March 13, 2026

Happy Friday the 13th

This guy and his partner were eating roadkill when I cam upon them.  The animal they were eating could have been a scrawny raccoon with a long tail that was red/blonde and white.  Any ideas?  I don't want to post pictures of the roadkill, but I'm curious.

I've had kind of a mixed day, the week has been challenging and good, and painful and confusing.  When I got home from an active day there was a junco caught in my porch.  Kevin sent me this; a good message during a confusing week.   I can't believe the whole week has gone by. And it was the week that I usually hibernate in, but I didn't manage to hide away, but I didn't manage to complete everything, either.  Sunday is the Ides and I'll feel safe again.  

This is Nash's work.  I'm really impressed with it.  I can't wait to see the show and to see those boards up close.  They gave me permission to share this photo tonight.   

The other thing I did today was my duties as a youth judge for the Poet Seat Poetry Contest.  I had to read all of the submissions from both the 12-15 and the 16-18 year old's.  They were unbelievable, really inspiring and me and my team mates were not only impressed but moved to write more from reading them.   On one level it was hard to not be the teacher and to judge, instead, but on another level it was interesting to look at these young authors' writings as technical pieces (is it well crafted), important messages, and to truly think, 'did this move me."  And we were moved by many of them. It's not that you don't think those things as a teacher, but what you're looking for is how to help the author improve the piece.  In this case they were competitive pieces to be taken as they stood right then and there.  

 I'm so glad I still have access to artists starting their journeys.  I feel honored I get to continue to witness artistic growth, inspiration and just energy.

Spring is here, you can barely tell it is snowing in these rookery pictures.  34 degrees at 4:45

In terms of big birds, I saw the turkey vulture pair and a gorgeous red tailed that was very far away, but I still snapped the flying photo.  It was snowing, but most of the snow has melted from the fields.   

I'm unimpressed by the reproduction of these colors on my computer monitor.  I hope you all see them somewhat stronger.  I'm serious about once I get  this medical stuff under control I'm focusing back on my own photography.   On one hand I could be buried alive with the amount photos I've taken in the past 15 years, and on the other hand, I don't think I've focused on it since my own camera broke last June.  

I hope they find the cause of my pain tomorrow and that something can be done about it.