"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 35 (But First A Follow-Up)

The schedule I announced this past May for my entries to be published here on Blogger continues to be disrupted! As "they" say, "if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans . . . "  

And, if you follow me on TLLG's Blogger Pages, you will notice that this past week my post was on Saturday instead of my usual days, and the week prior was the same! I apologize for any inconvenience, and I will try with this post to get back on track with my regularly scheduled programing here on Blogger; however, my schedules on TLLG's Facebook Page, Pinterest Boards, and tumblr posts, have NOT been disrupted. Yay!

Speaking of tumblr, I am aware that since today is Tuesday, it must be tumblr, but before I send you there, I'd like to follow up on a few stories I've posted here on Blogger, in the event you have been unable to visit TLLG on my aforementioned venues.

First of all, the cause of Wink's eyesight problem remains a mystery, and I continue with my fervent efforts to reach organizations that are supposedly knowledgeable about the well being of our feathered friends, but so far I've gotten very little information. For a moment, I thought one of the mourning doves, who, like Wink, visits my garden to nosh, was concerned about its comrade, as you might also surmise from the image above today's entry. But perhaps I  am projecting my sensitivity towards eye related issues due to my battle with my legal blindness as well as my concern for Wink's well being, onto the mourning dove, for it seems it was merely pausing for a moment before making itself at home with Wink at the "noshing table" as seen in the image below, an image where you can notice Wink's eye injury. (Once again, dear reader, if you are familiar with anyone or any organization that might be able to provide an answer re Wink's situation, please let me know in the comments field below today's entry!)

My other "follow-up," dear reader is to tell you that the deadline for my Campaign on indiegogo has come and gone with little success, and I'm back at the drawing board working on plans B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, ANd Z! Please stay tuned.

And with these updates — before I send you to tumblr —  I am hoping you will recall that, in addition to my urban (terrace AKA roof extension garden), I grow an array of succulents in an indoor garden, and that garden is frequented by seasonal visitors, a few of whom (pictured below) have dropped by for Halloween to join in the festivities!

AND NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, THE LINK TO tumblr IS HERE!

ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances.

My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series (pictured below)whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal.  

As of May 22 2018, I have rendered some images from these books into greeting cards and they are available on Fine Art America, please click here for more info.

Re my book series: Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

At this moment, May 2018, both volumes one and two are in hardcover format (as seen below) and are available wherever  books are sold.

*Here's the  purchase info for the Words In Our Beak book series:

Volume One: ISBN: 9780996378529:

Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2AFZDCz

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2zxVujM

Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2AAnB26

book culture On Columbus: http://bit.ly/2FsC1Uf

Volume Two: ISBN: 9780996378536
Book Seller Info: http://bit.ly/2q75g8e

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DY0mz0

Barnes & Noble On-Line: http://bit.ly/2G65m6H

Grandpa's Day

Today, September 7th, is "Grandpa's Day," according to the Holidays and Celebrations web-page, a page which is on my radar because I design invitations that preserve moments in time, event program covers that enhance any occasion, and greeting cards that go beyond communication.

It is not a day that I am familiar with, but when I was a child it seems as if everyday was "Grandpa's Day," for my sisters and I were very close to our maternal grandfather, as you might surmise from the picture posted above today's blog entry, which features us with him, and is an image you may recognize from an entry I posted in May of 2011 when I attempted to challenge the adage that bad things happen in threes.

It was my maternal grandparents and their siblings (my great uncles and great aunts) who gave me an appreciation for the elderly; and I am thankful to discover that at least a day is set aside to honor grandfathers, especially in my country of America, where often elderly people aren't exactly revered.

A few lines from Herb Gardener's play (I'm Not Rappaport) sum up an unfortunate truth regarding our society (in the United States), "You collect old furniture, old cars, old pictures, everything old but old people. Bad souvenirs, they talk too much, they look like the future and you don't want to know . . . put them with their own kind, a building, a place, a town, put them someplace . . . the problem's not that life is short but that it's long; so you better have a policy."

"The old people, they're the survivors, they know something, they have not stayed late to ruin your party. The very old, they are miracles like the just born; close to the end is precious like close to the beginning. . . "

It is the last line of the playwright's narative that has become a slogan for a project I've launched on indiegogo; a campaign to raise awareness about the value of the elderly community through the "voices" of what lives in a garden.

FALL 2018 ADDENDUM: 

I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...

MY BOOK SERIES

...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.

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 Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 31

Yesterday afternoon, in my urban garden, "my" visiting cardinal and one of "my" visiting finches were having quite the conversation over their lunch! The focus of their discussion was Pablo Picasso of all people! And why not? Did you know, dear reader, that Picasso once said, "Everyone wants to understand painting. Why is there no attempt to understand the song of the birds?”

It's amazing to hear what birds have to say, and I look forward to eavesdropping on their chatter today, as you may have surmised from the Virtual Stories (garden themed movies) which are in my Vimeo Library) but, I'm also mindful that today is Tuesday, so Juan V will be coming soon to work with me in my garden! Hopefully we will find that I've conquered the problems Juan V discovered when he was here last time!

Meanwhile, since that today is Tuesday, it (also) must be tumblr in TLLG land, and without further ado here is the link to take you there!

Monday's Musings OR Madness?

Where's a BIB when you need one?

Sometimes, on my Blogger Pages, I like to pick up where I left off on a given post before moving on to another topic. Perhaps this is because I've written novellas, short stories and even a play, all of which, to some extent require a continuity with a given character. "Your reader deserves to know if you got the part," Mr. C. Michael Curtis once said (in a letter) to me in response to an essay I submitted to the Atlantic Monthly. The essay discussed how an audition for a Broadway play (that I had with Dustin Hoffman) led to an understanding of a childhood trauma, and, no, dear reader, even though Mr. Curtis praised my writing, he did not publish my essay.

Another Year Older and Deeper in Debt

The image accompanying today's posting may look familiar to some of you as I posted it last year on TLLG's Blogger Pages in a post about the "appearance" of mushrooms in my urban garden.

This picture was taken on my fifth birthday, and I'm including it today as it's my birthday. I was born on my maternal grandparents' anniversary, and since I am their first grandchild, they would often say that I was their anniversary gift; but, if truth be told, they were my best birthday present, and are what gave me, at an early age, an appreciation for the elderly, which is the driving force in my project on indiegogo.

And with that I'll end for the day, as at "press" time on Blogger, I'm distracted with the news of a shooting today near the Empire State Building and can hear media helicopters buzzing all around!

Words in my BEAK

Press Release in this unscheduled TLLG entry. As posted on TLLG's FB Page and tumblr: This Virtual Story (mini movie/flip book) is the first in a series dedicated to a cardinal which has been visiting my urban (NYC) garden. It is my hope that I’m allowing her to express herself and not putting words in her beak! And, of course, this lovely lady will be featured in my “giving voice to what lives in a garden” project, which is currently on indiegogo and may be viewed by clicking here.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 27

You know the TLLG Blogger deal! If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr, but before you go there, for your viewing pleasure, I've posted a  Virtual Story (mini movie) called Meet the Finches, which is a Virtul Flip Book depicting some of the antics of the finches that have been visiting my urban (NYC) garden! I plan to include more of the finches antics in projects I design for my "giving voice to what lives in a garden" indiegogo Campaign, which may be viewed by clicking here.

"If it's Tuesday, it must be tumblr . . . " Week No. 26

In yesterday's entry here on Blogger, I promised that, even though today is is a Tuesday, which on TLLG's Blogger means it must be tumblr, I would start off with an update on the fate of my mini Japanese Larch (Larix Kaempferi), after Juan V came over to evaluate my sweet larch's fate. I was so devastated yesterday that I did not have the heart to publish a photograph of her revealing how she looks in a sad state because I respect my wonderful Larch, and I do not like to showcase her when she is feeling down. 

But it's important, I think, for people who are learning about gardening to know some of the back stories, and that even though one may be the most attentive of gardeners, there is no guarantee that the fate of what one grows will always be positive.

Finches, they just wanna have fun!

VERRRRRRRY INTERESTING

Whad-cha sayin' to me?

WHEEE!

It's MY turn to nosh!

The are at it again! Their antics in my urban (NYC) garden are SO entertaining that I'm doing this other unscheduled post featuring some of their photo-ops. Additionally, you can find more entertaining images of them on tumblr, Pinterest and TLLG's Facebook Page. Moreover, I hope to be including these quirky birds in my indiegogo project where I am giving voice to gardens!

Happy 1/2 Year!

Well, dear reader, today is June the 30th 2012, which means that tonight is New Year's Eve for the half year! Six months down, and six months to go! And, as I promised in this past Monday's post, I am posting on a non-scheduled day in honor of the half-year.

Monday Morning Musings: Revisiting the Importance of Indoor Gardens

The "topic" of decorating an indoor succulent garden is something I have not addressed here on TLLG's Blogger, tumblr, or Facebook in quite some time; but even though it is the season when my outdoor (urban) garden calls for "overtime" attention, I have not neglected my wonderful indoor succulent garden, a garden of unusual succulents that, depending on the time of year, is "visited" by unique figurines. This is a fact you may recall from seeing my indoor succulent garden — here in cyber-space — when it has had very different "visitors" for Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall as well as for "off season" celebrations such as Penguin Awareness Day.

And, once in a while, as you may recall, dear reader, figurines of fruits such as apples 'n oranges, as well as pears (that all visit my succulent garden), "weighed in" on their life experience in my succulent garden.

So today, on a stormy Monday morning, when it is impossible to be tending the garden I have on my terrace, I have been given the opportunity to share the 2012 summer look in my indoor succulent garden, as evidenced by a bathing beauty figurine who is new to my succulent garden. I was given this figurine (over the weekend) by a dear friend whose husband also has an indoor succulent garden, as I described in an entry here on TLLG, which you may refer to by clicking here.

In any event, the bathing beauty figurine was welcomed by my succulents and by a little frog — who jumped on a succulent container — to get a closer look at her (as you can see in the image posted at the top of today's entry)!

I am hoping that my other bathing beauty figurine, who also visits my succulent garden, and can be seen in the image below,

will enjoy having some company, even though, like yours truly she enjoys her time alone. (The aforementioned figurine was given to me last summer by the same friend.)

The "story" of the importance of indoor gardens will be included in the series of Virtual Stories (mini movies) which I will be producing for a campaign that I launched late last week on indiegogo, a campaign whose mission is to give voice to the garden, and in doing so remind folks that "The very old, they are miracles like the just born; close to the end is precious like close to the beginning."

"But I was thinking of a plan to dye one's whiskers green . . .

. . . And always use so dark a fan

That they could not be seen . . ,"

The flowers on my Lavandula angustifolia (English Lavender), an herb which grows in my urban (New York City) terrace garden, have turned a brilliant indigo, as evidenced in the photograph above today's blog entry. My English Lavender is so pleased by this brilliant color that it seemed he wanted to befriend one of the grasses in my garden, and so he stretched his arms waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out so they nearly touched the delicate flowers that are still growing on my exquisite Hakanechola Macra AKA Japanese Forest Grass All Gold, which is the ornamental grass featured in the right hand corner of the image posted above. As my normally mild mannered Lavandula angustifolia tried to touch the tips of my Hakanechola Macra, I heard him recite, "But I was thinking of a plan to dye one's whiskers green. And always use so dark a fan That they could not be seen."