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tags: mountain bluebird, Sialia currucoides, birds, Washington state, Image of the Day

Male mountain bluebird, Sialia currucoides.

This bird surprised birders in Washington state by visiting Bainbridge Island one weekend in April 2008.

Image: Eva Gerdts, 2008 [larger view].

Read the comments on this post…

Something is going wacky with WordPress (I think) and I can’t get Mercedes’ icon to appear in the post. Anyway go visit our sweet host Mercedes for more Scrumptious Sundays.

Mercedes’ theme for tomorrow’s Scrumptious Sunday is Mexican! Mexican is one of my favorite things to eat out! I really love Mexican food a […]

I hitched up the bib overalls, put on my steel toed boots, protective eyewear, protective gloves and was going to do some serious tree removal on the back forty.
Except I needed a new chain for the chainsaw.
I headed for local Big Blue Bigbox, found the chain and took it out of the box to make […]

Words Ending in ING ~ I Ask, You Answer
1. Avoiding…? Washing clothes but I will have to do it today. I usually don’t mind washing but I can’t seem to do anything with Cliff on vacation.
2. Baking…? I don’t do it very often but I love to eat it.
3. Camping…? I […]

Little Robby Red Breast, so nice and sweet,
sitting on your nest, future babies under your feet.
Choosing to hatch, under our porch roof,
obviously a love match, but remaining aloof.
Daily I walk by your clutch, trying not to look,
avoiding a tiny touch, stepping around your gook,
loving the species, but despising the feces.
Please make your babies and […]

This is a candy shop in the town of Pezenas in France, which is the village we stayed in while visiting my mother in law a few weeks ago. The shop was huge and full of tons of different kinds of candy. I didn’t go in any longer than what it took for me to […]

While browsing around the internet I decided to check out the Wikipedia reference for Clarence NY. While not all facts noted on Wiki are necessarily true, most of the time they can be independently verified.

Such is the case with a man who was born in Clarence in 1871 (no mention of which small school he may have attended). Among his baseball card appearances is this one on a rare 1903 set.

William Henry “Strawberry Bill” Bernhard was a major league baseball player. He was a pitcher who lead the American league at one point while playing for Cleveland. Not much exists in the way of personal history (at least that I could find with a quick search), but baseball stats live on forever. So I sponsored him on the baseball reference page, although I’ll be darned if I could find it again amidst all the numbers…It was only $5 (the reference page, not the card).

What is known about Bernhard is that he played from April 24, 1899 through September 19, 1907. Teams he played for include the Philadelphia Phillies, the Philadelphia Athletics, and the Cleveland Bronchos. After he retired he became a longtime manager in the Southern Association. He died in San Diego at the age of 78.

Besides many current Buffalo Sabres and Marcel Dionne, there’s another former NHL player who resides in Clarence. Bob Froese was a goalie who played for the Philadelphia Flyers and the NY Rangers through 1990. He shared the William M. Jennings trophy for giving up the least goals in 1985-86 as a member of the Flyers. Froese is now the Senior Pastor at Faith Fellowship Church in Clarence.

One part of me would like to sponsor athletes who made the conscious decision to reside in Clarence even though they never played for a Buffalo team. The other part, the financial conservative part, thinks the fee ( Froese $40, Dionne $100) is a bit over my “Oh what the heck” ceiling. But feel free to sponsor them yourselves!

Originally posted May 17, 2007
So Monday morning I woke with the determination to find something that resembled a schedule.
Alex was napping, so I went downstairs, took out smoothie ingredients from the fridge - yogurt, milk, strawberries - and from the cabinet - whey powder, flax seed, peanut butter, oatmeal.
I made smoothie, I poured coffee, I […]

Albert knew
17 May - life is much bigger than we know it to be

“A human being is part of a whole, called by us a Universe - a part limited in time and space.  He (She) experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness.  This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us.  Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
   ~ Albert Einstein

I wonder if the many people who were so privileged as to have had a conversation or several with this man knew and appreciated the breadth and depth of blessing bestowed them?  This man, this mind, truly transcended the confines of time in understanding.  He knew.  Every once in awhile, I’ll read a snippet of his writings or quotes of his speeches and I am blown away by the magnitude of not only his science but his prescience.  We’re still deciphering the insights he gave us!  Scientist, Philosopher, Mystic.  Pretty big shoes dude wore.

These are the moments - when I’m made aware of the bigness of it all, life - when I wish I didn’t have such a pea-brain, and wasn’t so bound by the finite and limited understanding I have managed to grapple and hold.  I want to know.

I want to see outside, beyond myself.  I’m absolutely certain it is a far more interesting vista.  Maybe one day I’ll have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand.  Meantime, I’m thankful for the fragments of awareness I have managed to catch and hold.  Feels like I’m waking up…

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A toast to my fellow Canucks, as the long weekend rolls over us - wet and miserable as it is.  But hey, it wouldn’t be Victoria Day Weekend if it wasn’t wet and miserable, would it?  I’m okay with the rain, actually.  I shall be cocooned with family and books.  Relaxing and looking to see if I can’t catch some more fragments of awareness and gratitude.

Raining, relaxing in familial fellowship, and reading.  It’s all good.

It’s the weekly meme steal, courtesy of Tense Teacher, who I enjoy ripping off each week.
1. Do you wake up cranky?
If I have to wake up by my alarm clock, yes.  If I can just get up whenever I wake up, no.
2. If an ex said he hates you, you say…?
I don’t give a flying […]

Last night at 9:30pm I was sitting on my sofa with the mother of all headaches.  The past two days had totally warped my brain and I just wanted the time to go by until bed, so that I could wake up to a brand new day.
Then I heard my phone alerting me that I […]

Pedro looks away. Charlie remains silent.

Time for another Round Robin Photo Challenge. This time Kiva suggested anything wooden. I knew immediately what I wanted to share.

We bought these huge antique snowshoes at an auction about 4 years ago. They look nice on the wall.

This is a German sled we bought at an Antique Store when we were building the house. I had thoughts of suspending it from the ceiling above the island in the kitchen as a sort of pot rack.

Why wooden wheels aren’t so great.

I’m sure I could have come up with a few more wooden items but I have been really distracted by birds lately. I have seen a few that I had never seen before and even a few that I had only seen once before. . .You’ll see them soon, promise. Was that a teaser?

Alrighty folks. There’s the fridge. I am feeling uninspired. This state of uninspiration has been exacerbated by a very long, but very nice day… further exacerbated by the fact I must wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to do an 11 mile training run… and I wonder what devil hath besieged my good sense.
The […]