The Birds.....

Birds are winged, bipedal, warm-blooded, vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species.

   9,999 of them live at my house.

   And why not? It’s home sweet home around here for our fair feathered friends, thanks to Mr. Downeastdoingstuff.

   Take a glimpse of the structures he provides for them...yes....all out in my yard. sigh. 

   (just scroll quickly to get a  sense of how many there are...)

And, yes, birds do actually nest in most of them

We have happy cats.

“Fish got to swim, birds got to fly, I got to love one man till i die. Can’t help lovin’ dat man of mine.”

Oscar Hammerstein II from ‘Showboat’.

(Wonder why he’s got a blog where he’s called Birdman?) 

PORTCITYDAILYPHOTO

NOW,  you have to watch this sweet, sweet animated Pixar short....

(If the video doesn't work, go here: Bird Clip )

Happy Memorial Day Weekend...

People have different ways to display the flag. Here is a painted version on a wall of a structure in the Biddeford Pool area. Not quite sure exactly what the building is, sort of a garage and a couple of wings. Nevertheless, the owner chooses to show his/her patriotic side. Appropriate, this weekend, to remember all the men and women who have given their lives for our country.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Update: This morning, Mr. Downeastdoingstuff put this photo on HIS blog as well. Ahem. (We were driving around together taking photos one fine day...)

Anyway, you can see the entire building on his blog....interesting architecture.  Symmetrical anyway.

http://pasttimeamainebackyardandbeyond.blogspot.com

Blacksmithing....

A Blacksmith....what exactly is it??

BLACK: The color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum

huh??    Translation: the bottom of my son's socks.

SMITH: A worker in metal. Or an alias assumed by someone on the lam. No translation necessary.

So a blacksmith would be someone working on my son's socks....that would be me.

There are coppersmiths, goldsmiths, silversmiths and probably other smiths, too.

Pretty cool, no?

Years ago, I took a couple of courses in blacksmithing. The real thing. Not Junior's socks.

(I'm still working on those...)

I LOVED IT !! It was right up my alley. One thing, I'm always cold, so standing by a fire was so perfect for me.  Secondly, holy smokes, you could actually change the shape of a big honking piece of metal!

And you could do this without backing into anything in the parking lot !!!!!

Of course, I was just about the only female in both of these classes. I don't really know why, but I didn't care. I was happy warming my fingers and thinking about how I should have brought marshmallows . Maybe some chocolate bars and graham crackers. A little glass of Merlot to sip by a crackling fire........

First we watched the demo....looked as easy as working with Playdo. 

Make the metal soft by sticking it into a 4 million degree fire until it turns red hot, and then smash it to smithereens with a hammer on an ANVIL until you get the shape you want. 

On an  A N V I L !!!!!!!

An Anvil: The thing that the Roadrunner continually dropped onto Wile E. Coyote's head from a 100 foot cliff.

The weird shape of the anvil is actually that way on purpose. It allows you to bend the metal into different shapes. For some reason, putting something that is red hot 1,000 degrees on it's surface and then pounding on it has no effect on that darn anvil. It seems to be impervious to all that abuse.

But the iron stick you work with, well, THAT can be twisted, curved, flattened and bent like a pipe cleaner. No prob.

So I made things. I made a poker for our woodstove, some hooks and a swivel plant hanger, that I designed.

It was like magic......

Here is the poker.....

We've been using it for over 15 years and it hasn't changed shape or bent at all.

Here's a close up of the end of the handle part. I flattened it and made it into a leaf shape, then twisted and bent it.

Close up of a few of the twists...

The working end of the poker...

I couldn't find any of the hooks I made, but here is the plant hanger. 

The hook can turn in it's holder so that I could turn the plant to face the sun.

Hmmm, that sure looks like a sharp tip, doesn't it ?

In May, just when spring bulbs and wildflowers are at their peak, this Creeping Phlox spreads out a carpet of deep, bluish purple.
'Sherwood Purple' creeps on my wet, stone wall this 17th of the month, bringing an excitement to my soul that nothing in winter has been able to do.
(Except for maybe Mr. Downeastdoingstuff....)

I love spring.

Happy Mother's Day aka My Sunday picture...

THIS is the reason I can celebrate Mother's Day. Twenty two years ago this sweet angel came into the world. On the first full day of his life, his dad took this photo. He sure looked happy to be here... I know we were !

Periodically I would do a watercolor of him to hang over the mantle in his bedroom. Sometimes he would know I was painting it, but most often I would just change the picture in the frame and when he would go up to his room, a new painting would be there. I wish I had done more of them....here are the ones I did.
"Now can I eat this blue donut??"

"yummy...these things are messy and they leak, but, boy, are they good!!"

"I want to be an artist,too, mom! Jackson Pollock, eat your heart out!"

(FYI... he has turned out to be a fabulous, creative artist. He just amazes me.!)

"Here, dad, FETCH!"

"Mom always tells me to stop and smell the roses."

(Ok, ok, we know it's a tulip.)

"My first kitty, the Wiz."

Like us, he just loves his pussy cats.

"Don't bother me...."

This painting is still on the wall in his room and the lighting isn't good and there are reflections in the glass, but you get the idea.  Sunning on a beach in Haiti...part of a cruise.

Here are most of them together.....That's my boy, it's been a wonderful  22 years !!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Crime wave.....

  We have a local, community newspaper that is free for the taking in various town stores. Now, remember, I live in a rural Maine community, within driving distance of a good size city.

   This tabloid has a Police Blotter section....keeps us abreast of all the criminal activity besmirching our neighborhood.

   Here are some examples....all true, word for word.

1. Someone reported that their child was at the library and one of their child's friends set his hair on fire.         (I'm not sure 'who's' hair actually was ablaze???)

2. Someone wanted to speak to an officer regarding the Do Not Enter sign and their customers entering the wrong way. 

3. Someone called to report that they had locked their drunken spouse in their vehicle.

(ummm...if you're INSIDE the car, can't you get out by unlocking the door??) 

4. Someone reported strange cars going down their dead end road in the middle of the night and not coming back out.      (Must be quite a collection of autos in there somewhere !)

5. Someone reported that a subject, who lives across the street from the cemetery, allows their dog to go into the cemetery each morning to do his 'business'.

6. Someone reported an abandoned motor vehicle. Subject was parked there as they had cell reception and were waiting for a phone call.

7. A caller reported a car idling at a local business. The car belonged to the owner of the business.

AND THE PIECE DE RESISTANCE ........

8. A 17 year old male was found in an elementary school flushing all the toilets !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lock your doors, pull your shades and carry mace. It's a crime laden community. 

My Sunday Picture....

You have NO idea how long I've waited to plant something ! I bought these geraniums today, but unfortunately, I need to wait about 3 more weeks to actually put them into the ground...or until the last frost has occurred.  (sigh) (patience is a virtue.....) 

San Antonio ! Ole!

Here we are, in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. Unbeknownst to us, we picked the week of the 'FIESTA' to be here. Ai Caramba !!! What good luck! It wasn't too crowded, as I feared, and there were so many colorful things to see and do. We had a great time. We are leaving today, so here are a few shots of our trip. 

The Alamo in the evening. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be! Once you get inside, you can go into the courtyards and gardens, too.

San Antonio is small, so you can basically walk everywhere.

This is the Arneson theatre along the Riverwalk, a MAJOR tourist attraction in San Antonio. (Most of the big hotels are right on the Riverwalk.) There is an outdoor amphitheater across the narrow river from this theatre that seats 600 people, so you view the plays across the water. Sightseeing barges cruise along even during  performances.

We took one of the narrated barge trips. $5 and worth it. Beautiful views. The overhead bridges are regular streets of San Antonio. The Riverwalk is below street level, and when you're on it, you have no clue you're in a big city at all. 

Another view of the river. Ducks float around minding their own business with their little ducklings. Sweet.

Most restaurants have tables right along the edge of the river. No railings mostly. Why more people don't end up in the drink, I don't know. Especially in the evenings when folks make their own fiestas.

The sides of the Riverwalk are loaded with many wonderful restaurants, bars and some shops.

A Ben and Jerry's and a CVS, too!!

One of the barges that cruise the San Antonio River.

A Mariachi band, straight ahead, from the barge trip we took. The horns and strings reverberate throughout the area. Very pleasant.

One of the many picturesque walkway bridges going over the river. Flowers and tropical foliage everywhere.

Walking under a street bridge on the Riverwalk.

View of the San Fernando Cathedral (oldest Cathedral in the United States, they claim) from our room on the 14th floor. (By the WAY, this is really the 13th floor...who do they think they are kidding? In the elevator, the rooms go from 12 to 14....) I just don't get superstitions.

Rooftop pool at our hotel. Two hot tubs, too. We got a free full breakfast every morning, and a happy hour every evening, with 3 free drinks per person (wine, beer and mixed drinks) with munchies. 

It was a wonderful vacation. Mucho great weather, mucho great food and mucho great times!  But we always have a good time.....

Adios, Amigos!

What?? No Sunday Picture?? .... it’s VACATION !!

OK, there was no Sunday Picture on Sunday because it was too dang cold to go outside and it still has the March uglies around  here even tho it’s April and even tho green things are starting to pop out of the ground.

AND it was our Anniversary.....34 years !!!!!! Can you believe it!!

Also, we’re packing for a trip to SAN ANTONIO because it’s school vacation and it’s warm in Texas and Mr. Downeastdoingstuff had been there before and really liked it! So we’re taking to the skies.......

But first, here are some of my observations about traveling by air:

1. I used to pack a breakfast/lunch to bring and eat while waiting in the terminal so that I wouldn’t have to pay $12 for a bagel and a diet coke. 

Then you couldn’t bring any liquids into the gate or onto the plane because my diet coke might explode. 

Now you can bring liquids on the plane, but only if you buy them AFTER you go through the xray screening. So you pay $6 for a diet coke to take on the plane.

2. Dress in layers because you have to take it all off as you go through screening. 

Make sure you don’t have any holes in your socks or pantyhose because everyone will see it when you take off your stinky shoes and walk around on the germ encrusted floor. 

   Several bangle bracelets will set off the alarm and then they have to yank you to the terrorist section to probe around your body with Star Wars wands because you probably have an explosive diet coke in your bra.

   A large belt on a man will do the same thing. You never know, they might have an explosive in the crotch area and no one wants a man’s privates being blown up and flying around in pieces throughout the airport.

   So you take ALL your most valuable things and put them in plastic gray trays and send them off into a dark tunnel with strangers looking at them with bionic eyes.

3. After you reassemble yourself, you’re in. Find your gate and sit. and sit......and sit.....for about 1  1/2 hours.

   You were told to be at the airport 2 hours before the flight upon penalty of death and check in took 10 minutes. 

   I always have a carry on because someone convinced me years ago that there’s a good chance your luggage will be sent to Honolulu and you’re not. So make sure you have a change of clothes with you for the next day, and any other items you may need to get by with until the airlines delivers your wayward bag the day before you go back home.

4. OK....on to the jetway! You get a glimpse of the outside of your plane closeup for a split second as you get off the jetway and into the plane. Here is where you can make a quick assessment of all the bolts gluing the plane together. (Notify attendant if you see anything amiss.)

5. Find your seat and smoosh yourself into it, smoosh your stuff under the seat in front of you and look out the windown that needs major Windexing.

Fasten your seatbelt and smile when you have to make the seat belt smaller than the previous person had, or frown when you have to make the seat belt bigger than the other person before you had.

6. Pretend to listen to the flight attendant’s important life saving instructions. Note where the nearest exit is, you should at least do that much. Get out your book, and fall asleep after reading for it 3 minutes.

7. Ok, now it’s smooth sailing......until the first bump. Uh Oh. What’s wrong with the plane? Then another bump or two. Now it’s time to wake up and make your plan for what you will grab at the last minute when the plane does a ditch landing in a lake in Connecticut. Where’s that dang flotation device again?? Reach under the seat and feel something wrapped in plastic. That must be it. No body better be using an unapproved electronic device at this moment causing interference in the hydralic system or whatever. If you have earphones, plug them into the channel where you can hear the pilots talking to the towers. Oh, ahhh,  they all sound calm and indifferent. I guess everything is ok. 

8. Finally, the flight attendant tells you to get ready for the initial descent. 

Look out the window. Everything is still hideously small. Take your time, Mr. Pilot. No rush. Seat backs up and tray tables in the upright and locked position. Feel for that floatation device again. Still there. Ears start popping.

9. Here we go.......closer and closer to earth.....start to recognize things in detail. Look, there’s a stadium. Look at all swimming pools people have.

Look at the tiny airplanes at the airport. This is actually cool. 

10. Wheels on the ground. I’ve been on planes where the trip was so rough that the passengers actually applauded when we landed. Another flight under my alarm sounding bracelets. NOW the fun begins.....

   Here we come San Antonio !!!

More later....    :-)