Lynn’s Birthday on Thanksgiving

My older daughter's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year. Her sister arrived yesterday, shopped for groceries, and cooked a feast today. We had beef instead of the traditional Thanksgiving turkey because I am allergic to turkey and Lynn has never liked it.

Skywatch: Early this Morning 

Happy Birthday to Lynn!

Lynn and Marie. (Art by Judith Thompson)

Photo by Lynn. (Art by William Mann.)

Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving!

This snapshot of Marie is very old, but I'm bringing it back because tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. I got her to show off some of her artwork.

For Wild Bird Wednesday, I have some pictures from a month ago.

Oh, those gray geese marching toward me look like the ones that used to attack me when I lived by the lake. I did not stick around to find out.

National Dog Day 2023

August 26 is National Dog Day. Although it takes place during the "dog days of Summer," it reminds us to appreciate our canine friends. 

I did not have a dog as a child because my dad had asthma. When my children were young, we got a puppy that I named Spotsy. I did not know much about dogs then, but fortunately he was good-natured. It was much later that Lynn gave me Guppy, a beagle basset mix. He turned out to be a great pet.

Benny the cocker spaniel was a good-looking dog with issues that I never understood. He got along with Guppy but could be easily alarmed. He actually bit me a couple of times.

Flash was another beagle mix. He was a great dog. After he died in 2018, it was four years before I could deal with getting another dog. That’s when my daughters talked to me into getting Charlie.

Here is Charlie this morning. This was before he destroyed that blue collar when he wore it in the car. He still gets upset in the car and chews on things. On a good day, he chews on one of the dog bones or toys that’s there for him.

We celebrated National Dog Day by going to the dog park in Basye. I figured it would be a little bit cooler up there than in the valley. There was a nice breeze. Charlie had fun playing ball. He has learned to bring it back, finally. He does not give it to me, but he drops it near my feet.

The dog park there is next to the library. Folks have been building a “rock snake” in the garden there.

I’ll close with a picture I made this morning using StarryAI. By the way, every day is Dog Day around here.

A Year of Freedom

One year ago, the first batch of beagles was released from the Envigo Breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia. They were released to the Humane Society after the government found that the dogs were not properly taken care of, to put it mildly. Charlie was not in that first group but was released shortly afterwards. It took a while to process and transport 4000 dogs!

I adopted Charlie in early September from the Charlottesville SPCA. Now that he has been free for almost a year, he is enjoying a pretty good life, although he still shows anxiety and has not gotten over his fear of going in a crate. I'll turn the post over to the Charlie so he can tell you about his week.

Saturday Critters

Hi! I didn’t go to the dog park as much as I wanted, but we did have some adventures. Yesterday we went to a flower farm and walked around. Mom says to show you some pictures for Floral Friday and Garden Affair.

Today Lynn came to see me. She brought someone to help cut some small trees that were crowding our deck. 

Mom said she already told you about our hike in the woods. There were interesting things to smell. I got thirsty, and was glad to have some water when we got back to the car.

I like having adventures but I don’t like riding in the car. Mom got a new dog hammock to cover my seat. I chewed the straps on the old one, and some other parts of it too. Sometimes I chew on a toy bone, but there is so much noise in the car that I forget and chew other things.

I tried to talk to the gray cat, but it did not want to play so I gave up. Maybe next time.

Look at this strange critter that was on the window screen.

It’s time to take a nap now. Bye!

Sunday with my Girls

Since we had a three day weekend, Marie was able to come for a quick visit. Lynn drove down on Sunday and we went for a picnic in the state park.

 

We also went for a ride to the Strasburg area. We stopped in Maurertown to see Clark Kent. 

 

It’s always a delight to visit with my daughters. Also, Marie took over the dog walking duties for a day, which gave me a break.

An Extraordinary Birder

I haven't taken any bird close-ups lately because my trusty old Nikon has been acting up, and it's the one with the zoom lens. Most birds don't look too interesting when photographed from a distance. Here is a shot that looks cute to me because of a pair of house finches decided to perch on a satellite dish.

There are many people who take better bird pictures than mine, and you can see some of them on Wild Bird Wednesday. One of my daughter’s friends has become a celebrity birdwatcher. Christian Cooper has a new book out and a TV series on the National Geographic Channel. His credentials include a Harvard education and serving on the board of NY Audubon Society.

 You may recall that Mr. Cooper made national news when a white woman called the police while he was birding in Central Park. My daughter Marie has known him for years from when they both worked at Marvel Comics.  I was excited to catch part of an interview with him on NPR the other day. He actually mentioned Marie by name! 

Of course, I looked up the transcript to copy that paragraph. Here Terry Gross asked him about a comic he wrote about a Black birdwatcher. 

COOPER: “It was actually Bobbie Chase, my old boss at Marvel, who was now working at DC, or, at that time, she was working at DC and Marie Javins, another old Marvel alum and dear friend of mine who was - who is now the head of DC Comics, and they approached me about writing a comic, which - I hadn't written a comic in years at that point. And I was really nervous that the old comic-writing muscles had atrophied. But it was a joy to bring that story to life on the page once we figured out what it was going to be 'cause they had a title. And once they told me the title, it just fell into place for me what I wanted to do, a story that was magical-realist to bring the points home. So that was a joy to do.”

I should probably clarify that Marie is not the head of DC Comics, she is the editor in chief, which is still pretty awesome and I am proud of her. I wish Mr. Cooper great success with the TV show. His book is already getting great reviews.

Hazy Days

On Tuesday, I met Lynn for lunch, and then took her to see Shenandoah River State Park. The sky was quite hazy due to traces of wildfire smoke from Canada.

I was interested in the exhibit in the in visitor center that had a model of a gundalow, and a display telling how these flat bottomed boats were used on the Shenandoah River.

“By all accounts it took skill, intimate knowledge of the river, cunning, physical strength, and a strong personality to work these boats. To move the gundalow along in the current, boatmen struck the riverbed with a long-tipped pole, essentially pulling the craft downriver. At the rear of the craft would be a rudder manned by the pilot and a cooking hearth, usually made of brick. Tarps attached to cargo provided some shelter for sleep.”

Our air quality got worse yesterday and today. We were in a “code red“ zone, which means we should not exercise outdoors. I think Charlie was disappointed that we did not go to the dog park, but my eyes were itching from the pollution.

Fortunately, the air started to clear late this afternoon, and I saw some blue tones in the sky. Whether it gets better or worse tomorrow, depends on the winds. We could use a thunderstorm.

A View of Motherhood

This scene at Cullers Overlook illustrates a fact about motherhood: a child will demand your attention when you are busy doing something else. This mom has a nice camera and is taking a beautiful picture, but her a little one is clamoring for attention. I forget whether this was before or after he pulled a telephoto lens out of her bag and tried to play with it.

Here’s the scene she was focusing on, a view of the South Fork at Shenandoah River State Park. 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Today was Mother’s Day, and I did hear from both of my daughters and also from a stepdaughter, Allison. Lynn was able to come visit and she particularly wanted to watch Charlie run at the dog park. He was happy to oblige. I forgot to take any photos, so here is a picture of her from late summer.

What Day is This?

April 22 is Marie's birthday, National Beagle Day, and Earth Day.

Marie is my younger daughter. She is a world traveler, a published author, and currently the Editor-in-Chief at DC Comics.

My dog Charlie is a beagle. I got him in September. He was rescued from a large breeding facility where dogs were not treated properly.

Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970. It reminds us to take care of the environment. Here we see volunteers fixing up the community garden in Strasburg. I read that a church group built raised beds that will be used for growing vegetables. These will be donated to help feed hungry people. 

Today is also Saturday, and a blog hop called Saturday Critters encourages bloggers to share animal photos. Fortunately, I saw a few critters besides Charlie when it wasn’t raining today.

The robin was perched on a roof this morning. The cows were kind enough to pose when I stopped to take pictures of mist rising in the distance.