It's National Aquarium and Zoo Month! (Tuesday's Truth WK 218)

Sharing a copy of a 1970's Peanuts strip (atop this entry) because the month of June, which begins today is known for many things, among them is bringing attention to aquariums.

In 1982, President Ronald Regan declared the month of June to be a time to learn more about them (as well as zoos) and this fact about the month of June, dear reader, is the essence of my 218th Tuesday's Truths segement.

Monday's Memo: Catch a Falling Snowflake

Sally (seen in the image atop this entry) knows how to find happiness during a snow-day, and so did my visiting starling! When he stopped by during yesterday's snowfall it appeared he was trying to catch snowflakes with his beak (as evidenced in the photograph directly below).

By the way, starlings are featured in my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.

An Inspiration from The Great Pumpkin

BOOK COVER FOR GREAT PUMPKIN CAROLS

According to a FB Pagefor the Charles M. Schultz Museum, "Following the success of the 1966 TV special 'It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!,' Hallmark published a whimsical booklet of Peanuts Pumpkin Carols." (A copy of the booklet cover is seen in the image to the left, or the first picture in time-line view).

"As declared by Linus, and according to the front cover, 'Halloween is becoming a forgotten holiday. We dedicated followers of the Great Pumpkin must do something to rekindle the Halloween spirit. Let us not rest until the universe resounds with pumpkin carols.'

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"🎼 The booklet includes eight pumpkin carols, set to well-known Christmas tunes, of course. Carols include: Great Pumpkin is Coming to Town, Pumpkin Wonderland, I’m Dreaming of the Great Pumpkin, Pumpkin Bells, The Twelve Days of Halloween, I Heard the Bells on Halloween, and O Pumpkin Cards." (Image and text are taken from the aforementioned FB Page for Peanuts @).

Upon my seeing a copy of the 1966 booklet, "THE PEANUTS BOOK OF PUMPKIN CAROLS," I thought of one of my 2020 Halloween-themed products titled. "The Pumpkin Choir" (totes as well as a note-card). They can be seen in the next two images to the right (respectively).

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR TOTE

THE PUMPKIN CHOIR NOTE-CARD

For your information, my photo of pumpkins caroling or ("The Pumpkin Choir") is included in volume two of my book series...

BOOK JACKET (FRONT) WIOB V2

PAGES 44 AND 45 WIOB V2

Words In Our Beak, in a section that describes how Halloween decor impacts the lives of wild birds. Information re the entire series (jackets pictured below) can be found by clicking here.

MY BOOK SERIES

I realize Halloween is twenty-one days from now and I don't like to rush the entrance of the holiday, but due to time needed for shipping (in the event you'd like to purchase items mentioned here), I thought it best to give a heads up now.

National Lighthouse Day 2020

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Today is National Lighthouse Day and Snoopy knows how to celebrate as evidenced in the image of a Peanuts comic strip atop this entry).

I'm familiar with receiving that stare from birds visiting my garden when I have yet to fill my bird feeders or share my fruit with them (via plates placed atop an urban hedge (shelving) as well as a table.

Most likely anyone who has been around any animal knows "the lighthouse stare" as does anyone who has ever waited tables.

On another note, re lighthouses themselves, I love visiting them and two of the ones that I've taken pictures of can be seen are featured in the next set of images.

THE FIRE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE VIEW ONE

THE FIRE ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE VIEW TWO

THE LITTLE RED LIGHTHOUSE

The Little Red Lighthouse is located in NYC under the George Washington Bridge, a bridge which is referenced in volume one of my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.

MY BOOK SERIES

A Very Different Westside Story These Days (History in the Making)

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The copy of a PEANUTS comic strip atop this blog entry is from the 5/31/2020 post on the Facebook Page for the Charles M. Schultz Museum. The strip is from 1978 but was posted on the thirty-first  of May (a few days ago) to commemorate Christo, the artist Snoopy is speaking about here and included the FB entry include this explanation:

Charles M. Schulz met Christo in 1975 when the environmental artist, along with his wife Jeanne-Claude, were in Sonoma County working on the preparation for their installation art piece, “Running Fence,” a 23-mile, 18-foot high white nylon curtain that zig-zagged over the Sonoma County hills before plunging into the ocean at the Marin-Sonoma county line. Schulz attended town hall meetings to support the “Running Fence” concept during the planning stages and this began a friendship based on mutual respect and admiration that lasted a quarter of a century.
On November 20, 1978, Schulz memorialized Christo’s work in this Peanuts comic strip. Twenty-five years later, in October 2003, Christo and Jeanne-Claude gifted “Wrapped Snoopy House” [seen in the next image] to Jean Schulz, sharing that it was Christo’s conception of Snoopy’s imaginary doghouse. The work is on permanent display in the Schulz Museum.

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I first became acquainted with Christo's work when he and his wife put up their art installation known as "The Gates" in Central Park a number of years ago.

Identifying With Spike

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I am with you on this, Spike, for due to the effect the coronavirus pandemic is having on NYC I have been following the pleas of our mayor and governor by sheltering in place ever since two weeks ago (March 21, 2020).

Yesterday it was very cold outside yesterday, as you might surmise upon looking at the following series of pictures, here you can see an American robin all puffed up in effort to keep warm.

AMERICAN ROBINS HAVE A STORY IN VOL 3

AMERICAN ROBINS HAVE A STORY IN VOL 3

AMERICAN ROBINS HAVE A STORY IN VOLUME 3

His/her survival techniques even caught the attention of a male Northern cardinal who did some bird watching (bird staring if truth the told) when he noticed the robin.

Friday Follow-Up: Fredia, another PEANUTS's character, celebrates her debut!

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This past Tuesday, March 3, 2020, for my 165th segment in my Tuesday's Truths series, I offered my congratulations to Lucy van Pelt who is still going strong after making a debut 68 years ago!

Today as a Friday follow-up, I'm giving a shout on to another one of  Charles Schultz's characters, Frieda, who made her debut 59 years ago today.

You've got this! Way to go, Lucy van Pelt! (Tuesday's Truths WK 165)

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For this 165th segment of my Tuesday's Truths series, I'd like to offer my congratulations to Lucy van Pelt who is still going strong after making a debut 68 years ago!

Here's what Charles Schultz had to say about her: "Lucy comes from that part of me that's capable of saying mean and sarcastic things, which is not a good trait to have, so [she] gives me a good outlet. But each character has a weakness and Lucy's weakness is Schroeder."

I appreciate all of Schultz's characters as evidenced by the number of blog posts I've published about him and his Peanuts comic strip.

Christmas 2019

I know the feeling, CB.

I still have Christmas cards to write because I did not finish them due to of difficult personal circumstances that required my full attention; but I did get a few cards out and the ones I still need to send are addressed as well as stamped —  I just have to write notes on them.

Thankfully Christmas is a season — not just one day and with that thought, I best publish this post  and get on to finishing my cards.

Meanwhile, dear peeps, hope you and yours have a chance to celebrate the holiday of your choice or celebrate no holiday if that’s your choice.

Christmas is one week from today!

In one week's time, it will be Christmas Day and thanks to my gardening partner in crime (Juan V), unlike Snoopy, I didn't have to unplug anything to get my Christmas tree to be lit!

AND also thanks to David Denny (DD) for taking aerial shots of my garden!

It was very late at night (Saturday 12/14) or very early Sunday morning (12/15) when DD, his entourage and I did "The Drifters" thing and went "up on the roof..."

By the way, if you look closely at these images you will see that I was able to winterize my garden by wrapping every container.

Sunday's Sentiment

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Upon my seeing this Peanuts Comic Strip of Charles Schultz's characters in a classroom holding their papers up to read them, I thought of a passage from my hopefully forthcoming book (Imperfect Strangers).

NATIONAL READ A BOOK DAY 2019

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Today is not scheduled as a posting day but I would be remiss to not give a nod to the holiday which is taking place on this day: #NationalReadABookDay!

What a perfect "excuse" to get your copies of my three volume book series, Words In Our Beak.

THE WORDS IN OUR BEAK BOOK SERIES 

I confess that I'd forgotten about this holiday as I've been a bit pre-occupied since learning I need to have an MRI of the brain to rule out any possibility of a tumor growing on my optic nerve.

People who have Neurofibromatosis (as I do) CAN have a tumor develop on their optic nerve. CAN is the operating word here, at least it's not ALWAYS.

In any event, my pre-occupation with scheduling this procedure, nearly caused me to forget about today's holiday, but thanks to the FB Page for The Charles Schultz Museum, who posted a copy of strip seen below, I've been made aware of the day.

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I'll leave you with this info re National Read a Book Day, dear reader, and I'll see you here on Blogger tomorrow for my scheduled posting.

The Beauty of Pencils (Thursday's Testimony)

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I can relate, CB! When I was an elementary school student, I had bad experiences with pens too! In one of my for my hopefully forthcoming book (Imperfect Strangers) chapters, I state: "...The first day of school the teacher tells my class to write about our summer vacation. She hands out ruled paper and ballpoint pens. This is new for me. In prior years, my teacher had only let the students use paper with no lines and write with number two pencils. I don’t like lined paper because I can’t see well enough to keep my handwriting on the lines; my script is always spilling over into the spaces between them. I am not looking forward to using pens either. They make me uneasy because they are more permanent. Using ink makes it difficult to erase what I write. Now I am even more apprehensive about full-filling the writing assignment of how I spent my summer vacation..."

Gotta love CB's resourcefulness! It's easy to see why "they" say, "Your'e a good man Charlie Brown!"

Parents Day is for the birds!

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This is the fourth Sunday for the month of July 2019 which means it is Parents Day. A number of web-sources (including National Day AKA ND) ) concur, "National Parents’ Day honors all parents on the fourth Sunday in July. No matter where our parents may be, this day serves to celebrate their important role in our lives. 

ND (and other web-pages) also claim "President Bill Clinton established National Parents’ Day in 1994 when he signed Congressional Resolution (36 U.S.C. § 135) into law. The recognized the '…uplifting, and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of children.' Republican Senator Trent Lott introduced the bill. "

I am honoring the holiday by posting a copy (atop this entry) of a Peanuts Comic Strip which was published long before (8-1-1978) Clinton created a holiday for parents. The strip paints a picture of how a relationship between a parent and child can be.

But Parents Day is also for the birds, for when it comes to the avian community, both parents play a significant role in rearing their young.

You've Got this, CB! (Wednesday's Wisdom)

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In Honor of D Day...

... I've posted a strip by Charles Schultz atop this entry. There are few words for any anniversary of D-Day but Frances J. Turner found some and expressed them in a poem ("The Hour is Go") which is included in my in memory of D-Day post for 2017.

Wednesday in the 2019 Octave of Easter

Today is Wednesday in the Octave of Easter. And it is also Wednesday of Earth Week (since Earth Day was celebrated this past Monday. I've written about the event in prior entries here on Blogger.

This year, I'm honoring the official holiday a couple of days later with this poignant Peanuts Comic Strip featuring Woodstock doing the right thing. There is nothing I can add to Schulz's strip except refer you to bit of history re it, which may be found by clicking here.

National Siblings Day 2019

It's National Siblings Day, a holiday which I've referenced here on Blogger an in one of my entries re the event, I pointed out how Holiday Insights defines this occasion. They state, "National Sibling Day is a day to appreciate and cherish your brothers and sisters. Siblings are truly a special blessing that we probably all too often take for granted..."

Draw A Bird Day 2019

Today is Draw A Bird Day, a longstanding holiday which was created in honor of the dearly departed, Dorie Cooper, who died when she was a child. In bygone years, I have written about little girl and her "role" in the  creation of the holiday. 

Within some of the aforementioned entries, I've included a a copy the photograph atop this post that features one of the ways I was taught to draw a bird by using my hand as a model. In any event, it seems birds learn to draw humans in a similar manner, as evidenced in the cartoon directly below.

That being said, in terms of humans drawing birds, Charles Schultz often comes to my mind.

It's beginning to look a lot like Spring in my garden. (Tuesday's Truths WK 118)

For Snoopy, it is Woodstock returning from the other side of the doghouse that causes him to think Spring must be near, for me its the fact that my crocuses are poking their heads out from under their mulch that makes me think the season is truly upon us.