Hello friends – I’m back! I landed in Cleveland last night after spending a week in Connecticut. It was a lovely visit. You would think that by now I would be used to missing my loved ones – I moved to Colorado at age 22 (Air Force training) and since then have lived in six different states, never any closer than 500 miles from my parents. Never close enough to “pop over” for a visit or a Sunday dinner or even a quick weekend catch-up. Most of the time I am so caught up in my own life that the “missing” is well in the background, but then a visit like this one brings it to the forefront and heightens the feelings, making me wish that everyone I love could live close by.
Lest I get too maudlin, let’s switch to the subject of this post’s photos.Â
On Friday my sister Paula brought Mom and me to Harkness Memorial State Park and she and Mom waited in the car while I walked the marshland trail looking for birds. There were two man-made nesting platforms for ospreys at the park, and both of them appeared to be in use. As I was walking along, I saw three large birds having an altercation of some kind whilst airborne – I was too far away to be able to see much detail, but it seemed like one of the birds was holding a fish. I just assumed that they were all ospreys and clicked away.
It wasn’t until we returned to my sister’s house and I downloaded the photos to my laptop that I realized one of the birds was a bald eagle! Amazing. I feel like I was given an incredible gift to have been there to see it, even if I didn’t quite know in the moment what exactly I was seeing!
Tomorrow I am back to work and my normal routines. I’m staying put for a few months, concentrating on my photography (I’m starting to learn how to use the photo editing software Affinity), this blog, getting our garden looking neat and tidy, and some other projects that have been on the back burner.
My next few posts will look back on my New Zealand trip. I still have so many photos and experiences I want to share with you!
This post was supposed to be about my “23 for 2023” (that will come tomorrow) but I just had to devote a post to this beautiful mourning dove. I searched birding sites online to see if I could identify it as male or female, but there seem to be very few differences between the two. I *think* it’s a female because the males are supposed to have a slightly iridescent patch of feathers on their necks that this one doesn’t seem to have.
Anyway, I came home for lunch one day to find this beauty perching nonchalantly on top of my bird feeder. We do get doves in our backyard – being so large, they tend to scrounge around the fallen seeds under the feeder. Seeing one just hanging out ON the feeder was surprising, and as she didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave I was able to snap several photos.
I’ve never been too excited about doves. I do love the call of the mourning dove — for many years I thought they were called “morning doves” because that’s when I tended to hear their calls. Doves have always reminded me of pigeons, though – like a slightly more refined relative of the pigeon. And pigeons have never really done it for me.
Having these photos now, though, I am head over heels in love. The subtle browns/tans/grays and the random black spots – gorgeous. But what really gets me is the turquoise around the eyes. I can’t stop looking at these photos and at the “pop” of that turquoise against the more subdued shades. That Mother Nature – she really knows how to accessorize.
Love,
Michelle xoxo
p.s. I know those first two pictures are nearly identical, but to me they are different and I couldn’t choose between the two!
Today being the Winter Solstice, I set out with the intention to photograph both the sunrise and the sunset.I’ve been starting work early these days, so I actually took my lunch hour (very) early and set out at 7:30 to catch the sunrise.The last several days have been completely overcast, so I felt so lucky that the skies were partially clear.The clouds were amazing!After work, I set out for my favorite sunset-watching spot, anticipating a crowd, it being Solstice and all.There was only one other dedicated sunset-watcher there (not just drifting by to take a selfie and then moving on).I said to this woman, “I’m so surprised there aren’t more people here for the Solstice!”She answered, “Yeah, Summer Solstice gets all the love.” Well, I love you, dear Winter Solstice. I love you with all my heart. Welcome back, dear Sun.
I am a big fan of little books filled with many little essays describing things that bring joy or contentment. Ones already in my library are The Joy of Small Things by Hannah Jane Parkinson, Delight by J.B. Priestley, and Joy in the Little Things by Kerrie Hess. This summer I discovered a new addition to the genre, Things to Look Forward To by Sophie Blackall. I wrote here recently that I have a few trips I’m anticipating with great excitement, the first of which happens very soon. But there are some little things that I look forward to each and every day, so I thought I would share some of them here with you today:
Wordle – yes, I am one of the millions addicted to this little game. I love that you can only play it once a day and I love that a few people close to me also play it daily. “Have you played Wordle yet today?” is a common text between my friend Beth and I. Chris and I always use the same starter word (“adieu”) and so it’s fun to see the different paths we take each day after that first guess.
Worldle – Similar to Wordle in that you get six guesses. Different in just about every other way. Each day you are given an outline of a country or territory. With each guess that you make, you are given clues in the form of how many miles off you are and in which direction from your guess the correct country is. Beth and I also both do this one and are so pleased when we get the answer without the use of maps!
That first cup of coffee – On a work day I wait until I’m in the office to have that first cup and it is hilarious to me just how much I look forward to it. Such a lovely, lovely treat.
Having a moment to dip into whatever novel I’m reading – currently Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (loving it!)
That moment at the end of the work day when I can change into “play clothes” and relax
I was thinking about the term “self care” this morning while I was on my Sunday hike. These days I walk at least 45 minutes every morning, and on Sunday morning my walk is a hike in one of the parks we are lucky to have nearby. I don’t always feel like putting my sneakers on each morning at 6 (later on the weekends), in fact about half the time I need to push back the “I don’t wanna” voice inside me. One hundred percent of the time, though, I feel wonderful during and after my walk. The “I don’t wanna” voice can also crop up at a restaurant when I have already decided earlier in the day that I would have the arugula salad with chicken but the people with me are getting pasta and meatballs, or when I am at the grocery store on a Friday after work and turn away with some effort from the margarita mixes.
I’m finding that, for me, self care is not so much the pampering of massages, mani/pedis, and bubble baths. Instead it is the hard work done every day to keep my mind and body as strong as they can be. It is clawing my way back from bad patterns and habits that never made me feel good (hello, pretzels and chocolate, I’m talking about you). Self care is telling my inner 5-year-old that a dish of chili pistachios will “ruin your dinner,” because the parent in me knows the child in me will not stop at that one “little dish” of nuts. Marcus Aurelius said, “The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.” I think in order to truly take care of ourselves we need that aspect of unflinching assessment of who we are and what we really need. I know that in order to feel mentally well, I need to feel physically strong. Sweets, junky food, alcohol, being sedentary – none of these things work for me in the long run. I will have the occasional (less than once a month on average) glass of wine or margarita, but honestly they make me feel like crap the next day – even one glass so that will most likely go by the wayside as well. I am truly a work in progress and always will be, but I feel like I’m on the right track whenever I address the physical aspect of my being.
I’m including my morning walk playlist just for fun. I have Apple Music and there are many curated playlists with titles like, “Sunday Brunch”, “Family Drive”, or “Yard Work”. I found a playlist called “Feeling Happy” that has 100 songs on it and whittled it down to 15 songs that energize me when I’m walking up that hill (apologies to Kate Bush) for the 10th time. I have to say that very few of these songs are ones that I would listen to when not exercising, but they do get me going.
I had my third infusion last week for my bones – three out of six, halfway there. I’ve started taking a Vitamin K2 supplement along with my daily calcium supplement (I try to get about half of my calcium from actual food though). I’m not a big fan of supplements in general because I think they tend to overdo it – why do I need 6000% of the daily recommended allowance of some nutrient? The key should be in the name: it’s supposed to supplement not supplant the nutrients we get in our food. Vitamin K2, however, isn’t in a wide variety of foods – it can be found in egg yolks, fermented foods, cheeses, and some other animal sources. The supplement I have started taking (Amazon link here) has 83% of the daily value for K2. I feel good about that.
Chris and I have been watching “Doc Martin” these days. Neither of us had seen it before, so we’re starting with season one and working our way through the 9 seasons out there. I quickly became addicted – I just love everything about it. We’re also watching “Murder in Suburbia” – we do like a nice, gentle murder mystery, and this fits the bill. This week we also started watching a fascinating multi-part documentary called “Light and Magic.” It follows George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic company from its earliest days – the first two episodes cover how a team of honestly brilliant artists and cameramen (no women, alas) figured out how to create the groundbreaking special effects for the first Star Wars movie. Now, I’m not a big Star Wars fan, but I do love watching stories of incredibly talented and creative people (whether they be artists or engineers or scientists) overcoming challenges. It’s so inspiring.
Hello there, friends. Tomorrow is August 1st. Children in Ohio go back to school in August and I’ve been told Halloween candy can now be found on grocery store shelves. Yikes! I don’t have much to say this week but wanted to post some hummingbird photos. My latest plan is to try to put a blog post up once a week whether I have much to say or not. So there! 🙂 I hope you have had a lovely weekend and have something fun planned for the coming week.
It’s baby deer time and oh my goodness they are so adorable. I took the top photo this morning, standing in my driveway looking across to my neighbor’s yard. And yes, that is the sidewalk running between the two fawns. They were just hanging out while their mother foraged in the garden, sometimes munching on a mouthful of grass. They did not seem afraid of me, but did jump up and dance around a bit when a car drove by.
We have an abundance of chipmunks this year. Some might say an overabundance – I’ve found that many people view them as pests! But gosh, they are just so cute! I love watching them. For several days we also had a skunk in our back yard in the evenings, the only wildlife around here that I am actually afraid of as I’ve never been skunk sprayed and I’d like to keep it that way.
I’ve been trying to add a layer of difficulty to my morning walks by doing repeats of a bridge that goes over some unused train tracks (I wish I could do repeats of the hills in my little park at the end of the street, but at 6am that’s not an option as the park is deserted at that time of day). The timing of my walks has been perfect to catch some gorgeous sunrises.
The hummingbirds continue to be very active, but I didn’t take many photos last week. I just didn’t have the time or patience to sit around waiting for them to show up. I know they’ll only be around for another 6 or 7 weeks, though, so I’ll make some time this week.
I’m very lucky that I live less than 10 miles from the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It’s a sprawling 32,572-acre park that follows the Cuyahoga River from Cleveland to Akron. I really do count my lucky stars that we live so close to such a beautiful area. My sunset-watching park is within the larger national park, along with so many hiking and biking trails, picnic areas, and points of interest.
Within the park is the Bath Road Heronry (learn more about ithere). It consists of two enormous trees among whose branches great blue herons build their nests every year. The website linked above describes it as a nesting colony, and I can’t even estimate how many nests are in the trees, but I’ll try — 30? Maybe more? Right now the fledglings are pretty big and I’m sure will be leaving their nests soon.
I’ve visited the heronry about half a dozen times over the last couple of weeks, trying to take some photos to share with you. It’s been a bit frustrating because my current zoom lens just isn’t powerful enough to take really great photos of things so far away, but at least I can give you an idea of what it looks like there. So many of these huge birds! You can imagine the racket made by all the young great blue herons chirping for their mothers – it’s fabulous.
I’m emerging from my funk and actually feel like I might have something to say to you all. I recently read such a lovely book by the British author Matt Haig. It’s called “The Comfort Book” and it is a loosely organized collection of little essays, inspirational quotes, lists, and even a recipe or two. To give you a little feel for the book, here is what is written on page 46. It is titled “Toast” and says “Continually looking for the meaning of life is like looking for the meaning of toast. It is sometimes better just to eat the toast.” Matt Haig suffered from severe suicidal depression as a young adult, and he speaks on the subject of bad times and difficult feelings so eloquently. I absolutely love this book and have already bought two copies to give to loved ones. If you have someone in your life just starting out on the path of adulthood, I highly recommend it as a graduation gift or a “just because” gift. I wish I had read something like this when I was in my early twenties, but I must admit that at my age of almost-59 I am still learning how to navigate this human experience and got great comfort from the book. It is perfectly named.
I have been taking lots of photos of our hummingbirds and will post some here very soon! Wildlife photography really is mostly just a lot of waiting around — I knew this already from previous summers photographing our hummers, but it really hit home to me on my several hit-or-miss visits to the heronry. The key is to do something during the waiting other than mentally reviewing your to-do list, or your to-worry-about list. At the heronry there are a lot of other things to look at – groups of goldfinches zooming around, red-winged blackbirds perching on dead tree branches, lots of fascinating but too-difficult-to-photograph heron activity – but when I’m sitting in a chair in my dining room or kitchen looking out the window waiting for a hummingbird to show up I really have to work hard to be mindful. It’s good practice, though!
I’m taking a break from all news during this long holiday weekend. This past week was just too brutal and the more I read the news the more frustrated/angry/depressed I got. Because I don’t see my country ever changing on this issue. And that breaks my heart. But, as Matt Haig says in The Comfort Book, “Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn’t give up.” So, I will keep that small hope in my heart. And I won’t give up.
I hope you are doing well and are having a lovely weekend.
Ermmmm…it’s been a while. This seems to be a recurring theme here in Measure of Calm land. The writing well just seems to have been pretty dry the past few months. There have also been a collection of relatively minor stressors in my life lately that, taken collectively, have left me a bit drained:
I’ve been 100% back in the office since September 30. I’m actually glad to be back, but it requires a different type of energy than work-from-home, and that can be a little tough on an introvert such as myself. The more time I spend in the office, though, the stronger that “muscle” gets.
I got into a fender-bender a couple of weeks ago in the parking lot of an outlet mall. It was the other driver’s fault – I won’t go into the details of that, except to say that my insurance agrees that it wasn’t my fault, but now we have to deal with the other guy’s insurance. Over the last two weeks I’ve had to get an estimate, arrange for a rental car, pick up the rental car, drive to the body shop, pick the car back up from the body shop, and drop the rental car back off. I got a voicemail on Friday afternoon from the other guy’s insurance, wanting me to call back. I’m fairly certain they are going to try to get me to say that there’s the teeeeeeniest chance it wasn’t 100% their guy’s fault.
Sam’s been interviewing for a position that would be a really great start for him. He’ll find out in the next few days, and my mantra lately has been, “Oh please, oh please, oh please, oh please.” It’s so hard to see your little chick try to launch themself into the big bad world.
Chris has a month-long job in London with a 5 day break in the middle of it. We decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. In late September Chris said, “Oh by the way, have you looked at when your passport expires?” I thought, “Oh it won’t expire until ages from now – I just renewed it!” Then I checked it and saw that it would expire on October 26. Yiiiiiikes! I ran around like a crazy person, getting an appointment to renew, getting my new photos, paying every conceivable extra fee to expedite the heck out of that thing. Up until last Monday I had my plane tickets but wasn’t sure if I’d actually be able to USE my plane tickets. But my passport did arrive, and the next time I write to you I will tell you all about my adventure. I will have to get what the UK government calls a “Day 2 Covid test”, which I’ve scheduled on the day I arrive (you have to show proof that you’ve paid for this test before they let you into the country). I’ll be exploring London (my favorite city) on my own for two days while Chris works, but then we’ll drive down to the southern coast for a couple of days before coming back to London to hang out. This is all contingent on my Covid test being negative, which stresses me out a bit and has made me SUPER cautious about what types of risks I expose myself to, and makes me freak out a little inside every time I hear someone at work cough (we’re required to wear masks in common areas, but still).
Pokey’s had some little behavior issues that we’re trying to iron out. We’re having Zoom meetings with a dog trainer (I’m amazed at how much training can be accomplished this way) and I have faith that Pokey’s troubles will be resolved.
So as I said, these are all relatively minor things – no life-or-death issues. It’s just amazing how the cumulative weight of all these things can drag a person down.
The weather here has been mostly cloudy and rainy these last few weeks. Today we did see the sun for about a half hour, but for the most part it’s been pretty gloomy. I’m still getting out for my walks/hikes when I can, and my strength training is going well! I hit the gym M-W-F at 6:00 in the morning. The weight room is enormous and there are usually about 5 or 6 of us there at that time. The gym requires masks and as of tomorrow they will require that everyone working out is fully vaccinated. I had been going to the gym six days a week, Monday through Saturday, doing cardio on T-TH-Sat, but due to the number of people who feel free to take off their masks while they’re huffing and puffing on the elliptical or treadmill, I’ve decided to take a break from that until I return from my UK adventure.
A friend recently mentioned a post I wrote about poetry back in May of 2020. I couldn’t remember the post so I went back to read it, which lead to me reading every single post since I started this blog back in February of 2020. I feel like my posts early on were less “catching-up-on-my-life” and more “delving-into-the-substance-of-life.” I’d like to get back to more of those types of posts, but I need to get back into the right headspace in order to do so. I’ve just been a bit preoccupied over the past several months with the minutiae of life, I think.
I’ve started setting aside my fiction reading (although I am ADDICTED to the Chief Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny) a few times a week to read more poetry. There’s just something about reading my favorite poets (Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Rainer Maria Rilke, Billy Collins, among others) that makes me think more about Life-with-a-capital-L. I’m going to be spending a lot of my alone time in London walking and thinking (I’m planning to spend most of Saturday in Hampstead Heath), priming the pump for some future posts. Watch this space! 🙂
I’ve been spending a lot of time in nature since my last post. I’ve fallen in love with the hiking trails at my sunset watching park. My favorite trail is 1.6 miles, rocky, largely unpaved, and fairly challenging. Now that Pokey is six months old, he’s proving to be quite a little mountain goat and a wonderful hiking partner. I’m trying to take advantage of these last few weeks before the clocks are turned back (sob!) to get in some after-dinner hikes.
I love hunting for mushrooms this time of year. Not to pick! I would never be so adventurous (foolhardy?) as to harvest any mushrooms for eating. No, what I enjoy is seeing how many different types I can find. It also forces me to slow down on my hikes, to go off-trail and be mindful. The more time I spend in nature the more I realize that I need to spend even more time in nature. It gives back to me everything that modern life takes away.
I’ve read two books in the last two weeks – the first, Still Life by Louise Penny, is the first book in her “Chief Inspector Gamache” series of what could be described as “cozy” murder mysteries. It was recommended to me by my friend Lori. The series takes place in a small town in Canada. After finishing the first book, I joked with Lori that I’d love to move to that little, fictional town and work in the bookstore with her. Her husband Mike joined in that he’d work in the boulangerie (there are some wonderful food descriptions in the book; I’m still drooling over a warm, thickly cut ham and slightly melted brie croissant sandwich). I’m on the waiting list at the library for book number two of the series and I can’t wait to read it.
The second book I finished is by one of my favorite childhood authors, Judy Blume. This is the first of her books for adults that I have read, and I was intrigued by the real-life incidents that inspired the book. Over the course of 2 months in late 1951 – 1952 three commercial airliners crashed into the town of Elizabeth, New Jersey. Judy Blume grew up in Elizabeth and was in middle school when the crashes occurred. I enjoyed the book, but it was also a bit too much of a soap opera for me.
My big news is that I start going back into the office full-time on Thursday. I’m feeling a bit neutral about it – working from home can be a bit isolating, but I’m also an introvert and I feel like I get my best work done when I’m just left alone to do it. It is what it is, though. I’m grateful for the time I was able spend these past 18 months working from home.
