This is a special happy, happy birthday walk report in celebration of Docken’s very special birthday. From the garden this morning, it’s just the photos because to be perfectly honest… I can’t sit at my desk any longer. To be even more honest, right at this moment, I’m typing from my iPad, lying on my bed with a heating pad on my back. Don’t worry… that’s pretty much normal, I’ll be fine. Okay, heading back to the Mac to drop the pictures in. These are going in however Blogger chooses to sort them.
It was a nice walk, very peaceful. The music in my ears was serene.
Thanks for looking. Now please think this for a moment and you may be on your way... happy birthday, Docken!
Somehow during the process of purging photos and getting organized in what became a series of posts with the title of, Once Upon a Walk Report..., I missed at least one folder from 2013. In consideration of that and in consideration of another event, I'm backtracking to 2013 here. I have to confess, I'm struggling a bit right now. This is going to be an emotional post.
July 4th, 2011 is the day my cat, Lucy and I officially moved back into my childhood home to take care of my parents, my biological mother and my stepfather. Ten years, some of which feels a million miles away, while other pieces of those ten years gone are so in tune with my psyche it's palpable. It's also, of course, situational. I'm here, right now. I'm also here, in my past.
When Lucy and I finally settled in on that 4th of July, 10 years ago, it was out of a strong commitment to take care of my parents, as their health was in decline. I thought they should be able to spend as much of their final days as possible in their home. However, my stepfather was in the hospital and as it turned out he never returned home. He passed away under hospice care three weeks to the day after my arrival. Before he left something changed in our relationship. I put a whole bunch of baggage aside and broke through a lot of what kept me from accepting him for who he was, while discarding much of who he was to me through the last half of my childhood and beyond.
My mom was still sort of okay in 2011. At least she was able to get around the house and she spent a lot of time reading. One of my side projects besides housework, shopping and taking care of meals, was a dive into a couple of large Tupperware containers of old photos, many of which predated my birth. I would sort through these and often pull together small collections of images to engage in discussions while my mother was having breakfast. That was a good experience for both of us.
But time moves fast and things were about to change. Which brings me to these images from 2013. The folder in question is dated, February 24th, 2013. It contains 236 images from said date up to March 16, 2013. February 24, 2013 was the day it really struck me. It was the day I realized in no uncertain terms that my mother's death was imminent. That was a Sunday, my sister was visiting that day and I was honored with time to go for a walk toward the end of her visit. These photos represent 10 days before my mother's passing on March 5, 2013 up into the week that followed.
February 24, 2013
First allow me to explain the title of this post. Crazy Lane is a song by a German band named, RPWL. I was about one mile into the walk and about 150 yards from the garden when this song came on my iPod. Two minutes in, I was a wreck. Here are the opening lyrics...
Say goodbye to your broken heart Follow me onto a peaceful plane By the way, your friends will be beside you I never thought our life would be an easy way What's beyond the words we have to say? But close to you, I'm always there beside you
So why is it now? Somewhere, somehow Try to reach my heart And you'll always be the light leading my way
Crazy lane, at last the end is near Learn to fly, to where you once have been Come with me and the world is in our hands Don't give up 'cause love will find its way...
And right there I completely lost it. I broke down and cried. Good thing it was a Sunday on a college campus and nobody was around. Here's the full song...
Here are some photos chosen from that day.
This male Calypte anna hummingbird calmed me down. I took quite a few pictures of him while sitting on a bench near the Acacia shrub in which he was perched.
I didn't have a lot of time so once I gathered my composure I took off for a quick loop around the campus on my way back home.
February 28, 2013
This photo has been my desktop image for several years now, across two computers. It was taken with me butting right up against the house in front of what was then my mother's bedroom.
Bee on Borago officinalis.
March 3, 2013
There was a walk on March 1st and the 3rd. I only took 9 and 13 photographs, respectively. While I remember all of the photos I don't have any recollection of the walks or what prompted or permitted them. It wasn't until the evening of the 4th that I fell into despair. My mother slept peacefully from the afternoon of the 4th until she passed away the next morning. The hospice nurse was on her way the morning of the 5th. On the phone and once she arrived she tried to convince me everything was okay. We had clocked mom's respiration rate on the phone together. It was considered "normal".
March 5, 2013
I don't remember falling asleep or waking up. I remember checking on my mom over and over, calling for the nurse and calling my sister. I was mostly at my mother's bedside talking to her, holding and stroking her arm. I talked to her about the wildflowers that were just starting to bloom outside her windows. I shared with her the beliefs which she believed. There was no response but I felt she heard me. I took short breaks in my room across the hall to cry. She was breathing when the nurse arrived. I went outside to usher the nurse into the house. She was speaking to my mother as she checked her vitals. She looked up at me with a blank stare and said there was no pulse. She had passed away when I left the room.
My sister and her husband arrived a short while later. I think I was in shock. I spent a little time alone with my mom and then all I wanted was to be alone. That wasn't going to happen for awhile.
Flowers my sister brought...
March 6, 2013
I don't remember the day at all. I'm sure there was stuff I needed to do and it probably got done. Early that evening I took a walk.
These dandelions were close to home. The sun was setting behind them. I was feeling some sort of metaphoric perception about my mother passing and the seeds of the dandelions.
Back at home...
March 8, 2013
From an early evening walk.
From home.
This picture of a female Calypte anna was taken right in front of my mother's bedroom windows. She was quite fond of hummingbirds.
March 8, 2013
Another early evening walk to the botanical garden.
Male Calypte anna hummingbird on California Redbud (Cercis occidentalis).
March 12, 2011
At home with a ladybug.
Once Upon a Walk Report reports are again forthcoming. I'm still trying to get organized on a new computer with multiple hard drives and tens of thousands of images scattered about. I had a serious set back dealing with a hard drive manufacturer for close to a month. I won't get started... but maybe later... they deserve some bad press.
Cheers, happy fourth of July. For me it's mostly an evening (several actually) of concern for dogs and cats, both outside and in, exposed to a bunch of unnecessary booms and bangs. I'm especially concerned about my buddy Stan. He's a sweet boy.
About a week ago I was thinking about how best to deal with dry cat food waste created by an array of sloppy birds on my patio. Some days are worse than others and yesterday was ridiculous. I'm not inclined to bend over, pick up the mess and put it back in Stan's dish because... I'm not inclined to bend over. Sweeping it into a pile and putting it back in the cat dish introduces too much foreign matter and I don't care to do that to Stan. So, what to do?
This was the situation yesterday. I swept up that pile thinking I'd leave it there for the birds and they would prefer that over Stan's bowl. A couple of hours later it was a mess again.
Long ago Google figured out my interest in birds and I'm constantly reminded of this on YouTube. For several months now they have assisted in turning my attention toward Corvidae, corvids, more specifically, ravens and crows. I am particularly fascinated by the intelligence of these two families of birds.
Since post vaccination my renewed vigor for walks has had me out and about just around the crack of dawn. It's mostly quiet, other than some light traffic along one avenue for the first 1/4 mile there is little human activity for the bulk of the walk. I like that. However, there are a few spots where I frequently encounter crows. One place in particular almost always has a murder of crows. A murder of crows is the collective noun for a group of crows. This is especially true on garbage collection day. That day is today. I decided to offer a healthy option for the crows diet rather than them picking at the overflow of trash cans. Purina Cat Chow Naturals.
As I approached I tried two methods to summon the crows to my intentions. I wanted them to know it was me delivering a meal and that my act was friendly. One, as I approached I held up and gently shook the zip lock bag containing the cat food. Two, I let out a low decibel very human sounding, caw, caw, caw. They were watching from a tree and also some utility lines above and across the street.
I didn't stop walking, went up to the next house, turned around and watched them close in on the cat food.
Corvus brachyrhynchos – American crow
Here's a not too related song about cat food. I love this song.
I was hoping to find a balance between light and heat by arriving in the garden around 7:40 AM. It was 70ºf. In retrospect, I would have felt better off had I arrived around 6:20 with a temp of 63º. Sunrise is currently at 5:45 AM (PDT). Oh well, I just made a note of it now didn't I?
The garden was really quiet, too quiet. So I decided to get a little extra exercise and walk up the steps. THE STEPS. There's, I think, 8 billion steps. Anyway, I took but a few pictures and spent more time fudging with auto focus (AF) points and focusing zones on the camera than trying to find photo ops.
For the 1/2 hour plus I spent in the garden, this was the only hummingbird I saw. This is highly unusual. The tree is a desert willow.
This red tailed hawk surprised me as you can perhaps tell. I was also struggling up the steps when the bird popped into view. The first close shot I've had of a raptor recently and I blew it. This is what prompted me to review AF points.
Head is out of focus and...
This pair of mockingbirds hung out in this dead tree for quite awhile. Again, my focus is a little off.
Another drive and walk adventure to the local botanical garden. Yesterday my back asked me to kindly skip walking to allow for some recovery from home gardening exploits which included moving 4 cu. ft. (2 x 2 cu.ft.) of potting soil to no more than 3 ft from the trunk of my car onto the garage floor. At times that's not a big deal, on other occasions it's a daunting task. Friday afternoon it was certainly challenging. There was considerable more preparation involved but I'll spare you the details. Upon rising yesterday, 5-something in the morning, I spent about the first two hours walking around like Pantalon de' Bisognosi. Gradually, I evolved from chimpanzee to Homo erectus. I then decided to move some potting soil in batches of 5 gallons or so from the garage to the backyard in order to perform several long overdue transplants. I'll tell you a little secret... Getting old sucks and you won't know it until the bastard suddenly reaches up and grabs you.
Onto some pictures from today. For the most part, there were little to no photo ops presenting themselves and I both circled the garden often and also sat patiently for quite some time looking for one. Hummingbirds were mostly darting around chasing each other and when they did finally park themselves they certainly weren't posing for pictures. For example, this rufous hummingbird...
This may have been the same bird. I only managed to click off a few decent shots here.
Bunnies and fence lizard photos generally mean I'm a little desperate to take a picture of something.
Oh, but there were masks littering the walk again. Both of these masks were within 20 yards of a garbage can.
Back home there was a pleasant end to the outing. Stan, Docken's and my feral cat buddy, was hanging out in the backyard. He doesn't usually hang around much after breakfast but for the last couple of days he has--late afternoon too. This picture was taken through my not so clean office window. He later took a nap there.
That's all I got. The really big deal though is yours truly getting out and roaming once again. As Stan would say, be more cat.
Yesterday's walk was the same as my first post fully vaccinated walk on May 8th, same route, same 1.63 miles. This dictated by a continued caution with left leg pain. The biggest difference was the start time, that took place about an hour and twenty minutes later than what I was becoming accustomed to. I left shortly after 7:00 am. The "usual" was 5:45 or perhaps a few minutes earlier. The biggest reason for the change? For the first time since the shutdown, or rather since my covid-19 shutdown, February 28th, 2020, I got eight hours sleep. Delightful. My average was probably closer to 7 and there were some radical departures from that. I like the quiet of the earlier walks. And it's so very challenging to get up, hydrate, shower, perform morning rituals and get out the door. This morning I got close to 8 hours in the sack but decided I'd drive in toward the local college campus and walk the rest of the way to the local botanical garden. I also decided to start closer to 8:00 and have more light than my last visit. Even though the light still pretty much sucked. From car to garden entrance was a mere .44 miles (.70 km). Total walk, about 1.3 miles. But I took some pictures! Not a lot, I'm still working on my patience... or something.
These images all took a spin in Affinity Photo just so I could adapt from 32 years of using Photoshop. If money were no object I'd rent the Goodyear blimp and have it fly around Adobe Inc. in San Jose with colored lights flashing a barrage of expletives telling them what I think of their subscription services. And with all that money, I still wouldn't think to subscribe. Right now, Affinity Photo is only $24.99, it was $49.99 and there's a free trial. I have no vested interest in telling you this, it's merely revenge. So there, stupid Adobe.
Here are some pictures from today.
Caesalpinia gilliesii
Male Calypte anna
Danaus plexippus
Chilopsis linearis
The same male Calypte anna
Romneya coulteri
Salvia darcyi
This is a shitty picture and represents my aforementioned lack of patience. This is a Selasphorus rufus (rufus hummingbird). They were abundant on the above Salvia darcyi but I didn't feel like traipsing after them. Rufus are migratory, they will be leaving soon. This was also an exercise in Affinity Photo--the lighting was horrible.
