Music of Nature

When you step outside the door at the cabin you hear the serenade of hundreds of black birds. Now the humble black bird is not much to look at, although the red winged black bird is rather interesting. However, when you put a whole bunch of them in the trees on top of the bank and all trying to out sing their neighbor, the sound is rather amazing. You have this total wash of bird songs and it is breath-takingly beautiful. You have to look hard to see them in the trees but they are there. I have no idea how long they will be gathering before they make the final statement and head south, but I certainly am enjoying their songs at present. Let's face it, sea gulls are not the most wonderful singers on the Island, so the black birds are a welcome change.

The salmon are still running. This morning Doug was gone less than two hours and came home with 3 fish...and yes there were two people in the boat. Nice looking, about the 4 to 5 pound variety I would guess. They cleaned them in the waves so that the gulls cleaned up the mess. Then they brought them up onto the bulk head and got out the pressure washer and blasted the scales off them. That was a new concept but it seemed to work well from my perspective. At that point they were filleted and taken into the house to freezer probably. Oh it makes me jealous when they do that. Particularly when I know I have a fisherman that would love to be doing the same each and every morning. It will happen eventually but not this season. Poor LJ, he probably is not enjoying reading this now, but so be it.

The beach certainly offers me a different pallet on which to make my day. I think I needed the change because I am really enjoying something different. And it is fun to have Amy around occasionally. She is my side kick a couple of days a week, and she is a fun little side kick to deal with. Tomorrow Linda is bringing Logan and James and I have Claire and Amy, we are going to get together at one of the parks and let them have fun. Then home for naps each in their own space. It should be a fun outing for all of us.

Canning is beautiful

You know, in a world of many beautiful things I find one of the most beautiful things to be canning placed on a shelf. The jars are canned peaches and/or peach pie filling awaiting a trip up to the house to be placed lovingly on the shelf. Canning and I have a love/hate relationship. I always go through the full spectrum of feelings while I can, I hate the mess but I love the results. I am empowered by the process but annoyed by the slowness. Yah, I hit them all, but nothing is as beautiful as shelves full of good food. And as a side light, if you can pale peaches you get pale product, if you can a peach with good color you get a good colored product. These are O'Henry peaches and they are vibrant before canning and can up beautifully. Or maybe I have been canning too many pears recently when you aim for as near white as you can get.

That all said, I need to go teach some piano lessons. Like canning, it is a love/hate relationship. I love it when the student is prepared and wanting to do better, I hate it when I am pulling them through the literature. Yah....doesn't that describe life in general.

Even birds take naps

The morning was well underway when I saw this great Blue Heron on the post. His head was drooped down and he looked to be sleeping. I was talking to Emily on the phone so I hung up and located my camera. By the time I got the camera he was starting to wake up, (and of course I have the pictures posted backwards so number 2 is actually number 1) and the second pose is his full attention on the sounds I was making. I will have to admit he had probably been out hunting for food for many hours before I saw him, but I had never seen such a tired bird on a post before.

There are days that I feel the same way, but give me something to occupy my brain and I come right to attention. He was not sure if I intended to eat him or just watch him and paid close attention until my intentions were clear. And then he lost interest and headed out into the air to find a more private place to take his nap.

One thing I can not complain about is the neighbors at the cabin. When you can claim blue heron as your closest neighbor then you know you are living in the right place. There are at least 3 on the beach all the time, foraging food or just watching the coming and going of tides.