Are you old enough to remember Woody Woodpecker cartoons?
According to Wikipedia: “Woody’s character and design evolved over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character…” The jungle like call of the pileated woodpecker and jackhammer like tree drumming likely informed the ” insane,” irratic original design.
Now think for a minute of a pileated woodpecker …
Here is a pileated one winter afternoon a few years ago out our bedroom window. Sometimes the ones that come around look larger, like small chickens! Recently we had one on the front feeder out the office window. He was so eager to eat the suet that if you look carefully you can see chunks rolling down his belly! Nope, not white feathers there, just suet.
When I first spotted this nest I thought the Robin must be out of her mind! So low to the ground and there are cats in our neighborhood. The cats do not wear bells or other items on a collar to warn birds of their approach!
Photo by Robert Dutina
If you look closely you can see that she wove a blue plastic tape into her nest. It is likely from our favorite bakery. How she found it I do not know! Guess we dropped it outside the garbage can?
Now this is a baby only a mother could love. UGLY!
Photo by Robert Dutina
So at this point the mother Robin is not too happy with us, always approaching her nest and scaring her off. Actually she could stay and watch, but she doesn’t! Wonder if she would be more interested if she knew so many folks would be seeing photos of her babies progress? As usual, a day after they hatched I found a portion of egg shell in the garden on the next lot.
Two hours later napping soundly.Robert, talented photographer and baby bird whisperer. He clucked, it opened it’s mouth for him!
So yes, there is fun to be had around here. When he gets a shot of the babies with feathers I will post that. I know when mom trains them to leave the nest we will hear LOTS of urgent chirping and calling.
A couple years ago one of the fast food restaurants had an ad on TV that reminded me of a bird who does not winter here, but had returned about the time of Lent. Their jingle was to advertise a fish sandwich and to me sounded like the bird’s song. When I tried to mimic the birdsong at the Cincinnati Nature Center the Naturalist looked at me very quizzically. As if she wondering what in the world I imagined! How many classical composers were inspired by nature sounds?
I have two mP3 players (don’t ask! it’s a long story). I use those players to listen to music or Scripture or radio when I take my walks without Bob. Recently I was walking and Verdi Without Words came on the player. Then I heard a bird over and throughout the song. My first thought was “Quite a bird!” My second thought was “What is that?” I am very familiar with the conk-a-ree type of song the male makes. This one had another piercing song that I could hear even with La Traviata playing. I found that other sound on the Cornell birding website, but could not link the recording here. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/sounds If you go to that site I was listening to the second and third recording they list. (Just a few seconds each.)
Without further ado, try this typical song out for size!
And imagine hearing it along with this music!! Actually if you click on the bird and then the music, I was able to listen to them simultaneously!!
Unless you are younger and smarter than me! Having technical difficulty with video. Maybe this link works?
My sister had given me a bottle of hand sanitizer, but at the rate we have been using it I thought I would try what everyone says is SO simple. With the simple ingredients of two parts alcohol and one part aloe vera gel this did NOT make hand sanitizer as it was advertised on the ever reputable internet!
Instead, as you can see, I got a lump of organic aloe vera in a cup of alcohol. The Aloe Vera Gel organic bottle reads Aloe Vera leaf (99.8%), Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Xanthan. WHAT?!?!? @#$(*&)@!*#^IHWL What a mess! I tried the stick blender. Nope, that did not work either. Just got aloe vera strands wrapped around the blades. After straining the concoction I put it in the pump dispenser thinking that maybe it had to sit for a while. Nope. Just got squirts of mostly alcohol. Which is fine as long as you use it over the sink or out of doors! When Grandgirl #2 can over she got a good laugh at Grammy’s attempts. She could not make it work either!
My Grandgirl #2 made me batch #2 of hand sanitizer a few days later. Turns out she bought cheap stuff at the Dollar Store and it worked just fine. Then my daughter found a huge bottle of gel hand sanitizer at Sam’s Club! So we are all set to stay sanitized!
Does this sound familiar?
Verb 1. constrain - hold back
cumber, encumber, restrain
confine, limit, throttle, trammel, restrain, restrict, bound - place limits on (extent or access); "restrict the use of this parking lot"; "limit the time you can spend with your friends"
bridle - put a bridle on; "bridle horses"
curb - keep to the curb; "curb your dogs"
clog - impede the motion of, as with a chain or a burden; "horses were clogged until they were tamed"
2. constrain - restrict; "Tighten the rules"; "stiffen the regulations"
tighten up, stiffen, tighten
I am bridled by the isolation and social distancing rules. I am straining against the limits and confines of this house, this new routine, this spring of our disease and discontent. And yes, I ambored
adjective fed up, tired, hacked (off) (U.S. slang), wearied, weary, pissed off (taboo slang), uninterested, sick and tired (informal), listless, browned-off (informal), brassed off (Brit. slang), ennuied I am getting very bored with this entire business.
en·nui (ŏn-wē′, ŏn′wē)
n.
Listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom
Definitely there.
ENNUI
Not accustomed to being told what I can and cannot do, I protest. Yes, I am an introvert. Lately, I am missing the few groups I do interact with. Journey Together In Stitches = JTIS = Crochet and knit group that meets at Convent of the Transfiguration on a monthly basis. Tuesday night prayer group at The Crossing. We pray on behalf of the Leadership, Missionaries, Ministry teams and leaders, events (all suspended for now). Currently we are meeting via Zoom and praying separately. Monday night small group is also meeting via Zoom. I find Zoom less than satisfactory, but beats not seeing each other at all. And then there is church. Our congregation had a Thursday service and two on Sunday. Now we have one on YouTube with worship team and Pastor. It too is better than nothing, but even I am tired of it.
This introvert needs to mix and mingle.
Is anyone else out there tired of this isolation? It seems that for senior citizens like me this could go on for a long. long time. They are saying life as we knew it (read “as we took it for granted”) may never return. Our theater tickets are canceled. Our trip to the North Georgia mountains to seek wildflowers is canceled. Unlikely we will get to go to the beach with Grandgirls and their parents this year. Our oldest Grangirl has her graduation postponed until sometime in August, possibly held on football field. That is risky if you know weather in Southern Ohio in August!
So Bob just went for a drive by himself. Wonder if this is what he is doing in his car right now??
We have a van that drives through our neighborhood once a week. They throw out a pink plastic bag with advertisements from the local grocery stores. When they used to be late, or not come at all, I would get aggravated. I base some of my cooking and shopping by what is on sale at different times.
Now that we are restricted from doing our own grocery shopping, that van throws the ads in our drive and I just growl. Grrr. Only one local store offers shopping where they get the items, bag, total, charge them to my credit card and bring them to my trunk. Touch-less shopping. So NO, I do not want to read the ads. I had not realized how much shopping I do from memory while in a store. I see an item on the shelf and think, “Oh, yes. We are almost out of that.”
One week the touch-less store was out of my low carb yogurt. It is pretty much a staple in my diet. This week, no carrots. What? Who runs out of carrots? And mark down items? I told Bob I could not stock up on Peeps Marshmallow chickens and rabbits for him this year. I usually buy them in the markdown sale after Easter and store them in the basement. Then I ration them out throughout the year. I will say that this year when I went to make Ambrosia salad for Easter scrumptiousness and we did not have enough mini marshmallows I chopped up a yellow peep or two from last year!
It is likely many more weeks before I can go to the grocery for myself. Even then I will be wearing a mask, gloves, and who knows what else? I am trying to remain GRATEFUL. Can you imagine this pandemic 10 years ago without internet and touch-less grocery shopping?
So if they throw ads in your driveway, please pray for me to be patient and remain cheerful. I don’t care right now who has the best price on Cheerios. Would just like to fill my own basket.
So Dr. Acton of Ohio tells us we should expect to wear a mask here for at least a year. Wow. I understand the cloth mask does not keep me from getting Coronavirus or Covid-19 or whatever you choose to call it. It does keep others from getting ill if I am shedding the virus. It does keep me from touching my face, especially eyes, nose and mouth where contamination is most likely to enter my body. In Ohio Dr. Acton has taught us to call that the T-Zone. The first ones I made were flannel. Oh my! Too hot for me. Grandgirl #2 pointed out they would be good in winter when your nose gets cold on a walk!
I ordered some cotton fabric for curbside pick up as most of my fabric scraps were ideal for women, but not so much for guys! So now I own stars and stripes, solid red and solid brown. I make them with a piece of wire (pipe cleaner) sewn into the seam above the nose. There is also a pocket to put a coffee filter cut to size or a piece of paper towel to help filter things out. Now I’ve learned putting some light interfacing into the mask also makes it less permeable.
Elastic in 1/8″ size is hard to come all by. They are all sold out of the elastic at the local fabric stores. A theater supply place did fill an order for me for 30 yards. I ordered that much thinking I would have plenty left over. I use about 16″ per mask. Now I am thinking, maybe not enough! Now to just keep cutting, sewing, pressing and distributing!
Once people find out I make masks, it is sort of like the nylon scrubbers I used to make for my mother-in-law … they ask for some. “Oh, and so-and-so needs one, too.” So I am making masks. I think when I get the ones on my sewing table finished I will take a break and get back to some of my other projects for a week or two.
Until then, I am learning the pluses and minuses of Roku TV while I sew in the basement. MINUS – cannot record and fast forward through commercials! Cannot put sound through the speakers we have down there. Speakers were nice to project sound over hot water heater, washing machine and dryer. Pluses, can tune in online accounts like Pandora, Amazon music, and some movie channels with my older TV!
Bob needed to get something out of the safety deposit box at the bank. He left home wondering if they would let him in with a mask on! The bank door has had a sign about not wearing sunglasses, hoodies or hats. The manager met him at the door for his appointment and said yes, only under these circumstances was his mask allowed. Whew!!
And so, wash your hands and wear your mask! Throw away the liner after one use. Change the mask daily. Launder in the washing machine and if you want throw it into the dryer. Repeat. The masks I am making now are cotton and come out of dryer all wrinkly. I just reposition the folds and hit them with a hot iron. Presto! Good as new! A nurse friend told me to keep a stack by the door. Okay. Got it. After this batch I will eventually be back at it. Dare I say, let me know if you need one?? and please be patient while I fill the requests! Blessings!
So the bluebells gave way to more and more climbing up out of the valley we had dropped into. On a huge boulder we found Miterwort, below.
The flowers are 1/6 inch wide!
At one point walking back we were feeling lost. How long has it been since you took a walk and suddenly, as an adult, (not with dementia) had no idea where you were? You see, we had not brought Bob’s backpack with the compass. Had never been to this preserve. At one point, when I knew Bob was feeling some of the anxiety I was experiencing, I quoted to him “We’re goin’ on a bear hunt, we’re gonna catch a big one! We’re not scared…”
Path was only a narrow area of crushed leaves. But we were totally unfamiliar with it. And in many ways, it was exhilarating to have this much fun, all alone in the woods. Oh. Had we told anyone exactly WHERE we were going?
We took turns walking in the lead. Bob walks a little faster than I do. At one point he was almost out of sight. I knew all I had to do was call to him, but it brought some adrenaline to my system to not be able to see or hear him! Then we were out of the area where the wildflowers flourished. Just downed trees and leaves. Brown leaves, dirt and twigs, occasional rock.
We pushed on. We thought we saw the tree where the trail split. Five minutes later knew, it was not THAT tree. Finally, finally, spent with exertion we were at the place where the trail had split. So grateful for that walking stick. It helped me push up through the trail and helped we navigate my way down in some places.
At the end the Fitbit registered 41 flights of stairs. That is equal to climbing the Carew Tower overlooking downtown Cincinnati! We laughed wondering if either one of us would be able to walk the next day.
Turned out we were able to walk the next day. Chose not to take any long walks and a very long nap! Such fun to have the photos, the memory and an exit from the pandemic fears for a couple of hours.
On the way home we saw a Creamy Whip stand open for business. There was not a line of people, so we stopped. I put on my cloth mask and took some cash. There was a man in the truck next to us. I asked if he had placed his order yet. (I did not want to upset whatever the protocol was there.) He said yes, he was waiting for his order to be prepared. Then I realized there were several cars with people waiting. This placed served foods as well as ice cream. The people in line moved to one side. Oh! there were people on the other side of the building at picnic tables.
I placed our order for two cones. Paid, was given the cones and climbed into the car, shedding mask and getting hand sanitizer. Back to the reality of Corona virus.
Enjoyed our yummy cones and felt not one pang of guilt after that arduous climb! Drove home in peace. Looked forward to seeing how our photos came out. Maybe one day soon I will just post Bob’s photos!
For me serendipity is just like snatching rubies out of thin air. Serendipity: “the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.”
I was out walking and overheard two little girls playing in a yard.
“Where are you, Susie?”
“I’m over here at my favorite tree,” she replied, standing at the base of a pink magnolia in bloom. “I am sad. This is my favorite tree. I come here when I am sad.” There was a pause with no response from the other child. Then in a lilting voice Susie answered, “Do you want to see me climb my favorite tree?”
Can we become childlike during this pandemic? Recognize our sad feelings, but then go on to delight in the life we own at this moment? It has long been said that the waiting is the hardest part. Give me something definitive and I will find a way to cope. Leave me without a decision and I flounder and flop around. Perspective of that child? I am sad, but there is a tree right in front of me waiting to be climbed.
“Do you want to see me climb my favorite tree?”
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Matthew 18:1-5 NRSV
Come, Lord, help me climb this tree! Help me to humble myself and change. Help me become like a child.
Help me to be less fearful of the measure of time, and more fully alive in the time that simply is. Help me to live time, not just to simply use it; to breathe it in, and return it in acts of love and presence.
Avis Crowe
We were advised that in this worldwide crisis we would experience the famous stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Allow yourself to feel those emotions as they arise, then release them and let them go. They may overlap. You will go in and out of those various feelings.
Always look for your favorite tree. Climb it and be restored.
Here is where he chose to hide from the rain. I did not dare peek yesterday to see if Momma Bunny had returned for him. This afternoon I decided to look as we are forecast to heavy rains tonight. If she had not returned from him I was fully ready to call an Elder at our church, Lowell, who has pet rabbits at his house. I could house him in a shoe box and take him for a ride to safety away from cats and other critters.
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
James 5:14 NRSV
Okay, that is a stretch! But Lowell might have bunny bottles and be willing to have his kids care for a Bunny?
So, I carefully pulled back the nesting material and had my phone ready ….
NO BUNNY! Yes! Momma came back to get him and neatly covered his hiding place.
Whew! What an adventure, in deed!! And I do thank the Lord that I did not harm them when I disturbed them. If she returns next year I will try harder to curb my enthusiasm!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 