some random pictures

I think the crow picture was taken in Carmel, California a few years ago. The next one was taken in Snowdonia National Park in Wales and the birds are sitting on part of Stonehenge. I love the crow picture. I have long thought my totem animals would be crow, rabbit, chicken and shrew. Any member of the Corvidae family is interesting I think. Jays are in this family and there is a family of Jays in my backyard. They are a colorful, raucous group. My hanging baskets provide nesting material for them earlier in the year. They love to rip into the coconut fibers that line the baskets and zoom to the nest and back again for more. Nearby is an oak tree in a field that serves as a rookery for the neighborhood crows. In the evening their harsh caws fill the air. I imagine they are getting caught up in all of the day's news and gossip.

Dust bath time...

Meet Betsy (the black one), Hazel (black and white) and Ginger (the reddish one.)These pictures were taken in May of this year. Amber at Berlin's Whimsy (see link in daily reads list on sidebar) did a post about her chickens getting clean in the dirt. I thought I would share these. If you were to come across chickens having their dust baths and had never seen them before you might worry. You might think they had been poisoned or gone insane. It can be a little disturbing until you realize they are blissed out. Ginger and Hazel are now living on a farm in Blue River. Ginger turned out to be a rooster and Hazel grew to be about twice as big as Betsy. Betsy is small and these things were Amazons compared to her. They insisted on trying to get under her to roost at night. It was funny to watch, but Betsy quickly grew tired of it. They learned to fear her. When Ginger started crowing, we had to find a new home for him. Since Hazel and Betsy did not get on together and as Hazel was devoted to Ginger we found a home for them in the country. Betsy is back to being an only chicken which she actually seems to enjoy. I spend a lot of time each day after work with her as I work in the garden or in my studio. I would like to try to get another banty to keep her company and share body heat during the winter.

It is starting to feel a lot like Autumn...

This is a picture of the garden last year at the end of September.I don't want to rush things folks, but the last couple of days have been grey and lovely. I am not quite ready for summer to end. I want my tomatoes to ripen, dammit! However, I am ready for those days of blistering, lung parching, mind numbing temperatures in the upper 90s to be over. I do feel a slight tremor of fear when thinking of day after day of grey, foggy or rainy days like we can get during Willamette Valley winters. The ice and snow we got last Winter really didn't rock my world either. It can be beautiful, I just don't want to drive in it. Spring and Autumn are the best times of year to me. When I was a kid there would always be a day that would mark my own first day of Autumn. It seems like it was usually in late August or early September. The sky would seem a deeper blue, the air would be seem a bit crisper, fresher. The light would seem different somehow. I loved those days.

Some random pictures taken today...

explanation of what next posting of pictures are...

The next post (Random pictures of my backyard) includes: the flower boxes on the deck, Betsy McGoo, view from deck towards the back, view of the deck from patio, and Tabitha asleep on the rail above the deck...

An Autumn bouquet

Pineapple mint, chocolate cosmos, Joe Pye weed, Japanese anemones and asters from last year's fall garden. Bear with me folks as I am getting the hang of this computer thing.

Last year's garden in October

Play that funky music....

SOMETIMES..It pays off to live near the fairgrounds in town. Tonight, SATIN LOVE ORCHESTRA is performing. I can easily hear them from my backyard. Satin Love Orchestra or SLO is a local band that plays disco covers. I have seen them many, many times over the years. I love disco and if it weren't so freaking hot and I weren't so tired tonight, I would wander over and actually watch them. This beats David Lee Roth and REO Speedwagon. Both were acts in the last couple of years that I got to hear whether I wanted to or not.
Lots of music this weekend. Portland Cello Project at Cozmic Pizza on Sat. night has my interest.
I will be back with pictures in the next day or two.

Ummm...test, test, is this thing on?

O.K. here goes....After much debate over the name for the blog, I have chosen this one. It isn't actually an exact quote from the Donovan song. Someone already has "tryandcatchthewind" as their blog title. It is rather exciting although, I do feel a bit vulnerable. I am not sure why I feel so compelled to do this. I have friends that are using their blogs to connect with potential customers. I don't really think that is my angle as I am not selling anything at the moment. I just want to have some place to capture my thoughts, ramblings and favorite things to share with others. I just turned 40 last week and somehow that number just seems too big in connection to me. I have felt lonely lately, I have wonderful people in my life so I am not actually wanting for company. I just feel a void and no, it won't be filled by Jesus, thank you very much. I mean no offence to those who believe but that is not my path. I feel like I did when I wrote my first letter to a pen-pal. What do I write, will anyone read this anyway? My first "pal" was from England. A place I ached to visit. Her name was Sally. I tried to be cool and impress her with my musical tastes... I did not succeed. In retrospect her love of Duran Duran should have tipped me off we weren't really on the same page. She did suggest I give her address to my friend Norma whose adoration of Duran Duran seemed to match hers. The second pen pal lived in Antwerp, Belgium. I hadn't really thought too much about Belgium at the time. Her musical tastes were more sophisticated than Sally's and my own. It is rather funny that I ended up travelling to both countries several years later. I had forgotten though, these attempts at foreign diplomacy until just a few weeks ago. I was trying to clean out the garage and found a large box full letters. Letters from relatives, friends, boyfriends, people I barely remember and some I don't have a clue who they were. Among them were about 10 or so from these two pen friends. Enough for now. tonia