“Just like the cheerful chickadee”
Tuesday June 30th 2009, 6:42 pm
Filed under: Family,Friends,Life,Wildlife

A quick note first: I got a call from Don today from the emergency room; he’d broken three bones in his foot.  Ouch!  I’m wishing healing his way.

After I posted yesterday, a new bird showed up. Bonus points to anybody who whistles the song the post title comes from (sorry about the earworming).  I was stunned–in 22 years in California, I have never once seen a chickadee. Anywhere.  Ever.  I assumed they simply didn’t live here.

But there one was, right there on my feeder, testifying to the fact that in life if you want something to happen, sometimes you have to create the opportunities by which it can.

Speaking of which.  Last night my husband was still at work due to deadlines and international time zone issues, while Michelle, who’d planned to take his car, was off having dinner with friends.  Marian and I were about to head out to San Jose City Hall for her to get to see the falcons and meet the folks I’d be giving Margo Lynn’s fingerless gloves to when it suddenly dawned on us that, oh, wait.  What’s wrong with this picture.

And we cracked up at the same moment.  No car!  (Duh…)

While I was typing this, a female ladderback woodpecker looking like this one showed up on my olive tree. It wasn’t interested in the feeder; I guess it simply felt welcomed by the presence of the seven finches and titmice on the feeder.  It was gorgeous and big and I hadn’t seen one of those since we’d had to cut down the ash trees.  Wow.  All I had to do was welcome its neighbors and it felt right at home too.  I wonder what will show up next!

Before Marian’s flight this afternoon, we did get down to San Jose after all, but there were no falcons soaring in sight at that time of day.  We toured the textile museum–and if you can, GO! The Jack’s Falling Water Quilt is worth the trip all by itself.  For anybody who’s ever been to Watkins Glen in upstate New York, picture a rocky waterfall like that one transfigured into a watercolored quilt with cascades of blue dropletted silk falling around the picture, dappled leaves above the falls, the movement of the water in the pool below and a deep green strip that you almost don’t see at first but then notice as it gives depth and life and summer to the water .

I so wish I could create something like that.  And this Friday admission is free. Go!

Meantime, Don, get better! Your homebirds are waiting for you.


9 Comments so far
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Wow! Beautiful photos of the birds!

Fun –

There’s the story about the cheating house painter who would bid low on jobs, and then proceed to use the cheapest materials available, and also thin out the paint with turpentine. He won the bid to paint the interior of a church, and one day was up high on a ladder slapping on this stuff that was so thin, it was almost pure turpentine. Suddenly there was a flash of lightening and a clap of thunder, and the painter came crashing to the floor. He was still pretty dazed when a voice boomed out at him, “REPAINT! REPAINT AND THIN NO MORE!!”

Comment by Don Meyer 06.30.09 @ 6:56 pm

I am very excited that I will get to start working on my collage art quilts again. I still adore knitting, but I missed my artsy fartsy playtime.
Don, I hope this penchant for visiting hospitals ends soon! We like you at home!

Comment by Diana Troldahl 06.30.09 @ 7:40 pm

Sometimes you get a visiting bird that seems to have been driven to you by storms. We once had one cranberry-colored finch-shaped bird. The best the bird book could show me was a bird whose entire winter/summer range was from north to south in Alaska. Here I am in Louisiana! He only stayed two days while he rested his wings, and he was gone again.

Best wishes for Don’s recovery. Up until this point, his only “groaners” were his jokes. Ouchy!

Comment by Barbara-Kay 06.30.09 @ 8:35 pm

It sounded so lovely that I had to go see if I could find a picture and found this…

http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/primg_walsh.html

It is as beautiful as you made it sound!

Comment by Momo Fali 07.01.09 @ 4:46 am

Oh, I love the chickadees. They have such a beautiful song. They fly in, take one seed and fly off again, only to return. They are not greedy like bluejays. They love pine trees. Chickadees is Maine’s bird!!!:>)

Sorry to hear about Don. I’ll have to send him a note.

Comment by Joansie 07.01.09 @ 6:05 am

When I was a girl, chickadees were my favorite birds. I can’t recall why…

Comment by Channon 07.01.09 @ 6:19 am

Wow, that quilt is gorgeous!

Comment by Sarah 07.01.09 @ 7:10 am

Truly pieces of art!

Sorry to hear about Don. Hope he is back on his feet soon.

Comment by Sonya 07.01.09 @ 3:44 pm

ouch Don – I had a friend drop a big ole rock on my foot and break a few bones in it – so I say ouch with real understanding of ouch… 🙂 btw have you tried acupuncture – I did it along with chiro for some pain issues and it helped…

Comment by rho 07.01.09 @ 9:52 pm



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