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THE MIGRATION CONTINUES
No gray skies yesterday as another wave of migrating turkey vultures passed through. I grabbed the camera and tried (with less success than I'd envisioned) for a few shots as they swooped surprisingly...
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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - October Skies (Lake Erie)
I haven’t kept track, but if feels like most of the days this month have been overcast and rainy. One day, the rain was drawn like a curtain across the Ohio horizon. On another, the afternoon grew...
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THE MERGANSER NATION GATHERS
The migration is on in earnest now. Wave after wave of turkey vultures soar over the bleached cornfields, while the musical chips of the kinglets fill the bushes around my house. Out on the lake this...
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THE CAT CORPS EAR SIGNAL MANUAL--for Pet Pride
Elliott: At easePearl: Caution, Solar-powered nap in progressPearl: Right ear ID tattoo. What, you think I’m gonna wear dog tags?? I don’t think so!Sweeney: Strange night noise detector with infra-red...
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ON WARBLERS and FINCHES
A few days ago I bundled up against the wind and stepped out into my back yard to watch another large flock of migrating birds go by—double-crested cormorants this time. As I rounded the corner of the...
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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - The Moving Finger Writes; and Having Writ, Moves On (Lake...
What to make of this giant Z in the sky? The mark of Zorro? Does anyone else remember a masked and dashing Guy Williams deftly etching his monogram on Sergeant Garcia’s ample uniformed girth with a few...
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POINT PELEE in OCTOBER
Even though the day kind of chilly and glum, and it was 'spitting' yesterday, I decided to drive over to Point Pelee to see what was up. By the time I got to the Tip parking lot (they let cars drive...
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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - Indian Summer Skies Over Point Pelee
After my drive to the Point Pelee Tip got rained out (previous post) the weather shifted, and it got warmer and sunnier. So my neighbor and I took her two corgis on their tandem leash (is there...
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TRANSITIONS
October on Lake Erie’s north shore brings alternating stretches of bright days and dull days. Through it all, the creatures in the area gather together; each for their own reasons. Last week, huge...
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THE CONSTANCY of CHANGE
I’m sure I’m not the only one in the north who feels this way, but at this time of the year, I’m more acutely aware of change. Perhaps it’s because much of the change involves the leaving of things...
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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - Wind and Water (Lake Erie)
High winds whipped up the water all afternoon, and splashed spray up to the sky, as if trying to douse the sun’s fire. At day's end, the molten ball won out, and the waves roared in their defeat all...
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MOUSETRAP REDUNDANCY and OTHER FELINE MINUTIAE
You’d think with a love seat full of cats, I wouldn’t need to buy mousetraps, but not so. It’s true, any critter who ventured out into the house proper would definitely be up for a Darwin Award, but a...
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NOVEMBER HOURS
In the four years I’ve lived here on the lake, this is the first autumn that the burning bush under my front window actually turned to flame. Last year a lack of rain caused the leaves to wither and...
View ArticleHAMBURGER GETS A HELPER BUT I HAVE TO MULTI-TASK EVERYTHING...
...with apologies to Fran Lebowitz for paraphrasing her in the post title. You may remember me referring once or twice over the spring and summer to a new book I was working on. Not the poetry one,...
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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - Skipping Sun (Lake Erie)
On the post before last, I included a sunset with a flock of Canada geese drifting through. Someone mentioned it would be a good Skywatch post, but I thought today I'd show a slightly different shot of...
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BOUND BY THE BEAUTY
I haven't been participating in the poetry meme, One Single Impression, for a while, but I visit many blog friends who do, so I noticed that this week's prompt is "Reincarnation." As coincidence would...
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LONGER BOATS
One of my favorite things about living beside of one of the Great Lakes is the glimpse I get from time to time of the freighters. I first fell in love with these elegant long carriers in my teens, when...
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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - Dots and Dashes (Lake Erie)
I’ve been trying to locate the poem below, off & on, for years, and finally on Tuesday, I found it; just in time to go with this photo I took for SWF. The tiny dotted clouds paired with the long...
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ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN, AND THE SKY IS GRAY...
...but I'm content to be right where I am, not dreaming of being on the Coast. Here are two recent views from my backyard. The top photo is to the west, with the faint arm of Pigeon Bay hugging the...
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING
To all those who are celebrating this day/weekend...a very warm and happy time!
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CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: Some Have the Knack and Some Don't
Here’s hoping all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend are having a wonderful time! It was kind of quiet around here this year, because people were either away or under the weather, including...
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CALLING ALL BIRD DETECTIVES
This weekend my neighbor and I went to the Visitors Center at Point Pelee to get her some postcards and walk the dogs. While there I chatted with the Ranger on duty about the lack of black-capped...
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STAR NEWS
A while ago I saw an article about how a pair of physics professors, Craig Heinke, from the University of Alberta and Wynn Ho, from Southampton U. in the UK, have revealed the mystery behind a...
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SKYWATCH FRIDAY - Last and First Moon (Lake Erie)
“Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my raincoat.”“We smoked the last one an hour ago.”So I looked at the scenery; she read her magazineAnd the moon rose over an open field.Moonrise, November...
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HEARTFELT THANKS
My heartfelt thanks for all my blog friends for your warm words of support for my decision to suspend the Cloud Messenger blog for a while. I look forward to visiting you at your blogs whenever I can,...
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