Memory triggers…

Childhood memories seem to be triggered more in summer than other times of the year. What things trigger memories from my childhood? …hollyhocks …warm evenings …bologna sandwiches …the Milky Way …Frito corn chips …root beer floats …sound of Rainbird sprinklers …breeze blowing through the treetops …waking up in a warm bedroom from an afternoon nap […]

Alaska

We finally made it. Lorna and I along with Robin flew into Anchorage on June 20, 2021, toured the Kenai Peninsula, and returned to Washington State on June 26. A few highlights will appear in upcoming postings while I remember how to do web postings…

Calliope Crossing, Sisters, OR

Ran down to Sisters, OR last Sunday night (6/30/2019) to view a leucistic sapsucker coming to a nest at a popular birding spot named Calliope Crossing, after the calliope hummingbird often seen here. Although we saw the sapsucker the next morning, with the help of OSU biologists who pointed out the nesting tree to us, […]

Birding South Texas, April 29 to May 5

Since we retired in 2016 we have been taking trips to visit parts of the US that are new to us, to observe the flora and fauna living there, and round out our life lists for the American Birding Association’s North American region. In 2016 it was the Klamath Mtns of Northern California for oaks […]

Enchanted Valley — Thomas Walmsley

Found this at an estate sale; was very appealing, my style, and very cheap. An Internet search found it was painted by Thomas Walmsley, an 18th century Irishman. I’m not alone; it was a very popular print in the mid-20th century; people bought the calm and relaxing picture for their homes. It even showed up […]

We will all be failures in 2019

This morning, the last day of 2018, the crescent moon, Venus, and Jupiter stood out in a mostly clear sky, and were then followed with a pastel sky before the sun rose. We are reminded that we enjoy the wonders of creation regardless of who were are and what we have done. Chad Bird in […]

Christmas Eve notes

A few thoughts… Why celebrate on the 25th of December? Because we’re too busy at other times of the year? It relieves the short-day depression many of us get in winter? Or perhaps it is tied to a superstition from the early centuries following Christ’s birth that a man dies on the same day of […]