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Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 17 September 2023

Diane in Indiana
17/09/2023 01:01

HAPPY NEW WEEK!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

For various reasons, I've had a bad summer. So. I concluded today that I need to improve my quality of life. I went outdoors and sat down on my front step to think. There on the sidewalk in front of me was a big, astonishingly beautiful feather. It appeared to be about 11 inches long. The shaft was a brilliant silver color. The bottom was a silver gray with white splotches, and the upper section was a mottled deep brown and midnight black. The edges were outlined in black and silver. 

I'm not good at identifying feathers, and I didn't recognize the bird species. I don't think it was a hawk feather. It wasn't a bald eagle, a goose, a duck, a vulture, or a wild turkey. It could have been an owl, but I didn't recognize it. 

As Annette said earlier, this is the time of peak migration here in the Midwest. Millions of birds are in the sky during the 3 hours after sunset. So, I reckon a bird from up north decided to visit me. I felt uplifted.

Take care, all.

  • 17/09/2023 04:37

    Diane:  That sounds like a stunning combination.  Funny how the simplest things in nature can help lift our spirits. Perhaps the passing bird knew exactly what you needed.  Sorry the summer has been hard; sincerely hope the Fall will be easier.

    Meanwhile, here's what gets me excited every year;  Our night-blooming cereus: 12" across and blooms just one night a year; pollinated by moths.  A miracle from such an unassuming plant. Be sure to click on them to see the amazing complexity....

  • 17/09/2023 05:14 in reply to Annette in SoCal
    That is profoundly beautiful. ANNETTE!
  • 17/09/2023 05:40
    That sounds beautiful, Diane. Could you post a photo of it? Someone on the main Community might be able to ID it.

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • 17/09/2023 05:41
    Stunning flower, Annette!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • 17/09/2023 08:59
    Wow Annette - what an amazing flower. Thanks for sharing.
    Diane - thank you for starting us off. That feather sounds amazing. What a beautiful description. I hope it helped you with your thinking. So sorry you have had a bad summer. I do hope the fall will bring more positivity and solutions.
    Lindy - what a nuisance re the tablets. No wonder you are kicking yourself. Knowing the Welsh health service as I do, it would be a miracle if your English surgery could even send information to a Welsh pharmacy. I know that the hospital in Chester can’t get records from Welsh doctors surgeries. Bonkers isn’t it!!!!!
    OG - it sounds as if you had a good visit from your daughter. Conversations about the future are very difficult aren’t they? I hope church is good this morning and that J gets positive feedback from his visit to the local school tomorrow.
    I got my bulbs planted yesterday. I was pleased with my efforts.
    I have to do my French homework this morning. It is about decluttering - Le désencombrement en français!!!! We also have to decide on an item we wouldn’t throw out. I am going to talk about my gran’s metronome which is still on my piano.
  • 17/09/2023 11:14
    Annette - What a wonderful flower! Thank you so much - a lovely floral way to start my Sunday.

    Rusty - I much prefer 'desencombrement' to 'decluttering'. I do look on my clutter as an encumbrance, and I feel encumbered, not cluttered! I also love the thought of your gran's metronome. I have an ancient china Chinese dog that was a treasure to my mother. I don't know where it came from ... over the years it has acquired a few chips, it's lost some of its ruff, and at some stage it obviously lost its head as well, although it has been very carefully glued back on. It's not pretty - but I wouldn't get rid of it for anything. It sits on my bedroom window sill and I smile at it frequently.

    Much cooler today, with thunder, lightning and heavy rain forecast. I know we need it - but please, not until the golf is finished! As the golf ball flies, Wentworth is about 40 miles from me. I have set aside the afternoon to watch - and it's so much more fun when it's not raining.

    Hope everyone has a good Sunday.
  • 17/09/2023 11:18

    Here I am! Think I forgot to come on here yesterday. My OH offered to drive home tonight for the pills, & return tomorrow - it might have been worth doing if we were going to stay the whole week or something, but as it would only give us a rather wet Tuesday, it's not worth the effort. Nor is going cap in hand to the pharmacy. I can't be bothered. ( I'm not 100% happy with my medication which I won't go into, here, but maybe I need to try and see my GP.)

    So we're packing up and returning tomorrow. It rained most of the night, and was pouring this morning when we got up. Drier now, and we're treating ourselves to a Sunday Lunch out.

    Annette - You'll have to nag your OH to keep up with his exercises. Love, love the flower!! Fascinating. Wish we had a "Love it" button on here!I

    Thank you, dear Diane, for starting us off and it was so interesting to hear your story. Definitely a message from Mother Nature. So sorry to hear what a hard time you've been having this year - I notice you didn't manage to buy a car which you needed so badly. Life doesn't always seem to make sense. Things don't always fall into place. We can only struggle on, hoping for "the only way is up!" I sincerely hope that things can improve for you.

  • 17/09/2023 11:43
    Rusty - Good luck & well done on the French class! It all sounds so interesting, and you all have such a varied programme: Your French must be wonderful now! I have several items which both of my parents loved and I can't part with - ornaments mainly. We have a beautiful mahogany bookcase which was my parent's. Now contemplating selling it as it matches nothing else in the room and I would dearly love to have modern built in bookcase and shelves in that room. We'll see if I can persuade my OH as we need to change the carpet soon, in there. Hum.

    My parents both asked to be cremated and to have their ashes scattered in the lovely gardens at the Crematorium. Sometimes I pop over there, but mainly I think of them during daily life. (They both have a dedication page in the Memorial Book there, my mother's has a fritillary painted next to hers as she loved them )
  • 17/09/2023 11:48

    Some quotes for today:

    Maybe it's true that life begins at 50, but everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.
    Phyllis Diller.

    By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
    Billy Crystal.

  • 17/09/2023 11:56
    Pat - the golf is on already!!! It started early due to the impending storms.
    Lindy - enjoy your Sunday lunch.
    The French group is an Advanced one. I did French for 2 years at Uni and also did a qualification at night school whilst I was working. Most people in the group have at least A level or have lived and worked in France or Belgium. We still correct each other if we hear a glaring mistake. I am hopeless at tenses. I try to get around saying something too complicated.