let it snow..snow...y owl, that is!

* I took this photo two hours ago! This is a snowy owl on Salisbury beach!

God gave me a "hall pass" today.
I was pain free and my head was clear.
I had been on methylprednisolone (prednisone).
It' s a miracle medication. No pain today. Yipee! I can do math equations.La la la~!
Thankfully (so far) I had not dealt with any of it's nasty side effects.
Anyways, Since I felt so good today I wanted to go out and "play".
So I went out looking for snowy owls since the NBPT daily news reported many sighting of them in both Salisbury and Plum Island.
Within five minutes of entering the reservation I saw two of them.
 I saw bird watchers with their big ass scopes looking at something in the marsh. I scanned the marsh in the direction of where they were looking. The owls mostly look like a big clump of snow.I pulled out my binoculars to check out blobs of snow on the bare marshes and there they were!
The weather report said it was suppose to be 50F but with the wind blowing out from the NW so I am guessing the "real feel" was closer to the 20sF. I tried taking photos of the owls but the wind was blowing my hands and arms around.
I called my cousin and husband to tell them about the owls and then drove over to Plum Island to see if I could find more.The Parker refuge was open and charging $5.00 for admission. It was a good opportunity for the refuge to capitalize on the influx of bird watchers to see the snowy owls. There was a line of cars entering the park like you would see in the middle of the summer (Except for July,. it's green-head season)
I spent two hours at the refuge looking for snowy owls and only spotted two.Maybe with a high powered scope I might have seen more but all I have is my binoculars
I went back to Salisbury and then saw four more! Two of them were perched on trees and another one was sitting on the roof of a cottage. They are really beautiful birds.
I saw EIGHT snowy owls in total today! Wow!
What a day!

happy new year 2014

It's hard to believe that it is 2014.
 As a kid growing up in the 60's I would fantasize that by the year 2000 we would be living a lifestyle like George Jetson. And yet, some of that is true with all the pervasive electronics that has made our lives so dependent on.
Christmas and all it's preparations are over now that nothing remains now except limp dirty decorations still hanging around. I get so depressed this time of year when Christmas ends. Yes, I am "one of those" who loves shopping, wrapping, decorating , sending cards and going to parties.And now it is over.
I am now reflecting on the past year with it's ups and downs.
Let me look back on 2014.
On a positive note:
1-This year I brought in three new 'additions" to our flock: Charlie, Teddy and Sal.
Most of the birds had remained healthy. Eddie had to be rushed to a "new vet" in Gloucester with a bacterial infection.(My vet was on vacation at the time) Eddie was saved and this new vet seemed very capable.
2-I met Jodi from Cape Ann Wildlife. She taught me a few things about saving pigeons.
3-I went to the NHPSCA gala event.I love dress up events. It was especially wonderful that proceeds from the event go to the animal rescue.
4-I went on two nice trips which turned out better than I had expected: a cruise out of Boston to Bermuda and a bus trip to NYC visiting the troll museum, statue of liberty and the 9/11 memorial.
5-I have been diligently trying to learn to speak and understand spanish-thanks to mi prima.
6-I've enrolled in tai chi classes.
7-I've completed a a couple of new icon paintings.

Reflecting also on the negative notes of this year;
1-The marathon bombing.
 It really makes me sick to my stomach. Arghhhh....Enough said on this subject....
2-The steady decline of mental, physical and emotional abilities of my father. Dementia is just an awful affliction on both the victim and the family.
Enough said on that subject as well.
3-I had an injury flipping over off my deck causing me to break my foot in four places and messing up my neck. This happened  in the beginning of the summer that had me laid up most of the year  No diving, and no running, I was lucky that this was all that happened. However,.I continue to be in chronic pain and my business has suffered. I am working through it with therapy and pain management. I've honed my business down to just birds and reptiles.Thankfully, I can now run again finally.
 The "negative" things have made me appreciate what I do have.
As I tuck the birds for the night I  thank God every night for a hot bath, a warm bed, hot coffee and nice husband,.and the fact that I can walk around to take care of my birds.
This year, I will try to stay mindful of all the positives and strive to be the best that I can be.:-)

parrots at Christmas 2013

Pislner the parrot and Moondog

Ray getting "tickled"

Ray waving "hello"

This year "Ray" stayed with us over the holiday period.
We usually have quite a few more birds that stay with us over Christmas but this year it was just "Ray".
Believe me when I tell you "Ray" is a "high energy bird" . He likes to have a lot of attention with somebody to play with him.so it was just as well that "Ray" was the only visitor bird -besides my own twelve birds.
Ray is like a monkey with feathers. He is full of energy so I had to make sure I had  lot of toys that he could wreck to keep him busy or else he "finds things " to keep himself busy. (I stupidly left my mail on the counter within 5 minutes the letters were shredded.)
I made a bunch of shredder toys made of small boxes with paper and hidden nuts inside for him. I made a couple of paper mobiles so he could destroy and things with small nontoxic wooden blocks.A toy is "a success" when it is chewed up and reduced to a sawdust mess.
Ray loves to be with you too. As with any bird you got to make sure you are wearing a crappy clothes. Again he enjoys chewing things and that means necklaces (do not wear!) and sweatshirts.
My husband just loves Ray.
He plays little games with him on the couch such as "who's under the towel". Ray loves this and uses him as a climbing perch as well playing "king of the hill" on top of his head..All the birds like watching sports events (especially baseball and football) This includes Ray.
My husband was scratching Ray's head while they were both watching football. He fell asleep on the couch and I found Ray on his back with his feet up with his head nestled in the crook of his arm. I found this to be the funniest thing ever.He looked like he passed out..
All I could do is think of "Pilsner the parrot" in the "Monty" comic strips (see above)
Funny bird

Christmas village 2013

I was thumbing through a Christmas novelty catalog recently and they were selling. these cute "theme" nativity scenes with cats, dogs, native Americans and cowboys!(-but no birds.)
 So I made my own "bird theme" nativity scene (*see above)
I couldn't help but think of Steve Carrells character in the movie "Dinner with Schmucks" where he made dioramas and little villages out of dead mice.Every once in awhile a friend would mention that movie and ask if my father still sets up his "special villages" anymore.
During the Christmas season when I was a little kid my mother would set up the Christmas village and let my sister and I play with it  It was kind of special since it was out only for the Christmas season.
 My father would try his hand in woodworking and make light-up churches to add to it. He then got a little more creative and started making his "own" special villages that were fun and funny.
Over the years, as dementia slowly, silently and quietly tiptoed it's way into my father's being the villages started to get more and more bizarre. One was "OJ"s wedding, another with Dr. Kevorkian and then the final village, the alligator invasion at the troll park.
I don't know what happened to the original village. My sister and I probably wrecked it over years of play.
Sometimes I see at specialty vintage shops those little frosted sparkly covered roof churches with the paper windows.
 They still look magical to me.

holiday 2013

"Sal"

"Teddy"

                                                         
                                                            "Craow Dum" (Bust-a-move)


Things had changed at my husband's place of employment. For years his company hosted some really nice top shelf la de da holiday functions such as at the top of the hub and at Fenway . However, this year, his company isn't having a holiday party.
So this year we splashed out and went to the NHSPCA (animal welfare/rescue) fund raising gala at the Wentworth. This, I felt, was a good substitute for a fancy holiday party since I had to wear a gown plus the money for the tickets went to a good cause.It was quite an elegant affair .We had also made an additional  contribution specifically aimed at pet birds given up at the rescue.And of course during the delicious dinner the host presenter showed slides of various animals up for adoption.This included birds.
Six days after the gala we showed up at the rescue to adopt this elderly cockatiel that had been at the rescue for a long time.The name of the bird was "Sally" and as soon as I saw the photo I said, "that is not a female.. that is definitely a male!" For one thing, females do not have yellow heads, females do not talk and females do not "strut". So "Sally" is now "Sal". To us, it didn't matter if the birds was a male or a female. What mattered to us is  that most elderly animals do not get adopted. Believe it or not this wasn't my idea but my husband's. He felt sorry for this "ol' 17 year old scrog". So Sal is home with us just starting to settle in.
.(See first photo of Sal)
Meanwhile, Teddy (ring neck dove) has taken a liking for the little Christmas tree I just set up(see second photo)
And of course, the silly little pigeon can't stand not to be involved in any activity (see third photo)

new era of troll dolls?

Well, winter is upon us. Last weekend we had to to turn the clocks back. Our trees are bare. Frost has killed any and all flowers outside now. The goldfinches are now brown.Christmas shopping ads have already started.
 In last sunday newspapers flyers was the new" toys-r-us" Christmas wish book.
A I was perusing through the toy wish book I noticed there were these "new" troll-like dolls on the market called "zelfs". They are a product originated from Australia..They are similar to troll dolls with their pointed ears, colorful hair sticking up and stout bodies with cute faces.
There had been so many different 'generations' of troll dolls from :dam trolls, wishniks, treasure trolls, russ trolls, and the list goes varying from assorted licensing propriety and manufacturers.Some were cute and fun and some were downright scary and awful.
These little troll like dolls are cute. It will be interesting to see if kids in this electronic age warm up to them like they did with wishniks in the 1960's and again in the 1980's with treasure trolls. :-)

a visit to the 9/11 memorial in NYC

*I took this photo at the memorial.
 I placed at flag with "Boston strong" on it for flight 77 at the pilot John Ogonowski's engraving.*

I made reservations (online) to visit the 9/11 memorial during my visit to NYC. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of people waiting in line to view the sight.
 As I walked down the financial district to the memorial I couldn't help imagine what took place that September 11th morning at 7:00am.  It was a cool sunny blue sky day just like the morning of that tragic event.. People were hustling and carrying on to get to work, grab a cup of coffee or to hail a cab.
My shoes were covered with grey dust. I am wondering if this is still the same dust that has remained from twelve years earlier.
The memorial consisted of two large "pools' with a waterfall that fell deeper inside the pool. The walls surrounding the pools were embossed of the names of victims from the flights, the pentagon, the twin towers, the first responders and also from the world trade center. People were allowed to place flowers on the names. I think I was the only one (at least on that day) that brought a flag.
I placed a flag with "Boston strong" on it that I had brought from home for flight 77. As I walked away, my husband said to me, 'LOOK!".I turned around and saw a bunch of people gathered at where I placed the flag and started to take photos.
It was very emotional.
I looked for the name of father Mychel Judge. He was the firefighter's chaplain.He was a Franciscan priest. He was one of the first responders to the sight and he had perished.
Prior to visiting NYC, I had watched a DVD : "the saint of 9/11". This was the story of father Judge. He was a true Franciscan. He reached out to the poor, the homeless, and gays with AIDS.
I wished I had met him.
After we left there I went to the churches of Saint Paul and Trinity church. They had special displays commemorating the victims of 9/11. I went to the church's gift shop with the intent of finding a saint Francis medal .Instead, I bought a small cross necklace.
 However this cross was 'different".
The story goes after the tower's devastation two girders fell away and serendipitous landed on each other making a cross in the rubble.The cross I bought was a image of the two girders.I spent some time chatting with the saleslady about this story.
This trip to NYC to visit the memorial was on my "bucket list"
.It was very special