Sunday Wonders - W

W is for Wings.

Yesterday we took advantage of the clearing skies to go down to the Maplewood mudflats.  This is a wildlife conservation area, mostly birds,  and one of our favorite places to visit.  Long before it was protected, we used to walk here.  Then, we would walk out onto the mudflats, when the tide was out like this, and get up close and personal with the gulls.  That bar of light-colored sand way out by the water is actually not sand.  It's made of crushed and broken shells.  Of course, people walking out there isn't permitted any more.  It's not good for the habitat - and it could be dangerous.  But, then, that danger was part of the fun. 

Here, a gull is getting his lunch.  He picks up a mussel, flies up and drops it.  The plan is that it breaks.  This usually takes a few tries, though.  Then he happily scarfs down the meat and moves on to the next round.

The crows are hangin' in the trees just waiting for their opportunity.  Gulls always leave a little something behind for them to find.  It's just not on for a crow to work at getting food.

As we walked away from the water, blackberry thickets and tangles of shrubs provide shelter for the redwing blackbirds.  Their songs - my favorite and a sure sign of spring - filled the air.  It was hard to capture a photo as they refused to sit still and pose.  In fact, it seemed that the birds knew just when I was ready to shoot.  Each and every time, I was foiled by a quick hop to another branch which was even more concealing. Can you see him?

We stayed until the next rainstorm drove us away. A few minutes away, lunch in Deep Cove was a most pleasant end to the outing.

Reading challenge

I'm adding another candle to my Time Machine reading challenge but it's not what you'd call 'happy'.  Oh, my.  What a depressing book.

This is not the first William S Burroughs that I've read.  But I was a lot younger when I read the others and I was too sophisticated to be shocked.  Nor did I have any sense that this story was relevant to my life in any way.  Having seen more of life now, I'm so saddened by the reality of his account of life as an addict.  Although, if he hadn't lived this way, the book couldn't have been written.  And, I believe, it needed to be written.  It still needs to be read.  It's so easy for anyone to be dependent on drugs.  Maybe easier today than in the 1950's.  I couldn't find anything cool here. Probably should be required reading in schools. 

Of course, the main topic is drug use and abuse.  But I also got glimpsesof  a time that I used to read about in the newspapers when I was much younger. The cities - New York, New Orleans - with much smaller populations and the definite feel of what we would think of as towns.  Descriptions of police procedures and government policies which made me think of Elliot Ness.  The lingo of the beats and hips - much of it remaining as part of our language heritage.  Burroughs is a good story teller and one of America's great writers.  It's just too bad that I feel I have to go have a bath after reading this book.

Next author up:  Saul Bellow

Therapy

It's been a pretty good week.  I thought I should share when it's good too since I've spent a lot of time kvetching recently.  I had a fantastic planning session with our Board.  Thinking about the future is always exciting.  Thinking that this is a realistic future is even more so.

Then yesterday, I welcomed a roomful of new members to our seniors association.  That was such a high for my week.  People chatted and shared and made new friends.  They came away with a sense of discovery, too.  Our label of 'seniors' is just that: a label.  Everyone has an interesting story...and an equally interesting outlook for the future.  I think most new members are a little frightened to think they've gone through a door they never thought would be opened. 

And, meanwhile, the children are being neglected.  Look at my poor 'babies'!  The baskets have begun to overflow with all the donations to the thrift store.  They didn't want any new stock for a while and I just let them wait while I wrestled with other life stuff. 

I've been washing and dressing them and the babies are mostly done.  Now, they get priced and sealed in plastic ready to begin their new life.

The big sisters get left to the end.  It's so much easier to deal with those infants.  Barbies and Bratz have such complicated lifestyles.  And so many clothes!  What to choose?  I know the little girls like them all to look like princesses in ball gowns.  But I soon run out of those.  There are lots of clubbing dresses but that's boring for me.  So, I just have some fun and create personalities through their outfits.  At least, it works for me.  I have noticed that some of my favorites don't sell as quickly as the ones in shiny dresses.  I do like my kids to be quirky! 

Back to work.

Ruby Tuesday

Red looks so good on a background of white snow. 

There wasn't so much white the day we found this little restaurant downtown.  It had a great painted signboard and, of course, my first thought was 'Ruby Tuesday!'

For more red in our world, visit Mary T right here.