HADJI, THE THERAPY CAT

HADJI – THERAPY CAT

This is Mr. Hadjibektash or Hadji for short. Or Hadj for even shorter! Hadji is a Therapy Cat. Self-appointed.

This is his formal portrait, the one taken for him when he got his degree. Ahem.

His career started several years ago when people would come here to pour out their troubles, cry, vent, rant, rave… whatever it was (is) that they needed to do. One Gal used to come here to learn how to read. She sat on my sofa every morning, 5 days a week for several hours and struggled to learn how to read beyond the 2nd grade level. She was 47 when she started coming here. Whoever came, if they sat on the sofa, they were in Hadji’s territory, and he thanked them for their company by loving on their left leg, side or arm. People soon learned it was a one sided (well, yeah…) deal – they could rub his belly or ears or neck, and he would purr so loud he could be heard in the kitchen – 2 rooms away! But if they tried to grab him, pull him onto their laps, he would leave. Commitment issues, no doubt.
At Christmas, Anna brought home a scarf and set of antlers, cat sized, and, of course, the antlers did not go over very well, but surprisingly, Hadj loved the scarf! He allows people to hold it for him while he puts his head thru it. He begs to have the scarf on. As I said, it is a Christmas scarf; it has the message “Wreck the Halls” on it, which might be appropriate for Rascal, but not Hadj.

So, yesterday, I had to go to Salisbury, MD, for birdseed – the birds refused to eat the seed from Wal-Mart, so I drove 130 miles (round trip) to Sam’s in Salisbury to get birdseed… and PetSmart is across the highway. So, after loading the van with 70 lbs of birdseed, 4 cases of Starbucks Mocha, a couple packs of the best raspberries I have ever had, I headed across the highway.
I was told they did not have any cat sized scarves, that cats do NOT wear scarves. I quietly said mine did, and the woman gave me The Look – you know, the one over the top of the glasses? The one that says Bull****, or Idiot, or both. So I sighed and just kept on looking. I got him a new red scarf… it is way big, but if I fold it over and over and tie 6 knots in it – it works. At least it is clean! And I can wash the other one without him having a fit.
Then I found the Harley display. There was a huge Harley Davidson scarf – it would have fit a Newfoundland, or a small pony. I looked at it longingly thinking of who might be able to cut it down for me and re-hem it… and then I found this little orange one. Now I have to confess, I hate orange, but I thought it might be cute anyway. So when he is in the biker dude mood, he can wear his Harley scarf. I thought about the gal who used to come here to learn to read. She was a biker gal, Harley jacket, boots, t-shirts. She would have loved it. I mentioned it to her last night in my prayers – maybe someone will pass the message along… She really loved Hadji... and I think he was quite fond of her. She used to read to him. He never let on when she missed a word. Bright boy.

This is Hadj in his private office, taking a break between clients. The Rat (Rascal) is waiting his turn. He used to have his office in a Kitty cube - but Rascal peed in it - so that had to go out. sigh.
Hadji sleeps in his scarf, bird watches in it, takes his bath, you name it!
C’mon by, sit on the couch. He will be glad to listen to your troubles.

FROM THE CHURCH BULLETIN

From actual church bulletins..........

Don't let worry kill you -- let the church help.
Thursday night - Potluck supper. Prayer and medication to follow.
Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
The rosebud on the alter this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.
This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends.
Tuesday at 4:00 PM there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk will please come early.
Wednesday, the ladies Liturgy Society will meet. Mrs. Jones will sing, "Put me in My Little Bed" accompanied by the pastor.
Thursday at 5:00 P.M. there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All wishing to become little mothers, please see the minister in his study.
This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the alter.
The service will close with "Little Drops of Water." One of the ladies will start quietly and the rest of the congregation will join in.
Next Sunday a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet will come forward and do so.
The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the church basement Friday.
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
The preacher will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth With Joy."
Today...Christian Youth Fellowship House Sexuality Course, 8 p.m. Please park in the rear parking lot for this activity.
During the absence of our pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when A. B. Doe supplied our pulpit.
The Rev. Adams spoke briefly, much to the delight of his audience.
The church is glad to have with us today as our guest minister the Rev. Shirley Green who has Mrs. Green with him. After the service we request that all remain in the sanctuary for the Hanging of the Greens.
The `eighth graders' will be presenting Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in the church basement on Friday at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

THOUGHTS FOR A WEDNESDAY MORNING

Thoughts on a Wednesday Morning

Today was a day for running around the house getting caught up on the chores… the serious “gotta do’s” and as many of the “oughta do’s” as possible. The temps are back in the bottom of the 30s, so that meant breaking the ice on the birdbath and putting in clean water. Ditto with the various animal drinking dishes, funny how they have their favorite drinking places, isn’t it?

Most of the feeders are still pretty full, so that chore can wait. Redbelly is here!

The bulb burned out in the greenhouse – it is the source of heat on these cold days and nights. I had to turn the controls back on to the 24 hour setting as it is not supposed to warm up to 40 until the week-end. The impatiens were looking a bit droopy so I figured I’d better give them a quick drink while I had the door open. Here it is, the first week in February and they are still blooming! I am glad to have the color as the camellias are mostly brown from the cold. But, there are the buds…
The robins came early this year. The first flock arrived on Saturday, the last day of January! What were they thinking? They never used to come until the 7th of February, but the rest of the huge flock arrived yesterday. Poor things! The air was filled with their sweet music as they twittered to each other, settling in for the day, trying to decide whether to stay or go on tomorrow, looking for something to eat on the cold, cold ground. I wonder if these are MY birds, or just visitors. It is too cold this year for them to find much to eat. Last week the ground was frozen and didn’t thaw until the week-end when it hit 60 on Sunday. I actually sat out in the sun in a T-shirt soaking up as much vitamin D as possible. Sure beats swallowing more vitamins!
The weather has been its usual confusing self. Winter warnings, snow warnings, a flurry of snow flakes for an hour or so, but nothing on the ground. The warnings continue into this afternoon and tonight. The kids get so excited and then nothing to play in… poor things. on the other hand, they see on the computer cams their cousins in Maine digging thru a couple feet of snow, sliding down the mounds piled up by the snow plows and then look out in the yard here at the dead grass and left over leaves from autumn which seems to have been years ago. (current Portland webcam)
As the washer spins to a stop, I look longingly out the window at a moment’s burst of sunlight that disappears before I can even blink my eyes. I am one of those strange ones – I LOVE to hang my clothes outside. I love the way they smell. I don’t care if they are a bit scratchier, the jeans a bit stiffer… there is something that makes them feel better anyway. Maybe it is in knowing Ma Nature dried them for me instead of the local electric co-op and my pitiful social security check. But, I think of the weather forecast.

As I pull the clothes out of the washer to hang in the bathroom to dry or to go in the drier, I think back (I wonder where these thoughts come from) to the days of my youth and hanging clothes out on the line in the middle of a Maine winter. We used diapers then, none of this pampers stuff. At temperatures around or below zero, one had to be fast hanging things out on the line. The trick was to pull out the diaper, snap it open and pin it before it froze. More than once in my early days of learning how to do this, I struggled with trying to find corners in the frozen material that I could somehow pin with fingers nearly as frozen as the cloth. My thoughts then went to using a wringer! Yep, that’s what we had. I thought about that as I threw my jeans in the drier, how we had to fold the clothes just so and sneak them thru the wringer without breaking the zipper. I don’t believe I have thought about that in 50 years!

I had a best friend back then. Holly was her name. I remember hassling her about getting her homework done, going over Latin together, studying for an exam. Holly’s grandmother lived with them and had no patience with Latin or much of anything related to education. She was just the opposite of my grandmother who taught me to read by the time I was 3. I remember Holly’s grandmother yelled at me one night to go home and leave Holly alone. She did not need to know Latin to wash and change diapers. Stupid me, I yelled back (as only a teenager can) “There’s more to life than changing diapers. Holly can DO something, BE somebody.” Granny told me to get out. I had no realization that I had just insulted the woman, I was just looking out for Holly’s future. And hoping for my own…

Suddenly I realized I was standing next to my washer and drier, lost in the past, realizing there was someone else I owed an apology to and could never give it. (Will the list never end?) Shortly after that day back in Maine, Holly and her family moved to a neighboring town. In less than a year, I was living with my father in the Middle East. I never saw or even heard from Holly again. Funny how things go…
My knowledge of Latin stood me well as I traveled the world. Even with languages that were not even remotely related to Latin, somehow I believe it helped me in understanding language structure better than any English classes ever did. I wonder what Holly ended up doing.

Oh, it is snowing. Hard. Maybe…???

GROUNDHOG'S DAY, EASTERN SHORE STYLE

Well, it is tough doing the groundhog’s day thing when you don’t have groundhogs. Here on the shore, groundhogs are in short supply – like zero. The reason? As an old timer told me years ago when we were sittin’ under a Mimosa tree one hot summer day discussing the absence of chipmunks and groundhogs, “Ain’t no place for ‘em to sleep. Cain’t dig none. Sleep in burrahs. Cain’t burrah none, ‘cause if’n we have some rain, gonna drown the poor suckers.” So, there ya have it. The shore being as flat as it is and as close to sea level, when you get a good wet spell, the ground water comes up pretty high. There are times I have dug a hole to plant a camellia or a tree, and by the time I got down deeper than a foot, the hole started filling up with water. That could be why the cemeteries here are on the highest ground.

So, in celebration of Ground Hog’s Day, we use the next best thing – a possum. Got plenty of possums. Now most everybody knows, possums are up all night and go to bed just before dawn. So if you want to see if a possum is able to see his shadow, or if you can see his (her) shadow, well, first you have to know where one is sleeping, go wake her up, let her get a few good yawns in before you put your hands near those 50 little but sharp teeth,

take her out in the sun (is this cruelty to animals?) give her a treat, apologizing all the while, and let her go back to bed.
Punkin says that is so stupid. He is not into pagan traditions. He said, “If ya wanna see a shadow, look over here! Leave the poor possum alone.” He probably meant “Is that flounder I smell? That possum is getting flounder? Where is MINE? Look how weak I am, look I am falling over. OK, I am dead… isn’t this how the possums do it? Hey! I am dead! But we might have a miracle for a piece of flounder!”
Animals. don’t ya just love ‘em?

And as for chipmunks? Our chipmunks at our place in Pennsylvania live in the rock walls and teeny chipmunk sized caves on the mountain side. And down here… “Ain’t got no rocks ‘cept for stuff fools (that would be me) bring here.” Well… and now you can buy a pile of rocks at your local garden center. But I always bring one or two back each year from Pennsylvania or wherever I go if they have rocks.

UNTITLED

Could not think of an appropriate title for this post - so, we will just skip that part.

A strange piece of information - might be true - might be just one of those things editors put in the paper to fill space... I dunno. But, they SAY Virginia has more vanity license plate than any other state. Well, I have no idea if that is true or not - but I DO know they (DMV) have nearly a wall full to choose from... local plates - the Eastern Shore has a little map of the peninsula running thru the middle of it, and most, but not all, plates have an ES on it. There are plates for the various colleges and universities - even some out of state ones. Penn State, for example, is there... and I think Duke... but I don't remember any others. The military have a whole section. There are plates for hunters, watermen, wildlife lovers, horse lovers, mallards, butterflies, shriners, masons, Knights of Columbus, boaters, autism, Redskins (the team, not a derogatory nastyness) various vets, bass, brook trout, bears, eagles, (not teams, the critters) diabetes, the civil war (any uncivil wars listed?) bowlers, bicycle enthusiasts, boaters, breast cancer, organ donors, parrotheads, and CPAs... well, gee, you name it - and it looks like if you have an idea, they will start a whole new series, just for you. You can see some of them at http://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/citizen/vehicles/plate_search.asp. Please note, this is only one page - there are more catagories... see the note at the bottom of this page.

What started this interest in vanity plates? Someone sent this to me, and I am glad I have outgrown this stage of life... but I thought, hmmmmm, that might have been fun...

Anyway, that looked like fun... but I don't spend my money on vanity plates. It is interesting to note who the people are who DO have vanity plates... often the people who can least afford them. Come to think of it, I don't know anyone who is what most people would call "well off" who has one of these. And I have never been tempted - until I saw the Support Tibet plate. But, the money spent on that plate would do better going to the Support Tibet foundation, wouldn't it?

But it is interesting how people spend their money. But that is a whole 'nother post, isn't it?

THE EAGLES HAVE TWO EGGS!

Our eagles have 2 eggs. As you can see, we have had some snow, but it should melt today. However, the snow makes the eggs show up better!

Hey, little dudes, roll over...

Visit http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html to keep track of the eggs and then the babies.

Papa is doing better with providing food. See breakfast? Here he is on the osprey nest, in this morning's fog.

AMONG THE MISSING

Ummm, that would be me... sort of...
I have, once again, had a few inquiries as to my where-abouts. Well, here and there… or mostly here but not quite all there????? I am always amazed at those who can blog everyday. I wish I could be that dedicated. Anyway, for what its worth – here is where I have been – sorta…

OK, excuses:
First, it has been cold. I mean seriously cold – for us! (Philip, stop rolling your eyes.) This morning it was down to 19 F, -7 C. The camellias are frozen little brown crinkled things. There are buds, but it is going to have to do some serious warming up to get any of them to open. It is the first winter in years when we have not had something blooming at sometime during the week if not every day. The only flowers I have are struggling in the greenhouse where I have had to keep the light on sometimes all day, not just at night.

It was SOOOOOOO cold last week-end, I brought Punkin in to spend the night.

The outside cats are real wooly and don’t seem to mind the cold PLUS they have 2 heated boxes they can get into – but Punkin “stands” guard on the greenhouse most of the time. I watched him come out of the “nest” a couple weeks ago and could see what a tight fit it was for his wooly little self – so in he came last week. I spent the night in the living room with him. He was slightly happy when I sat in my recliner and held him. But basically, he was miserable. He would not drink or eat. When he was not on my lap, he was at the back door crying to get out. He ignored the litter box. As soon as the sun was up, I let him out.
The first warm day, last Friday, I added an inch and a half to the height of their nest giving the wooly mammoth more room to get in and out. He spent the night in there last night, with Spook, warm and toasty. He no longer gets even close to the open back door.

I spent last Tuesday glued to the TV set. I have not watched an inauguration since Eisenhower was sworn in – what was it – 1953, when my entire class of 4th graders went over to a classmate’s house to watch. Not many of us had TVs yet in 53. I know we didn’t. Anyway, I watched Obama become the 44th President as some friends and I cheered him on. We were both sorry we weren’t there and grateful we were warm. Plus, we got a much better view!

Otherwise, I have been busy when I have been busy and worthless on the days when I have been worthless. You see, I have been diagnosed with Lyme’s disease. And so – I am on a regimen of heavy doses of antibiotics and then bunches of cleansers to clean the crap out of my system. I have been learning more than I ever wanted to know about Lyme’s – and I will not bore you with my knowledge or lack thereof, to be more precise. I will recommend a couple of books – the Lyme Disease Solution, by Kenneth Singleton, and Everything You Need to Know about Lyme Disease, by Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner. There are others, of course, but these are the ones I know a little about.
Basically what I have learned is there are many of us running to doctors with “problems” that just don’t quite fit in the proper niches and get labeled chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, people have even been told they have MS when it was actually Lyme’s. I also learned that Lyme’s can come from the bite of a number of insects – not just ticks – though I have had my share of tick encounters. Lyme’s apparently can come from flea bites, gnats, mosquitoes, flies and mites. It is carried through the blood so you can get it thru a blood transfusion. And NO they do not check for it.
I will spare you a list of my symptoms (as my doctor friend now calls an organ recital, thanks to my neighbor for sharing that one with me) but I will say this. Some days the fatigue is so great, I feel lucky that I have managed to take care of my basic needs and I have to accept the fact that the floor is not getting washed today or the vacuum is not going anywhere. On those days, the brain fog seems greater than usual – and even studying is not an option. Sometimes it takes too much energy to even respond to a blog I have just read. I have been lurking a lot. If I used to read your blog – I probably still am – but it takes too much to let you know. When I do have a bit of energy, it goes into doing the things I absolutely have to do – laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, cleaning up after the cats. Some days are spent napping, something I never used to do. But, the masses of bacteria that are being killed is rough on one’s system, the little beggars have really entrenched themselves. Sometimes they are dormant and then POOF! We’re baaaaack! If you know me, I am not a whiner. I have kind of accepted my physical limitations – my car accident – my arthritis – I have not accepted my age yet… I still want to be able to work like I did when I was 25 or 30. Hell, I’d settle for 50, but don’t tell me I am too old to cut my own grass! So for years I have suffered in semi-silence when I just could not do the way I wanted to do or got exhausted so easily – but it got out of control. It got so I was seriously out of breath doing just simple things – making my bed, for example, pulling the laundry out of the washer. I’d be gasping for breath, possibly sweating profusely. So I did the heart Dr thing and the stress test and he said my ticker was OK… but I wasn’t. A friend who had been diagnosed with Lyme’s suggested I go get the blood work done. Long story short – I did. Good news – bad news… I have Lyme's. At least I understand what is going on in my body and I have a chance to make things better. Someone said, “But the treatment is worse than the disease…” Yeah, it is rough, and I am not on the roughest part yet – the part where I have to give up my Starbucks (OMG!) But the treatment will end – without it, the Lyme's gets worse.
So, bear with me. Do not think I have abandoned you. I am still there or here, even when I am not all there.

I did get a new camera, but I have taken only a few pictures with it. I will share a couple of bad/good pictures with you. Please note, I have not even tried my telephoto lens on this camera yet – I am still just trying to figure this lens out and all the quirks with modern technology. These pics are of a pair of Pileated woodpeckers that live here.

They were obviously up in a tree too far to get any color to show up. Best you can do is identify their distinctive shape. The little Nikon would not have gotten this much, so I am proud of what I got. Be patient… the manual is only 200 pages long. I’m on page 14. LOL!

This is a birch tree outside my bedroom window. I just thought it was cool - all the subtle shades.

Yule Tide is behind it... a blue spruce is next to it... It is fun to play with the colors and textures we have all around us. Well, I can't take any snow pictures... so I work with what I have available!
And then I rest.

MORE HEROES - ANDREW WYETH

Andrew Wyeth

As most of you know, Andrew Wyeth passed on in his sleep, on January 16, 2009. If I had been able to do my series of Heroes as I had intended, Andy would have been done as he was high on my list. On my “list” of the most famous people I have met, Andy came right under His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and just above Katharine Hepburn. It is a very short list limited to those who have impressed me. It is part of a much longer list if you consider I used to work at the Pocono Playhouse in the summers back when they had REAL stars on the stage. Some of them were wonderful people, some were hateful. But I digress… as usual. Maybe I should have said – impressed me in a positive way.

I met Andy years ago – I am not even sure just when it was now, but he was visiting at the home of a friend in the Brandywine area. He was “real” and not a pompous ass, stuck on himself or full of LOOK AT ME. In fact, if I had not known the name and had not been an art major, I might not have paid him any attention. One of his favorite things was to sit at Hank’s Diner and listen to and sometimes talk with the tourists who wanted to know if he had ever seen Andrew Wyeth or knew where he lived. He usually said, “No.” Or that Wyeth was a real recluse or was in Maine this time of year. And, that recluse part is kind of true as he was not the flashy celebrity type, if you know what I mean. And those who knew him frequently lied to people who came looking for him. “Nope, ain’t seen him in a while… think he went to Boston (or Portland, or Philadelphia…)” when he might be right across the street or sitting at a table across the diner! If you did not know his voice, you probably would never have known he was around. He looked like your neighbor, or a local who just stopped in for a cup of coffee and a piece of home made pie. He probably drove that old Suburban in the parking lot – definitely not the Beemer type!

I first “discovered” his work in art school where a couple of profs thought he was OK and a couple others looked down on him as an illustrator, which did not make sense to me – but what did I know? I was just a kid. Personally, I found it difficult to appreciate Jackson Pollock and the splash and dribble crowd and found things in Wyeth’s work that touched me and spoke to my way of looking at life. Do not think I am saying I saw life the same way he did – its just that most of his things made me feel something that sometimes I could name, and sometimes I could not, but his art “held” me – if that makes any sense. It was much more than, “Oh, that is nice – or – well done” – it held me, made me respond inside, and isn’t that what every artist wants? To get a response? To communicate a feeling? I related to the places, to his people. They were my neighbors, my friends, the people down the road a piece.
As time went on, I “taught” the Wyeth’s as an art history unit actually using them as local artists since it is possible to drive to the family home, visit the museum, have lunch, visit a number of his “locations” (the Kuerner farm, for example) and be back home in time for supper. I call that local. Several of my friends have studied with Carolyn Wyeth, Andy’s sister, who lived in the family home at Chadd’s Ford until her death. The house is now open to the public thru the Brandywine Museum tours as is the studio.
One of my favorite Wyeth stories was told to me by my old friend and neighbor, Sabra Kimball,* who passed away about 10 years ago. Many years ago, Sabra was the art editor for a very well known publishing company. She wrote to NC Wyeth, Andrew's father, and asked him if he would do the illustrations for – um, I don’t remember the book right this minute. NC did a lot of famous children’s classics… Anyway, NC wrote back that he was much too busy – BUT – he would do the cover if they would let his son Andy do the illustrations. He was but a boy, but, he said, he was pretty good. Sabra (do ya love this?) Sabra said she decided to take a chance on the boy – and the rest is, as they say, history! Andy was 16.

Andy was the same age as my father, just a couple of months younger. My kids used to be so impressed that I could remember all the dates for the Wyeth’s – but they all correlated with dates in my own family. I loved to use Andy's work for creative writing, too. Knowing the histories of the places and people who lived there, most often the kids sensed the dynamics of the people whose personalities came thru the paintings - even when the people were not shown. The Kuerner farm made most of the kids a bit uncomfortable yet the Olson home seemed friendlier.

If you don’t know much about Wyeth’s work, do look him up. In my humble opinion, I think that time will prove him to be the greatest – or at least in the top 3 – artists of his time. He is definitely at the top of my list, followed closely by Georgia O’Keeffe, but his work, as my grandma used to say, has more meat on it! It keeps you there chewing on it, not just because of his mastery of technique, but because he “takes you there.” Does that make sense? Or it takes you someplace you can relate to. On the other hand, I suppose if you lived your life in a city and never got out in the country – it might seem a foreign place – likewise if you grew up in the desert. But I lived much of my life in the eastern part of Pennsylvania and on the coast of Maine.
I find myself wishing I could talk to the people in his paintings. I am sure I know some of them, or I knew someone in their family… see if you don’t feel the same way, too. Though I must confess, I cannot relate to the Helga series and in reality I may have met her! But that is one body of his work (pardon the pun) that does nothing for me. I have a large collection of his prints (I taught a class about him, remember) and I do not have one Helga print. My favorite painting is which ever one I am looking at at the time. http://www.awyethgallery.com/andrew/ has a good collection of some of his most famous works. Or just google Wyeth prints and find a lot of good stuff.

For more information on Wyeth please go to: http://www.brandywinemuseum.org/index.html. Or visit the home and studio at http://www.brandywinemuseum.org/ncstudio.html. They used to have a virtual tour of the studio, but I don’t see a link to that anymore and my saved link goes to the page but it will not load, so I guess that page is down for some reason. I know my kids LOVED that page and the folks at the museum allowed me to take my video camera in there and do my own video for my class. That was totally cool. I also have shots from the Kuerner Farm.
Again, I feel I have been so fortunate to have had the chance to be associated with these people and to have seen so much of his work. If you are anywhere near Wilmington, Delaware, you are only minutes from a wonderful gallery and some of the best art work in the world. Be sure to stop in!

*Sabra, for those of you who follow my blog, was the one who gave me several of my camellias seen on this blog, most notably Yule Tide and Debutante.

THE EAGLES ARE BACK

Actually, they first showed up in November, sitting on the osprey box, but we were not sure if they were OUR eagles or just an occasional eagle passing through. By OUR eagles, I mean a nesting pair that will stay and nest here. Seems they decided this seemed like a good place to stay, and, in spite of the bad weather, lots of rain, cold temps, 60 mph winds, they got busy fixing up the nest. Interestingly, they seem to prefer the Osprey nest box for their, um, playground... at least that is where all the on camera mating seems to be taking place. Back in the nest, mama has a nice soft cup formed. They also seem to be practicing eating in the nest as there are frequently small bones or a piece of a fish left behind.

I am not sure if this is our same couple from last year. If I remember correctly, Papa did not seem too great in the food provision department. Mama had to go find most of her own food and then feed the babies. SO, hopefully if this is the same pair, they will have a bit of maturity this year and do a bit better.

You can go to http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html for a minute by minute update of both the osprey platform and the eagle nest PLUS lots of other material on the birds.

A CHALLENGE

I posted this the other day on my sangha group in response to a question about verbal communication - someone implying that words were the only way to communicate. This was my answer. I have gotten some interesting answers since then. What do you think???

I have a neighbor who, like me, drums. He is mute but not deaf. Often we communicate with the drums, facial expressions, sometimes color, texture, flowers, feathers, dead grass, thorns, we almost never use the written word. Almost every time he comes over here, he brings me some small object that expresses how he is feeling that day. If I asked you to try a couple of times a day to express how you felt by showing me an inanimate object in your hand, could you do it? Are you a flower? A leaf blown by the wind? A seed? A twig that will snap if bent or a pliable vine? Hmmm, sounds like a fun exercise – no right or wrong answers – the only challenge is in your own mind.

One friend now emails me almost everyday sometimes with just one or two words. One of the best - well, no wait, there is no best or even better - so let me say, umm, one that I totally identified with after a day of Christmas shopping was - "a hairball!" Yep. I felt chewed up and spit out by the shopping mall. I hate shopping these days. Can't decide what hurts worse - my knees or my wallet!

Anyway - give it a shot! What are you today?????

I will post my answer this afternoon when I get back...

Today I am a frost bitten camellia bud, waiting... Tomorrow, it will warm up and I will open and bloom in the sunshine! Well, maybe not perfectly, the frost bite and all, but hopefully I would bring a smile to your eyes.

A SOLSTICE WISH

OK, so it is a day late... but the year is young, and your lesson for this new year is to practice patience and forgiveness. Well, OK, that is my lesson - or part of my lessons for this year. And, of course, I realize I have to start with myself. And that is tough.


Yesterday was extremely busy here - well, the whole week-end has been nuts - Tis the season to go crazy, right? And my body has not been cooperating for a while. Not complaining here - I am on my feet and I can dress and feed myself so I am way ahead of the game compared to so many other people. But I digress...


I wanted to send this picture as my Solstice greeting yesterday - but it was too iced up. Enough ice has melted off the window this morning to make a beautiful picture. As some of you know, I used to live in Maine. Should have been a grad of Portland High School - but fate had other plans, and I wound up living in Turkey with my father (I'm a State Dept brat) and graduating from the American High School over there. And even tho a BIG part of my heart remains in Turkey - a WONDERFUL COUNTRY WITH WONDERFUL PEOPLE - another part of my heart never left Maine. Part of me will remain forever a true Maineiac - and not a Mainer or whatever they have decided to call themselves today. Much more fun being a Maineiac! There are more places in Maine that I love than I could ever find the time to write about, first in my heart being Peaks Island (Casco Bay) but I have always loved Pemaquid Point. Yes, Portland Head Light is beyond beautiful, but there is just something about Pemaquid... You can visit their webcam at http://www.pemaquidpoint.org/wc.cfm. This is probably my favorite webcam of all, and I am addicted to webcams! I love to find webcams in the areas where people I know live and thus check out the kind of weather they are having, how deep the snow... that kind of thing. Anyway, here is Pemaquid this morning.
Doesn't that look nice with the frost or ice on the window????
Down here in VA, we got 3/4 inch of rain, and guess who forgot to empty the rain gauges? It dropped to 21 degrees this morning. sigh. One cracked gauge. That's OK, I keep a supply of rain gauges just because, well, I guess you know why. Duh.
Enjoy this new year... days getting longer, etc, until we complain of the heat! OH well, by then we will have passed into the next Solstice and the days will actually be shrinking again.
Happy Solstice, Happy New Year!

LUCY, A CHRISTMAS GOOSE

Lucy, a Christmas goose.

Several years ago, following a complaint of what sounded like a goose honking day in and day out, game wardens went to a house down the creek and found a Canada Goose confined to a small crate. She had been kept in that crate for so long, she was permanently deformed and unable to fly. The game wardens took custody of the goose and after talking to a number of people decided to release her at my friend’s place of business, since it is well back off the road, has its own pond, and is visited regularly by other Canada geese.
Lucy, as she was known, settled in, and it became home. She visited with the migrating geese, was courted by a few, but never paired off, probably because she was earth bound. Lucy would come to the front door of the office and tap on the glass when she thought the corn supply was running low. The manager bought her a kid sized swimming pool that she could happily splash around in when she didn’t want to go down to the pond. She was NOT spoiled, definitely not, no, huh uh!
About a week before Thanksgiving, my friend and her boss arrived at work to find that someone had been there over the week-end, there were tire tracks across the lawn area, and it was obvious an area had been roughly constructed to corral something, then very erratic tracks heading back out to the road, a post knocked over, mailbox had been hit… etc. And Lucy was gone. The guess is, she was not caged, just grabbed and put in the cab of the truck and that made driving a bit tricky. On the other hand, the beer cans left on the ground near the make-shift corral might have contributed to the, um, irregular driving pattern! Or both!
Guesses were plentiful, but most of us figured someone wanted roasted goose for Thanksgiving. But they hadn’t planned on how feisty this little crippled goose might be. I have no doubt she put up one heck of a fight.
The local radio station did a piece on Lucy begging the perps to return her. A local paper did an article about the Great Goose caper, again, asking the thieves to return Lucy. Several reports came in of Lucy sightings, a goose walking along the road here or there or heading into the woods down near the landfill. Lucy’s friends drove miles and miles around and around the area with a bucket of corn calling her name – all to no avail. After a while, the sightings stopped. No Lucy sightings, no goosey sightings… she had dropped out of sight – or, well, Thanksgiving was over, even the left overs were long gone.
We stopped asking, we tried to stop wondering if… I mean, how far had they taken her? Did they get her all the way home? Was she... was she... had she been... (gulp) dinner? Had they even gotten her all the way home? Or had she put up such a fight they finally just opened the door and tossed her out? And how long would it take for a little goose to walk home? And… and… well, what about the wild 4 leggeds? The fox… the coyote someone swears they spotted… wild dogs… to say nothing of the worst enemy of all, the 2 leggeds with firesticks, the hunters. Would they dare take a goose out of season? Even for those of us with PhDs in Worrying, the list of worst case scenarios was quite impressive. So we did the most sensible thing. We gave up. I mean, almost a month had gone by!
Well, OK, we did not really, totally, absolutely, completely give up hope… but we no longer mentioned Lucy to each other. Life went on. Minus the tapping on the window…
Then on Monday morning, as my friend’s boss drove up the long road to the office, he noticed a crooked neck goose waddling around the front yard of the building. “Can it be?” he said to himself. As he got out of his car, the little goose approached him honking softly in her talking voice telling him about her long, long journey back home. He hurried inside to get a bucket of corn as she tapped on the glass calling to him. In between bites of corn, she told her tale in her soft semi-honking manner she uses among friends.
Phones rang as the story of Lucy's miraculous return was passed from friend to friend. Smiles covered the shore, hearts skipped a beat as we all told each other we hadn't really ever given up hope. No, not really. Not totally... not deep in our hearts...

We all wonder how many miles she walked, how rough the terrain for a little goose that cannot fly, how she hid from those critters that might have done her harm, and how determined she must have been to have made it home. OK, OK, you say, I am anthropomorphizing a bit too much. Well, maybe… but the fact remains, Lucy made it home. It took her a month. I am sure she kept humming "I'll be home for Christmas" all the way - or the goosey equivalent... OK, roll your eyes, I don't care...

I am glad I did not have to clean out the cab of the truck they took her away in.

SHOVELING GRAVEL

PHEW!
I have gotten some flak from someone who keeps track of my blog and my yard, apparently, and is concerned with the welfare of my 2 outside cats, Punkin and Spook. It seems they worry about where the little guys go in inclement weather. It is true, they have the carport for a certain amount of shelter, but if the rain is heavy and the wind is blowing, the carport is not the greatest place to hide from the elements. In fact, not only does it flood, it can act like a wind tunnel! Spook and Punk came here during hurricane Isabel, a few years back. Animals often travel in bad storms or get disoriented. (During one storm, a friend’s cat crashed thru the screen on her bedroom window which opened onto a porch, and disappeared. She never saw the animal again. So, sadly, it happens…) I posted pictures at the local SPCA and all the vets and advertised in the lost and found of the local papers and radio – nobody came to claim them. For the first month, they hid out under one of my several barns until they discovered the barns go under water in a heavy rain. Eventually they got brave enough to hang out on the carport, and I built a shelter for them, well, 2 shelters, actually, both heated. One (the Cat House) opens with a vent into the furnace room, the other, we call the Nest, is heated with a vent from under the house, with hot water baseboard pipes right next to this vent. Then, last summer I had a shed built covering my oil tank. With heating fuel over $4 at the time, people were discovering their fuel tanks were being emptied in the night or while they were at work, so I thought, “out of sight, out of mind.” The cats thought it was a great place to hang out as I stored some lumber, bird feeders, and plastic containers in there. During this last soaker, with it’s more than 5 inches of rain and high winds, the cats hid out in the shed, but discovered the way out was now under water. Poor babies! They were soaked! So, I called my neighbor across the street who had promised me a small load of gravel next time he recovered his driveway and asked him when he was planning on redoing his driveway. He decided Monday was the day and brought me 2 scoops of gravel in his Bobcat front loader. It really tore up my yard, but I have gravel to spare, and the floor of the oil shed is several inches higher and Spook, for one, is much happier.. Next warm day I promise I will build them a suitable “porch roof!” But, this will have to do until then. See Spook's little feet? Last week, that would have been underwater!