Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

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The moon also rises

You haven’t heard from me in awhile, but there’s a very good reason. It was the moon’s fault.

You remember back a couple three weeks when we enjoyed the lunar eclipse? Well you know I was out in my backyard attempting to capture the beauty of it all.

I thought it was going to be easy.

I went out early in the evening, before the eclipse began, and shot an image of the moon just to make sure I could focus and get the light right. The camera auto focused on the moon and I was happy with the image.

Early in the evening.

So I went to bed and set the alarm for 2 which is when the news people said we’d be close to the full eclipse. But that was silly. Because when I got out there after 2 a.m. I had missed the whole first half of the eclipse. I don’t know what I was thinking!

I did, however, get to see the full eclipse. I wasn’t really enjoying it in the moment though because I couldn’t get the camera to focus.

Turns out there was so little light coming off the moon that the camera couldn’t figure out what to focus on. The focus ring kept moving, the lens trying so hard to find something to latch onto, but it continued to fail. Meanwhile the eclipse was moving right along on schedule. So I changed it to manual focus and tried to do the best I could, using skills learned in my Milky Way class.

I went back to bed at 5 a.m., cold to the core, but happy knowing I had 191 images. Of the moon. And even though I knew a good percentage of them were garbage, I knew a handful would probably be good. Or at least good enough.

In the morning I downloaded the images to an external hard drive because my laptop memory is pretty full. But when I went to open up my first image all I got was colored lines.

I and my husband have been trying off and on since then to figure out what the deal is. I’ll save you all the details, but it turns out if you shoot in RAW you need to have special software to read the data and see your image. At least you do with my new camera, the Nikon Z6iii. It’s confusing because I know for a fact that I haven’t had trouble shooting and reading RAW images in the past. All my night shooting has been in RAW and this has never been an issue.

It’s a lot like those running shoes I used to wear. As soon as I found a pair that felt good the manufacturer would change something and I’d have to find a new shoe.

Anyway.

Today husband finally figured out that we needed to download Nikon’s software which he did on our desktop computer and I finally got to see my moon images for the first time since sitting out there in the cold, all those weeks ago.

Today I deleted lots of images. I kept lots too. But this one, the one below turns out to be my favorite because of the stars shimmering around the moon.

Now I know you can’t actually see the stars, I usually have to lighten up images quite a bit to post them on WP or FB. But oddly tonight when I tried to edit this image the entire Lightroom Classic edit page is different. I can’t find the crop. I can’t figure out how to make the stars shine brighter. I can’t find much of anything. So…tired and feeling defeated, I give up.

What you see is what I’m able to figure out. I’ve spent way too much time today trying to get stuff to work. Tomorrow, I promise, is another day.

And right now I’m going to go back to the desktop with it’s big screen and look at this image and sigh, remembering a magical night under the stars.

You guys will have to take my word for it.


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A friend named Deuce

Katie here.

I would like to let you all know that my good friend Deuce the cocker spaniel is now safe with me and his other dog friends over the Rainbow Bridge. Last night mama asked me to keep an eye out for him because he’d be journeying today, and to make sure he got introduced around here once he arrived.

Deuce, May 23, 2012 – March 18, 2025.

She said she didn’t want him to feel alone or scared, and since we were buddies back in the day she knew I’d be glad to see him again and that I’d take good care of him. Well, it turns out there were several dog friends waiting expectantly for him, so he had quite a wonderful reunion.

Deuce could fly even before he crossed the bridge!

Mama also asked me to tell you about his remarkable life because, she says, typing when her eyes are leaking is really hard. So, let me tell you about my friend Deuce.

Always happy when he could run on a trail.

Deuce and I go way back. Our moms got us together pretty often to walk in parks, near his house and over at my parks too. Some of my best walks ever were with my friend Deuce.

We sure enjoyed walking together.

He was always a gentleman and let me pee on stuff first, then he’d pee there to validate the spot. We usually walked separately but together, if you know what I mean. If either of us discovered a good spot we’d invite the other one over to enjoy it, but in general we were our own dog on most of our walks.

Sometimes he liked to photobomb me, just for fun.

Not to say we didn’t sit near each other a lot when asked, mostly to humor the moms.

Yep, we’d sit together if it made the moms happy.

But Deuce did a lot of other things besides walk with me. He was a very dedicated, certified, therapy dog. He visited nursing homes and schools and had special friends there that loved him, and he loved them back.

Deuce pays his respect at a wall honoring military dogs who have gone on ahead.

As soon as he put his therapy dog vest on he knew he was working and he loved every minute of it. Why he even went up to people in wheelchairs when he was out and about and not in his official capacity. He just seemed to know when someone needed a little snuggle.

A special stop to visit Cody the therapy dog.

He liked adventure too. One summer I took Deuce and his mom camping with me. Deuce had never camped before but he settled right into the new experience. He had his own tent that he shared with his mom, and his own chair to sit in when we hung out around the fire.

We each had our own tents, no cohabitating allowed!

But mostly on that trip we walked and played in the woods around the campground. Deuce liked to climb up on stuff we’d find there; he was a very good jumper.

Deuce never met a log he didn’t want to climb on!

He was a few years younger than me, so usually I let him jump high up and pose and I’d settle myself somewhere below.

We liked to goof off together.

Both of us were good about sharing our moms. And we let them take as many pictures of us as they wanted. Which, I guess, is good now that he’s up here with me. I think all those pictures will make our moms feel just a little better as they remember all the good times we had together.

I love you, mom! We’re a team!

I feel I’ve known Deuce forever! I first met him at doggy school where we were both learning obedience. Deuce was much more obedient than me. He was such a fast learner and such a good dog. He was and always will be his mom’s Little Buddy, and he’d do or learn anything for her.

She doesn’t know what she will do without him.

Deuce and his mom on our camping adventure.

Deuce says he wants to reassure her that he’ll be watching over her and his younger brothers and if she needs him, especially to put the youngest one in his place, why, he’ll be right there. Guaranteed.

His walks with his mom were special.

He says he’s sorry he had to move on, but as the top dog of the household it’s his responsibility to make sure everything up ahead is copesetic. He says that will be one of his main duties while he’s here waiting for his mom.

I figure there will also be time for long walks, and maybe even some running and jumping, just like he and I used to do.

Things look good up here, mom!

Deuce and I used to race each other sometimes on our walks. We’d line up and the moms would call “COME!” and we’d both run toward them. I usually let Deuce win. Though it’s entirely possible he was just faster than me. Up here ,everybody wins and we get to run and run as much as we want!

He beat me fair and square on this race.

Deuce and his mom were a great team. He wants her to remember him that way, as part of their team while they did obedience, or rally, or when he was working as a therapy dog, or even when they were just walking through the woods together.

Team Deuce.

Deuce says he’ll always be part of that team and he’ll always love his mom, just like she’ll always love him.

Deuce looked handsome in any season.

He reminds us that love is forever, no matter what. I know you guys will miss seeing him every day, but if you look closely, when you’re out in the woods, or napping on the sofa, or training one of the younger dogs, I bet you’ll see him, right there, just around that corner.

Deuce stayed with my folks once, after I had to leave. He helped them when they were missing me.

You might not see it right now, but he’s smiling, and patiently waiting until he sees you again. In the meantime Deuce and I have walks to do and dogs to meet. Please be happy for us. We are young and healthy and feeling wonderful now.

Sometimes Deuce looked like a grumpy old man, but he was always smiling underneath.

We promise we’ll be right here when it’s your time to cross the Rainbow Bridge.

We’re together, right here over the bridge, waiting for our people!

Deuce is a special boy, and he touched the lives of a whole lot of people. I know you all wish him the very best adventures over on this side of the Rainbow Bridge.

Well, we’ve got a lot to do up here, so I’ll sign off for now, Deuce and I just wanted you to know we’re doing just fine and we love you.

Talk later,

Your Bridge Tour Guide, Katie-girl, and her Intrepid Buddy, Deuce.


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The jig is up

Hi everybody, Penny here.

Well.

I ask you….do I LOOK like I have a temper?

Mom and daddy say that it’s time that I stop all my temper tantrums at home and the barking and lunging at doggies at school, and the chasing cars and joggers and bicycles thing. Also my very loud and insistent objections to things like the shower being turned on, or the refrigerator door being closed without me getting anything.

You know, stuff like that.

It’s a new day, mom!

So they had a lady come over to the house to meet me. She’s very nice and has the best treats! After initially barking at her and then jumping on her I decided to show her my very best behavior and I sat. I sat a lot and stared expectantly at her.

Do you have the GOOD treats?

And every time I looked at her while something noisy was happening in the house she gave me a teeny tiny barely there treat. I thought this was the best game ever!

So now mom and daddy are trying to anticipate my outbursts and get my attention before I go off on them. I seem to be getting more attention and more treats lately. We’re only a few days in but I like it!

All this training is wearing me out. I think mom and dad are tired too.

Then yesterday mom took me out to a park and we practiced heeling and downing and sitting and coming and stuff. Lots of treats there too.

Coming in for the cheese, mom!

I may have hit the jackpot!

And then…last night, just when I was settling into my after supper nap which leads to my after supper sleep, mom woke me up and put me in the car and we went to a little historic town nearby where we met up with the same nice lady and another family with their dog, and we walked around town!

This is kinda weird. I’m usually asleep by now!

Well! I’m not real happy about being near noisy cars and I was a little bit hyper but the nice lady and my mom would just make a sound that reminded me to look at them and then I got a treat!

Mom brought cheese!

We walked around and around and around this little town and I was mostly good. Sometimes I couldn’t help it and I’d forget to look at mom and start barking and twirling over something, and a couple times she had to hug me to calm me down, but overall I am beginning to learn that mom’s got my back and I don’t have to protect her from anything.

Thanks, mom (and nice lady) for always looking out for me. And for the cheese.

Maybe.

I bet mom and I will be having more of these adventures. I can’t decide if I like them better than my park adventures, but if there’s cheese…well…I’m in! Right after I take a nap.

So…after we get the car washed what are we doing next?


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Extended holiday spirit

“Oh Christmas Family,” I thought as I drove to band rehearsal last night. “I’m glad we’re not the only people who haven’t unplugged our holiday lights yet.”

The people in this house put up their holiday lights early and leave them late into winter every year. On winter Tuesday nights as I drive to rehearsals I always smile when I see them. And I’m always sad when their lights eventually turn off.

I smile because we do something similar. Each year we put lights on one tree that sits on the corner of our lot, visible from two streets.

During the dark cold winter nights the lights on that lone tree warm me, and it turns out, our neighbors too, who always comment their appreciation of our beautiful tree.

Every winter I leave the tree lit until the end of February. And this year it seems even more important to light my little corner of the world.

These images were taken last night, after our rehearsal, using my handheld phone. Hence the focus. But I wanted to share with you what a beautiful night it was, with stars peaking out of the clouds and an almost tropical breeze. 44 degrees in Michigan in February is tropical.

Trust me.


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Neglected!

Penny here. You have probably noticed a definite lack of posts from my mom. She’s neglecting this blog, yes she is, but that’s not all she’s neglecting!

Did you know that February 11th was my Gotcha Day? No you did not. Did my Gotcha Day get celebrated? No it did not.

Mom tried to make it better by telling me that they celebrate me every day, but I’m not buying it. Strike one for mom.

Then I hear very late in the day that yesterday was National Love Your Pet Day or something like that! And did I get presents and cake and streamers and stuff? No I did not.

Strike two, mom!

And NOW I see on Facebook that TODAY is National Dog Biscuit Day!

Well! Enough is enough and I am going to file a complaint about being neglected unless I get a whole bunch of treats, and they better be the good kind too, not just part of my daily allotment of kibble.

Otherwise it’s gonna be Strike three, mom!

I ask you, how much should a Sheltie girl take before she pulls rank on the mom and dad? Now’s the time to organize! Now’s the time to protest! Now’s the time to take control!

Who’s with me?

PS: All these pictures were taken this week when mom took me to some parks to play in the snow and up to my breeder’s house to play with my dog mom and my niece Sarah. (so maybe mom doesn’t totally neglect me….maybe.)


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Last but not least

We were cold and tired. Our feet hurt, my back ached, but we were happy, knowing that we had each gotten several really good images of our favorite birds. It was time to drive home.

It was a cold and very windy day.

We each climbed into our respective cars for the trip out of the park. But there was one more place we needed to check out before we left. Because, on our drive into the park we’d both, separately, noticed a single swan sitting in a blue pool of open water in the frozen river. It was a stunning scene, but neither of us had pulled over.

When we climbed out of our cars at the Nature Center the first thing we said to each other was “Did you see that swan?” I offered to drive back there right then but she said, “No, we’ll stop on our way out.”

Neither of us really thought that swan would still be there on our way out. If we’ve learned anything doing outdoor photography it’s that if you see it shoot it. Nothing ever looks exactly the same again.

But we let the swan idea go and headed back into the woods in search of the birds you’ve seen in my previous two posts. In fact I sort of forgot all about that swan, I was having such a good time with the little birds.

A couple nearby.

But when we packed up the car for the return trip we decided if the swan was still there we’d stop. And wonder of wonder, when we drove across the bridge above the river there were dozens of swans!

Obviously we pulled over and climbed out of the car, forgetting our cold toes and fingers.

I loved all the footprints.

Standing out in the open, up on a bridge, as the wind blew and our fingers turned to ice we kept shooting until we had half again as many photos as we had already taken!

There were lots of swans, but I was most interested in the three that were near me, just below the bridge I was standing on.

There was the single, beautiful swan directly below us as well as the couple off to the side. It was like a photo shoot with beautiful models. As they moved, turning their heads and posing, we kept shooting.

Neither of us wanted to leave, it was so beautiful. In fact at one point I got back in the car. After all, how many pictures of a swan does any one photographer need? And then the wind picked up and the feathers on our swan blew in the wind.

And I had to get back out and keep shooting. Of course, wouldn’t you?

I swear, if you live close to this park in Southeast Michigan I’m surprised you’re not already in your car heading over there.

In fact, just say the word, I’ll meet you.


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And finally –the little birds

It’s been three weeks since I last visited Kensington, my favorite park, feeding and taking pictures of the birds.

Those of you new here probably don’t know about Kensington, where the wild birds freely come down to outstretched hands for treats.

Chickadee

Most people seeing this for the first time think it’s odd and wonderful, all at the same time. Which of course it is.

Male junco

Feeding the birds is one of my favorite things to do in the whole world and if I lived closer I’m sure I’d be there every day. There are some lucky people who are able to do that. I think some of the birds probably recognize them as regulars.

Curious titmouse

I see some people walking the trails for exercise, but the majority of people are there to experience a bird landing on their hand, or to photograph birds. Or both.

It’s been so long now since I took these pictures that I can’t remember the stories that go with them. So mostly I won’t narrate the birds’ thoughts. Suffice it to say that they’re mostly all about the food.

“Do you have treats over there?”

Mostly I was trying to get images of birds moving, they’re so beautiful in flight. But often I had the camera focused on my hand, waiting for the birds to land, and their wingspans turned out to be just outside the focus area. Lesson learned.

Still, you can see how complicated bird wings are, and how beautiful.

As photographers we were so lucky that day — the sun came out, so even though it was very cold and windy we got some beautiful light.

Mourning dove

We spent a good two hours standing next to a small tree that seemed to be the launching ground for little (and some not so little) birds to buzz over to our hands.

Female red belly woodpecker

We didn’t have to go look for the birds, they heard (through the grape vine?) about us and zoomed right over.

Chickadee underside

But eventually the sun lowered and the chill intensified. The handwarmers I put in my boots were now cold and so were my toes.

Showing off her red belly

It was time to go home, but we didn’t want to leave our little friends. They were still busy coming and going.

Coming and going

They weren’t giving up on us…how could we give up on them?

Male downy woodpecker

But they had eaten a lot, their bellies should be full. And in the morning a whole new bunch of people would be on the trails, hands outstretched filled with oilers and peanuts and suet balls.

Where you going, ladies?

Breakfast will be served.

Oh…on a previous post I said that we saw something beautiful on the way out of the park…but this post is already way too long. So I guess you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer.

Are you sure my breakfast will be here early tomorrow?

I promise it’s worth the wait.


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When the music stopped

I don’t remember when I started playing with the local community band. And when I joined I certainly didn’t expect to still be playing years (maybe more than15 years!) later or how lucky I’d be to form a friendship with the band’s music director.

But it was easy, she was a clarinet player as well as a band director in the public schools. We were similar ages, and had lots of the same interests. She gave me tickets to the Detroit Symphony, took me and others to the Detroit Institute of Art to see the Van Gogh show, invited me over to play with her beloved kitties, made meals for my husband and me when we got Covid the first time.

She gave of herself in ways too numerous to mention. As she did with so many others.

In recent years Shelley has fought cancer, going to treatments and tests but still coming, every Tuesday night, to rehearse a band that on it’s best days can be a handful. We are something of an island for misfit musicians, all with different sets of skills, different levels of commitment, but each of us 100% lovers of making music. When we get it right it is so right, and when we fail, well, we fail spectacularly.

And still she came, every Tuesday night. Arriving early, she was the last one to leave.

At our October concert, “Three Women and a Podium”

When the cancer struck again it became harder for her. She had moved an hour away to be closer to family and her doctors. The trip back to be with us was sometimes long, sometimes impossible. Still, she persisted. When necessary other dedicated music directors stepped in to give her a break.

But we always knew she’d be back. She wasn’t ready to give up her community band.

The last concert she conducted for us was this past October. By Christmas she didn’t have enough stamina to stand on the podium and keep us in line. I texted her after the Christmas concert, her favorite of each year, and gave her a report. We had done well, had a good crowd, we missed her, Santa said hello. She told me she was grieving the loss and missed us too.

She never came back.

Last week at rehearsal we learned she was in hospice at the family’s home. She was receiving visitors and cards and spending time with her grandchildren. This past Tuesday morning she died, her family surrounding her, and music playing.

Of course it was a Tuesday.

In Michigan’s UP on a 3 day trip, where it rained every single day.

Maybe she knew that we’d need each other, as one by one we heard the news. She knew, of course, that there is no better group of people to be with when you’re mourning your music director than the people with whom you share the music.

And so we went to rehearsal. Those of us that knew had a hard time walking into the building, into the band room, looking at the podium. Even though she hadn’t been physically there since last fall, it was still her podium. Those that hadn’t heard the news yet sat in stunned silence as it was announced.

The room was quiet for a moment and then people started sharing stories and we laughed a bit and teared up a bit. And then we did the best thing we could do for ourselves, and for her.

We made music. For a moment the music had stopped. But only for a moment.

Last week I wrote Shelley a letter, thanking her for being a friend, for her advice, for her musical support, for our travels together, for her generosity, for her time and her care. There are so many stories I could tell you about her, and I am just one of hundreds who have stories of her giving to them and their families.

I ended my letter to her by reminding her of the hundreds of students she had mentored over her 30+ years of teaching music in our public schools. Her legacy will go on forever through those students, many who have made sharing music their careers.

I told her she was the stone tossed into quiet water and the ripples she made are still spreading out into the universe. I told her I didn’t think any of us could have a bigger affect on the world than what she’d done with her talent and her love.

A subset of us, playing a pop-up concert during Covid in her neighborhood.

And I asked her if, after she gets settled and has her celestial band warmed up and in tune, if she might look around for a way to let us know she’s OK. I told her I knew she’d be OK, but it would be nice to know.

I expect to be hit over the head with something fantastically musical any day now. And I bet that first concert up there is going to be amazing.