Love from Loretta...

...to tide over At the Cabin until I am back from England...soon, soon.

Tongue of Hamilton

Fritz Shows Hamilton Who is Boss

Fritz is angry




(Afterwards)

The Moon Tonight

Thanks to L for sending a message to go outside and look at it!

Father Blackbird: England July 2008

Aunt Dorothy and I speculated that the cause of the excessive little feathers on this father Blackbird might be co-parenting: helping out on the nest with eggs and baby birds.

Uncle Peter's Grave: England July 2008

Sumac and Juniper Berries

A random post left over from early December

More of England Last July (2008): So Green

It is unbelievably lovely to see the green of these photos when one is in the midst of "winter" in central Texas, which has been suffering drought for far too long. Everything here is dry and brown. I wish I could just step into this park from here at my computer...

More of England Last July (2008): Skies

I love the light and sky in this photo!

England Last July

As I prepare for another trip to England (and as I am on Thursday of a busy week with no time for photogs since Sunday), I am remembering that I never really finished going through all my photos from last summer's trip, so I'm going to call some of them into play now. These were taken on the day I arrived in London—Saturday, July 12, 2008—as M drove me from Heathrow to the flat.

More on the Ladder-backed Woodpecker

The Ladder-backed Woodpecker was hopping and pecking all over Woodie's tree the other day. Will Woodie know? Will he care?






Nice view of stance-bracing with tail feathers


Eyes closed, mid-peck


Above and below, the pretty pattern on the top of his head

Finch on Wisteria

Two days ago when I took this photo it was sunny, the sky was blue, and the temperature was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Today it is in the 40s and utterly gray. A fine day for staying in and cooking a turkey, I say!

Whose Bones?

There has been a preponderence of strange scat on the paths around our house lately. It is right in the middle of the path down the hill, the path at the bottom of the hill, the road curving up the side of the hill, the drive on the other side of the hill leading down into our driveway. We don't know whose it is. It is medium-sized; smaller than our dogs' output, bigger than that of the cats. The other day I noticed at the bottom of the hill a pile of it, about half of which consisted of fur and bones. Little, tiny bones. What animal has tiny bones like this, and what other animal would have eaten it? Fox? Coyote? It's in the same area where we found the remains of the buzzard last year.


Note what looks like a little toe or claw at left. I mean to go down later today to salvage some of the bones; will get some better pictures while I am at it.

Winter Butterflies

There are a lot of these butterflies afoot (a-wing?) in the last many days.

Sky and Texas Sotol

The sotol's dead bloom is slowly falling over, which you can't really tell from this picture, because it is falling toward where I was lying on the patio taking the photo. It takes a while for it to hit the ground.

Hamilton and Hula Hoop

An Alternate Woodpecker

This Ladder-backed Woodpecker was in the Staging Tree tonight. We have seen his kind before, though not for a very long time—a year and a half or so, perhaps?