"Blursday"

Do you suffer from blursday? While I'd never heard the term before we had lunch with Bill and Lisa last Monday, it is most definitely going into my lexicon going forward.  Can it really be February 25 already? Apparently so; the days pass one to another with such regularity. Well, duh, of course they do! Bruce and I took a mini-trip this past week during which time I kept asking what day it was. 

But, before we get into the mini-trip,  I need to put some events down for posterity. First off, there are a few new green sprouts on our front tree which brings a sigh of relief to us both. 

Oh look a darling little bird perched in said tree! Speaking of which, there will be plenty in this post because, well, because we have seen a bunch! We took another trip out to the OWP in the late afternoon to take advantage of different lighting. Both of us brought a camera along.

There was a lot to photograph indeed. I am gaining a new appreciation for Wood Storks with their emerald wings. I'll overlook their weird heads to gaze at that beautiful wing span.

The cypress needles are falling leaving a reddish carpet atop the shallow water on the ponds below.

Instead of the sun being behind the Spoonbills, we were afforded beautiful afternoon lighting and a very willing subject.

Actually there were gobs of willing subjects, however, we wanted to get home before dark, so did not do our usual walk around. Just to break things up a bit, here's a youngster for you.

Being wannabe citizen scientists, for the next four days we participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, and was it ever fun! It is neat being a part of something that is done worldwide by folks like us. Don't know what it is? Here is the info. Pretty much we counted birds on all four days, beginning with a trip to Kissimmee to see the famed eagles nest. Arriving around 9:30 in the morning, it is in a large tree in front of an elementary school. Not hard to miss at all because it is huge!! We circled the nest hoping to see the eaglets and were not disappointed as they raised up into view after a bit.

As you can see, they are all blackish when young, and I think remain that way for awhile. Both parents came and went, keeping a close watch out for trouble. That said, the only time I've heard of a bird causing an eagle real trouble is when I learned that a pair of Great Horned Owls kicked some eagles out of their nest in Greenwood Cemetery. Hard to believe, but I'm assured that it is a true story.

New lens in action! We did a little exploring in a nearby park close to downtown where we saw or heard birds, but the best find of them all was when this Snail Kite flew in. Oh yeah baby!

Roaming around the main streets of downtown Kissimmee, I was super impressed with their bold use of street art to bring otherwise bland buildings to life. You knew I would like this one.

It does not get much more vibrant than the one below.

That was Friday's outing. The weather was pleasant, but it has warmed up considerably since then. As I type this, Saturday afternoon following a fun and hot morning of pickleball, it is 87 degrees! Yikes, we need more winter!

Back to last Saturday afternoon, we drove over to Lake Davis to count birds and were not disappointed. Will it surprise you to learn that we counted 275??? Maybe I should give credit where credit is due because it was Bruce, not me, who carried a pad around and marked it all down!! From there we went over to Lake Cherokee where we counted even more, including these Egyptian Geese immersed in the duckweed.

Common Grackles might not be on the top of anyone's list of favorite birds, but in the right lighting, their color is very, very nice.

Which brings up an interesting point when it comes to birds. They are crazy hard to identify because they have various color plumages during the year and oftentimes, the male and female look not much alike. The Mallard ducks below are a case in point. As is oftentimes the case, the male is the most colorful of a pair.

They could not look any more different right? 

On Sunday we played hooky from church. Okay, I will fess up and take the blame.  Somehow I wasted too much time looking at pictures, leaving me little, to no time, to wash my hair so that was that. Instead, we counted more birds. I needed to make a second visit to Lake Davis hoping that the Pied Bill Grebe and her family would be in good light and closer to shore. Those little ones are so crazy looking with their almost tiger stripes. While they were closer you will definitely want to enlarge the photo to see for yourself.

From there we went over to the Wetland Park adjacent to Greenwood Cemetery. Again the birds were plentiful, so you know what that means, don't you? Indeed.

A very small Downey Woodpecker above, and a very large Pileated Woodpecker below.

I could hear it, but finding it amongst all the tree branches was what gave me a fit. A Blue Jay having a drink.

Merlin is the name of the free app for identification, and eBird is what I used to enter it to add to the worldwide total.  The great thing is that Merlin has three different ways to identify birds, one of which is to answer five questions, the other is to record the song, and the third is to share a photograph. Bruce used all three during our trip this past week that I'm dying to tell you about but I was also dying to tell you about all of the above too. Trying to maintain sequential posts. :)

After birding we went downtown for lunch, a rarity these days; not the out to lunch part, but the downtown part. It is far more crowded than when we spent our Sundays down there, that's for sure. At any rate, we landed at Rusteak and it was an excellent choice. Sitting on the outside patio, we enjoyed the shade and had some yummy food. Inside I noticed this super cool chandelier.

Ha ha, I just noticed they are missing a bulb. At first look I thought they were musical instruments, but on second thought, maybe it is just meant to look like one?

Pickleball Monday morning, followed by a very fun lunch with Bill and Lisa at Johnny's Otherside. 

In town from Live Oak to visit their grandchildren, we talked and laughed for several hours. As I recall it was Bill who introduced the term "blursday" and I may be remembering it that way because he has had a way over the years of coining some funny sayings. Back when our children were young, he used to have his kids, thus ours as well, say roaches when having their picture made. It never failed to elicit a smile.

While on the subject of our boys, my heart melts whenever this photo pops up, as it did recently. 

When I look in the mirror, or try to get up off of the floor for that matter, I have to remind myself that I was once young and vibrant because I sure don't look it or feel it sometimes. Never one to sink into a pity party, I then remind myself that two of my sisters will never have the opportunities that I have for fun again. And boy did we have fun on our trip to Apalachicola or Apalach as the locals call it. Or so we learned.

Soon you will be seeing what we saw. Until we meet again...I remain,

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Here is a link to last year's post at this time.  Sadly the war continues and the dove pin remains fastened to my clothing. Not helping though. 

View From My Window

Last year I was made aware of a Facebook group called "View From My Window" and if my memory serves me, which we all know is not guaranteed, I touted the wonder of it at the time. Begun in the early days of the pandemic it was meant to simulate travel for all of us who were mostly housebound. Well, it is still going strong and the views I have seen from around the world, those of ordinary people, have been  not only beautiful but eye opening as well.  What I so like about it is that it is the antithesis of what I've generally been shown on the news about life in places around the world.  Who knew that in Kabul, beautiful backyard gardens remain intact? Of late, instead of just a photo, individual stories are included, some life affirming and some not so much. What it has shown me is that our sameness far outweighs our differences. And while not all of these photos are from my window, they aren't too far from that concept. Most of them anyway!

Honestly, this time of year the sunrises are magical changing from one day to the next.

That is if we are meant to have clear weather and by that I mean no rain. Mostly that has held true, but last Thursday night it began raining and I swear it brought back memories of Vancouver as it went on and on and on, lasting all day and into the night. 4.5 inches worth.

I think every one I know was going a little stir crazy as we are accustomed to outdoor activities on most days! No pickleball for us that day and neither did we play on Saturday morning as the courts were soaked. Some diehards did later  in the morning but by then it was on to college football for us. 

Along with beautiful sunrises, there are more ducks than in the summer. 

Bruce gathered up some fallen logs and made a few perches for our duck friends.

Roaming the shoreline I saw a turtle in the water scurrying to deeper waters.

In part I've been roaming in order to practice with the Panasonic camera that had been collecting dust. Every now and again I get a good shot with it, but I trash far more than I keep!

I have been traveling the world through photographs, I've been doing the same with literature. Here's what I've read lately:

• Heatwave by Victor Jestin   A French novella about a young man's split second choice and the mental consequences of such.
• Three O'Clock in the Morning by Gianrico Carofiglio  Another short novel written by an Italian novelist about a father and son becoming more acquainted through extraordinary circumstances.
• Heaven and Earth by Paolo Giordanao  More young people living in a commune type environment set in the Italian countryside. 
• Songs for the Flames by Juan Gabriel Vasquez is a collection of short stories mostly set in Columbia.

The above all written by men and the two novels I mentioned recently were written by an English and Scottish woman. I'm an equal opportunity reader as long as the story is good! Soon I will be re-reading our talented British son-in-law Tom's novel that he has been working on and is requesting opinions before it goes to an agent. This is so exciting! He's changed the title a few times and you know me, I could not resist suggesting even more options that were politely declined. Ha ha! While I enjoy writing, I have zero imagination when it comes to fiction and maybe that is why I love it so much. Anyway, I anxiously await the arrival. Finally, after two long years, we will be seeing them in person when they come in late December for a short Christmas holiday. Aren't we ever so fortunate to have FaceTime which has done an admirable job keeping us connected? Obviously not the same as in person, but certainly better than email.

Is time flying by for you? My goodness it is for us. Imagine that Thanksgiving is only weeks away. Speaking of time, Mary wanted some images for her new place that were taken on our lake now that she lives on it too so I spent some time in my library looking for anything worthy. Well, lo and behold, I came across the photograph that I took of our tree when it first went into the ground. Oh my goodness has it grown since March of 2019!

Just the other morning I'm pretty sure I saw a female Baltimore Oriole in it along with a couple of Tufted Tit Mouse. A few days earlier Bruce got on the steps and trimmed some of the top off because it is so big. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine it would come to this.

Look at this pretty Limpkin looking for snails that I found this morning.

Late last week while Bruce was fishing on the big lake he came across a swan, an interloper in that environment. I'm pretty convinced that it was shunned and driven off of Lake Davis. From his image it appears to be a juvenile which is why I'm thinking that way. We had gone on a walk at Lake Davis where I am happy to report there were signs of recent sidewalk grinding leaving it far flatter than it was. The swan family has but two juveniles remaining from the Spring, one of which looks like this.

We noticed a solitary swan away from the family unit which is why I'm thinking that it is looking for a new home. It would be awesome if we could have swans on Lake Pineloch, but I'm not holding my breath.

We also saw an Anhinga catching, 

and not releasing.

Holy cow, I am wearing pants for the first time since early March! Aside from the mini monsoon, the weather has been perfect. Clearing up any confusion I might have created, our air conditioner is working just fine, it is just that we don't need it because the humidity has dropped along with the temperature. Woo hoo!

Following church on Sunday we decided to try a new restaurant, or at least new to us, called Russells on Lake Ivanhoe. Turns out we enjoyed it quite a bit. As is often our custom we sat at the bar and watched the action. We could tell our bartender was really having to hustle and patiently waited our turn.  Come to find out, her coworker called out sick so it was only her to manage the customers. That is until the owner pitched in to help. Plus they had live music which was quite nice. So who do you think is who in the photo below? 

We had a chance to chat with the owner and learned that she and her husband own about four other restaurants, all of which are having staff shortages. It was darn impressive watching her helping out her employee, something you don't often see. The bread pudding was so good.

Seeing the view from windows found far and wide in our world, it is easy to get a serious case of wanderlust and if I'm honest, envy. Truth be told, we still have it pretty good here even if we don't get fall color. Instead we get this to admire.

The above was taken from my car window after I pulled over to the side of the road in wonder at the glorious pink against the crisp blue sky.

I guess the moral of the story is that we are far more alike than we are different. That said, seeing kangaroos in folks front yards is really something. Of course they probably never see this in their back yard.

Hopefully, if you are on Facebook, I have convinced you that the group is well worth seeking out and following because who doesn't like seeing a giant bear in a back garden 17 miles outside downtown Los Angeles?

your friend,

Gail

Back to Birds

Right now, the weather is fine. More than fine actually, the kind that helps a person understand why people from Northern climates flock to Florida for the winter.  Not just people, birds do as well. Many mornings, in the last week or so, the air is filled with the chattering of hundreds of American Robins feasting on the many Camphor trees on the property. Fuel for migration. Isn't it just astonishing to think about migration, how the birds know where and when to go? I, for one, find it amazing. I've looked for the film, Winged Migration, on streaming services with no luck, but I can say, unequivocally, that it was one of the most profound pieces of filmmaking that I've ever seen. And that was even before I was a bird nut!

So, without further ado, let me show you some of the birds I've been enjoying, some new ones, as well as some old favorites. 

It has been such a pleasure having these beauties visit again, some normalcy in the midst of the pandemic. 

Speaking of which, cases continue to skyrocket in Florida, making us ever so grateful that we were one of the lucky ones to receive the vaccine. A few days after I'd written the earlier post, which you can read HERE should you have missed it, the hospital just down Orange Avenue from us began giving out the vaccines and about six friends were able to receive theirs without incident. Others have not been as fortunate as all of the doses have been given out already. Here's hoping they will once again have an allotment. No one I know has had any more of a reaction than a sore arm, although Carolyn did witness one at the hospital that must have been scary! Closer to home, Peg is steadily improving, never having had to be hospitalized, and Yvette says that she feels just fine. Whew!

Try as we might there was nothing we could do to help the Anhinga who, after six days, looked like this.

The shot above was taken some days ago and I've not seen the bird since, making us wonder the outcome. It is hard to imagine that, with all that goop keeping the beak shut, it could survive. 

Ibis have been finding space in the trees out back,

as has this unidentified bird.

It happened one gray day that not only were there scores of Robins, but the above bird as well. Now you might think it is a Crow, and maybe it is some type of one, however I ran into a fellow named Andrew who worked for Florida Fish and Game Bureau who is well versed in birds, and he could not figure it out either. It did not help that with no blue sky to provide contrast, it was really hard to make out the features.

When we first moved here, it really bothered me that there were downed branches along the shoreline and I did not hesitate to retrieve them for aesthetic purposes. Well that was just plain dumb of me. Over time I've learned that they are a vital part of the ecosystem, providing a place for birds to perch when they are not swimming as evidenced by this pair of Mallards.

With glee I spotted two pairs of Hooded Merganser ducks two days ago; I'd nearly given up hope that they would visit this year. That said, they are maddeningly difficult to photograph because either they hang out in the deep shade, or swim too far out for my lens capability. Let's just say that there were dozens of trashed shots and still this one is lacking because it is only two males. I'll keep trying because the female bears very little resemblance, a characteristic which is not uncommon in the bird world.

Aren't they just awesome?? So smart with that color scheme. Speaking of color, the other morning the weather was not ideal, so instead of playing pickleball, I went for a walk around Lake Davis. I mention the gray sky because when that is the case, the water looks more like a blank slate rather than the reflected blue of the sky. I present a Blue Teal duck.

That same day I went over to the nearby wetlands adjacent to the cemetery where I saw a passel of Wood Ducks and lots of bare Cypress trees. 

I think I learned to appreciate bare trees more from living in Vancouver that glorious year. There's just something about being so close to the circle of life that feels very soothing to me. 

Walking around Lake Haven there, I saw a new bird! A tiny one, that's for sure, which I have now identified as a Black and white Warbler.  About the size of the palm of your hand.  

While thinking about small birds, holy cow, one of them, a Carolina Wren,  came into our house unbeknownst to me, that is until I saw it in Bruce's office, flying from place to place to perch. (I hate it when the formatting goes haywire and I would fix it if I knew how!)

Not to mention poop, as it seems that when they are frightened, it is a natural reaction. So, what did I do? Panic, sort of. First, of course, I grabbed my camera, followed by, "what the heck am I going to do?" thoughts. Well, before long it flew into the living room, followed by landing atop the ceiling fan in the sunroom. Quickly, I shut all of the sliding glass doors, opened the back screen door and hoped for the best. It worked, but not before it pooped on our white sofa! 

How about I show off some cookies to give you another quick visual, a somewhat sweeter one.

Made from an old recipe that called for old fashioned rolled oats, coconut and chocolate chips. Yup, lots of butter and sugar too. 

That made you feel a little better, now didn't it? 

Back to backyard birds, I could not have been more pleased than when I saw this image come off of my camera card. Although last year there were some fun shots of the Red Bellied Woodpecker and chick, it is that red bellied part I want you to appreciate, my first time showing it off to full advantage.Robins galore!

Moving back indoors, here's something completely crazy, however from what I've read, not to be entirely unexpected. This came in the mail three days ago.

Opening it up, I was astonished to find a Christmas card, mailed on December 16th from Steve and Liz in New Hampshire!! Seriously?

I learned from Matthew that they have yet to receive our Christmas card, however, they have received  thank you notes for our gifts. It was only just yesterday that the utility bill arrived, two days after being due!! What the heck?? In other mail news, are New Years cars becoming a trend? I've received three of them. 

On the other hand, the postman delivered a special birthday gift from Matt and Tom yesterday afternoon. One of Matt's photos made into a jigsaw puzzle, taken during their trip out West. Yeah, the same one that was cut short back in March due to the pandemic. That was a story that could not be made up as they dashed back to England before the borders closed!

It is seemingly impossible for me to ever sort out the edge pieces on the first go round. 

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the birds as much as I've enjoyed photographing them. I will sign off, or make that fly off, showing you a photograph that is one of those types that you hope you got, but the action was so quick, most of the time you don't. 

Taken right outside our front door.

Aren't we the lucky ones?

your friend,

Gail

p.s. Matt sent me this interesting article about Inventor of the Q code. Turns out it was based on the barcode.