Posted tagged ‘doves’

“It was one of those humid days when the atmosphere gets confused. Sitting on the porch, you could feel it: the air wishing it was water.”

August 22, 2017

My neighbor came by with eclipse glasses so I got to see the partial eclipse we had here. It was so very cool to watch the moon move across the sun and darken the day just a bit.  Two things jumped into my head from my memory drawers. I was reminded of when I was young, and we used negatives to look through at the eclipse. I have no idea if they were all that safe but figure they must have been as I didn’t go blind. I don’t even remember if there were warnings. Now, of course, there are no negatives. The second memory was of reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Our Yankee is sentenced to be burned at the stake but is saved by magic, or at least what King Arthur thinks is magic but is really an eclipse. He, the Yankee, said he’d blot out the sun, and it happened as he’d predicted because our hero had remembered the eclipse. I would have been burned at the stake.

Today is supposed to be hot and humid. When I went to get the papers and take Gracie to the backyard, I could feel the humidity, and it was still early, usually a cooler time. Right now it’s cloudy and breezy, but that humidity is hanging in there.

When I was waiting for my coffee to brew, I saw a feeder moving back and forth and knew it was a spawn of Satan. I could see its tail and knew it was the worst off them all, a red spawn. It was inside the keep the spawn away wire and was dining on seed. I sneaked over to the feeder. The spawn saw me and jumped to the rail, but I was there so it fell to the ground, two floors away. The spawn’s fall scared the doves feeding from the ground, and they flew into the air. The birds at the feeders were spooked so they too took off. The whole thing was a comedy of errors with birds flying everywhere.

I have to go out in a bit, and the sun just made a quick in and out entrance. Right now it’s among the missing. I’m glad. I figure the humidity is enough to make for a dismal day without adding more heat.

“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ”

November 10, 2013

Today is finch day at the feeders. I saw several goldfinches sporting their drab winter colors and a few house finches with their red chests. A couple of doves were at the bird bath drinking. It had been cleaned earlier but has leaves again. Soon I’ll have to hunt down and plug in the heater for the bird bath. The birds love finding water in the winter.

I have nothing much to say today. I haven’t been out to see the world or spend time with people. Mind you, I’m not complaining as I have been reading and watching Christmas movies. The movies are on the schmaltzy Hallmark Channel so I know all will be well before the endings. That lonely business executive will realize she loves her hometown and her old boyfriend who still has a crush. Santa, the real one, will get his memory back in time to make his rounds. The orphans will find families, and the Scrooge-like characters will love Christmas again. Everyone will joyfully celebrate the season.

I went Christmas shopping yesterday in the catalogues and found several gifts I need to order. Some are for stockings, one of my favorite parts of Christmas. My mother was the best stocking stuffer, and we all, my sisters and I, inherited that gene. I only do stockings for my friends Clare and Tony now. I used to do them for my sisters but not anymore, and I really miss the fun of finding neat little things for their stockings. I had traditions. They always got a pair of earrings and my sister Moe got a Life Saver book. I used to find the worst Christmas movie I could for her. It was a contest we had every year. I think I won the last Christmas movie stocking battle when I found a movie made in Mexico about Santa, his wizard and the devil. I always prided myself on the odd and the strange. One year I gave my sister a killer clown puppet. We both loved the horrible Killer Klowns from Outer Space movie, and that puppet was perfectly alien and scary. I used to e-bay for stuff and enjoyed the hunt. I still do for Tony and Clare.

Well, the happy ending is close so back to my movie.