Cape May Zoo

A journey to the Cape May Zoo today with Mom and Kaitlyn. 55 degrees, spectacular sunshine, and a light breeze set the stage for the day. The kind of day that is delightful to the mind.

The Mute Swans were particularly fun to watch; he chased 2 ducks around while the female sat on her nest gently picking up pieces of hay to add to her nest.






















Some photos:

visitors

Today all the house guests were picked up. Thank you for staying; come again soon!

Mr. Checkers and I roamed the fields and woods, him leading the way.

Here he is enjoying the snow in the exercise yard.












2 feline guests: 1 pee in the wrong place and a poop to scare Mike as he stepped into his morning shower, 2 sleepless nights as Maya, Moonie, and Mama Cat danced around each other hissing, Moonie's need to poke her nose in your eye while you are sleeping, Ella (female rabbit) humping Moonie (female cat), Mama Cat curling up on the couch next to me and Mr. Checkers, Moonie poking into everything with her 2 faces, endless filling up of the food bowls, Maya's 1st adventure with a dog and 2 other cats, making cat toys, soft fur, purring...

Mama Cat





Moonie



In addition to the 3 at home, daily 2:00 trips to Patti and Chief's farm to feed Sammie Jo and Callie. Mike came along for the exercise walk to the lake.
Callie-working dog

Me and Mr. Checkers following Sammie Jo's nose

Typical dogs!

guiding principles of life

The Four Agreements

Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak
against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in
the direction of truth and love.

Don't Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection
of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions
and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.
Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings,
sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely
transform your life.

Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different
when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do
your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

Copyright (c) Don Miguel Ruiz

Hennie Pennie

Hennie Pennie is a Silkie Bantam chicken.

Silkies have characteristics that set them apart from the other breeds of chickens; the texture of their feathers is almost fur or silk-like in appearance. Feathers have several parts to them. The quill grows from beneath the skin then tapers off up the center of the feather to become the shaft. From each side of the shaft comes the web: tiny strands held together by small hooks or barbicels. The barbicels are small hook-like structures on barbules that link adjoining barbules to form the rigid, interlocked structure of the feather vane, giving the feather its typical appearance. Silkie chickens lack the hooks on the ends of the tiny strands of the web, causing their feathers to fluff. They have topknots or crests on their heads and abundant feathers growing down their legs and middle toe.

Silkies are among a few breeds of chickens that have five toes instead of the usual four. They are the only chicken to have black or dark slate-blue skins. They come in many colors. Hennie Pennie is a beautiful white color with blue patches on her cheeks.

She loves strutting around the yard, always under my watchful eye in case the hawk is flying overhead. She lays 1 small egg a day, a soft brown color. Clucking and cooing, she constantly chats to herself. When frightened, she zigzags around looking for cover--usually found under my feet.

She is great fun to have around and brings many smiles to our faces. We are planning on getting a new friend for her in the spring. But in the meantime, she enjoys sitting on mine or Mike's knee, clucking, and thinking she is larger than she actually is.

The Sad Loss of Hennie Roe

Sadly...

Hennie Roe meet the Great Red-tailed Hawk predator. We were prepared with netting covering the night barnyard for owl attacks but never imagined a daytime threat of a hawk. Loud squawking was heard and when Mike went to investigate, the hawk spread its wings and looked at him--clearly this was his meal! Hennie Roe is missed, especially by her sister, Hennie Pennie.

No matter where you prepare your last bed,
No matter where the sword of death falls,
The terrifying messengers of death descend,
Horrid and giant; and glare with thirsty eyes.

Friends and family, weeping, surround you.
Eyeing your wealth and possessions,
They offer prayers and enshroud you.
Unprepared, you pass away;
Helpless and alone.

Poem from From 'Songs of spiritual change' by His Holiness the 7th Dalai Lama (transl. Glenn Mullin)

peanuts anyone?

Blue Jay

Cyanocitta sristata

Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genus: Cyanocitta

Characteristics
The blue jay is between 9 and 12 inches long. It is bright blue on top and white to gray on its throat, chest and belly. It has a gray-blue crest on its head and black and white bars on its wings and tail. Its bill, legs and feet are black. It also has a black "necklace" on its lower throat.

Range
The blue jay can be found in southern Canada and in the United States, east of the Rock Mountains. The blue jay is migratory and northern populations will move south in the winter.

Habitat

The blue jay is common in deciduous forests. It is also found in residential areas.

Diet
The blue jay is omnivorous. It eats fruits, acorns, seeds, nuts, insects, mice and frogs. Sometimes a blue jay will raid a nest for eggs and young birds. When a blue jay eats nuts, it holds the nut with its feet and cracks it open with its bill. The blue jays is a seed spreader. It often buries food to eat later. Some seeds and nuts are never recovered and grow into trees and other plants!

Life Cycle
The female blue jay lays four to six eggs in a nest made of sticks and twigs and lined with grass. Nests are made in trees and shrubs. The female incubates the eggs, although sometimes the male will help. The eggs incubate for about 17 days. Both parents bring the chicks food.

Behavior
The blue jay is very aggressive and territorial. Groups of blue jays often attack intruders and predators. They often drive other birds away from bird feeders. The blue jay is also very vocal. It makes a number of different calls including its distinctive "jay- jay." It also growls, whistles and chatters.

Other sites and sounds of interest:
International Migratory Bird Day
Free clipart for students & teachers (very nice line drawings, including a birds & botany catagory)
Official State Birds
International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC)
Nominate an Important Birding Area in New Jersey
All About Birds

Text from: NatureWorks
Map: ©2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Photo: ©2006 Sheila M. Parks

cold

2 frosty ducks on the farm























where is the head; where is the tail?






















morning coffee

Frost

A cold December day in South Jersey!

Willow Grove Lake Nature Conservancy Preserve

Weather and Fishing Forecast for Willow Grove Lake

Willow Grove Lake is located along Willow Grove Road at the border of Pittsgrove Township and Vineland City in Southern New Jersey, Salem County.

In 1994, DuPont donated the 1,000-acre Willow Grove Lake property to The Nature Conservancy of New Jersey.

Here are some pictures from a walk that Mike and I took.

Nature in New Jersey

Mike and I journey through the rural lands of Southern New Jersey!!!

Winslow Wildlife Management Area

Mike and I ventured to Winslow WMA on this beautiful fall day. Only spotted two birds but saw many fabulous forest views.

From Winslow WMA

View MAP

Rainy Day Birds

A rainy day in New Jersey. This fall baby is trying to keep dry in the window feeder!

Inspirations

Tina Modotti 1896-1942

Links:

• Patriagrande
• Tina Modotti-Wikipedia
  
• George Eastman House Still Photograph Archive
  
• The Tina Modotti Documentary Film Project
• Tina Modotti Virtual Gallery
  

Books:

• Tina Modotti: Radical Photographer by Margaret Hooks
• Tina Modotti: Aperture Masters of Photography Series by Margaret Hooks and Tina Modotti
  
• Shadows, Fire, Snow: The Life of Tina Modotti by Patricia Albers
  
• Tina Modotti & Edward Weston: The Mexico Years by Sarah Lowe
  
• Tina Modotti by Margaret Hooks
  
• Tina Modotti Photographs by Sarah Lowe
  
• Tina Modotti: Between Art and Revolution by Letizia Argenteri
  
• Tina Modotti: A Life by Pino Cacucci and Patricia J. Duncan
  
• Tina Modotti's Mexico: A Tale Of Love & Revolution by Bonnie Hayman and Andrea Alessandra Cabello
  
• Tina Modotti: A Fragile Life by Mildred Constantine
  
• Tina Modotti: Image, Texture, Photography by Andrea Noble
  
• The Letters from Tina Modotti to Edward Weston (Center for Creative Photography, No 22)
  

Frida Kahlo

The Two Fridas

The Two Fridas, Frida Kahlo, 1939

I

I am daily born and like manna
from the sky, rain down from a thundercloud;
I am dulcet blood of the virgin, the accidental spill;
the heart in the throat, the heart out of its cavity;
the chest a mocking hole, the dress mocking birth.
I snip my vein to hold my own;
I spill my blood; I bare the pain.
Jagged and messy behind the white bloom
that surrounds me, the frill that encloses.
Brilliant silence, brown to the bone.

II

Give me clay and I'll chew it.
Give me the serpent and I'll subdue it.
My heart is whole, watch it blossom.
No chest contains it, red breath pure.
These hands, watch how steady,
nothing will deter them.
Wild pelvic upturned, ground heels down flat.
Take leche at my breast, forget your deaths.
By eyebrow might, by embalm,
by coptic jar, I will keep you still.

--Ann White

Links:

• The Frida Kahlo Museum
  
• Modern Tate Exhibit 2005
  
• Frida Kahlo-Wikipedia
  
• The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo--PBS

Books:

• Frida Kahlo: The Camera Seduced by Elena Poniatowska & Carla Stellweg
• Frida's Fiestas: Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo by Guadalupe Rivera and Marie-Pierre Colle
  
• The Diary of Frida Kahlo : An Intimate Self-Portrait by Carlos Fuentes & Sarah M. Lowe
  
• Frida Kahlo by Robyn Montana Turner
  
• Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
  
• Frida Kahlo: The Paintings by Hayden Herrera