Next week, I will be heading to the east coast to visit with family, have a little vacation, etc. We will be splitting time between my parents home in the Philly suburbs and their vacation house at the Jersey Shore. I am looking forward to two outdoor activities in New Jersey (yes, NEW JERSEY!): practicing my open water swimming in the bay (with my wetsuit on, as the water will be DARN chilly!) and doing some birdwatching and wildlife observation at the Forsythe wildlife refuge.

The house sparrows that reside in a birdhouse near the patio had their brood fledge today. Sadly, one of the fledglings slammed right into the garage and broke its neck; we buried his broken body in the compost pile.

But that's why birds have multiple babies; in nature not all will survive and that's just the way it goes.

So...I suppose now that their brood is ready to leave the nest, mom and pop sparrow have to get busy on brood #2 for the year. I saw the female sitting at the top of  my daughter's sliding board. The male wasted no time in mounting her not once but 8 times! I guess he wanted to make sure he got the job done right! It was funny because usually when you see birds mate, the male just hops on top and that's that, but I could swear that twice he was thrusting for a bit on two of the "attempts". Now that's what I call a "peep show"! LOL...BAD joke!

All of this "fledgling" business reminds me of a very intimate and nurturing realtionship I had with a mother bird and her brood.

Years ago, I was living in a condo complex (I was a god-forsaken renter!). I knew that work was being done on the building, near my patio - stucco repairs, etc. I came home from work on a hot late spring day and heard chirping that sounded desparate. The workmen extracated a nest of newly-hatched baby birds and had simply tossed the nest in the bushes. The birds were obviously becoming dehydrated, being out in the sun, and needed food and a safe shelter. I was so upset. I had no idea what species they were, but I quickly found the old nest and was able to fit it into a hanging basket meant for a houseplant. I scooped up the surviving chicks (one had already died) and gingerly placed them, still screaching, into the basket and hung it on my patio, largely to protect them from crows and roaming housecats. That would later prove to be partially problematic.

I got an eyedropper and tried to give each of the birds water. I can't remember if I fed them, and if so what, but by the next day, those birds were clambering over one another trying to jump out of the nest. It sounds awful but most of them died over the next few days from this bizarre seemingly-suicidal behavior. Except one. He was so calm, he never fidgeted, and took his water so nicely, tilting his head back each time he saw me approach the nest. Shortly after hanging the basket and tending to the little one, I heard quite a racket from the small tree about 25 feet from the patio.

There she was: the very distraught mother bird. A European Starling (a so-called "invasive species") which is one of a few species (along with House Sparrows) that is not protected by federal wildlife law, as it is not a native species. (So, technically it was not illegal for the workmen to remove the nest; but the manner of disposal wasn't what I'd call humane, either!)

I watched her as she glared back at me, and I slowly backed into the condo, and watched out the glass door. Within seconds, she flew to the hanging basket and began feeding her bird! But she didn't remain on the nest. We kept up this routine for a few weeks as the little fella' grew bigger, more trusting of me, and began to sprout his feathers. Mother bird would wait in the tree for me to clean out the nest (I began lining it each day with clean shredded newspaper as that little guy sure pooped alot!) and give him his water. I'd re-hang the basket and she'd fly in to feed him. It was such a cool "partnership" that she and I had.

The morning he was to fledge and fly off on his own, he gave me a funny look as I watered him. His feathers were fully grown-in and, to me, he looked gorgeous. When I came home that day he was gone, and I never saw the mother bird again. I guess in his own way he was saying "goodbye and thanks". I was glad that at least one of the four in the brood made it to fledge.

{Sidebar:  I just learned that technically it's illegal to handle baby birds in terms of trying to raise them yourself. But in the circumstances of "my starling", I think I was within legal limts as I did replace the bird in its original nest and the mother did come back to feed it. One other thing to note - birds CAN carry mites, lice, ticks and other parasites, organisms and diseases, so should you ever handle one, be certain to use proper hygenie before and after.}

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On the unrelated matter of crabby hubby - well today he "made up" for being a turd and bought me a new shepherd's crook for my suet feeder, and he finished and installed a new tray feeder that we'll put cut-up fruit in for the catbirds and maybe even attract an oriole.

Though he can be quite a stinker at times, it ebbs and flows. And dummy me, our anniversary is TOMORROW not today. Whoops!

Thankfully the ire level has gone down considerably in the house...things are moving along ok; although unfortunately hubby and kid had to cancel their plans due to bad weather, so I won't have the afternoon to myself as I had planned.

Well, maybe next weekend...

Adrenaline pumping in my veins...but not for a "good" reason.

Ugh. Yet another blowout of a fight with the spousal unit. Of  course part of it was about me wishing to exercise today and seeking some "babysitting" - and  I got the "You are a selfish bitch" "You don't contribute anything to this family" yadda yadda yadda. Oprah, Dr. Phil,  and their denziens would have a field day!

Luckily for me I don't take any of his bullshit to heart. If I did, I would have had a nervous breakdown many years ago!

I managed to squeeze in a 15-minute lower body workout; kinda brief but I am too mentally exhausted now to do much more. Perhaps a few pushups and crunches later but for now I just need to blow off emotional steam.

Perhaps I don't intend it...or maybe subconscioulsy I do...

Writing of birds and sunshine, of laughing children and healthful living...what with my white background and plain text...this darn blog must seem rather antagonistic to some!

I adore and embrace a wide range of "avant-garde" arts, fashion, and, um, behaviors, shall we say.

But as I have mentioned before, it seems that everywhere you turn, what once was "wild" and intriguing now seems passe. When top-rated network shows like CSI have a semi-regular "alternative lifestyle" character, then you know its all down the toilet!

Well, of course I am only joking!

...sweeping the clouds away. On my way to where the air is sweet...can you tell me how to get, how to get to SESAME STREET?

Thanks to my blog buddies for the nice comments. I really appreciate it and I'll pass it along to the photographer (the self-proclaimed "metrosexual"-in-Sears-clothes!)

Here are a few from an earlier shoot, from February, I think. Totally different theme, background, stylization. Not as interesting, in my opinion, as the most recent batch, but my feeling is, the more he and I work together, the portfolio is steadily getting better.

I am wearing a Tae Kwon Do uniform and kind of faking my way with  the weapons he gave me to use as props (I have never had a marshall arts lesson in my life!) I was instructed to "look like I'm gonna kick someone's ass" (his exact request!) and so...I tried my best:

I had a nice weekend alone - doing errands, some shopping, browsing our local library, etc. Nothing crazy but all very relaxing.

I also got back the prints from my last photo shoot. Some really nice ones turned out BUT unfortunately I can only post the more modest ones here, as I want my blog to be "pg" rated! Not that the full nudes I did were anything but "tasteful" and "artistic" but I want to just be a little discreet, considering this is the wide world of the internet!

Here are some neat shots with me in the wings again...I like the way the light reflects off the sparkles of the costume.

Finally!

After a bout of stomach flu (yuk!!!!!!) I felt well enough today to FINALLY go swimming. The public pool near my home has been closed for renovations all winter and so, as a means to stay somewhat in shape for swimming, I focussed onn strength training, hoping that by keeping my arms, chest, back, and shoulders in good form would aid my return to the pool.

I was able to locate a pool close by with reasonable daily rates but they only have open lap swim Mon-Thurs from 8:45 to 10pm and then 2 days a week from 11am to 1pm. Both of those time slots are lousy for me as I have trouble being leaving the house on weeknights due to family obligations and then of course I have kid duty on afternoons. However, since dad and child are away on vacation, I was able to get to do a little swimming tonight.

I realized how slow I was compared to other swimmers but my main concern was, "will I be able to maintain a pace to complete 1/4 mile." I alread calculated out how many laps I'd need to swim continuously to make 1/4 so my goal tonight was to do half that amount, since its my first pool session. I ended up doing 2 laps more than 1/4 mile! Hoorah! Like I said, I was slow, and one lane I did in "rest/reocvery" mode of breaststroke. But that is just fine with me. I was just glad I didn't get out of breath or cramp up from over-exertion. I have alot of work to go but this was a very encouraging "return to the water."
 
Oh, on another note, since I did have stomach flu, my aformentioned "wild weekend" plans have been cancelled - no one wants to catch this bug that's going around!

I have faithfully cleaned and filled my birdbath every morning. And now it is becoming a haven for fun and refreshment for a variety of winged creatures.

This morning I sat on my patio watching no less than three species - a young robin, a young woodpecker (which surprised and delighted me! ) and a sparrow all sharing the "communal" bath together, gleefully spalshing and making quite a mess! If birds smile, then these three "buddies" were grinning like chesire cats!