Saturday, November 13, 2010
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Cape May 2010 Post #2: A Jeff sandwich on Flock bread. With a Liz pickle (and a hell of a lot of name-dropping)
Let's go back to Thursday. I had gotten into town late (12 hours in the car and punchy as hell). Delia and I were in our jammies when a text came from Jeff asking if we were staying up late. We were invited to Mark Garland's house where Jeff, Liz, Bill and a few others were happily imbibing some Scotch.
There were introductions all around...I don't remember a few of them, but one stuck in my head. But not until later when Delia started hollering about it. The one that had us cussing and squealing was Richard Crossley. Yeah ,the Richard Crossley who writes field guides. Well, we geeked out totally and for the rest of the weekend, we called him "Richard Freakin' Crossley!".
I didn't really want to drink, having come off a twelve hour drive, but as the Scotch was poured and re-poured, I thought I might like to try it. I didn't like it. So I sipped a little more.
It was so, so, so very cool to be sitting in a living room with all of these massively talented birders and authors. (Delia told me later that I looked like a kid at Christmas, sitting on the floor just smiling at everyone.)
A call came in. The words "massive flight" were used. Everyone got up.
Into the cars and down to the boardwalk on Beach Ave. We looked up, and there were hundreds of birds overhead. Now, remember...this is 11 o'clock at night. The birds were lit up from underneath by the street lights and they resembled fireflies...blowing leaves....embers from a camp fire. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Some were falling into the street, exhausted. I got my lifer Savannah's Sparrow right there on Beach Ave. In the dark.
Robins. Chipping sparrows. Yellow-rumped warblers. Woodcocks. And many others that were not identified. The biggest bird spectacle I have ever seen.
I have never birded at night, unless there were owls involved. This was something completely different.
Wow. I don't know who has the better legs, Jeff or Delia.
We were right outside Morrow's Nut House. Seemed fitting.
The lights were getting in the way...
We moved behind the convention center to get out of the light.
There in the dark, it was much easier to see the birds. They were lit up but the lights were no longer in our line of sight.
My neck was getting sore, so I had the brilliant idea to lay down on the boardwalk to enjoy the birds in comfort. And everyone else eventually joined me.
Somehow Delia and I were lucky enough to snuggle up to Jeff for warmth, and Liz completed the dish.
A Jeff Gordon sandwich on Flock bread. With a Liz pickle on top.
There were introductions all around...I don't remember a few of them, but one stuck in my head. But not until later when Delia started hollering about it. The one that had us cussing and squealing was Richard Crossley. Yeah ,the Richard Crossley who writes field guides. Well, we geeked out totally and for the rest of the weekend, we called him "Richard Freakin' Crossley!".
I didn't really want to drink, having come off a twelve hour drive, but as the Scotch was poured and re-poured, I thought I might like to try it. I didn't like it. So I sipped a little more.
It was so, so, so very cool to be sitting in a living room with all of these massively talented birders and authors. (Delia told me later that I looked like a kid at Christmas, sitting on the floor just smiling at everyone.)
A call came in. The words "massive flight" were used. Everyone got up.
Into the cars and down to the boardwalk on Beach Ave. We looked up, and there were hundreds of birds overhead. Now, remember...this is 11 o'clock at night. The birds were lit up from underneath by the street lights and they resembled fireflies...blowing leaves....embers from a camp fire. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Some were falling into the street, exhausted. I got my lifer Savannah's Sparrow right there on Beach Ave. In the dark.
Robins. Chipping sparrows. Yellow-rumped warblers. Woodcocks. And many others that were not identified. The biggest bird spectacle I have ever seen.
I have never birded at night, unless there were owls involved. This was something completely different.
Wow. I don't know who has the better legs, Jeff or Delia.
We were right outside Morrow's Nut House. Seemed fitting.
The lights were getting in the way...
We moved behind the convention center to get out of the light.
There in the dark, it was much easier to see the birds. They were lit up but the lights were no longer in our line of sight.
My neck was getting sore, so I had the brilliant idea to lay down on the boardwalk to enjoy the birds in comfort. And everyone else eventually joined me.
Somehow Delia and I were lucky enough to snuggle up to Jeff for warmth, and Liz completed the dish.
A Jeff Gordon sandwich on Flock bread. With a Liz pickle on top.
Monday, November 01, 2010
Cape May 2010 Post #1: Also known as "Singing Karaoke with Sweet Caroline, the Town Lesbian"
Back from Cape May and reeling around trying to find "real life" again...because what happens in Cape May isn't real. It's a fantasy that birders fall into every year and the time comes, too soon, to wake up and go home.
My posts are not going to be in chronological order...I'm starting with Friday night, since it's the easiest.
The scene: The C-View, a little sports bar in town, which proclaims to be the oldest tavern in Cape May
The people: Delia, Laura, Beth, me, a few of Beth's friends and a local or two
We were sitting there drinking, having a great time. Delia explained "jammers" to me: Someone who "looks" gay but isn't. We were puzzling over a woman at the bar, and at one point the woman came over to us drunkenly and started chatting us up. Turns out she was puzzling over us too.
She described herself as Cape May's "Town Lesbian" and proceeded to lead us in a searing rendition of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline". And gave us grief for not singing louder and more robustly.
Sorry, drunken stranger.
But check out Beth....she even got the "Bah Bah Bah's" right!
My posts are not going to be in chronological order...I'm starting with Friday night, since it's the easiest.
The scene: The C-View, a little sports bar in town, which proclaims to be the oldest tavern in Cape May
The people: Delia, Laura, Beth, me, a few of Beth's friends and a local or two
We were sitting there drinking, having a great time. Delia explained "jammers" to me: Someone who "looks" gay but isn't. We were puzzling over a woman at the bar, and at one point the woman came over to us drunkenly and started chatting us up. Turns out she was puzzling over us too.
She described herself as Cape May's "Town Lesbian" and proceeded to lead us in a searing rendition of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline". And gave us grief for not singing louder and more robustly.
Sorry, drunken stranger.
But check out Beth....she even got the "Bah Bah Bah's" right!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Meet me in New Jersey
Back in the fall of 2007, I agreed to go meet some fellow bird bloggers in Cape May, New Jersey. The lineup was originally much larger, but in the end only four of us were there to meet on that beautiful shore.
Delia
Susan Merchant
Laura
and moi
I remember it being so strange, so awkward, to meet these people that I had only known through my computer screen up until then. I had flown all the way to New Jersey to go birding with strangers??
From that first meeting, from jokingly calling ourselves "The Flock", a wave...a movement...a thing has occurred. Now numbering in the teens, we are a group...a passel...a force.
From all over the country, we gather to laugh, to love, to bird, to cherish. To giggle uncontrollably. To be shushed by trip leaders. To ingest very large amounts of wine. To get glared at by other, more responsible birders.
To quote Delia in a comment about our last Cape May Weekend:
"I don't know why we all don't just admit that, with the exception of KatDoc, we all went to Cape May to see each other and be rowdy! Were there even any birds there?"
I cherish these women (and one man) so much more than I ever thought possible.
In a little over 24 hours, I will be packing the car and heading to Cape May once again, to frolic in the waves,
to cry at the peregrines and osprey overhead, to get frustrated over shorebirds, and to once again wrap my arms around my Flock.
Delia
Susan Merchant
Laura
and moi
I remember it being so strange, so awkward, to meet these people that I had only known through my computer screen up until then. I had flown all the way to New Jersey to go birding with strangers??
From that first meeting, from jokingly calling ourselves "The Flock", a wave...a movement...a thing has occurred. Now numbering in the teens, we are a group...a passel...a force.
From all over the country, we gather to laugh, to love, to bird, to cherish. To giggle uncontrollably. To be shushed by trip leaders. To ingest very large amounts of wine. To get glared at by other, more responsible birders.
To quote Delia in a comment about our last Cape May Weekend:
"I don't know why we all don't just admit that, with the exception of KatDoc, we all went to Cape May to see each other and be rowdy! Were there even any birds there?"
I cherish these women (and one man) so much more than I ever thought possible.
In a little over 24 hours, I will be packing the car and heading to Cape May once again, to frolic in the waves,
to cry at the peregrines and osprey overhead, to get frustrated over shorebirds, and to once again wrap my arms around my Flock.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Hail to the Chief!!
When Jeff Gordon asked me recently, "What do you know about the ABA?", I didn't know what to say. I knew what the letters stood for, and....umm....that's about it. I couldn't tell you who was leading the organization, what they did or how they did it. My opinion of the organization was vague, to say the least. I proved a point for him, with my ignorance.
Over the past month or so, I have done some reading up on the ABA and have a clearer picture of what it's all about. And up until about a week and a half ago, things were not looking good. I kept reading phrases like "financial crater" and "poor leadership" and "Who cares about the ABA anyway?".
As it turns out, all birders should care about the ABA. It is the only organization of its kind in North America, and it is FOR birders and BY birders. They have a comprehensive Code of Ethics that as birders we all need to adhere to. They contribute to bird and bird habitat conservation. They offer conferences and workshops. It's an organization for US.
This is the place where we all need to be.
About a week and a half ago, the news came ripping through the intertubes through email, texting, but most of all, Facebook. Jeff Gordon had been selected as the new President of the ABA. I'm pretty sure Facebook broke that day.
We will be learning more as the weeks and months go on, but for now, I am unbelievably proud of Jeff, honored to be his friend, and ready to help in any way he needs. He has a HUGE job ahead of him.
Be sure to stop here, at his blog and the new ABA blog for updates.
Here's a link to a video Jeff has posted on the ABA blog:
Hello from the New President and Greetings from Providence
I was telling my mother about Jeff's good news, and I mentioned that I wanted to join the ABA for the first time. Mom decided that a membership would make a good early Christmas gift for me. Thanks, Mom!
I leave you with my favorite photo of Jeff (because I took it, and because it captures just what makes Jeff so darn lovable)...
Chilling on the Farmhouse porch one evening during the 2010 New River Birding and Nature Festival.
(And Jeff is on the front page of their web site too!)
Over the past month or so, I have done some reading up on the ABA and have a clearer picture of what it's all about. And up until about a week and a half ago, things were not looking good. I kept reading phrases like "financial crater" and "poor leadership" and "Who cares about the ABA anyway?".
As it turns out, all birders should care about the ABA. It is the only organization of its kind in North America, and it is FOR birders and BY birders. They have a comprehensive Code of Ethics that as birders we all need to adhere to. They contribute to bird and bird habitat conservation. They offer conferences and workshops. It's an organization for US.
This is the place where we all need to be.
About a week and a half ago, the news came ripping through the intertubes through email, texting, but most of all, Facebook. Jeff Gordon had been selected as the new President of the ABA. I'm pretty sure Facebook broke that day.
We will be learning more as the weeks and months go on, but for now, I am unbelievably proud of Jeff, honored to be his friend, and ready to help in any way he needs. He has a HUGE job ahead of him.
Be sure to stop here, at his blog and the new ABA blog for updates.
Here's a link to a video Jeff has posted on the ABA blog:
Hello from the New President and Greetings from Providence
I was telling my mother about Jeff's good news, and I mentioned that I wanted to join the ABA for the first time. Mom decided that a membership would make a good early Christmas gift for me. Thanks, Mom!
I leave you with my favorite photo of Jeff (because I took it, and because it captures just what makes Jeff so darn lovable)...
Chilling on the Farmhouse porch one evening during the 2010 New River Birding and Nature Festival.
(And Jeff is on the front page of their web site too!)
Thursday, October 07, 2010
A last kindness
Nellie came into our lives in February 2001. A two month old mix of big head, big feet and sweet puppy charm. Her mother had been a German Shepherd, and it looks like her father was a Lab and/or Rottweiler.
Whatever her lineage, I thought she was the best thing ever.
Until it came to house-training her. I thought she was brain-damaged. She just. Didn't. Get. It.
After five months of sopping up accidents from the carpet, I sort of gave up on her, and told Geoff that she was his dog. He was responsible for finally getting her brain to learn what "Go outside" meant.
I never thought I would love her the way you're supposed to love a dog. She wasn't a dog you could hug...she wasn't smart, I thought.
And like I said, I had given up on her. But she never gave up on me.
When I was heavily pregnant with Isabelle, I was finishing the nursery preparations. I had just steam-cleaned the carpets in her room and the hallway. Wearing Keds (the only shoe that would fit on my swollen feet), I started down the stairs. The combination of wet carpet and stupid shoes caused me to fall.
Somehow, in the 1.5 seconds it took me to stumble down 3 steps, Nelllie was there. She materialized out of nowhere and I threw my arms around her and stopped myself from pitching all the way down. As I came to a screeching halt, I sat down on that wet carpet, and gasping for breath, put my arms around Nellie and shook like a leaf. She sat there and let me hug her for the first time.
She had saved Isabelle. That was the day Nellie became my dog.
Nellie had a neurotic fear of tree swallows, afraid to go out in the backyard every year they nested here.
She was always gentle with Isabelle and Lorelei, even when they weren't.
She accepted a wide range of new animals into the house over the course of her life with us.
(Everyone remember Boomer?)
Her life was completely intertwined with mine. Never completely confident with her status in life, she looked to me when she was scared, or happy, or lonely. She was my shadow, always watching for where I was, what I was doing.
I never could get a really good photo of her and me, since she never wanted to look at the camera...not when I was around.
Nearly ten years is a long time to love a dog. And not nearly long enough.
We aren't completely sure what was wrong with Nellie at the end, but she showed symptoms of transitional cell carcinoma, cancerous cells in the lining of the bladder. No cure, just treatment of the symptoms.
And we tried. We worked the pills as long as we could.
But every day, she got thinner. She stopped enjoying her food and her toys. And the final thing, the moment I knew we were going to lose her...a look. Just a look that she gave me, telling me that it was time to let her go.
And since I loved her, I found the strength to say goodbye.
With the help of a dear friend, I listened to her last breath and felt her slip away. Away from the pain, and away from me.
A last kindness to a soul that deserved the peace we were able to give her at the end.
Whatever her lineage, I thought she was the best thing ever.
Until it came to house-training her. I thought she was brain-damaged. She just. Didn't. Get. It.
After five months of sopping up accidents from the carpet, I sort of gave up on her, and told Geoff that she was his dog. He was responsible for finally getting her brain to learn what "Go outside" meant.
I never thought I would love her the way you're supposed to love a dog. She wasn't a dog you could hug...she wasn't smart, I thought.
And like I said, I had given up on her. But she never gave up on me.
When I was heavily pregnant with Isabelle, I was finishing the nursery preparations. I had just steam-cleaned the carpets in her room and the hallway. Wearing Keds (the only shoe that would fit on my swollen feet), I started down the stairs. The combination of wet carpet and stupid shoes caused me to fall.
Somehow, in the 1.5 seconds it took me to stumble down 3 steps, Nelllie was there. She materialized out of nowhere and I threw my arms around her and stopped myself from pitching all the way down. As I came to a screeching halt, I sat down on that wet carpet, and gasping for breath, put my arms around Nellie and shook like a leaf. She sat there and let me hug her for the first time.
She had saved Isabelle. That was the day Nellie became my dog.
Nellie had a neurotic fear of tree swallows, afraid to go out in the backyard every year they nested here.
She was always gentle with Isabelle and Lorelei, even when they weren't.
She accepted a wide range of new animals into the house over the course of her life with us.
(Everyone remember Boomer?)
Her life was completely intertwined with mine. Never completely confident with her status in life, she looked to me when she was scared, or happy, or lonely. She was my shadow, always watching for where I was, what I was doing.
I never could get a really good photo of her and me, since she never wanted to look at the camera...not when I was around.
Nearly ten years is a long time to love a dog. And not nearly long enough.
We aren't completely sure what was wrong with Nellie at the end, but she showed symptoms of transitional cell carcinoma, cancerous cells in the lining of the bladder. No cure, just treatment of the symptoms.
And we tried. We worked the pills as long as we could.
But every day, she got thinner. She stopped enjoying her food and her toys. And the final thing, the moment I knew we were going to lose her...a look. Just a look that she gave me, telling me that it was time to let her go.
And since I loved her, I found the strength to say goodbye.
With the help of a dear friend, I listened to her last breath and felt her slip away. Away from the pain, and away from me.
A last kindness to a soul that deserved the peace we were able to give her at the end.
Nellie Bly Williams
November13, 2000 - September 22, 2010
We love you.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Zoo all for me!
When the Greater Cincinnati Environmental Educator Expo came around this year, I hopped on the bandwagon. The council used the new education building at the Cincinnati Zoo, and after set-up we were free to roam the zoo at will for two hours.
I have never been to the zoo by myself. No stroller? No kids begging for stuff from the gift shop? It was hard not to skip to my lou.
(I was hoping to see Thane. We end up at the same events, but never seem to hook up. Sigh....for a refresher course in "Thane and Me", see this post...found out that he was doing a talk in the room next to the expo, but I couldn't leave my table.)
What I did see were some cute/silly animal behaviors. And some things that I have never been able to just stand and observe.
In the Discovery Forest, I always look for the Two-Toed Sloth. And he is always in the same place. Sleeping in his tree. This makes me smile.
There are two Laughing Kookaburras right outside the "Bird Building". This one was so bright-eyed and curious....walked right up to the barricade to blink at me with those lovely slate eyes. He made me smile.
Ever since I got to hear Kelly do her kookaburra impression, she is what I think of when I see a kookaburra.
The bird building is of course my favorite part of the zoo....full of feathered lovelies from all over the world. From King Penguins to Whiskered Auklets to Rhinoceros Hornbills to Scarlet Ibis.
And this extremely friendly eider (don't know the species) who wanted to come and investigate me through the glass. It made me smile.
This black bear reminded me of this day at last year's New River Birding and Nature Festival.
The floppy gap in his mouth made me smile.
The white lions were asleep too.
(The zoo's white lions are gifts from none other than Siegfried and Roy)
That pink tongue...my house cats do the same thing. Made me smile.
I got to pet this two year old alligator. I didn't tell the handler that he felt like a purse. That would have been tacky.
His cool leathery skin made me smile. And the fact that I was brave enough to do it.
This lemur was all like, "Meh."
Made me laugh.
A new exhibit, "Dragons", highlights the world's monitor lizards, from tiny Adobe Monitors to the ginormous Komodo Dragon. This is the hind end...the end you want to see.
I just stood there and stared and stared at the massive amount of dragon flesh stretched out in there.
The Cat House (I always laugh when I say that) is another favorite. Too bad the urine smell is so bad in the building....I wonder if they can do something about that.
Looking for all the world like a little domestic cat, this Sand Cat was taking a nap and making my heart do a little dance. Check out that fur....strokable.
The Meerkat was showing me his brain, via his nostrils:
The Macaque exhibit is on an island in the middle of the zoo. This one is preparing his "Hamlet" soliloquy.
Look at that face. Hey, Creationists? You honestly think we aren't related????
I think this one was burping.
I watched this one, alone and tucked into one of the rock crevices, for about five minutes. He was just playing with his toes. :)
The last exhibit I visited before I had to hustle back to the expo was what I thought was the bald eagle eyrie.
Was I ever surprised to be confronted with an ANDEAN CONDOR.
With the largest wingspan of any land bird (3.2 meters....that's over 10 feet, y'all), and a body that weighs up to 31 pounds (THIRTY ONE!), it's a bird that inspires awe. I stood there like an idiot for a few minutes, just staring. I didn't know the zoo had acquired a condor. This is a big deal. This one is a female (See her red eyes? Males have brown eyes. And females lack the red comb of flesh above the beak that males have).
I had her all to myself. She was fairly close, and we sized each other up...I was obviously boring, as she resumed preening. All I could think was, "That is one BIG A$$ bird...."
A great day.
I have never been to the zoo by myself. No stroller? No kids begging for stuff from the gift shop? It was hard not to skip to my lou.
(I was hoping to see Thane. We end up at the same events, but never seem to hook up. Sigh....for a refresher course in "Thane and Me", see this post...found out that he was doing a talk in the room next to the expo, but I couldn't leave my table.)
What I did see were some cute/silly animal behaviors. And some things that I have never been able to just stand and observe.
In the Discovery Forest, I always look for the Two-Toed Sloth. And he is always in the same place. Sleeping in his tree. This makes me smile.
There are two Laughing Kookaburras right outside the "Bird Building". This one was so bright-eyed and curious....walked right up to the barricade to blink at me with those lovely slate eyes. He made me smile.
Ever since I got to hear Kelly do her kookaburra impression, she is what I think of when I see a kookaburra.
The bird building is of course my favorite part of the zoo....full of feathered lovelies from all over the world. From King Penguins to Whiskered Auklets to Rhinoceros Hornbills to Scarlet Ibis.
And this extremely friendly eider (don't know the species) who wanted to come and investigate me through the glass. It made me smile.
This black bear reminded me of this day at last year's New River Birding and Nature Festival.
The floppy gap in his mouth made me smile.
The white lions were asleep too.
(The zoo's white lions are gifts from none other than Siegfried and Roy)
That pink tongue...my house cats do the same thing. Made me smile.
I got to pet this two year old alligator. I didn't tell the handler that he felt like a purse. That would have been tacky.
His cool leathery skin made me smile. And the fact that I was brave enough to do it.
This lemur was all like, "Meh."
Made me laugh.
A new exhibit, "Dragons", highlights the world's monitor lizards, from tiny Adobe Monitors to the ginormous Komodo Dragon. This is the hind end...the end you want to see.
I just stood there and stared and stared at the massive amount of dragon flesh stretched out in there.
The Cat House (I always laugh when I say that) is another favorite. Too bad the urine smell is so bad in the building....I wonder if they can do something about that.
Looking for all the world like a little domestic cat, this Sand Cat was taking a nap and making my heart do a little dance. Check out that fur....strokable.
The Meerkat was showing me his brain, via his nostrils:
The Macaque exhibit is on an island in the middle of the zoo. This one is preparing his "Hamlet" soliloquy.
Look at that face. Hey, Creationists? You honestly think we aren't related????
I think this one was burping.
I watched this one, alone and tucked into one of the rock crevices, for about five minutes. He was just playing with his toes. :)
The last exhibit I visited before I had to hustle back to the expo was what I thought was the bald eagle eyrie.
Was I ever surprised to be confronted with an ANDEAN CONDOR.
With the largest wingspan of any land bird (3.2 meters....that's over 10 feet, y'all), and a body that weighs up to 31 pounds (THIRTY ONE!), it's a bird that inspires awe. I stood there like an idiot for a few minutes, just staring. I didn't know the zoo had acquired a condor. This is a big deal. This one is a female (See her red eyes? Males have brown eyes. And females lack the red comb of flesh above the beak that males have).
I had her all to myself. She was fairly close, and we sized each other up...I was obviously boring, as she resumed preening. All I could think was, "That is one BIG A$$ bird...."
A great day.
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