Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 17 September 2023

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.

  • Diane - I pray that your life get easier and you can relax and enjoy your wonderful surroundings. I have to admit I did google - 11" Silver feather- and it came up with a vulture - not sure if you get them on you patch but like Clare I would love to know what it was from.

    OG - I truly hope that J gets some regular employment which will help him enormously and take the strain off you and EE. I too am having conversations with Children about when Im not around as it has to be discussed if not welcome.

    I will finish my antibiotics tonight and think I am over the worst though still coughing.  I am due back in SE London on Wednesday to resume Nanny Duty Until Tuesday the following week. I will then be driving my Sister and I to Yorkshire on Friday to spend a week in PateleyBridge to see my 82 year old Brother and his wife. He is getting over a serious blood infection that had kept him in hospitl for almost 8 weeks. We are hoping to get out and about to see the area.

    To everyone else I hope that you stay well and safe.

  • DIANE I know things have been tough for you and really hope there is better in sight. Nature is so uplifting, we remarked yesterday how lovely it is when the sun shines through the trees, it really puts a smile on your face.
  • Rusty - Yes, I switched on as soon as I returned from church, and realised they had been playing for a while. It then got very dark here and we had very heavy rain for about half an hour. It's stopped now - and the heavy rain has travelled the 40 miles to Wentworth. Hopefully it will only last as long there as it did here ... good golf, though. I hate playing in the rain - my rule is (for a purely social game) I won't start in the rain, but if it starts while I'm out, then I keep going. Of course if you're playing in a match you don't get the choice - you just play ... and possibly hope for lightning and the klaxon!

    Diane - I don't know, but wonder whether there is a similar thing for feathers as there is for flowers? They can apparently be recognised by websites. I'm not techie enough to understand it, but just wondering? Your description was lovely ... I hope you manage to identify your very special feather.
  • dibnlib said:
    DIANE I know things have been tough for you and really hope there is better in sight. Nature is so uplifting, we remarked yesterday how lovely it is when the sun shines through the trees, it really puts a smile on your face.

    Absolutely, Dibnlib.

  • Morning all:  Had some excitement on the block yesterday when a very large limb on a Chinese Elm, planted on the parkway and for which the city is responsible, twisted, leaned and ended up hanging just 3' above the middle of the road.  Fire Department and City were on the scene quickly to sort things out (provided an interesting distraction for the neighbors who gathered around discussing the generally poor level of street tree maintenance).  But then one of the fireman came over and mentioned that the street lights in this part of the city (one of the 'older' areas) are still powered by overhead cables that run through all these trees and that these cables are potentially "deadly."  He suggested the neighbors are unaware of the danger and might want to organize with a view to having the city replace them. I'm going to post his info on the neighborhood web site today after I figure out who we should be contacting.  (I've always wondered why the city street crews do such a perfunctory job of pruning those trees; maybe this is why......)

    Meanwhile, love the discussion on various dear and departed family members, especially OG's "there's George."  My mother was a great one for picking up pennies, and when I see one, I also pick it up and say "Hi Mum."  (Found two quarters this last week so aapparently she's keeping up with inflation!)  Also enjoyed the talk of mementos.  When my sister and BiL were dating, he used to come to our house for Sunday lunch, driving a very spiffy little MGA with "pass through pipes" (!?) that we could hear coming blocks away.  When I was in the UK last year, I noticed a model of it on a bookcase and mentioned what a nice memory I had of that time.  A few weeks back it arrived at our house. So sweet.  It now sits in the place of honor in front of some family photos and it, too, makes me smile...

    Hope all are having a good Sunday.  Would be interested to hear if anyone can ID Diane's feather.  Diane: I hope you're putting that feather somewhere where it will bring a smile every time you look at it.  Warm hugs from here.

  • Nature

    Things go wrong, and Things go bad
    Sometimes it's The Worst I've Ever Had!
    So we look askance, and
    Try to find
    A reason for our state of mind.

    That's when, if you're lucky,
    A clever bird flies by
    He might have a sarcastic look, in his eye.
    For the bird on the wing knows
    About being tossed
    This way and that
    Trying not to get lost -
    Trying to keep on the route
    He intended to take
    Hoping to get somewhere
    Without a mistake.

    Nature is cruel
    Nature is mean:
    Some of the worst dreams
    Can be torn from our hands
    Before we can even begin to understand.
    But nature will fight on, nature will battle
    Not giving up
    Or moving like cattle
    Towards a hopeless goal.

    So, we see the strong weeds
    Which grow through the asphalt -
    The White Tailed Eagle returns
    To it's former homelands.
    The Osprey now nests
    In the valleys again
    And the whales again breed in the sea.

    They tell us that life will continue
    That the force which is burning inside
    Is something we all have,
    For we're creatures of Nature
    Within us, a strength must reside.
  • Lindybird: A nice reminder, thank you. -)
  • Thank you. It should be a rough draft, really, as I just sat and wrote without a plan. (As you can tell, LOL!)
  • Lindy - The best poetry is spontaneous.