I took this out of the kitchen window here in Roanoke. I played with the color balance to make the yellow leaves pop. I realize it’s not the best photo ever taken, but I still love it the feeling in it.
Mellow
This shot is from last fall. Before all the giant oceans of snow came.
Fountain
I don’t remember when or where I took this shot. I really like the look of the water.
Not Morbid, I Swear
Yes, this is a photo of the remains of a dead bird. Yes, possibly something really sad happened to it. Him. Let’s call it a him. Let’s call him Norm. No, Jesse. Jesse is a cuter bird than Norm, I’m guessing. Anyway. Jesse came to a sad end here if all you do is look at the photo and see feathers and ground on remains.
However, I’m choosing to see Jesse as a triumphant bird. A bird among birds. A bird no other bird could compare to in his fleet. Or, flock. Or congregation, parcel, pod, volery or dissimulation. (Did you know a group of finches is called a charm? Larks an exaltation? A kettle of hawks? A murmuration of starlings? I could go on all day…) (But I won’t) (Murder of Crows?) (Ok, that was the last one.) (I mean it.)
What I’m trying to say is, I’d like to believe that Jesse was ready for his end. He had a good life. He was good to all the other birds. (An ostentation of peacocks?) (DONE. I SWEAR.) He had spent his days looking out for the younger and weaker birds in his, umm, social network?
I don’t think he was afraid. I think he was matter-of-fact and proud of his life. His placement on the brick makes me believe he was willing to move on and make room for the next set of Magpies. (Tidings!) Or Ravens. (Unkindness!) Or swans. (Wedge!) Or snipes! (WHISP! WHISP! WHISP!)
He didn’t mind if his remains stayed behind, showing how his life had ended. He had a big party that night and went out in style. (A party of Jays! PARTY!!)
Nothin’ but Blue Skies
This is my smart and beautiful daughter Alex. On one of our road trips, she took some photos and these are my favorites.
Mr. Bas
Back in 2003, I first wrote about Basilone and how much we loved him, how totally rad he was. Then in 2005, we had to say goodbye to him because our landlord was super-duper allergic. We sent him to live with Joe’s parents. It was a sad, sad day.
Bas has loved it at the Crawford’s in Virginia. He is happy and spoiled and gets treats a few times a day.
Here he is at the bar, waiting for someone to give him something chickeny. His front leg on the bar like that kills me. Like he’s about to say, Vodka on the rocks, and make it a double!
He loves Phyllis.
And not just because she gives him the most treats.
Casa Winters and Brown
This is a family portrait of our very good friends Matt, Margot, Sparky and Baxter. We stayed with them in La Mesa on our vacation. What you can barely see stage left is a tent where they slept every night, freeing up their bedroom for us. They claimed it was because they liked to sleep outside in the summer but I’m pretty sure it’s because they like to help the dogs hunt skunks at night.
Orange Ya Glad For Lemons?
Orange Bits
I love these orange bits on the post. I first noticed them about 2 days after we moved here and it’s one of those things where you tell yourself – Next time I’ll grab a shot of that…
Things in Robin’s Home #3
Crawfords at Joe’s Birthday Dinner
Fun in the Sun
We went to San Diego for a vacation recently and it was maybe the best vacation we’ve had since we got married. We did exactly what we wanted to every day for 2 weeks. You can’t beat that.
In these shots, it’s about 900 degrees F in La Mesa. We were melting. We were melting but didn’t stop drinking beer and cracking jokes all day.
You can see in this last photo that Joe may be close to reaching his limit of stupid Leah jokes. His eyes plainly say, “And hows about we get some food in you, M’Dear.”
