Northern Flicker: A SUPER Bird

Dear reader, please allow me the honor of introducing you to a very special bird; a bird whose type is classified as a Northern Flicker. He/she is a bird I was introduced to yesterday, and can be seen in the first photo accompanying this Blogger entry. In the image you can see the Northern Flicker cowering behind some trash bags. The bags were in the alleyway of a building down the street from where I live (on the Upper Westside of New York City).

The photograph was taken by the superintendent (or super as we say in NYC) of that building. Evidently he happened to discover the bird while he was performing routine chores for the building where he works.

Holy Thursday 2020

IMAGE CREDIT

This evening (Holy Thursday) marks the commemoration of the Last Supper and of the ending of the first full day of Passover. I always find it difficult to create and publish content during these observances as I don't want to appear disrespectful.

Therefore, the only posting I plan to publish here on Blogger for today (4/9/2020) will be this notification and this evening, I will publish a post re the fourteenth session of the nightly clapping/cheering event (that has been dubbed #ClapBecauseWeCare) which is taking place to honor first responders and healthcare workers who are keeping New Yorkers as safe as possible during the coronavirus pandemic.

After all, rather religious observances are occurring or not, those dedicated to keeping us New Yorkers as safe as possible during the coronavirus pandemic don't stop what they are doing to participate in their given religion's observance, even though it may be an important part of their lives.

Reminder No Posting Until April 26th 2011

Today, April 21st, a few flowers from a small Fritillavia have surfaced as seen in the photograph posted above this entry. This Fritillavia was “tossed in”with my Actinda kolomikta and Actimda (Kiwi Vine), and as you probably know, dear reader, the Kiwi Vine has inspired many posts including the following:

Saturday April 9th 2011: Urban Terrace Garden Party 
Monday December 13th 2010: Lighting a Fire Inside the Heart
Saturday December 11th 2010: Today has a Count Down Date
Wednesday December 1st 2010: (The Lighting of Actinda kolomikta 
Thursday November 4th 2010: Canopy of Actinda kolomikta and Actimda

The sudden appearance of the Fritillavia flowers is very timely, because the Fritillavia is often called Mission Bells due to their bell shaped flowers. What better time for a “mission bell”to appear than the start of solemn days?

After all, today is Holy Thursday, and the start of many feast days that honor the Easter season.

This is the reason that I will not be posting on my “regularly” scheduled days until April the 26th, 2011. You may recall, dear reader, that I normally post on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday — a schedule that I posted in the beginning of this calendar year, although these days I have been posting more frequently, and, if you follow this blog on a regular basis, you may have noticed some “off schedule”blog entries that I posted this month (which were in addition to my regular scheduled posting days).

However, if you didn't get a chance to read those entries, I have posted the links to the extra April blog posts within today's entry for your convenience. They are as follows:

Monday the 4th: Remembering the Japanese 
Wednesday the 13th: April is the Cruelest Month
Friday the 15th: Anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Sunday the 17th: A & P Catholics
Monday the 18th: Ardith Mae and the Special Secret Service of Goat Cheese)
Wednesday the 20th: Yesterday's on Tape

These extra postings are not a result of my having “Spring Fever Enthusiasm,” nor is it my way of making up for the days that will be lost (as far as posting goes), with time spent on the commitments of the upcoming solemn feast days, but rather this month's “extra postings” are an indication to myself, and perhaps to you dear reader, of the importance I place on keeping in touch.

Looking forward to “seeing”you when I return to my posting on April 26th, 2011, with wishes that you enjoy whatever holiday you observe and that it may it be meaningful as well as leading you to new beginnings.

Easter Monday Musings

Today is Easter Monday (for the image credit re the picture above, click here). And according to Wiki, "Easter Monday is the day after Easter Sunday and is a holiday in some countries. Easter Monday in the Western Christian liturgical calendar is the second day of Eastertide and analogously in the Byzantine Rite is the second day of Bright Week."

In any event, this year's Easter season did not find me participating in organized religious services (other than Ash Wednesday), as I have felt alienated from my parish, and my attempts to worship elsewhere have been futile. Moreover, for the most part, church going folks have been the ones to let me down while those who don't attend services have been supportive of me.

However, this past Friday, which was Good Friday, I had planned to attend a service at a church other than my own. This was because someone who lives out of state had contacted me in early March to let me know that she would be in NYC, and wanted me to go to church with her on that date.

She also mentioned that she intended to introduce me to someone influential who might be helpful to me in advancing my endeavor with my collection of fauna-flora-insect-themed postcards and or my book, Words In Our Beak Volume One. 

In our last conversation, we agreed that she'd phone me on the Wednesday prior to Good Friday, and when she did not do so, I messaged her (via FB) the following day (Holy Thursday) to which she replied saying that she'd phone me later that day.

Thursday went without me hearing from her. And Good Friday went without me hearing from her, which was disappointing. However, on that day, I was truly blessed by an occurrence, which may not have been the case had I not been home!

Significance of a Robin's Red Breast

DIFFERENT ROBINS ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME 3 

The robin-themed song, Rockin' Robin, is on my mind because I recently encountered a "rockin' robin" when I was in The Ramble portion of Central Park and came upon a lone American Robin who was not rockin' in the treetops but rather was rockin' on the ground as seen in the picture atop this entry....