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.

A Reminder from Pigeons + Emily Dickinson (On this World Poetry Day 2019)

PIGEONS ARE FEATURED IN MY BOOKS

It's World Poetry Day and a poem that I'm thinking of is one by the poet Emily Dickinson:

 “Hope is the thing with feathers, That perches in the soul, And sings the tune--Without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm, That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chillest land, And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.”

Yesterday I read a mediation by Dr. James Campbell ("In Praise of Pigeons") on Dickinson's poem and part of it stated: "When I imagine that 'little bird' of which Dickinson wrote, I automatically think of the starlings and the sparrows of my Indiana childhood.  I might even imagine the colorful and aggressive blue jays or cardinals that I still enjoy watching.  But when I think of hope and birds and bird songs, I never ever think of a pigeon...."

Some Feline Bird Watchers Have Lots to See!

There is a lot of bird watching to be be had from the vantage point of my rooftop garden but also from the vantage point of those whose apartment windows face our courtyard. No one knows this better than Snooze, the cat seen in the image at atop this entry.

Currently she lives in the building directly east of me and her window faces my garden as well a courtyard (Sadly Snooze is moving in a few days but I do have stories about her on my blog.)

At this time, Snooze is not the only one who spends her hours watching the avian creatures in our midst, there is another cat who lives in a building directly north of us (just across the courtyard).

My First Pine Cone!

The photograph atop this entry as well as the ones directly below were taken by JV (Juan V) after he spotted a pinecone on the  Japanese Larch (Larix Kaempferi) which is located in the northeast corner of my rooftop garden.

I've never seen a pine cone when it was in the early stages of life and was so fascinated by Juan's discovery that I did a bit of research to learn more about them, which is my wisdom for Wednesday.

According to an article by Natalie Andrews, "Pine trees, also known as “conifers,” have cones instead of flowers. These cones serve as a pine tree’s source of seed. Conifers also produce separate male and female cones for seed development. In general, the development of a pine cone takes around two years and fertilization happens in the spring. Both male and female cones start like tiny pink-lilac bristles.They turn green as they develop, but their scales stay tucked together until maturity. When fully mature, female cones look like typical pine cones, with hard brown woody scales spread apart. They form at the foot of new shoots below the terminal bud and take about two years to mature and produce seeds. Each female pine cone has about 200 seeds, depending on the pine's species... " (You can read the rest of Andrews article by clicking here).

As for my Japanese Larch, I got it in 2005 or 2006 or was it 2004? Not so sure when I first planted that tree in a container that she eventually outgrew!

"PRESS" RELEASE: Tribute to Emily (a LONE Baltimore oriole)

For those of you who do not "do Facebook" or read posts on hometalk or tumblr, but, who might be interested in what happened to Emily, (who was introduced here on Blogger in November 2013), and who is the lone Baltimore oriole pictured above (alighting on a bird bath in my urban — NYC — garden); I have posted a tribute to her that also addresses the loss of visiting birds, and you may read it by clicking here.

An UPDATE: Tweeting and Reflecting (Details on The New Direction for TLLG on Blogger)

Tweet! Tweet! (View One)
I also posted this image on WBU-MICH FB Page

Tweet! Tweet! (View Two)
I also posted this image on TLLG'S FB Page

It has been over a month since I posted here on Blogger, and I'd like to use today's entry as an opportunity to state what my intentions are for this blog in the days to come, for I feel I have gotten away from my original hope re this endeavor, an endeavor I began on the last day of 2009, when I set up this blog, stating:

"Now that I've gotten the setting up of my blog underway (and making my New Year's resolution to stick with a posting schedule, it seems I may be passée. I understand many people have moved on to Tweeting. It is my life story summed up in ten words: at the airport when the ship comes into the dock. Being a reflective soul, I'll probably stick to blogging over tweeting. Besides, as it is, while some of my posts will be snippets and captions, others may border on mini essays. My temperament reminds me of Herb Gardener, whom I happened to meet while working at a theater (but that is as 'they' say, another story), and he told me that before becoming a playwright, he was a cartoonist and when the 'bubbles of dialogue got bigger than the cartoon-characters, it was time to be a playwright.' Similarly, as opposed to tweeting, blogs let you generate more in-depth content. I see them having greater resilience in terms of perception. But they require what many people seem to consider long-term commitment today:setting aside 20-90 minutes daily, weekly or semi-weekly. Still some bloggers are providing insightful or informative blogs which I hope to do also. I am in it for the long haul, and perhaps the Charles Schultz cartoon posted below sums it up:"

Now, today, March 6, 2014, as I look back on my initial (December 2009) intent for this blog, which was at a time I knew very little about social media, I realize that in some ways, I've succumbed to the "pressure" of tweeting, albeit through my Facebook (FB) and Pinterest postings being automatically tweeted (it's rare that I compose a direct tweet from twitter), and I've neglected what is near, as well as dear, to my soul: generating more in-depth content.

"That was the week that was, it's over . . ."

According to Wiki, once upon a time (in the 1960's), there was a popular television show called "That Was The Week That Was" which opened with a song, whose lyrics included, "That was the week that was, it's over, let it go . . ."

Tu B’Shevat 2021

Just four days ago on January 24th 2021, I published a blog post (where I included a copy of the snapshot above this entry) in which I discussed my maternal grandfather's apppreciation for trees, something I seem to have inherited.

Then last night I had a conversation with a neighbor (LS) about the recent vandalism which occurred in my building and my roof extension garden, I mentioned that a main concern I had experienced during that crime was for the birds who visit my place and who have enjoyed the trees that I have planted over the years.

Knowing my love for trees, LS kindly told me that Tu B’Sheva had begun at sunset then explained that it would end at sunset tonight (1-28-2021). She went on to say Tu B’Shevat (or the birthday of all fruit trees) is s a minor holiday.

My knowedge of many aspects of Jewish holidays is minimal, even though I have a somewhat famous paternal Jewish ancestor, Rosa Sonnenschein, whom I've written about on this blog and who is featured in the image below).

After I spoke with LS, I did some research. I learned (from a writer re Jewish learning who calls him/herself MJL) Tu B’Shevat's name "is Hebrew for the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat. In ancient times, Tu B’Shevat was merely a date on the calendar that helped Jewish farmers establish exactly when they should bring their fourth-year produce of fruit from recently planted trees to the Temple as first-fruit offerings." 

Now, honor of Tu B’Shevat, I will share photo-ops of birds enjoying the trees in my garden (during by gone years and at this present time).

I will also include photographs of them enjoying the Ailanthus Trees in the courtyard and trees. I will start with the trees that are no longer with me as a way of honoring their memory.

Antics in my Indoor Succulent Garden (MOSTLY) #2

This is my second post re my effort to distribute my blog content across the board as I discussed in a prior post here on Blogger. My focus in my other blogging venues (tumblr and hometalk) — with a slightly different take in each one — continues (for the most part) to be on the comings and goings of visitors to my succulent garden as they pertain to Thanksgiving; which is in four days time including today (November 25th 2013).

Because of this fact re the holiday, a few more guests have begun to arrive in my succulent garden and their photo-ops can be seen within this entry, for as you may recall, in a recent entry here on Blogger, I featured photo-ops (and stories) of some characters who had arrived to visit my succulent garden for the 2013 Thanksgiving holiday. Since that time, a number of characters have come to join us and their photo-ops are as follows:

THE PILGRIM FRATERNAL TWINS:

THE JINGLE BUDDIES:

PILGRIM TWINS PROTECTING TURKEYS FROM SLAUGHTER:

THE INDIAN FRATERNAL TWINS:

As for my roof extension garden, I am thrilled to report that Emily (my visiting Baltimore oriole) is still here. She can be seen below in photo-ops that were included in a recent entry on TLLG's FB Page.

Other birds continue to visit my garden and I appreciate the antics of most all of them, but for now my cyber-postings have focused on Emily because it is most unusual for her "breed" to be in the northeastern portion of the United States at this time of year. In fact, "Baltimore Orioles are mostly in the tropics, though a few individuals linger, even in the northern states and provinces. No one knows why some individuals are stragglers every year--most of these are seen in November and December, so ornithologists believe most of them end up dying as winter gets more severe." (More info can be found by clicking here.)

Therefore I've been posting photo-ops and stories re her stay here in an atempt to procure info on how I might help her survive.  

Yellow Coloration in Nature

I came upon the Silver-Spotted Skipper (seen in the image atop this entry) when I took a walk in Central Park twith CF his past Saturday and I included facts re him/her in my blog post for that day. This creature is on my mind today because I've been thinking about his/her yellow markings as well as elements of nature who have yellow in their coloring.

....and the winner IS...?

Cam, "my" cardinal whose familiar to many because of the success of her book, Words In Our Beak Volume One

can be seen in the image atop this entry, where she is in my urban garden, the setting for her book.

A copy of this  particular picture is included in her book, where she confesses facts about what truly makes her flap her wings! One of the confessions that Cam did not admit to is something I will share here — if you promise not to tell her — is this: she gets very excited about award ceremonies such as The Academy Awards, which will take place this evening.

Cam was featured (exclusively) in my first bird-themed mini movie, Words in my Beak, which can be viewed on Vimeo. Cam liked the title very much and modified it for her book, which is something that she did admit to doing in her note to the reader.

In any event, because The Oscars are tonight, I though I should give some recognition to those who have been featured in my movies; starting with the ones which are bird-themed. These include, in alphabetical order: Cam’s Wisdom: Time Flies, Enjoy Those Near and Dear to You While You Can;

Emily's Antics;

Harper’s Bizzarre Antics During GBBC 2015;

“Hollywood Finches” Honoring Bragging Rights;

Meet the Finches;

Preview for Words In Our Beak Volume One;

and, as mentioned earlier in this post; Words in my Beak. By the way you can read more about the birds included in the aforementioned movies, here on blogger, by clicking on the following links:

Baltimore oriole, Cardinals, House Finches and Northern mockingbird. Note that one of the images of house finches seen above (the seventh image) is included in my fauna-flora-insect-themed postcard collection.

Friday in the Octave of Easter & Arbor Day

Today is Friday in The Octave of Easter; and because it is the last Friday in April, it is also Arbor Day. I've always appreciated Patrick McDonnell's (creator of the Mutts comic strip) "take" re this event and have posted a copy of it atop this entry. As you can see, McDonnell's characters Earl and Mooch seem to know how much birds appreciate trees as evidenced in their planting one, which is appreciated by an avian creature.

I have also planted trees in containers that are in my rooftop garden and have not only been blessed by the beauty they bring to my place; as well as by their often unspoken help to our environment; many birds have come to visit because of them...