Goodness. I really intended to be a bit more active with the posting, but, time has a way of getting away from you. This past weekend was spent hecticly celebrating my nephew's high school graduation in Hendersonville, TN. Any other extra time this month has been spent working on the yard, which has been difficult to do as my WORK schedule has been completely nuts. I wouldn't mind the hours so much, if I was making any kind of money. Ha.
There are a couple of things that can be crossed off the list now --- item #2 - 55 new FB friends - has been surpassed. I figured that would be a fairly easy one. It is so much fun to see what people from the distant past are up to these days. And when you get my age, it IS a distant past!
And item # 22, the Magic Birthday Garden, has been planted. We shall see how many of the plants survive - Neecie has already compromised one plant by relieving herself on it! I have all kinds of things growing in it - lots of annuals, as the bulk of the area has traditionally been my Annual Garden, so there are plenty of marigolds (my personal favorite) some lantana, salvia, vinca, and the State Fair zinnias that work so well for cutting. I have added some new interesting plants as well, some are perennials, including some new Asiatic lilies. I will get pictures posted as soon as the garden really gets going.
Other items are being worked on, including #15. Check the list. This one actually started May 12, 55 days before my 55 birthday, and ironically the 55th day of this Magic Birthday Year - that part was an accident, just the way the numbers worked! How about that!
More later, including some updated movie nights and bird sightings - incidentally, the bird sightings are for 55 different birds this Magic Birthday year only- so far, none of the sightings are first time life sightings for me, which is probably why I recognize them!
Now to play some bubbles in the backyard with the doggies before I go to work, Job #1 of the day.
More German phrases later, also!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
FOR MAY 5!!!!
OK, now this one's for my friend Gale, who suggested this for the Magic Birthday List. Item #19 (gee, it sounds like an auction list or something) was to play page 55 in the Klose clarinet book on May 5. And that's exactly what I did! But there was a bit of a complication - page 55 in the Klose Celebrated Method for the Clarinet is mostly duets - in the key of G. I therefore solicited some help from my graduating senior student Kate (who will be off to Purdue in the fall, soon to be my veterinarian, maybe?) and then later, much later in the evening, from my clarinet sister, Dana, who ventured in after a long day of teaching and band banquet to finish the last two duets with me. I am going to try to post the videos - hope it works. And those of you who are musicians as well, don't be too critical!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
BIRDING 101
Well, true to the schedule, John and I awoke early, very early by my standards, Friday morning, April 30, to tag along on the Wesselman Nature Center bird 'hike'. This was instead of our original plan to go to Audubon Park on Saturday, which ended up being a very good decision - the weekend was a total washout, and I know you know what I'm talking about!!!!
Wesselman Park was beautiful, and I don't know why, but in all the years I have been here, I haven't ventured much on the trails. I intend to do so more often now, and not just to see the birds. It is a very tranquil, idyllic place.
A little history lesson though before we continue. Perhaps you are wondering why I picked bird sightings as one of my 55 activities - I will try to explain. When I was quite small, my father got me involved in bird-watching, as it was called then. He is an avid birder, having actually studied Ornithology at Cornell. It was a fascinating subject to me, and I loved bird-watching. I had bird books, birdsong records, I belonged to the Junior Audubon Society and the Griggsville Wild Bird Society ("It's Purple Martin Time!"). Because of my father, it became an early passion. I even talked about becoming an ornithologist, proud most of all that I could pronounce and spell it.
Then I met the clarinet. And I began to realize, too, how much math would be required to study a science such as Ornithology in college. So, over the years, my early birding skills kind of fell behind. Now my dad - that's a whole 'nother story! He is still the champion birder of all time, and his skill and knowledge are legendary. It would take a lot more than my meager 55 sightings this year to compete with him! But the 55 is a start, and it gets me into wonderful places like Wesselman Woods on a beautiful spring morning, so I think this was a very good decision for the list!
I added 15 more birds to the list, making a total of 28. These were the birds we saw and/or heard on our short trek:
White-breasted nuthatch
Downy woodpecker
Yellow-rumped warbler
Rose-breasted grosbeak
Tennessee warbler
Carolina wren
Red-eyed vireo
Kingbird
Carolina chickadee
House wren
Bluebird
Field sparrow
Common yellowthroat
Red bellied woodpecker
Eastern phoebe
And, a DEER! She came bounding out of one of the clearings toward our small group of binocular-clad birders, stopping dead upon seeing us. Then for a full minute, we stared at her through our binoculars (though she was barely 20 feet away) and she stared back, before she twitched her tail and bounded into the brush. Aaah. I really do like to be outside, I've decided.
More tomorrow! MAY 5!
Wesselman Park was beautiful, and I don't know why, but in all the years I have been here, I haven't ventured much on the trails. I intend to do so more often now, and not just to see the birds. It is a very tranquil, idyllic place.
A little history lesson though before we continue. Perhaps you are wondering why I picked bird sightings as one of my 55 activities - I will try to explain. When I was quite small, my father got me involved in bird-watching, as it was called then. He is an avid birder, having actually studied Ornithology at Cornell. It was a fascinating subject to me, and I loved bird-watching. I had bird books, birdsong records, I belonged to the Junior Audubon Society and the Griggsville Wild Bird Society ("It's Purple Martin Time!"). Because of my father, it became an early passion. I even talked about becoming an ornithologist, proud most of all that I could pronounce and spell it.
Then I met the clarinet. And I began to realize, too, how much math would be required to study a science such as Ornithology in college. So, over the years, my early birding skills kind of fell behind. Now my dad - that's a whole 'nother story! He is still the champion birder of all time, and his skill and knowledge are legendary. It would take a lot more than my meager 55 sightings this year to compete with him! But the 55 is a start, and it gets me into wonderful places like Wesselman Woods on a beautiful spring morning, so I think this was a very good decision for the list!
I added 15 more birds to the list, making a total of 28. These were the birds we saw and/or heard on our short trek:
White-breasted nuthatch
Downy woodpecker
Yellow-rumped warbler
Rose-breasted grosbeak
Tennessee warbler
Carolina wren
Red-eyed vireo
Kingbird
Carolina chickadee
House wren
Bluebird
Field sparrow
Common yellowthroat
Red bellied woodpecker
Eastern phoebe
And, a DEER! She came bounding out of one of the clearings toward our small group of binocular-clad birders, stopping dead upon seeing us. Then for a full minute, we stared at her through our binoculars (though she was barely 20 feet away) and she stared back, before she twitched her tail and bounded into the brush. Aaah. I really do like to be outside, I've decided.
More tomorrow! MAY 5!
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