Category Archives: Blogging from A to Z

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lunar

Who is this diving? Can you tell?

Whew, at the end of Blogging from A to Z, happy things all month. I am tired. This weekend I went to see my daughter at college. We went for a walk and saw the above bird. More than one. Have you guessed?

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This is a Common Loon, in breeding plumage, here.

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I love the precise collar of black and white that stops at the back of the neck. They swim much lower in the water than our mallards, and the mallards don’t dive.

Ready to dive:

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Gone!

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Rest from the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Right now we have 248 people who have completed it: here.

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Zzzzzz

The letter Z: zzzz. Zzzzzs, blessed sleep.

My friend is not asleep here. But what a place to sleep!

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And sleep in the sun!

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Sleep on a couch!

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Sleep in a boat!

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And back to the daybed.

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Blogging from A to Zzzzzz, and the challenge is done.

Z

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y for yes

Blogging from A to Z, happy things. Y for yellow, yearn and yes! w

I yearn to get more exercise. Sort of. I’m not making it enough of a priority. I did walk to work about a week ago and lots of trees were topped with birds. First a yellow shafted Northern Flicker. Am I sure it’s yellow shafted and not red shafted? Well, no. I would need a brighter day to see it’s tail that well.

Next:

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Corvus, the crow. Here. Next a robin:

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And who is this? Very upright and about the size of the crow:

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The branches made it a tricky focus shot and I zoomed all the way in. There! Yes!

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I think this is a juvenile Swainson’s hawk, here. It could be a Cooper’s hawk but doesn’t have a long tail. Correct me, birders, if I am wrong!

Yes, yearn and yellow…. yea for the letter Y.

Y

 

 

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water to wash

Happy things from A to Z, the letter W. W for water, wet and wash!

We were very excited about the green turtles in Hawaii. But we photograph birds too:

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Down by the water, checking it out. Then the featured post, bathing in the sea. And a clean wet bird:

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We think this is a yellow billed cardinal, originally introduced from Brazil, here.

W

Blogging from A to Z, the letter W.

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veil

Happy things from A to Z: the letter v. V for veil and vulnerable and vamp.

While we were in Hawaii, there was a rain squall that blew up. We went back to the car and as you can see, the other photographer crashed. Really really asleep, veiled by a towel.

We are vulnerable when we are asleep. Relaxed. Out. The rain was ferocious. I felt protective while he slept. I also felt protected by the car…

And then vamp! Our noon Rotary held a fundraiser to update the kitchen of the Boiler Room. We dressed up, went to dinner and contributed money. The Boiler Room is a drug and alcohol free welcoming space in Port Townsend that has given out tons of free meals and soup and employs people as well. We are from the Sunrise Rotary. All the groups help each other. The theme was something about the old west and they had teens from the Interact Club to take pictures with our cell phones:

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We were being serious for a moment. I could definitely make up a story about the picture!

And vamp it up! I was trying red lipstick for the concert on Saturday. I am in a small group called the Starlets and we sang Andrews Sisters songs. Red, red, red!

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V

Blogging from A to Z, the letter v.

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Under us

I am thinking about Earth Day today, because on Earth Day I was singing in two concerts.

My theme is happy things: under, us, universe.

Under us
earth
over us
universe

One attendee at the concert said that we added to the joy in the universe.

Happy Earth Day.

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U

Blogging from A to Z.

 

 

 

 

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rainshadow

Blogging from A to Z, the letter R for rainshadow, rehearsal, raise your voice! Only I did R yesterday and should be on the letter S! Sing, shout and shadow…there, whew!

My father and seven other people started Rainshadow Chorale in 1997. I joined when I moved here. He died in 2013, but we are still singing. Two concerts today and one tomorrow, and by yesterday they were nearly sold out. All three.

We had a dress rehearsal last night, with Rebecca Rottsolk, our brilliant director, doing the final touches. It’s the first time that we rehearsed in the space that we will sing in, so we pay close attention to how we sound there.

And raise your voice in song and praise! We walked this morning and traded songs with the birds: song sparrows, red wing blackbirds and quieter birds…the above photo of the bird slipping quietly through the ripples. Here is another view:

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I think that this is a Hooded Merganser, here. Hooray for happy things and the letter r. And the letter s too!

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S

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relationship

Blogging from A to Z about happy things, the letter r. R for relationship, red and real.

I’ve been down to the same beach twice in the last 2 weeks, and both times there have been a trio of great blue herons. Two adults and a teen? I don’t know, but right before the second one wandered over, I took this shot:

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Caught something, hooray! And then the other heron comes to ask, “What did you catch? Tasty? Are there more?”

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I love walking outside, it balances clinic. I am just present and real. I don’t speak heron well enough to worry about their blood pressure. Time just to watch.

And red, my son is visiting.

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question

Blogging from A to Z, Q is for query, quest, question.

I took the afternoon from work yesterday to go for a walk with my son, who is visiting from Maryland. We went to Chetzemoka Park and down to the beach. More blue herons and more photographs! Hiking back, we saw a halo around the sun, above the ridge. I know that this is formed from a reflection of ice crystals in the atmosphere, more information here. It is magical! And there was something in the tree…. what is it? A quest with a zoom lens reveals:

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In the first picture the angle is different and the eagle is right by the trunk of the tree, difficult to see. We were watching great blue herons take off from the beach and land in  trees on the ridge but I heard an eagle’s cry and the silhouette is wrong for a great blue heron.

Queries and questions and quests: happy letter Q.

Q

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O trees

Blogging from A to Z, my theme is happy things. O for open, outdoors, over!

Over. How can over be a happy thing? My photograph is from last week, the trees here are so tall and tower over us!

I love to walk outdoors. Outdoors is another happy thing for me. I had a thousand posts on this blog before I really knew what it is about. It is celebrating the place where I heal, where I stay balanced from work: outdoors. I get to share the photographs I take:

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Open. When I walk outdoors, my heart opens. I feel joy! It is still dark here this morning, but as soon as it begins to get light, the birds start their madness! I sing back to them. This year I am learning the song of the towhee. The smaller birds are so good at hiding in bushes when I want to take pictures. I want to sing like this towhee:

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And those are today’s happy things about the letter O.

O