Spring Time is for the Birds

     One of the things I like about living in Wyoming is that we have changing seasons. After the snow finally disappears for good, we enjoy walking around the yard looking for what is emerging from its winter sleep.

Daffodils are usually the first flowers to bloom. 

The crab apple trees are in full bloom now, adding a cheerful pink to the landscape.

     I also look forward to the return of the robins, a sure sign that spring has arrived. We always seem to have one or two build a nest somewhere in our yard. In fact we have one now working on building a nest in about the same spot as the one below.

  

      This brave mama built under our eves, right outside our back door several years ago. It made for a perfect spot for us to view the progress of nest building, sitting on the eggs and feeding of the babies. I was able to get a pretty good shot of her hungry offspring. 

     We have all kinds of wildlife and many different birds in our backyard. You can see more photos of our wildlife by visiting one of my earlier posts: Who's in Your Garden. We always have an abundance of chickadees. A few years ago we were happy to see them build a nest in a bird house we had received as a gift. It was great fun watching their comings and goings.

A thought to ponder: "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."                                            John Ruskin

Participating in: Grand Social, Share the Joy, Seasons, Through my Lens, Amaze Me Monday, Our World Tuesday, Wednesday Around the World, Share Your Cup

Dreaming With My Eyes Open

     I like to read, for me it is like dreaming with my eyes open. I have run across people who don't enjoy reading. I have a hard time understanding this (along with a lot of other things). How could you not enjoy going to places you might never have an opportunity to visit; experiencing a time in history; meeting people you would never have the opportunity to know.

I like fiction and non fiction books and I love libraries. My after school job in high school was working in a library. I was the person who put away the books when they were returned. It probably took me a little longer then it should have because of my need to look at the books that caught my interest, many times taking several home. Whenever I walk into a library I feel such a sense of wonder. Thinking of all the stories, of all the information contained in one building, it is exciting and sad. Exciting because it's all there for anyone to enjoy; sad because I know I'll never be able to read them all.

     I'm not a particularly fast reader. But faster then I would be if my 7th grade English teacher hadn't helped me. She suggested I take a special reading class that would help me increase my speed but also retain my comprehension. The class did wonders for me and increased my enjoyment of reading. As you can see from the following photo I've been reading up a storm ever since.

     Most of the books are nonfiction. But I do have a fair number of fiction also. I try to go through them periodically and get rid of some. If you're a book lover you can understand how hard this can be. I always donate to our local library. 

     Back in 1972 I wondered how many books I actually do read in a year. So just for fun I started keeping a list. Well here I am over 40 years later and still keeping track of my reading. What started out as a short investigation turned into a habit. I write down the title, author and whether fiction or nonfiction. As of the end of 2015 I've read 1,785 books. I've had a year where I only read 14 and one with 77 read. Of course the amount is influenced by the type of book and what is going on in my life at the time. The year with only 14 included three very long and more difficult books. The year with 77 included easy short books. But I seem to average 40 to 50 a year. 

     It is interesting to look back and see the different types of books I've read over the years and how my interests have changed. In fiction I've read all of Jane Austin and also a number of other classics like Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment. Other authors include: Gustave Flaubert, Herman Hesse, D.H. Lawrence, John Steinbeck, Voltaire, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, just to name a few. But I've also read a lot of what might be considered lighter reading such as mysteries (love Agatha Christie), historical romances and such. My nonfiction reading covers a wide range of topics including biographies. Really whatever catches my interest. 

     P.G. Wodehouse is one of my all time favorite authors. These are just three of his books of the over 60 that I own. For just sheer fun and the joy of reading such wonderful use of language, he is a must read. I've read several more then once. 

     Now days we have electronic devices for reading books. I have one myself, which I really like for travel. You can download books from many sources.  If you don't already know about this site try: Book Bub. They offer downloadable books for free or very inexpensive. As much as I like my Kindle, there is still something about holding a real book in my hands that is very satisfying. 

     I just finished reading "The Casual Vacancy". A very good book with well developed characters. I've read all her Harry Potter books, this is nothing like them. It is a very well written modern day story. Give it a try.

    I have a lot of quotes in this post but I still need to add one more.

A thought to ponder: "Whatever the cost of our libraries the price is cheap                                             compared to that of an ignorant nation."                                                                                                         Walter Cronkite

Participating in: Grand Social, Share the Joy, Seasons, Amaze me Monday, Share Your Cup

A Frog's tale

     When I was a kid my aunt and uncle owned a ranch near Hemet, California. It was a bit of a drive, about two hours, from our house. In the summer my parents would go out on a weekend, leave my brother and I and come back for us the next weekend. We loved it. Not only did we have our three cousins to play with, but also the whole ranch to roam. 

Me at the ranch, about 1950

     We never could roam too far as we were on foot. We were always in hearing of the car horn. My aunt would honk it, 3 shorts and a long, to let us know it was time to come back to the house. One summer we discovered some tadpoles in an old cistern. So we got some containers and collected a bunch.

tadpole (stock photo)

     My mother and father were fine with us bringing them home. They felt it would be a good learning experience to watch them develop into frogs.

     We placed them in a large fish bowl in our kitchen and dutifully fed them. We watched as they developed, getting bigger and growing legs. When the front legs started to develop my mother said we needed to find a place to release them. We knew that we couldn't keep them, there were probably 10 -15 or so. Besides wild things are better in the wild. Time got away from us and one morning my brother and I woke to our Mother screaming. We ran into the kitchen. Our Mom was frantically trying to catch little frogs hopping all over the place. We both started helping her scoop up frogs. It took us a bit but we managed to get them back into the fish bowl, covered so they couldn't jump back out. Needless to say that day they went to the pond area my mother had located, and were released to hop to their hearts content.

     The following photos are of a frog that lived in our backyard pond for awhile in 2007.  We've had frogs come and go over the years but this is the only one that let me take it's photo.

A thought to ponder: "The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is                                            important to the quality of life of humans."  Jim Fowler

Participating in: Grand Social, Share the Joy, Seasons,Amaze Me Monday, Our World Tuesday, Around the World, Share Your Cup

Sea Secrets

     Our month long visit to So. California was a wonderful time of visiting with family. In particular we got to spend more time with our granddaughter, Miranda. We were lucky to be there to see her in the musical "Peter Pan". She had two parts, one as a Neverland bird in a dance number. The other as one of the lost boys.

     One of the days we were there was a school holiday and our daughter took the day off from work. So we decided to do some exploring of the So. California area that was new to us. I discovered not far from where they live was a state park called Abalone Cove where we could view tide pools, see link for more info: Abalone Cove. We checked the time for low tide and headed out on our adventure.

It was a great day for exploring. It's not your typical beach with sand, but rather lots of rocks. So we diffidently had to watch our step.

We made discoveries.

And enjoyed the beautiful day.

This is another shot of the park. There is a large area to explore.

Miranda enjoying the view.

It was a bit of a trek down and back up the trail so Miranda takes a break. After all our exercise we decided it was time for lunch.

A thought to ponder: "You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

Participating in: Grand Social, Share the Joy, Through my lens, Seasons, Amaze Me Monday, Our World Tuesday, Nature Notes, Wednesday Around the World,Share Your Cup

In Your Own Backyard

     I don't think I'm alone in this, but have you ever noticed that you very seldom see the sites/attractions in your own city or state. The things people from other places come to see. I know people here in Wyoming that have never been to Yellowstone National Park. Maybe it's because something is close so we think we can see it anytime. Mean while off we go on a trip to another state or country to see their attractions.
     I was born and raised in Southern California, lived there for over thirty years. Yet I never knew why Venice Beach was named after Venice, Italy. We visit So. California at least once a year since we moved to Wyoming. We frequently go to Venice Beach because it is a fun place to people watch. What we had never done was see the canals that gave Venice it's name. During our visit in January I decided we needed to rectify that. The Venice beach area was the vision of Abbot Kinney a wealthy tobacco mogul. The project was started in 1905. Originally there were 16 miles of canals. Today there is only one and a half miles. If you're interested in the full history check out this link: Venice history.

     The above photo shows one of the canals, with walking paths along each side. Unfortunately when we went for our visit it was also the week long, once a year maintenance. They lower the water in the canals and do cleaning and repairs. The boats would normally be floating in water. Pretty much every house has a little dock area and boat.

     Even without full canals it was a lovely walk. It was a beautiful day and looking at all the houses was delightful.

     This area wasn't always a nice place to live. After around the 1950's the area and the canals fell into neglect and disrepair. In the early 1990's the city of Los Angeles decided to repair and revive the canals. Since then the area has become a desirable area to live and of course the home prices reflect that.

     We enjoyed seeing the different types of architecture of the homes. You could tell some were from the era when the canals were first built. Others were newer designs. After walking down paths and over bridges we got a little disoriented and it took us a bit to find our way back to our car. All and all it was an enjoyable experience and gave me the opportunity to learn a little more about my home state.

     The following photo is one I found on the internet that shows the annual Christmas boat parade on the canals. I guess the residents really get into the spirit of the season and all the houses are decorated with lights.

A thought to ponder: "When we do not live in the present moment we are thieves. We rob ourselves of the fun of experiencing the delicious delicacies brought to us by life."

Participating in:Grand Social,Mingle Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Share Your Cup, Share the Joy, Best of the Weekend

Silence is Golden

     The silence I'm talking about in the title is in reference to the silent movie era. Before "talkies" took over, movies were accompanied with live music, frequently with an organ. On our recent visit to California we had an opportunity to experience a trip back in time. Our daughter's mother-in-law, Olga, discovered a jewel near by. The Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, California.

      The Music Hall was opened in 1968 by two musicians, Bill Field and Bill Coffman, after they bought a 1925 Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ.  To this day the Music Hall continues to entertain with vintage silent and sound movies as well as ragtime, jazz and pipe organ live concerts.

     Since we had never been before and didn't know what to expect, we gasped with delight after entering the theater through the velvet curtained entry. Besides the lovely interior we were serenaded by a player piano. 

     Bill Field, although now in a wheelchair, continues to play the organ at the theater. There is something going on every weekend. We had the opportunity to see the All Star Comedy Festival. It was a selection of silent and early black & white sound comedies. We were first treated to a ragtime selection on the above piano by a talented musician. Then Bill came out and played a medley on this beautiful Wurlitzer organ. There was a sing along also. The theater is small so it made for an intimate gathering with everyone joining the fun. 

     The silent movie shorts came next with Bill accompanying on the organ. I was surprised by how much laughter was evoked by these old movies. Where the majority of the humor is physical. After a short intermission the fun continued with the black & white sound movies. Laurel & Hardy, Our Gang and W.C. Fields were featured. We all left the theater with smiles on our faces. Olga was made aware of the Old Time Music Hall by a friend who doesn't even live in California, isn't that always the way. We are just grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this wonderful slice of history. Maybe next time we visit we'll see one of the live concerts.

A thought to ponder: "Always find a reason to laugh. It may not add years to your life, but will surely add life to your years."

     

Participating in: Grand Social, Share the Joy, Mingle Monday, Share Your Cup