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Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Attention MUST Be Paid to Google Alerts! (More Wisdom for Wednesday)


Earlier today I posted some wisdom for Wednesday which came from two PEANUTS comic strips, but, I've subsequently received words of wisdom re a scammer posting fake new re volume two of my book series, Words In Our Beak.

I am now sharing it here as a warning to anyone who might come across certain info regarding this book. I received a notification (via email) from Google Alerts stating "[kMf.ebook] Words-Our-Beak-Patricia-Youngquist Free Download.pdf. [kMf.ebook] Words-Our-Beak-Patricia-Youngquist Free Download.pdf. Open."

Since I have not authorized a free downloadable version of this book (or any of my books) I was surprised to see this alert which included this link to a "source" that is claiming I have such a book available. Within that link is a copy of the picture that can be seen atop this entry and I have added an image of a warning sign (from an Epilepsy foundation), to catch your attention, dear reader, for if you come across this info, I am warning you that it is totally fraudulent.

Wednesday's Wisdom is from PEANUTS


It's National Sunglasses Day which celebrates the importance of wearing shades to protect your eyes from the sun’s harsh ultraviolet (UV) rays.

Therefore, this Wednesday's Wisdom "episode" for my blog, is a good time to remind readers of the necessity of wearing sunglasses. Woodstock already heeds the memo, as evidenced in the comic strip atop this blog post.

And Woodstock is not the only PEANUTS character to offer wisdom, Charlie Brown's experience (as seen below) is a reminder of one reason a person needs heed the wisdom to BEWARE Of THE DOG.


Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Tuesday's Truths WK 87: Thanks to some great souls, progress is being made (S-L-O-W-L-Y)

FEATURED IN MY PRESENTATION AT IONA PREP

This "segment" (week eighty-seven) of my Tuesday's Truths series is a shout out which is dedicated to Morgan M, Ruth F, Fr Rudy, Robert W, Joan B; as well as Mr. D and his wife.

They are all emotionally supportive of my taking the next step in trying to secure bookings for my presentation (Who Am I?) regarding wildbirds that have been included in my Words In Our Beak book series.

VOLUMES ONE AND TWO

You may recall, dear reader, it is a presentation that I initially made at Iona Preparatory School this past Tuesday.

As of this Blogger posting, I've now sent queries (re my being a presenter) to a children's museum on the UWS, to a Jewish Community Center which is also on the UWS, to a "higher" prep school in my hood, to a nature center in Ossining, to nature centers in Connecticut, to nature centers in New Jersey; and to a few bookstores. Any suggestions of other places that I might approach are truly appreciated. Meanwhile, here is the purchase info for my book series.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

Hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES


Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White CollectionKaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.


This was followed by an ePub version...


... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.


Its press release can be read by clicking here.  

Now with the release of BIRD TALES....


... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.


Monday, June 25, 2018

Monday's Memory: What a friend I had in DD*! (*Donna DeSolis)

"ROCKS BY STRAWBERRY FIELDS" FEATURED IN AN EXHIBITION

My friend, DD (Donna De Solis) passed from this life three years ago today. I have written about her a number of times here on Blogger and a video that I made (soon after she passed) honoring her life can be viewed within my You Tube Channel.

Donna can be seen in the photograph atop this entry, she has a yellow sweater over her shoulders and yours truly is standing behind her. We are at an opening for a 2002 art exhibition that I was featured in (with two other artists) at The New York Gallery Building (on West Fifty-Seventh Street in NYC).

The image above us is of a photographic print from my Kaleidoscopic Photograph Collection (which can be found in the Kaleidoscopic Prints Gallery within my website, patriciayoungquist.com ) and is called, Rocks by Strawberry Fields.

In the coming days (hopefully this Thursday), I will be meeting with Chris Deatherage (who is the one that designed my website and formatted the Words In Our Beak book series) to see if we can add this image to the Kaleidoscopic Collections within my Fine Art America Pages.

Chris met Donna at a gathering that I had at my apartment on Halloween (a number of years ago) and I am sure that he will agree that DD would truly be thrilled to know I now have some of my work up on Fine America's site.

I miss seeing Donna and my heart aches for her husband, son, sister and cousins who will surely be thinking of her on this mournful day; but I do realize that she is someone who would be very pleased that I'm doing all I can to move forward.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

Hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES


Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White CollectionKaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.


This was followed by an ePub version...


... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.


Its press release can be read by clicking here.  

Now with the release of BIRD TALES (which is in Apple's Bookstore and On Amazon)...


... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.

Sunday, June 24, 2018

This Sunday's (and beyond) Sermon to Self: "Let all the voodoos of ambition sleep."

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

OTHER BEES ARE FEATURED IN VOLUME ONE

I came across these images atop this entry (that I took this past April) of a bee taking refreshment from crocus flowers in Central Park. Upon viewing them, I thought of a few lines from a poem ("Today") by Mary Oliver. Here they are:

"...The world goes on as it must,
the bees in the garden rumbling a little..."

In my case, the bees were not rumbling in my rooftop garden,* rather, they were "rumbling" (as I just said) in Central Park. I had gone to the park that day in an effort to take the day off from my busy mind, which at times (many times) is hard to silence.

Saturday, June 23, 2018

It's National Pink Day!



Here's a piece of trivia for this next to the last Saturday in June:

"National Pink Day is observed annually on June 23rd. This day is set aside for the color pink and all it represents."*

As for my rooftop garden, the pink trimmed leaves on my Smoke Bush represent protection for my Mouse Ears! AND The Mouse Ears (mini hostas) are in bloom again!

Friday, June 22, 2018

Friday Follow-Up

A SLIDE FROM MY PRESENTATION
A SLIDE FROM MY PRESENTATION

At the presentation that I made at Iona Prep (Lower) School this past Tuesday, I included a total of two hundred and three slides. These slides featured a number of views of nineteen different bird types who have visited my rooftop garden, as well as a few slides that showed a Red-Tailed Hawk.

She is one who kept her eyes on the comings and goings of creatures visiting my place from either the vantage point of an Ailanthus Tree in a nearby courtyard or from atop an air-conditioner that is in the window of a building which is across that courtyard (as seen in the images of my slides that are posted atop this entry).

As you can see in the first slide above, I included the common and scientific name of the hawk, which is something I did for each bird type (along with giving the students interesting facts re a given bird variety within the featured birds).

There was a student in the audience who was very good at pronouncing the Latin (scientific) names of the birds and there was also a staff member who had an interesting point upon seeing the image (below) on my slide,

A SLIDE FROM MY PRESENTATION

of a lone Northern mockingbird in my garden.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Summer Solstice in the Western Hemisphere (For the Year 2018)


The 2018 Summer Solstice began in this hemisphere a few hours ago (EST). It is the longest day of daylight, as many of you realize.

I know professional gardeners who do not like this day because going forward, every subsequent day it will turn darker and darker at an earlier hour.

Therefore, they prefer the Winter Solstice, which is the darkest day of the year and every subsequent day it turns lighter and lighter at an earlier hour.

What are your thoughts on the Summer and Winter Solstice, dear reader?

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Yesterday's Presentation at Iona Prep



Sorry to have missed my Tuesday's Truths series yesterday (that I provide here on Blogger), dear reader, but as I stated a few weeks ago, the regularity of my publishing posts is being reduced until further notice.

Yesterday, as opposed to being in cyber-space, I was in the space of an auditorium on the campus of Iona Prep making a presentation. The following is a copy of a tweet I sent (earlier today) regarding the experience:

"@IonaPrep What an honor it was to make a presentation yesterday (re birds that spend time in NYC + the areas near your campus). The boys in attendance made a terrific audience (thoughtful, respectful, inquisitive) and I'm sure each of them will be offering much value to society."

As I subsequently explained on both of my Facebook pages (author and personal) and am reiterating here: My tweet only included the "Who am I?" chart seen in the first atop this blog posting. The photograph of some of the audience (about 45 boys from grades first-fifth who were in attendance) was taken by a woman who was working at the school. I'm waiting for the principal to send me her name so I can update this entry with a photo credit.

Now, I can only pray that all the groups that might hear my presentation in the future are as respectful and intelligent as these boys...

Monday, June 18, 2018

WEATHER ALERT with a way to keep cool! (Monday's Memo)






According to a number of reports (including one that you can reference here), New York City "will be under an air quality advisory for much of today (Monday, June 18th) as temperatures approach a record high. The mercury will reach near 92 degrees with a heat index temperature that feels as hot as 95, according to the National Weather Service. The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality advisory for 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday as the temperature gets up near the 1929 record of 95 degrees...High ozone levels in the air will come with the hot weather, meaning young kids and people with medical issues such as asthma or heart disease should be careful in the heat, state officials warn."

Upon learning this, I immediately thought of a scene that I came upon this past Saturday, when I was on a pier located near the Boat Basin at the Hudson River.

On that day, I discovered a female Mallard duck being very attentive to her newborn ducklings, as evidenced in the images atop this entry.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Father's Day 2018

CANADIAN GEESE AND GOSLINGS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 2
CANADIAN GEESE AND GOSLINGS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 2
CANADIAN GEESE AND GOSLINGS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 2
CANADIAN GEESE AND GOSLINGS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 2
CANADIAN GEESE AND GOSLINGS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 2
CANADIAN GEESE AND GOSLINGS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 2
CANADIAN GEESE AND GOSLINGS ARE FEATURED IN VOL 2

On Father's Day is good to remember, one cannot (probably) be a good father without a good mother on hand. Canadian Geese realize this, and as parents, they work together...

... A blogger states, "to me they (geese) came to represent the commitment of families – parents who do their best to stay together, who are always there for their children, who help each other and who are predictably where they are supposed to be."

Another web-page points out that "the parents will lead the goslings to the safety of open water within 24 hours of birth. Goslings are able to dive and swim 30-40 feet underwater when they are just 1 day old."

It appears that what this web-page describes what night've been happening when I encountered geese and their goslings in Central Park last summer (as evidenced by the photos I'm featuring atop this entry and some of these are featured in a prior post here on Blogger).

Canadian geese and their goslings are featured in volume two of the Words In Our Beak book series.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

Hardcover versions of Volume One, Two and Three can be found wherever books are sold.

MY BOOK SERIES

Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White CollectionKaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2021:

When the third volume of the hard-cover version of Words In Our Beak was released, I withdrew from promoting my former versions of Words In Our Beak. 

The very first one is an iBook and went into Apple's book store in 2015.


This was followed by an ePub version...


... that is available on Amazon and was also published in 2015.

Subsequently, Words In Our Beak's digital versions were published as a soft-cover book (with slight variations) by MagCloud in 2017.


Its press release can be read by clicking here.  

Now with the release of BIRD TALES....


... I've been advised to make mention of my early versions of volume one of Words In Our Beak, they do vary ever so slightly in content from the hard-cover version of volume one.

As of this addendum, I do not intend to create digital or soft-cover versions of Words In Our Beak Volume Two or Words In Our Beak Volume Three.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

The Inspiration of Lewis Carroll (PRESENTATION UPDATE)

A SLIDE FOM MY PRESENTATION

As I mentioned in a prior entry here on Blogger, I am scheduled to give a talk at an assembly that is taking place at an all boys lower prep school.

My talk will be on all the wild birds featured in book series: Words In Our Beak

I will have a number of slides for the students to view via a presentation that I created in the Keynote Ap on my Mac.

Twenty-one bird types are included and each variety begins with a given bird asking, "Who am I?"

As I prepared the upcoming presentation, a caterpillar's question to Alice (in Lewis Carroll's famous book) re who she was came to my mind (as evidenced in the image atop this entry).

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Reminder: June is National Rose Month

Two days ago, June 12, was Red Rose Day and in belated honor of the occasion, I've posted an image  (directly above) of this flower (taken in bygone years) that was growing in my rooftop garden).

Red Rose Day is not the only homage given to roses during the month of June, the entire month is known as National Rose Month and since tomorrow the month of June will be halfway over, its about time that I remind readers of this fact.

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Feeling like a Fiscal Fiasco



The clip atop this entry is from the movie, Bye Bye Birdie, and it should've been what I posted yesterday (Tuesday June 12th) since that was the day for another segment of my Tuesday's Truths series!

However, I was unable to post on Blogger yesterday as I was preoccupied with a "dress rehearsal" for an upcoming presentation that I will be making. But, as I've announced in a prior entry here on Blogger, my publishing posts with the regularity, which has been my custom, had to be scaled back due to a variety of circumstances, this upcoming presentation is one of them.

The reason I mention that I should've posted this clip in my Tuesday's Truth series is because the truth is that I'm feeling like a "fiscal fiasco!" This was apparently also the case with one of the movie's lead characters, Albert (played by Dick Van Dyke).

Albert was labeled a "fiscal fiasco" by his accountant and he agreed.  Moreover, Albert was mortified that he hadn't sold any songs (which he'd composed) in six years.

Unfortunately, I relate to that. I've poured all my available monies into dental procedures (literally putting my money where my mouth is) and am not at a point of any making profit (and have invested quite a bit) on my Words In Our Beak book series. At this point, I hope I can hang on to my home!

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Update (Follow Up to 5-8-2018's Posting)


Many thanks to those of you who have inquired re my upcoming second eye surgery of 2018. As you may have recalled, the first surgical procedure took place this past May.

The next operation on my eye is scheduled for tomorrow, June 8th, which is exactly one month since the aforementioned procedure. Info re this is posted on my FB Author (TLLG) Page.

This surgical procedure is just one of the many reasons for my reduced blog posting schedule.

ADDENDUM 6-9-2018: The surgery is behind me (details posted here). Once again, thanks for your concern, dear reader.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

It's W.E.D.* 2018! (*World Environment Day) Tuesdays Truths WK 86



As I mentioned in this past Sunday's blog entry, at this time, I am unable to publish entries here on blogger with the frequency that has been my standard for quite some time. I will, at minimum, try and keep my Tuesday's Truths series going.

Today, June 5th, marks my eighty-sixth entry within this series and it happens to coincide with 2018's World Environment Day (WED).

June 5 has been designated by the United Nations as World Environment Day, a day set aside since 1974 to promote “worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment.”

This year’s theme is “beat plastic pollution," and the photos stop this entry, are a small reminder of how plastics can hurt the avian community. The first picture is one I took in bygone years when I was at Long Beach. The second image (also taken in bygone years) features a Mallard duck, "caught" in debris within NYC's Hudson River.

More info on 2018's WED theme of “beat plastic pollution," can be found within the following three links: https://theatln.tc/2sJsxya and http://bit.ly/2JeDG5l as well as https://ind.pn/2syboIG.