The Birds Don't Seem To Mind

When we lived in the Milwaukee suburbs, rainy days were bleak indeed and I hated them. I drove more than 20 miles to work on three of the ugliest freeways you can imagine. Everything in my path was the same color of gray...the road, the sky, and the concrete barriers lining the freeway.

Even at home, the birds deserted us when it rained, searching for safer and drier areas. We had large trees the birds visited in the rain, but they were across the expansive lawn and the birds were not easily visible from our house.

Here in North Carolina, we live in the woods right alongside the birds. We have the added joy of watching them when it rains. We put squirrel baffles over most of our bird feeders and the birds seem to flock to these. They serve nicely as rain bubbles. The uncovered feeders also welcome a lot of visitors.

There is never a time in which we look out and fail to see a Tutfted Titmouse. We had several breeding pairs nesting in our boxes and woods and many of them are still around.

The rain seems to have flattened this guy's tuft, but he doesn't mind.

This little goldfinch was so puffed up I feared it might be ill. But I watched it for several minutes and it was fine...just a bit chilly in this photograph.

We seem to see our Red-bellied Woodpeckers more often this fall. Perhaps there are more of them around. I do know they had two broods of young this year.

And we have had White-breasted Nuthatches galore! Several breeding pairs shared our woods and delighted us with their antics.

Rain in North Carolina is ever so much better than rain in Wisconsin, especially in the fall. For one thing, NC has more sunny days than gray ones in the fall and winter. Rain and fog may last a short while and then out comes the sun. In WI, it stays gray FOREVER. The second wonderful thing about rain in NC is that it actually stays rain for the most part. There's hardly such as thing as winter rain in WI. In winter it's sleet at best making those gray ugly roads icy. At worst, it's 15 inches of snow!!!

In addition to watching the birds, I've been able to get some knitting done and read several books. Other than wet dogs and dirty dog towels, rain is welcome here.

Fridays are Golden

Our dogs seemed to enjoy the rain when we lived in Wisconsin. Perhaps it was the urban setting with our manicured lawn and huge maple trees that sheltered them from the heavy rain. Perhaps it was because they could run freely in the rain all over the large lawn, hiding under bushes and playing chase. Who knows? But for whatever reason the girls do NOT like the rain here. And rain we have had. Steady rain. More than four inches of rain. Rain falling all week long.

Lucy patrols the house to see if it is still raining.

Yep. It's falling on the deck.

Then she went to the dining room window to look out.

Funny, it's raining on this side of the house too.

Along with the rain, we had gusts of high wind. In fact, the wind blew one of the bird feeders off the deck. My husband retrieved it and was preparing to take it back outside. It provided a bit of diversion for Lucy.

I've never seen one of these close up. Interesting!

She watches as my husband hangs the bird feeder and checks the rain gauge.

He is crazy to go out there when he doesn't have to!

The girls stand on the front porch watching the rain.

Lucy is almost singing, "Rain, rain, go away."

Ellie looks out and then back at me.

Is it almost time for dinner?

Boredom sets in and Ellie decides to practice holding multiple tennis balls in her mouth. She can hold three at once, but rarely does so. Most of the time she is carrying two at a time.

See? There's plenty of room for another.

Go ahead with the silly tennis ball thing, Ellie. Just make sure to wake me up when it's dinnertime.

As we approach another weekend, let's continue to remember our men and women in uniform and make this a week of honoring. Reflect on what they are doing and how they are living. Watch the memorials of the very young men and women who are losing their lives every week. Our thoughts go out to their families and loved ones.

---------------Enjoy your weekend wherever you are. Don't forget your pledge last week! We are not going to let the upcoming holidays stress us this year. Holidays are for love and family and everything else is superficial.

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND SAFE WEEKEND. DO SOMETHING FOR SOMEONE ELSE AND AT LEAST ONE THING JUST FOR YOURSELF.

We Stand in Silent Tribute

Who'da Thought It Would Last This Long?

My husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this weekend. We were married in 1971. Two very different people certainly didn't seem destined to enjoy such a long, happy, and successful marriage.

We were both "children of the 60s," having graduated high school and attended college in the soaring 60s. I spent the 60s attending hootenannies, learning to play the guitar, marching in protest rallies and listening to the music. My husband spent the 60s studying and planning his future. How many other physicians do you know who have an AB undergrad degree with Honors in English? Wisely taking sufficient science for his pre-med, he felt this might be his last chance to read and enjoy English. He thinks things through like that.

He was always (and still is) a planner. Not just a planner, he follows through on the plans. I'm more of a dreamer, since you don't really have to follow through on them.

He was a Roman Catholic and deeply religious. I was raised Southern Baptist, but at the time was more agnostic than anything else. Our marriage began as a compromise which pleased the two of us but didn't go over so well with the families. My family was not terribly happy that we were married in the Catholic Cathedral with a priest officiating. His family was not terribly happy that I was Protestant and that we were not having a mass with the ceremony.


The day was beautiful with bright sunshine and fall color. Here father and daughter prepare to enter the cathedral. No one would suspect that a rare illness would take his life less than 6 years after our wedding.





The happy couple immediately after the ceremony.

For so many years of our marriage, we managed to buy each other the identical anniversary card. This year I was determined not to repeat that, so I purchased a "dear husband" card. But this particular card caught my eye and I almost changed my mind and bought it instead. Not surprisingly, it was the same card my husband gave me. Perhaps it explains why we are still together after all these years.

She says: I think we're lost.

He says: We're not lost.

She says: We should stop and ask for directions.

He says: I'm NOT stopping to ask for directions.

She says: Dear God, Give me strength.

He says: Lord, Give me patience.

Inside the card: IT'S TRUE---THE COUPLE WHO PRAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER.

I must confess that after looking at the wedding photographs, I said to myself, "Look at that young and slim bride! It can't possibly have been 38 years ago!!!"

Then I looked in the mirror and the reflection said to me, "Oh, yes Carolyn. It definitely has been that long."

Fridays are Golden

The Golden Girls are in love with their new beds. They do not pay any attention to the names embroidered on them (did anyone really think that mattered?) and plop in them whenever we are in the den. In the past, both dogs loved to lie under the pigeon hole in my husband's desk when he was sitting there. Not any more...they go straight to their new beds.




Ellie almost always has at least one tennis ball with her. She carries them in her mouth as she "talks" with me. She also like to take charge of the blue tug toy and decide when they will have a battle over it.

The beds are quite spacious. Each of our girls is normal-sized for a female Golden Retriever and while Ellie looks much bigger they both weigh about 65 pounds.

We did not replace the beds in the great room. Because the floors are hardwood, they use these beds most of the time. They do lie in the floor when the sun is shining on them. Almost all the time Lucy climbs in the bed Ellie is using.

No matter the sleeping position, Lucy manages to find a way to fit herself in the bed.

And if there isn't any room to fit herself? Lucy is quite content to snuggle in and use Ellie as a soft pillow.

As we approach the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, take this weekend to veg out like our Goldens. Reflect on what is REALLY important and don't let the rest of it make you anxious. This should be a time of love and joy, not stress. Make a promise that you will NOT give in to the madness but will actually enjoy the upcoming holidays, whichever ones you celebrate.

Our thoughts go out to the victims and families and loved ones of the recent incident at Fort Hood. Such senseless violence with such dire consequences.

HAVE A MOST WONDERFUL WEEKEND, EVERYONE.

The Annual Divide

Several weeks ago our community garden club held its fall Great Divide. The gardeners re-pot all the divided plants every fall and offer them to neighbors. In the past, the plants were free. Unfortunately too many people came early and took far too many than the allowed two per family. As a result there weren't many choices for those of us who came to the event at the proper time. This year the club decided to charge a small fee for each plant and you wouldn't believe how much difference that made. These "freeloaders" were reluctant to pay a few dollars for a 25-dollar plant! It almost makes me wonder whether they actually planted their freebies in the past. It makes me sad to think they didn't.

Plants that deer aren't supposed to like are always a high priority around here. The club had a nice selection of deer "resistant" plants, but made it clear there is no such thing as a deer proof plant. (We found that out last year when the deer stripped our rhododendron buds.)

All of the artists selling their wares actually live in our little community. Gourd art is a really big hobby here and I am always amazed at the results. (I wish I'd taken a close-up of the turkey in the upper left.)

One of my favorites was this cut-out of autumn leaves.

We have several artists who carve decoys.

And quite a number of talented painters.

The divide always has a section for free glass. Anyone can drop off or pick up a vase or two.

We bought several beautiful fall-blooming plants. The girls were quite interested in them.

Lucy is our "sight" dog and she doesn't miss a thing in sight. Ellie is our "scent" dog and she catches all the smells. She is totally absorbed in this plant. I hope she will like it as much when it is planted.

If there was an election in your area yesterday, I hope you got out and voted. Further, I hope your candidate won.

Fish, Roadside Art, and Brett

As the title suggest, this is a Monday morning mixture of totally unrelated topics. The weekend was something of a bummer. Promised sunshine did not appear. It rained on Saturday's Halloweenfest, our biggest downtown festival of the year. The dogs did not understand why dinnertime came on Sunday with no dinner. Both of them frequently nudged my husband's arm as if to remind him of dinner.

When our neighbor's grandsons came over for trick-or-treat, I totally forgot to get a photograph. They are usually the only trick-or-treaters we have and I always purchase three large bags of candy and dump an entire bag into each boy's pumpkin. According to their mother, the boys had become heroes of their schools when they told their friends about the "candy lady" who gives each a whole bag of candy.

There were a few bright spots in the weekend. My daughter caught her life-time biggest salmon, a Chinook, she thinks. She caught it fishing from the shore of Lake Michigan. She sent a photograph from her cell phone. This is her fish, being held with some difficulty by her fishing buddy. Yes, my nature-loving bird-watching daughter is also quite an angler.




A couple of weeks ago we drove to our favorite cemetery. On the way we noticed some interesting art work on the roadside. Initially I thought it was an old truck that had run off the road. Closer inspection revealed that it was not abandoned at all.





Here's the driver...a full-sized black bear.





A boar peeks from behind the front wheel.





Just a bit further and we found the ultimate flower child car. This one was also driven by a bear.





I suppose I am obliged to talk about THE GAME, painful as it may be. Brett Favre brought his Minnesota Vikings onto Lambeau Field to resounding "BOOs" from the fans. He took off his helmet and revealed his grin that says, "Keep it up, folks. It inspires me." The game was pretty pathetic with the Viking offensive line protecting Farve on each play and a receiver named Rice who caught anything within arm's reach. Meanwhile the Green Bay Packers still could not protect quarterback Rodgers, and committed far too many penalties. It was a sad day. The defensive coordinator apparently knew nothing about the blitz until someone told him late in the game. Penalties made some great plays returned. In short, if you can't protect your own quarterback and you can't get to the opposing quarterback and you add stupid penalty after stupid penalty you don't have much chance of winning.

This photograph shows the mixed feelings among the crowd. Some felt betrayed and others wore their Packer green #4 jerseys.

(Photo from The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel)

A small plane circled the field with a trailing banner that said, "Retire 4 Ever."

This morning the sun came up as usual. And I'm looking forward to a much better week. I hope the same for all of you.