New England Sojourn, Bonus Bird Messengers

My trip through New England, December 1-10, was a beautiful getaway. I got to meet amazing new friends and hang out with old friends and family.





Avian veterinarian extraordinaire Robert Giddings, DVM,

Charlie Macaw's vet and my dear friend.

He drove more than 2 hours to see me, 2 hours back. So grateful!





Me and Leo Kulinski, deerstalker/photographer/woodsman at White Memorial

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That Which No Longer Serves

A 10 x 12' hobbyist greenhouse is like a very small boat. It can only hold so much.



My natural tendency as someone who loves and actually needs flowers is to stuff it to the gills with plants I think I can't live without.



Which is OK until the plants get big and old and start taking more than their fair share of space. Even that I can deal with, until they also begin harboring insect

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Chet Baker, Alpha Dog

Homecoming night for Phoebe. Chet Baker's 12th birfday, December 12, 2016. She puts him through his tricks. Or tries to. Prepare to be amazed! For me, the highlight of this video is not Chet's prowess at tricks.

It's the oinking. Turn your volume up. He oinks when he sits up (0:17) and again when he flops down to play dead (0:45).



The dog whisperers among you will note that Chet is not the

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Pinky and Flag: Post Gun Season Check-In

December 14, 2016.



The new snowfall makes a fairy landscape of the standing bluestem, goldenrod and Virginia pines. Three deer are moving through it, the pinkening sky aglow behind them.






Many mornings, when I look out at first light, there are deer in the meadow. I pretty much know who they are. But gun season for whitetails just ended, and you never know who is going to make it

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Chet Baker is Twelve! His Present is Phoebe.

It's been awhile. There's just something about a ten-day trip, putting 2010 miles on the Subaru, giving three book talks in three states, driving home in one 14-hour go, having one day to unpack, then driving two hours to the airport to pick up Phoebe (YAYYYYYY) after not having seen her for six months, while trying to pick up the house (forget actually cleaning it), getting a handle on

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Three Alarm Zick Alert

I'm in New England again! I've come here to give three talks. It only took 700 miles and 12 hours in my faithful Subaru.





File under: Arrested Development



I got lost on the very last part of the trip. I took a detour to sign some books for an old friend, who has a cat named Bitsy with her own chair.







I got back in the car to drive to my sister's house, about ten miles away, and

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Stretchy Beauty

Hibiscus sinensis "Creole Lady," a Logee's "Cajun" hybrid.




After such an extravagantly beautiful fall, I'm trying to land softly. I retreat to the greenhouse a lot, several times a day, to coo to my plants and see who's having a party, or planning one soon.



Clearly, Jasminum sambac is up for a good time. Buds about to pop!

There's nothing quite like opening the door to a little

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Watching Pinky

Thanksgiving night, 10 pm. I'm feeling very thankful. I got a chance to cook for my little family today, and cook I did. Just me, Bill and Liam, and we were missing Miss Phoebe badly, but oh it was so nice to be able to make a whole Thanksgiving meal. Bill made his signature mashed potatoes, and I did the turkey, stuffing, gravy, creamed limas and pearl onions, and Ida's Corn Custard.



Liam

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Seeing Ellen

I've had to walk a lot lately. I always have to walk just as hunting season comes on. It's the short days, the elusive light, the coming of the long dark. It's everything.

And everything is so beautiful.



I've got a talisman tree that, by some incredible stroke of provenance, actually lives on the farthest east corner of our 80 acre property. It's the sister oak to the one who used to mark

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Marietta, Ohio-My Beautiful Town

Sometimes it feels to me that my life is nothing more than an unending search for beauty. I don't know anyone else who spends more time at it. It's really too bad my aesthetic quest doesn't pay, because I could be a billionaire. But then I probably wouldn't keep roaming around, searching for beauty.







A semi-pro aesthetician like me does very well living near Marietta, Ohio. This

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Saving Mr. Lonely

I met Dorothy Lowe and was formally introduced to Mr. Lonely and Greta on February 16, 2016. I was about to give my very first talk on Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest, to the Marietta Natural History Society, and I was uncharacteristically nervous. The first outing of a talk I've worked on for many weeks is always problematic. I hope it'll all hang together. I hope people will like it.

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