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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.

  • 18/09/2023 22:24
    Gosh, lots to read & reply to:

    OG - I'm keeping everything crossed for J. It does sound hopeful.

    Dibnlib -Love the boat. There's something about an old boat that's almost tangible.

    AQ - How annoying. I have found this sometimes, with regards to labels referring to colours. White certainly isn't as jolly or cheerful as the other colours you were hoping for!

    Diane - You're very kind. Now, I wish I'd spent longer and had a go at rewriting the poem, which was just dashed off when I felt I needed to speak about Nature. Thank you, I'm humbled.
  • 18/09/2023 22:29
    We're back home again - had a horrible journey back in driving rain with big lorries sending out torrents of spray. Why don't they have proper mudguards these days?
  • 19/09/2023 02:40 in reply to Lindybird
    Lindybird said:
    We're back home again - had a horrible journey back in driving rain with big lorries sending out torrents of spray. Why don't they have proper mudguards these days?

    Glad you're safely back home.  Agree with you on the lorries, the amount of spray is terrible - we're all too used to that here, with the UK's biggest container port right on our doorstep ...... sigh.

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

  • 19/09/2023 08:30
    Lindy - that sounds like a horrid journey. I can just imagine you on that route. Glad you are home safely. It is very wild today. My friend and I are supposed to be going to the zoo where we are booked in for lunch. I suppose we can visit the indoor houses.
    OG - thinking of J. Hope the chat this morning goes well.
  • 19/09/2023 10:01

    I'm glad Dibnlib posted her lovely boat as it reminded me of what I saw on the Orwell on Thursday evening:

    Seeing this sort of thing is one of the nicer things about living in East Anglia.

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

  • 19/09/2023 11:15
    Good morning. J walked to local school for 8:30 and hasn’t reappeared, so it looks as if he is working! I have been sneezing for three days - hope today is the end of it – the shock of each sneeze hurts my most painful leg quite badly!

    Going to print the proof copy of the magazine next – when we have both checked it, E-E will need to find “spare” time to make the printed copies at church one day this week – extra this time to have spares in church for open day next Sunday.

    LINDA – sorry it was such an unpleasant journey home – but glad you arrived safely.

    CLARE – is that a Wherry? Looks rather crowded!

    We shall be visiting one of the garden centres for lunch tomorrow and then it's the Christian Aid Quiz in the evening (nobody to join the three of us, so we shall be a team of three whilst the others are mostly four), so I shall probably not post that day!
  • 19/09/2023 11:17
    CLARE - had another look - too many sails for a Norfolk Wherry, but too small for a Thames Barge. SO, what is it?
  • 19/09/2023 11:42 in reply to Original Goldfinch and Eagle-eye

    This info from Wiki via Google lens Clare, don't know how accurate it is?

    en.m.wikipedia.org/.../Thalatta_(Thames_barge)

     

     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • 19/09/2023 12:14
    CLARE - Oooh, I love it!! (love anything with sails)

    WENDY - Thanks for that ID.

    OG - Sorry you're sneezing and that does sound painful. Hope it ends soon.

    We had a wild windy and wet night, and now the garden looks a bit sorry for itself. Some of the roses (we don't have many) are blooming again as if to say, summer is not over till its over....

    My OH kindly said he would put the heating on for half an hour this morning, first time since last spring, but he found that it wasn't working properly. It could be that all the radiators need what they call "bleeding". He'll have another go at it this evening. Sue has had a raging earache for two days and I'm now nagging her to go to the doctors as it must be an infection. I've not been too good myself lately so am off to the Surgery this afternoon to have my blood pressure checked.
  • 19/09/2023 12:18
    Today's quotes:

    You can lead a human to knowledge, but you can't make it think.

    One minute you are young and cool, maybe even a little dangerous, and the next minute you are reading Amazon reviews for birdseed.

    (I like that one!! LOL!)