Rattie update!

Here are some sweet photos of the rats.

They love pasta, it disappears moments after we set a few pieces in the cage!

They don't seem to mind us holding them, although they do clean themselves scrupulously the moment we place them back in the cage.

(It's as if you can hear them saying, "yuck yuck human smell! Get it off!)

Scarlet Ibis

A Scarlet Ibis from the Central park zoo.

I think it looks like a heart.

Heres' a link to kris Waldherr's Sacred World Oracle.

http://www.sacredworldoracle.com/

You can ask a question and click on her lovely cards. It gives me something to do when I feel stuck.

Today we stained the deck and picnic table and all the while a Baltimore Oriole sang from the trees above.

So orange! I didn't even try to get a photo.

It's nice to be home!

The lilacs are blooming and the world is swimming with their scent.

This evening as I was dumping the compost at the bottom of the yard, I heard a Veery calling from the woods.

What an amazing sound; a thrush with a wonderful complicated song.

click here for a listen:

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/Song/h7560so.mp3

NYC day 2

What a long day! Somehow we didn't get rained on. Last night a huge rumble of thunder rolled down the street at 4am and I was awake for a while after that. It was nice to be the only one awake in the quiet cozy apartment.


Union Square farmer's market was lovely with generous bunches of flowers.























Then the subway to chinatown



We took the 6 train but 456 is the number that has been after me the last few days so I had to take a photo. We'll see what it means when I get home.



The great Columbus Playground in Chinatown amused us for hours.
We ate a pound of cherries and shared our first rambutan.

then we did some shopping and took our first family cab ride.





















Dim Sum A Go Go was our stop for lunch. Lily and Georgia mostly poured sugar into their tea, then stirred it loudly, spilling it as they slurped, then poured shakily from the hot teapot again. Rob and I tried to eat slippery dumplings with our chopsticks while the strangers sharing our table ate chicken feet.

We were starting to lose it but we went to the Mahayana Buddhist temple and took a little break .

Then we did lose it as, waiting 45 minutes for the L train back to Brooklyn to move from the station, during that time, Lily had an urgent need for the bathroom (maybe the 4 cups of sugar with tea) and we had all run back up the stairs and go into the most disgusting bathroom I have seen, ok maybe not the worst; I won't go into details. I was trying to clean up and speak in a chipper voice to Lily while not gagging. But a woman came in and didn't stop saying, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" Next time I go to any city I will bring Purell. I'm not usually that way but later when Lily was licking her fingers and I thought of her soapless hand wash, I got the willies.

Instead of glorious fried chicken at Egg tonight we barely survived pizza at Vinnie's, then to a walk around the local park where Lily rolled in dog shit and said she was having the worst day of her life. (no fun photos from that part of the day!)

Anyway. Time for bed.

The final text from the dog/rat babysitter said things are fine, but that Azalea shat in the garage. As I finish this post I think maybe the title should be "shit" because it is the recurring theme.

But, shit and all, it was fun and memorable and Lily changed her mind about it being the worst day ever.

First NYC trip with kids!

In NYC!

I'm tired and should be settling into our friend's lovely little apartment, but I just wanted to check in.

Hot 3.5 hour drive from home.

Moderate amount of traffic.

Probably one of the the highlight's of the trip for the girls will be watching Phineus and Ferb while laying the pullout couch in front of the flatscreen TV.

Fox Sighting and Hickory Exploding

Today I saw a fox trotting along in a field. I stopped to get a photo, crouching and running in the field. She spotted me from far off and took off at a slow run.

Here's my attempted photo.

I can't even see her! She was rusty orange with black around her muzzle.

Then I saw a Pileated Woodpecker at Georgia's school, but the zzzip of my camera case zipper made it fly away. I was glad when her teacher sent a photo along with the daily school update. The bird was beautiful, the red crest is shocking and lush. She is as big as a crow. Impressive.

Then I saw my first Heron of the season, but was driving late to work so I didn't even try to snap a photo.

I did get a photo of this hickory bud opening into leaves. It looks like a firework!

In my googling on line to verify that this was a Hickory tree I found a blog titled Hickory Bud which I was enjoying, then I realized the author's last post was April of last year. She had since passed away. Her obituary said one of her favorite subjects was the fox. Sad, how on the internet you can meet someone and lose them so quickly. I'll put a link to her silk paintings because I think they're beautiful.

http://www.marthagreenwald.com/Silkpaintings.html

These failed attempts at nature photography have made me much more esteem for Bill Danielson, the beloved (at least I love him) naturalist who writes in every Thursday of our local paper. He gives details of the struggles he goes through to obtain just one photo of a precious bird. He puts in hours behind a blind.

I'll appreciate wild animal photos more now.

Here's a link to his website:
http://www.speakingofnature.com/

The rats are here!
Cakey is on the bottom and Jewel is on top. No they are not humping! They are snuggling.
They sleep on top of each other with a stray tail sometimes hanging out of the wire cage.
They are very sweet; so far we can hold an pet them without getting bitten.
Azalea has no interest in them at all, phew!
But he rest of us have fallen for them.
More later!

The peach blossoms are opening all along the branches of our little tree.