My best guess is that Ciara was born somewhere in the first two weeks of August 2007. For lack of a better time to celebrate, I hereby declare it: Happy second birthday, Ciara! (Sigh… she really does NOT like the flash, even bounced off the ceiling…)
Ciara at 2
Her brother Clancy was singularly unimpressed…
Clancy
There’s a little deli-restaurant on a corner in Newark that’s open only for breakfast and lunch. Since I don’t take the same route going in as going out (traffic avoidance!), I never see it when it’s open. And it looks so sad in the evening when I pass by and it’s closed.
The deli
My backyard is completely overrun by house sparrows. A birder on the camera forum says they breed like rabbits, and boy does that appear to be the truth. I think they’re on their third sets of hatchlings this season, for pete’s sake! But this one lost a few feathers from the back of her head, so she looks a bit odd sitting there on her branch.
House sparrow
My friend Tom says I shouldn’t be afraid to take more people pictures (though I’m not very good at portraits, casual or otherwise, and never feel as though people will be satisfied with the shots I take). So I was at a barbecue at his house today… and took a picture of HIM.
Tom
I haven’t had nearly as much time as I’d like to sit and watch my birds these days. Too many things to do, too little time to do them, no time to just sit and watch. So I was awfully pleased when I was looking out the window while having my lunch today and saw my little downy woodpecker was paying a visit…
Female downy woodpecker
I pass this pond in East Brunswick every week as I go to the organic farm to pick up my share (more on that tomorrow when I have time — red cabbage, potatoes, chard and Walla Walla sweet onions were the new things this week). And every week I have said to myself, I need to stop and capture that scene. Today, there was nobody on my tail as I got to this spot, so I pulled over and…
Summer on Weston Mills Pond
Summer on Weston Mills Pond
I envy my cousin Paula. Her two cats — named Louis and Ella, after Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald — pose beautifully for pictures (or at least she manages to get them to stop long enough to GET pictures). Me…? I have one cat — Ciara — who never, ever stops moving unless she’s on my lap, which is not exactly the best place for me to get a picture of them. And the other one, Clancy… well, whenever I pick up the camera, he’s just plain NOSY!
Nosy kitty
I am and have always been a nightowl. And that continues at this stage of my life — I even teach a class in the night program at the law school. Fortunately, I have very understanding employers, who — perhaps not enthusiastically, but at least tolerantly — let me adjust my work schedule so that I come in late and leave late. As in “after noon” and “after dark”, at least most of the year.
I like it. It matches my natural circadian rhythyms, and I think I’m more productive this way. But, occasionally, when I am in the building late into the evening, and pop out to the ladies room or whatever, that long hallway is very long and very very lonely…
Lonely hallway
Sometimes, in the office, you just need to get away from everything and everybody for a little while. Clear your head, calm your thoughts, recenter your world view. And in an office that’s predominantly male, it’s pretty easy for me to head off to the world’s BEST office hiding place…
Best office hiding place
Got into the office quite late today, so that means, inevitably, that I got out of the office quite late too. Had wanted to get to the county fair tonight — they’re having fireworks — but it was way too late for that. Maybe later in the week. So standing by the elevator, looking around, nothing. The elevator light goes on, nope, not interesting. I get into the elevator, punch the button for the first floor and it hits me…
Homeward bound