hey Red!”

He took off in flight for the backyard. I ran into the house, grabbed the bag of bird seed and found him waiting for me on the fence by our Bird Buddy feeder. I filled it with birdseed and stepped away, but not too far. Red wasn’t scared. He cocked his head this way and that, watching me. I sat on a bench close by, ready to take more photos.

Darn! I thought looking down at my camera strapped around my neck. I wish I had my telephoto lens.

I stood up slowly, walked back into the house to switch my lens to telephoto. When I returned, Red was still there. I was closer to Red than I had ever been before to take photos.

Here are some of the better pics of Red:

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5. A series of three photos

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I can’t tell you what an ethereal feeling it was to be so close to Red for yesterday’s photo session. I was shooting cacti and plants at different ISOs for this week’s photography assignment. Then Red showed up and I used him for my subject.

Do you have a bird or wildlife friend who you see often?

Which are your favorite photos of Red and why?

So…What are you giving up for Lent?

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March 5 is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of 40 days and 40 nights of Lent for many Christians. What are you giving up? Or more importantly, what are you going to do?

Three things I learned about Lenten season 10 years ago by Father Lincoln at Sacred Heart Church in Palm Desert stayed with me. He said to fast on Ash Wednesday and Fridays, carve out more time for daily prayer, and do good works. He never mentioned giving anything up.

Yes, I’ll be hungry Wednesday and probably every Friday, craving a fat juicy steak that I’d normally not care about. It’s a funny thing when you can’t have something, you fixate on it.

Second, I will find time to pray more. I believe that prayers make a difference in this world. A few months ago, I downloaded an app on my phone you may have heard about called Hallow. I signed up for their Lenten prayers, which I will listen to and pray with every day throughout Lent. They will have prayers every day given by everyone from a priest, to a former minister to Gwen Stefani and Marky Mark. Currently, I’m listening to their Bible in a Year podcast and I’m on day 109. I find it so helpful for my daily life.

Third, there is the part about doing good works. I think that is most difficult of all.  Off the top of my head I don’t know what “good works” I can do. However, I am confident that if I keep my eyes open and look around me, I’ll see small ways where I can make a difference. 

I remember when my daughter was in kindergarten at her Catholic school. The kids had to tell the class what they were giving up for Lent. She said piano lessons! She hated piano.

I’d like to know what you are doing for Lent. If you think about doing good works, what would they be?

A New Pet — Sort Of

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I’ve been heartbroken since I had to say good-bye to Olive, my daughter’s cat, who I adopted after she left for college. Olive was a highlight of my quiet life in Arizona. Since we said good-bye to her in November, I’ve noticed a Bird Buddy who is wiggling into my heart.

No, I’m not getting another cat or dog. My son has asthma and allergies. I wasn’t getting rid of Olive because our son seemed okay in our new house — until his last visit. I guess a few years’ worth of cat dander added up. I won’t subject him to a new cat or dog. If I did, he’d probably skip visiting us altogether.

So here’s my new pet. Like I said, sort of. He waits for me every morning to fill the feeder. He’s first to rush in for his fill of seeds. Then I hear him sing and flit around the yard for a few hours. He comes back at the end of the day. We spend time looking at each other. I find myself imitating his tilt of the head and he tilts back at me.

My husband asked what I was going to name him. I chose Ollie but my husband thinks it’s too close to Olive. Which was the point, I might add. His idea was Kramer due to the Cardinal’s hair do. I might settle on Cosmo, which was Kramer’s first name in Seinfeld. Or, I’ll stick to Ollie. Time will tell.

We used to have a Cardinal couple who frequented the bird feeder. The females are not as colorful is how you tell them apart. This Cardinal is alone all the time. I don’t know if he was part of the couple who used to stop by. Cardinals mate for life, so I sure hope he didn’t lose his wife.

Cardinals have a beautiful song and I always know when my new sort of pet is near.

Here’s a video from my Bird Buddy AI feeder:

What do you think of the choices of names for my new bird buddy?

What frequent visitors do you have from nature to enhance your lives?

Taking a Hawkish Break

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Yesterday morning I took a few minutes from my super busy week to capture Harris Hawks on a Century plant. I was so excited to see them. There were three altogether. This is the final picture of my series when one was alone.

I spotted three Harris Hawks out the window. I let myself out of the casita on the opposite end of the house and quietly and stealthily made my way along the house hiding in corners. I snapped photos, while behind a pillar support for our patio overhang. Then I made it to one support even closer. Eventually, I sat down smack dab in plain sight at an outside table across from them.

The top hawk took off before I could get a picture. This is second hawk I caught in flight. Look at how aerodynamic his wings are.

Second hawk landed on the wall.

Here’s my first photo from a greater distance away, catching all three hawks on a Century Plant.

The moments outside photographing hawks broke up my super busy week, which I wrote a bit about HERE. The time in my backyard with the hawks charged me up for my last busy day of the week. I’m ready for a break now!

What helps you get through a busy day or week?

How do you relax and recharge?

A different perspective

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“There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” ― Aldous Huxley

My Christmas present from my husband was a macro lens. Above is my first photo using my new lens. It’s of the Christmas candle my children gave me.

I wanted this lens because of my mom, who passed January 1, 2023. She was an avid photographer and this was the lens she used most. She loved to take close-ups of nature like mushrooms, wild flowers and sea creatures. Our house was decorated with her amazing photos. I wonder where they are now?

Instead of buying the lens for myself, after dusting off my Nikon after 10 years of unuse, I decided to sign up for a photography class. My class starts later this month and runs through May. I thought by the end of the class, if I had mastered the basics of photography, I’d be worthy of owning the lens.

But with the Christmas gift, I have been trying out the lens. I’m enjoying different close-ups to distance shots.

Here are some of my photos from this week:

A barrel cactus

Barrel cactus close-up.

Elephant feed next to our garage. Quail laid eggs in the planter while we were out of town. They abandoned the eggs after we returned with our car.

Close-up of Elephant feed.

Poinsettia

Close-up

Moroccan Mound is the succulent in the foreground. The purple beavertail cactus is behind the Moroccan Mound — and is the purple plant. 😉

Now for the close-ups:

Moroccan Mound close-up

Purple beavertail close-up, complete with a cobweb I couldn’t see with my own eyes.

After trying out my new lens, I thought about how a different perspective can help us through our days and challenges. Sometimes it’s useful to take a step back, or to take a closer look.

“Look at everything as though you are seeing it either for the first or last time, then your time on earth will be filled with glory.” ― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

When have you changed your point of view or perspective?

Do you prefer a close up view — or looking at the big picture?

Clearing the way for a New Year

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I hang onto old tennis shoes, even when I get a new pair. My reasoning is this: I’ll wear them at the beach. I’ll wear them doing yard work. I’ll wear them sometime.”

Guess what? It never happens. With daily walking I need new shoes every year. Sometimes twice a year, if they don’t hold up. A collection of worn out shoes with holes on the inside line my closet shoe shelf.

To ring in the New Year, I threw these old puppies out. I looked around my closet and found lots of shoes, dresses, and random clothing that I haven’t worn in years. Or ever. I will clear it out and deliver clothing to the Phoenix Dream Center that helps victims of sex trafficking. They have a clothing closet — which is a room with donated clothing that they can browse through and take whatever they want. The residents of the Dream Center, former sex trafficking victims, rotate working and organizing the inventory. I’ve written about the Phoenix Dream Center “Where Hope Lives” HERE.

The other clearing out I’ve done the last two days has to do with paperwork. Stacks of papers that I didn’t want to file in the moment, but squirreled away in a casita kitchen cabinet. “Out of sight, out of mind.” I don’t think my kids were impressed when they opened the cabinet. Most of it can be thrown out since everything is online these days.

Now that the paperwork is taken care of, I found another category of excess to toss. Cleaning products that I don’t need in Arizona. I moved a ton from Palm Springs, December 2020.

I think because we spend a fortune on these items, like cleaning products, tennis shoes and clothing, it’s hard to get rid of them.

It feels good to start the New Year fresh with the cobwebs of my life cleared out!

What do you you hold onto that you don’t need or use?

What are you doing to start the New Year fresh?

What would you do?

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Sunrise view from our backyard.

If you only had two months left to live, what would you do?

That’s what my neighbor learned Thursday. He sent an email to his golfing foursome and told them he had been diagnosed that day with brain cancer and had two months to live. He added that he planned on golfing Monday, Wednesday and Friday as normal.

I received an email from my friend, his wife, that she wouldn’t be attending any of our women’s group events because her husband had cancer and didn’t have long to live.

I passed their house during my walk Friday when I spotted them walking out their front door. They both waved to me.

I walked up to them and said, “I just want to give both of you a hug.”

The husband said, “We could use hugs right now.” The wife and I burst into tears. Then he asked me to look out for his wife and call her often.

“Of course,” I said, stunned that he was so calm, collected and more concerned about his wife than himself.

“What did I do to deserve this beautiful man?” my friend said through tears. “I’m grateful for the years I had him in my life.”

He really is one of the kindest, sweetest men I’ve ever met. He always has a smile on his face and seems genuinely interested in you.

Their answer to the question of what would you do with two months left is to get their affairs in order. Live life as they always do — in love, appreciating each other and enjoying the little moments of each day.

What would you do?

Sunset.