Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.


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A turtle a day

Apparently it’s turtle season around here. That time of year when the females leave their ponds and swamps and wander out into our yards, roads and gardens to find the perfect place to lay a few eggs.

Yesterday late afternoon I backed out of my driveway, watching behind me via the car’s rear camera. When I got to the road I paused and glanced up, looking back toward the house. What was that pile of brownish green stuff up there at the edge of the driveway?

A big ole mama snapping turtle, that’s what it was. I (and she) was lucky she wasn’t in the middle of the driveway because I don’t know that I would have seen her. She’s around every spring, and I should know to look around before I take off these days.

This late afternoon the ring camera doorbell chimed. That sound is supposed to tell us there’s someone at the front door. Out here in the country it can mean all sorts of other things, like cats, raccoons, possums, and even a neighborhood dog. Today when the chimes rang I checked out front and at first didn’t see anything. But Penny was insistent that something was out there, mom!

Husband checked his phone where the doorbell reports, and found the notice “a tortoise is crossing the yard.” And there she was, up along the side of the porch.

She’s a Blanding’s turtle, and she and others like her are endangered around here. I was glad she was in our garden, and after taking her picture, I tiptoed away.

But of course Pen wants to go outside, and I can’t let her go out the front until the turtle has moved along. Last time I checked she was on our front step.

I don’t know where she plans to go next.

Meanwhile Pen and I will stay inside – she’s abandoned me because obviously I am incompetent – and has retreated to her daddy’s lap.

I guess going outside is not as high a priority as I thought.


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Finding some summer music

Sunday afternoon I drove about an hour to attend another community’s band concert. They were celebrating the 250th anniversary of our country too, and I was curious what they would play.

I’ve never been to one of their concerts, but many years ago our community band and theirs planned a joint concert in their town. We anticipated having another joint concert the next year at our high school.

I can’t remember if it was a blizzard or an electrical outage, it very well could have been both, but the school was closed the day of our performance and we never did find another date to make that concert up. I’ve always felt sad about that, both bands had prepared music that we didn’t get to play.

Sunday’s program began with a subset of the band, doing jazz numbers, complete with a singer, and there was also a drum and fife band that marched in and played several pieces. The drum and fife players were aged 12-18. It felt good to see young people involved with something so historical. There is hope for our country!

The Community Band was wonderful. It is larger than our band, there were 75 people listed in the program, including twelve clarinets! They completely fill the stage and their sound fills the hall. They were awesome and I’m so glad I went.

Music in the spring and summer is so hopeful. I feel better just attending, even though I didn’t know a single soul in the audience or on the stage. I can say with certainty that everyone was smiling as they left Sunday’s concert. I plan to go to another concert this one located closer to home and outside, this week. You’ll probably hear about that one too. 🙂

You can’t beat community music. Look around, find some local music. I encourage you to take some time and attend something in your town. You’ll be supporting your neighbors and you, too, will walk away with a smile.

Guaranteed.


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Book memory

I’ve been part of Goodreads for many years. I bet I’d be surprised at how many years it is. Maybe I should go and check just what year I posted the first review. One moment please…

It looks like I’ve been writing reviews on books I’ve read since 2008. The stats say I’ve read 740 books, though I know that’s not completely true. There are times when I’m reading that I don’t go into Goodreads when I’m finished. Sometimes I just move on to the next book.

But I’ve been realizing, lately, that I remember very few of the books I’ve read. Even books I’ve read recently. My blog has a side bar that shows parts of my reviews on recently read books. I don’t know how it got there, and I don’t think it posts every book, though I’m not sure.

What I am sure of is that I don’t remember the plots or characters of 99% of the books listed there, even though I read them last month. Sometimes even if I go back in and read my review I still don’t remember it. Usually if I keep researching the book I’ll begin to get some memories, but I don’t often go to that extent.

I wonder if this is a function of my brain, or a function of mediocre books. There are a few I remember, but very few. I just finished another one that took me longer than it should have to finish and that I know I won’t remember in a couple weeks.

How many of you have this problem? And is it really a problem? Does it matter if I don’t remember them once I finish? Have you ever read a book and realized, near the end, that you’ve read it before? Or gone to Goodreads after you completed it to write a review and find you had one there already from a couple years ago? And that your opinion of the books was unchanged?

I used to say reading was one of my favorite hobbies, now I’m lucky if I don’t fall asleep while reading. In fact this morning I dropped the book as I fell asleep, while reading the last pages of the last chapter.

Imagine that.

Pictures of Pen just because. And because she’s an anti-reading dog. She’d rather I play with her, or better yet feed her than hang out with a book.


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Hey!

Penny here. Guess what? Guess what, guess what, guess what?!!!

Mom accidentally found out that today is LUCKY PENNY DAY!

Wow! An entire day where the whole country celebrates ME!

Personally I always knew I was special but mom tried to keep the lid on it so to speak, so I didn’t get a big head. But she can’t hide my greatness anymore…why, there’s a day just for ME!

Oh. Wait. They’re talking about real pennies? The kind you find in parking lots? The kind they don’t even make anymore?

What the heck people!

I say we start a letter writing campaign to get me nominated to be the official LUCKY PENNY.

Geeze.

Talk later,

Your Lucky Penny (officially named Simply Unstoppable Pretty Penny, but I know I’m lucky too)


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Because you can’t have too many birds

A week ago I had the chance to go to Kensington, one of my favorite places in the world. It was a beautiful, sunny day.

You brought breakfast, right lady?

The birds weren’t crazy hungry and we weren’t overrun by little ones, but we had our fair share of visitors demanding a treat.

I’m not touching your hand, but I’ll clean up anything you drop.

My sister and I had been there before, a few years ago and she was used to having birds fly down to her hand, but it was still magical. It always is.

Excellent seed quality, lady!

Her friend had never been there before so this was a new experience. He figured out that he could toss a peanut up in the air and the red bellied woodpeckers and the blue jays would both fly out from the trees and catch that peanut in the air.

Toss that peanut, Mr!

They were successful grabbing the nut about 99% of the time.

I can get that peanut faster than you two!

He also got an up close and personal viewing of several sandhill cranes. We didn’t feed them, but they were hopeful and followed us around on the trail.

What you lookin at?

The heron rookery was full of expectant parents. Though I’m sure there are eggs or maybe even youngsters up in those big nests we couldn’t see any yet.

Everybody is waiting.

Ms. Swan built her nest very near the boardwalk this year. I’m sure every photographer has a great image of mom waiting patiently on her nest. By this week there could be babies and the usual paparazzi shooting baby pictures.

Big stretch while on the job.

I doubt I’ll get out there again soon, but I sure enjoyed my spring walk with family through such a beautiful place. I hope you enjoyed these images too.

Singing oriole overhead.


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Celebrating 250

As usual I have been worried about an upcoming Community Band concert. I don’t know why I’m like that, why I worry so much. But soon enough Friday afternoon arrived and I found myself dressed in black, hauling rolling buckets filled with extra music (just in case) and arriving at our venue early to help set up.

There’s always a lot to set up for a concert, especially when we have a cake and cookie reception after. This year we also had displays about our country’s history, put together by both high school students and members of the Sons of the American Revolution. And of course there’s the 50+ chairs and stands that needed to be organized up on the stage.

Setting up the sound system.

Soon it was time to warm up, to play a few measures of this piece and that. To work out any problematic parts, to practice, just one more time, the tempo change at measure 68. To settle into our chairs, adjust the height of the stand, push our reading glasses up our noses.

To focus.

And, of course, to look out at the accumulating audience, checking to see if our own people have arrived. This year I had eight friends, neighbors and family attend our concert. That’s a record for me. For years it’s just been my poor husband attending, on his own, innumerable concerts over the years in support me.

Just the beginning of what turned out to be a really big crowd.

This year my sister and her friend drove up from Alabama just for the concert (and of course to visit with us), Penny’s breeder came, one of my night photography friends arrived from across the county, and three people from my neighborhood came too.

Dane, with one year of college under his belt, came back to play this concert with us.

Does having people you know in the audience up the anxiety level? Not this time. I knew they’d like this kind of concert, patriotic music, marches that they’d heard before, and a salute to members of our armed forces.

Photo credit: Dane’s grandfather, George Stanley White

You could hardly not like it. We even gave everybody flags to wave during the obligatory Stars and Stripes finale.

In the end the music was good, the cake was good, Uncle Sam arrived to conduct, and everybody had a good time. Which is, after all, the goal of any celebration.

My sister and me, after the concert, with flowers she gave me in celebration.

Check around your town. I bet this summer there’s going to be a concert somewhere near you that celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Make a point of going. I think you’ll feel better about our country if you enjoy music in the company of other folks. There’s a kind of hope in celebratory music.

Patriotic plant given to me by my photography friend.

Don’t miss your opportunity to feel the love.


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The orioles are back!

Historically the orioles (bright orange migrating birds) come back to my feeder from their winters in South America about (and almost always ON) May 5th.

I would like to announce my arrival, lady!

This year people were reporting them returning to their yards in lower Michigan at the end of April. So I put my oriole feeder out then. And then I waited. Every day I thought “this will be the day.”

Have you filled my royal feeder with my royal jelly?

And suddenly it was. My first sighting was May 1st and I was very excited. He was extra hungry and between him and the house finches I started going through a lot of jelly. Of course I didn’t mind at all.

Wrong feeder

Today I figured out there are actually two males. And possibly two females now. Though today I saw a picture online by a bird photographer who does a lot of educating with her images. She said her photograph was probably a young male, perhaps last years youngster. She said they look like females but have more black on them, like a male.

Ahhhh…this is more like it.

So now I’m considering that the two ‘females’ I’ve had might just be last year baby boys. That would make sense, as the males always arrive first.

A female? Or a young male? I think young male.

Either way the four of them have been at the feeder all day, every day since at least the 5th. AND I also get hummingbirds the next day (the 6th) of May, and a rose breasted gross beak!

Ahem….what have you planned for MY dinner?

The hummers and the gross beak arrived a day late, but I was just as happy to see them.

I hope she has safflower seed for me. That’s my favorite.

I don’t have an image of the male hummingbird yet, he’s very skittish. But the gross beak has always been something of a photo hog. He’s not skittish at all, as long as you move slowly. And your dog doesn’t bark.

But hey, grape jelly might be better!

The same day that the gross beak and the hummer arrived I saw a catbird, also a migrating bird that isn’t here in the winter.

Hey! Don’t be so grumpy. It’s OK to share a little of your royal jelly.

And across the street in the pond was an egret. Though my pictures of that bird are just bad. I always have trouble with the bright white of egrets. I know I’ll have more opportunities so I’ll wait until I get a better image before I share.

Catbird, not an oriole.

BUT, I have to say that the 5th and 6th were very big bird days in and around my yard!

Red bellied woodpecker also likes grape jelly.

All the photos here were taken through a window, working through reflections and grime. But I didn’t care, I was just thrilled to see them all.