Tag Archives: mystery

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gorey tribute 2

Ok, I said in gorey tribute that this bird is a yellow crowned night heron, but I was wrong, wrong, wrong. And I don’t know what it is. What is it? I am in San Antonio, Texas and have seen this bird twice on Riverwalk. It is not shy, though perhaps a bird has to get over that to live on this section of the river. It let me take four flash photos from about four feet way and never spooked. I thought it was a heron, but that is a pretty aggressive looking beak for a heron….

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gorey tribute

This is a twilight cell phone photograph and terrible, except that it reminds me of Edward Gorey. His book The Doubtful Guest has a creature that looks amazingly like this! It is not really clear if the creature has wings or arms, but his creature wears a scarf.

This is one of a small pair of herons that I walked by two nights ago. I think this is a yellow crowned night heron, even though we can’t see the crown. The other was in the path ahead of me.

doubt 2

I did not use the flash and this one looks even more like the Doubtful Guest in the low light. This one flew when two other people walked by, but the one beside the path waited and let me attempt flash photographs… thank you, kindly, Edward Gorey inspirational birds.

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without earbuds

Here is a mystery.

This picture is for scale. I went for a walk three days ago, without earbuds. I walk without earbuds so I can listen to the birds. And I mimic their calls.Β  I have a series of photographs of the latest bird who flew closer to see who the mimic was. See if you can guess the bird. She is not visible in this picture.

When I started the walk, a person ran by with earbuds. I feel so sad, seeing that they are cut off from nature even when they are outside. I grieve for the disconnect. And then I have a magical mysterious interaction with a very unexpected bird and joy returns…

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Dream log: June 20, 2017

I am with my father and my sister. My mother is not around. I am not sure if she’s gone or dead. Dead, I think.

My father has gone off. My sister is 3 or 4 and I am 6 or 7. I am taking care of her. We are at a park and I am trying to get food. It is Thanksgiving. It is not cold, it’s warm. There are large family groups at picnic tables.

My technique is to move in on a family group. We play near them and I listen for adult names. We play close enough that I can hear but not close enough to impinge on the group. When they start to clean up and take things to the cars, I am ready. I slip in and hold my hands out for a bowl. The adult looks at me. “Aunt Norma’s.” I say confidently, because I know which bowl belongs to each adult. And which bowl I want. The adult hands me the bowl. They can’t remember which kid I am, but I know Aunt Norma’s name….I head confidently with the bowl towards the cars and quickly slide it under my loose sweatshirt. I bypass the cars and head around to my sister.

Now the game changes a little. We have a couple bowls so she guards them. I work the next table alone and score a left over turkey.

The problem now is that we cannot carry it all to the car in one trip. I debate about safety. We are living in the car. I tell my sister to stay with the rest of the food and I leave her, carrying the turkey. It’s still light and there are still a lot of people around. She is sitting on the curb, bowls behind her, between two family groups. I will get the turkey to the car and then run back to her. The two of us can carry the rest of the food in one trip. Then we will have food for a while. She should be safe.

I wake up.

I took the photograph within the last month. What and where is it?