birds | birds
Feb.06.2013
For over fifteen years I’ve hiked the same trails, encountering many mammals, insects, reptiles and birds. One of my favorite encounters is the roadrunner. Here, in Southern California, the breed is known as the Greater Roadrunner, taxonomically classification: Geococcyx Californianus, meaning "...
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Dec.20.2012
There are many differences between the furnished vacation rental we’re staying in while our home is being renovated, and our own apartment. One of the most striking is that this rental place is on the top floor.
Most buildings in Paris have only six or seven floors at most, and many rooftops...
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Dec.10.2012
Glistening flakes gently slipped earthward, unremittingly, a zephyr misleading its might, quieting and dampening the day with its dense crystal. Maples bowed and brush gave in. Onyx wiring from pole to pole sagged and threatened. And then, a lull, followed by cordoned conduits, and an unexpected (...
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Dec.03.2012
Usually, she tries to think about the road. Ordinarily she listens. To NPR, to which she is utterly addicted. Sometimes she fantasizes that she is working for NPR. Or with NPR, with its brilliant reporters, producers and commentators. Maybe she's assisting with or producing a show for Ira...
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Nov.22.2012
When I was a child we lived in a house that looked like an old Dutch farm house. Since we were one of the few families in town who were Dutch, it made sense.
The house was a crazy quilt. Our basement was like an old root cellar. To go there we had to go out the back door,...
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Jun.19.2012
I took some pictures of my backyard "garden" this morning.
When I moved into this house years ago, the backyard consisted of green lawn and three raised beds, an oak tree and some jasmine growing along the back fence.
Hurricanes knocked down many of the plants and smaller trees, and years of...
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Jun.10.2012
It's been raining for days and days (two weeks to be exact.)
Florida has suffered from drought conditions for quite a while, so the sudden deluge is welcome, and yet, constant rain just depresses me.
It's the beginning of summer vacation and we are trapped indoors.
We are all suffering from the...
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May.02.2012
On April 16, I signed a contract with Silver Knight Publishing for my middle grade book The Wide Awake Loons.
That book felt “meant to be” from the first. The conception of books is a subject that mystifies. The Wide Awake Loonsis the only book that I planned in my head before...
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Apr.27.2012
You Visit as a Bird, a Hat
I am dreaming or remembering.
In the backyard, a flaming hysterical cardinal (or your red cashmere cap) kneads my scalp with tiny sharp claws, as if to burrow inside.
You tell me your hair didn’t “dissolve” – you shaved it first.
And the restapled fabric of the...
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Apr.20.2012
Rinsing my coffee cup in the sink,I see a painted bunting alight on the feeder.
A brief snack before departing south- creating a rainbowreflected against the cool blue sky.
A rustling in the ferns,gray tail pops up waving with the green fronds.Suddenly the cat leaps out,and lands among the red and...
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