APOCALYPSE?

THEY POSED THEMSELVES

The bad news is everywhere and the virus is in some places, but not yet everywhere. I don’t think there is any use of my overloading my anxiety system with too much bad news. I believe in good information. Constant bad news is bad news.

BUSTER CALMS US

Some folks think this is the end of the world. I have to disagree. Life the way we know it, good chance. However, having spent a fair amount of time in nature, I can’t see that the non-human life forms, that are everywhere, are going to be greatly disturbed by what happens to the human race nor do I think they will have much to do with a human-centric apocalypse.

BUSTER FINISHES FLOSSING

I know the blue jay, which for some reason was in our woodshed and who was above me, dropping bits of wood and stuff down on my head while I held my hand over the beer glass so nothing got into the elixir, doesn’t give much of a hoot about this particular virus. I wonder if she is building a nest? She seems reluctant to leave the woodpile.

FOLLOWING THE FOOD

“Perhaps the greatest achievement of man is his ability to die, and his ability to disregard it. Certainly poetry and paint are no deterrent, nor the high hurdles of the mind over the skulls of realism. Let us say, finally, that truth is not all that matters—often, it is the putting aside of a truth.”
    Charles Bukoski, Portions From a Wine-StainedNotebook

SALMON POOL'S TRAIL

Sue and I have always figured that being in a quieter, less populated area is physically and spiritually healthier, even if it may be a more difficult environment to live and function in. It has it’s disadvantages, but the advantages over-rule the negatives. Just ask one of my Kingston cab drivers.

LEAVING SALMON POOL'S CABIN

This reminded me of something Emily Carr wrote

​“That miserable chalky lifelessness that had seized me in London overtook me again. The life-class rooms were hot and airless. Mr. Gibb told me of a large studio run by a young couple who employed the best critics in Paris. Mr. Gibb himself criticized there. Students said he was dour and very severe, but that he was an exceedingly good teacher. I would also have the advantage of getting criticism in my own language.
I studied in this studio only a few weeks and, before Mr Gibb’s month of criticism came, I was flat in hospital where I lay for three hellish months and came out a wreck. The Paris doctor said, as had the London one. I must keep out of big cities or die. My sister and I decided to go to Sweden.”
              Emily Carr, Growing Pains

INSPECTING A DEAD BARRED OWL PROBABLY KILLED BY HIGH WINDS

“When I’m in a big city or even a smaller city, I find my body capable of handling the noise, rush and concrete for only a few days. However, I have found that alcohol and a clove of garlic, sliced or crushed and put into a BLT is a great help.”
        Larry Gibbons, Blog 105        

ICE BALLERINA

I’ve got some bird cafe’ information for you. You may not know this, but blue jays are rather aggressive and if they find your bird feeder they will very likely take it over. They eat and squawk and screech. They like to screech by stretching up on their feet while twisting their necks up towards the sky.

NOT SOCIAL DISTANCING

The last few years the blue jay patrons have increased in number to the point where we now have, some days, over thirty blue jays. The poor juncos, chickadees, grosbeaks, etc. just have to humbly peck where they can, never getting even close to the best tables.

EVENING GROSBEAKS TAKE OVER

However, last week, the grosbeaks, who usually only numbered around two to six, had had enough. They brought their friends and relatives. They took over the feeder. They flew in, in mass. Forty or more and it was humorous to watch. I saw one blue jay sitting on a branch, his head twisting this way and that way as he tried to keep track of all the grosbeaks who were flitting around in every direction and who had taken over all the good tables. 

BLUE JAY AT BAD TABLE

Way to go Grosbeaks.

EARLY MORNING ICE COVERED TREES

SUE RESTING ON A BIG SNOWBALL