Project Feeder Watch

 Cardinal-2, House sparrows-15, Mourning doves-12, Carolina Wren-1, Black capped Chickadee-4, Downy woodpecker-2, Red breasted nuthatch-1, House finch-1

Our main observer left the house today to get a haircut so I and another secondary observer came up with the idea of seeing a peacock or flamingo and taking a picture to show our main observer when she got home. No peacocks or flamingoes showed up. So the other secondary observer suggested we draw a peacock and take a picture of the peacock picture to prove our observation. Brilliant idea. Too bad I won't be here to put that plan in action next week. Also it's too bad her very loud whispered plan was overheard by the entire family.

The Vixen

 Simon Putnam graduated from Harvard in 1953. He lives with his parents on Coney Island and he lands a job with a publishing house thanks to his Uncle. In The Vixen by Francine Prose, we learn how Simon's life goes off the rails at the publishing house where lunches have three martinis and office personnel are chosen because of their looks in a tight sweater set. The literary group are not above crime and sin. Simon is assigned to edit a book that misrepresents the facts about Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. The book is a bodice ripper and very much not in keeping with the other books published by this company. Poor Simon is between a rock and a hard place because he is the new guy in the office and has zero credibility. His dilemma is the crux of the story. Does he edit a book that is accurate or does he edit a book that will bring in loads of money because it is sensational? 

Klara And The Sun

 Nobel-prize winning author Kazuo Ishiguri wrote Klara And The Sun. This dystopian novel is about an AF (artificial friend/robot) who helps Josie, a teenager with a potentially deadly illness related to air pollution. Josie is 14 and although she is ill, she is grateful for the company of Klara, her artificial friend. Klara is emotionally intelligent but her knowledge of the real world is very limited. Josie has a friend named Rick. At birth Josie and her older sister were "lifted" or genetically improved. This improvement comes with the risk of pollution related illness. Josie's older sister died from the illness and all signs point that Josie will die too. To hear the entire story from the thoughts of an artificial friend, especially such an endearing artifical friend as Klara, is an odd experience. Ishiguri is a talented author and I really liked his other novel, Never Let Me Go. When Klara describes the tense interactions between Klara's mother and father, his skill as an author really shines.

Roger Williams

 

 Today we went to Providence, Rhode Island which is less than an hour north of Fort Adams State Park. We stopped at Roger Williams National Park. We learned that Roger Williams was a rebellious fellow who believed the immigrants from England should not take land away from the Native Americans. He also believed in separation of church and state. In Massachusetts, at that time, a man could not vote unless he owned land and belonged to a church. People in Massachusetts jailed Roger Williams for his outspoken beliefs. He fled in the cold of February and lived in the woods with the help of his native friends. Eventually he went to England and tried to get a charter to start a new state of Rhode Island. He was allowed to settle in Rhode Island and start the town of Providence. Roger's outlandish idea about the separation of church and state caught on and were latter written into the first amendment of our constitution. The children completed a workbook and were sworn in as junior rangers again. After visiting the national park and walking around Providence for an hour and watching the children jump in leaf piles for a half hour we moved on to Roger Williams Park. Inside this huge park we toured the museum of natural history. I took the photo of the black bear from the second story landing. The museum  had an abundance of stuffed bears and birds. Upstairs we went to the 1 o'clock show at the planetarium. We sat in a round dark room and looked up at the stars while the constellations were explained. The planetarium show was interesting but after being outside in the cold much of the morning, the comfortable seat, the relaxing atmosphere and the darkness, I felt myself moving beyond relaxing towards sleep. If the show had been longer than thirty minutes I might have taken a nap.

New Bedford

 Today we visited New Bedford Whaling National Park. The children completed a handout of puzzles plus a scavenger hunt to earn their first national junior park rangers badges. Both of them repeated the words of the park ranger with their little right hands held up in the air. I was a proud Grandma. We also spent hours in the New Bedford Whaling museum. The museum has the bones of a blue whale and two right whales suspended from the ceiling. The whales were killed in boating accidents. The female right whale was ten months pregnant with another female when it was killed in a boat collision which was a sad day because right whales are endangered. Right whales are docile and live close to shore so they are the easiest to kill. Even though the blue whale was killed twenty years ago and the bones were thoroughly cleaned, oil drips daily from the whale bones. Some of the oil goes into a container near the mouth of this baleen whale but other oil drips on the slate floor. They expect oil will leak from these old bones for another 40 years. New Bedford was the epicenter for whaling 150 years ago. Oil was used for lighting and lubrication. Extending the work day beyond day light hours was a big then back then. Herman Melville stayed in New Bedford ten years before he wrote Moby Dick. Because it was a whaling port, New Bedford has a lot of cultural diversity. The whaling museum was good for adults but less interesting for kids. Although they could crawl inside a replica of a blue whale heart, most of the exhibits were hands off. Kids could go aboard a replica of a whaling ship but they weren't supposed to touch the ropes or open any doors nor go downstairs. Touring a large museum gets hard when the kids can't touch or climb on anything. This entire area is very touristy and would be fun to enjoy in the summer or on a warmer day without rain.

Coyote

 Today for lunch we had turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, biscuits, wild rice hot dish, cranberries, and a choice of pumpkin, pecan, or cherry pie. After eating all that we drove to Middletown for a nature walk. We walked until it was too dark to walk anymore. We saw red bellied woodpeckers, robins, blue jays, sparrows and a white throated sparrow. We walked through fields and forest. Luckily I found a magic wand. With my magic goldenrod wand and saying, "Bippity Boppity Boo!" I changed the children into different animals including cheetahs, stink bugs, Komodo dragons, T Rex, wild horses, coyotes, manatees and hawks. Later, as we walked near a thicket, we almost stepped in some manure left by tame horses. Still later we saw something moving in the thicket. The animal crouched low to ground but looked at us curious to see what kind of creatures were making as much noise as we were. We saw a coyote and the coyote saw us. I always say you are lucky on a day that a coyote deigns to allow you to see it.

Happy Thanks Giving!

 

Project Feederwatch

 

House sparrow-18, Mourning doves-13, black capped chickadee-3, Blue jay-1, Caroline wren-2

You May Want To Spank It

 

We had lunch in Rye, New Hampshire at Petey's Summertime Seafood and Bar. New Hampshire doesn't have very much sea coast compared to Maine and Massachusetts. Petey's motto is "Seafood so fresh you may want to spank it." I heard much ado about their great coleslaw from the people who wanted us to eat here. The coleslaw was meh. The veggie burger was meh. The French fries were good. I know I can't expect much from a seafood place.

Ogun Quit

Please do not drop your cigarette butts on the ground. our cat, Ogun, crawls out at night to smoke them and we are trying to make Ogun quit.

We walked a few miles of the very scenic marginal way sea walk. Ogunquit is very much a tourist town and it must be very busy in the summer.

Harlequin ducks, Eider ducks, and red throated loons dove in the bay.

The beaches here have fine sand. We saw clammers digging for clams this morning. A ranger checked the clams for bacteria before he allowed them to take them away. Then the tide came in quickly and clamming time was over.

This is the famous Nubble lighthouse is reportedly the most painted and photographed lighthouse in the world.

 

Ogunquit

 To me, Ogunquit sounds like a plea for peace but it is actually a town in Maine. Maine is one of two states I have never visited so I am excited to spend the night on Ogunquit tonight. Would I rather spend a week in Maine and visit Acadia National Park? Yes, but Maine is Maine and tonight I will be in Maine. The only other state I haven't visited is South Carolina. There are some states I have driven through but not really explored. Delaware, for example, is a state I plan to explore on my way back. West Virginia is another state to explore. This morning I am in Rhode Island. For lunch I will be in New Hampshire. Tonight and tomorrow I will be in Ogunquit which is a native name for "a beautiful place by the sea."

Sail to Prevail

 

Although I have walked by this spot many times before, this was the first time I noticed the Sail to Prevail program. Established in 1982, this is the first therapeutic sailing program for individuals with disabilities. Sailing season is over for now. This program serves both adults and children.

Pictures From The Norman Bird Sanctuary

Holly

Big Rock/Small Pond

Chickens

Reflecting On Reflections

 

Snow Bunting

 

Today after lunch I went on an hour long quick walk around the fort at an adult pace. This means not stopping to pick up every wooly bear catepillar we see. What is that bird? Is it a salt marsh sparrow?

Is it a Lapland longspur?

It's a snow bunting even though we have no snow.

Clifton Burying Ground

This morning we explored a cemetery close to the Newport public library.

The cemetery is on a narrow road and some yards open right up to the burial grounds.

These two mayors served in the mid 1600's.

Most of the gravestones are too weathered and covered with lichen to read.

 

Feeder

 

Cooper's Hawk-1, Black capped chickadees-8, Carolina wren-2, Mourning doves-12, House sparrows-20

On Girlhood

I just finished a collection of short stories named On Girlhood; 15 Stories From The Well-Read Black Girl  Library. Gloria Edim started a book club in 2015 called the Well-Read Black Girl Book Club. She selected the stories in this book. The stories are grouped into four categories including innocence, belonging, love and self discovery. I enjoyed the stories. I imagine the stories in this book are totally different than any well-read (insert color here) girl book club.

A Hard Woman

 

We pulled the wagon around Fort Adams with our picnic lunch today. "Take a picture of me on the rock," she says. "And I will take a picture of you on the rock."

I must be a hard, hard woman. Grandma is a rock.

Pell

 

Today I drove by grand girl #1's school where she attends first grade. When my kids were small community members were encouraged to visit and volunteer and even attend grandparent's day but those days are over. I just drove by trying not to act like a creep. This school is named after Clairborne Pell, a politician and writer who died in 2009. In 1972 he authored some legislation that resulted in the financial aid named the Pell grant. I think I might have taken advantage of a Pell grant back in the day. The famous Newport bridge which is just north of us was renamed in his honor. My granddaughter's classroom is upstairs. She said the lower level is for kindergarten and pre-K.

Civil War

 Living in a state park such as Fort Adams state park seems like a peaceful neighborhood. Yesterday morning, after breakfast, we heard cannon fire and musket fire. Civil war reenactors were crawling through the grass only a few yards from the fence in the back yard. A woman in civil war era clothing stood on top of a fort hill. We put on our shoes and started walking to the parking lot. We saw a man in a red and blue military outfit walk by. He told us they were reenacting the civil war. I asked who was winning. He said the score was tied one to one.  A grand daughter asked who's side we were on. Many thoughts raced through my mind. How to explain the civil war to a 6 year old within her attention span. Do I talk about greed or cotton or wealth or civil rights? I resorted to the lesson I learned in school. One side wanted the black people to be slaves and the other side wanted the black people to be free. Grand daughter said she wanted to be on the side of free black people. Next thing a lady with glasses, long hair, and a blue uniform crawled by us in the tall grass. She shot her gun. Bang! She laid down in the grass on her back sprawled out. Someone asked Sargent Major if Sargent Major was dead. Sargent Major replied not yet. The war continued. The lady rolled over onto her stomach and fired her rifle again before laying on her back again. I thought the Civil war was over but evidently it continues. How odd they continue it here at Fort Adams which was never attacked and not involved in the civil war and was far away from any Civil war battles.

Bittersweet

Today we had a picnic lunch at Sauchest Point Nature Preserve. We saw cormorants and ring billed gulls and Harlequin ducks and song sparrows. We were looking for bunnies and snakes and deer but we didn't see any of those. We saw an over abundance of oriental bittersweet vines. The invasive vines were so thick deer couldn't get through it. Some of this property is managed with fire and chemicals and machinery. The managed part of the salt water sanctuary is rife with ragweed and goldenrod and other plants. The less managed parts are thick with bittersweet. This oriental bittersweet is so cunning the plant changes the chemistry of the soil so that the soil benefits them and not the native species.

 

Eisenhower

This house is called the Eisenhower house because Dwight and Mamie came here to get away from the White House during his presidency. This mansion is just a few blocks from where I am staying. The house is available to rent for events. If you pay extra, you can have cannons shot off at your event. The First Couple used to stay at the War College but moved to this house because it is closer to the country club and Dwight liked to play golf. I can just picture Dwight on the veranda puzzling over the French Indo-Chinese situation. I wish I could go up to Dwight and tell him the stories of a couple of men I know who went to war in Vietnam. I think if Dwight knew the future he would have made better decisions.

 

Happy 5000

When I started this blog 14 years ago, I never thought I would get to 5000 posts. I also never thought I would be watching remote control sailboat races at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.

 

Newport Art Museum

The four year old I was with said, "I want to live here."

Here is the beautiful wood inlay floor in what I call the oak room. I wore blue shoes.

This sculpture is about being deaf.

 

Fall

 Let's think about fall. Not the sudden downward movement of someone or something that has lost balance. I am thinking about the season between the end of summer and the beginning of winter. 2021 feels like the longest fall season of my life. I left my home just a week after peak fall color. I experienced peak fall colors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. Now here it is nearly mid-November and Rhode Island is still pretty. Fall colors are somewhat muted by the sea but some maples and oaks are gorgeous. Yesterday we drove north for an hour and a half. Although the beech and birch trees were bare, that left more room for the oaks to show off their bronze, gold, orange and scarlet colors. The grass is still green and lush. Leaves fell as we walked through the town of Sturbridge. When I was a child I enjoyed running up and down our road trying to land each foot on a leaf. My hips hurt just thinking about all the jumping I did. I tried to catch some Massachusetts leaves in my hand as they fell. Some leaves were huge. I carried one maple leaf because it was pretty and large enough for me to wear as a hat. One lady who was watching the firing of the cannon-ball cannon with us remarked on the beauty of my leaf. Spring is my favorite season but fall is also nice. At the beach sand fleas bite my legs if I am bare legged but I prefer sand fleas over deer ticks.

Sturbridge

 Today we celebrated Veteran's Day in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The town was designed to look like life in 1830. In this photo fife and drummers put up the flag. We saw sheep, oxen, cows, turkeys, and chicken. We rode on two wagons with Belgian horses. We visited the school, the cooper's shop, the black smith, the tin smith, the lumber mill, the grist mill, the candle maker, the banker, the general store, the drug store and the school. We spent the whole day outside enjoying the nice weather, the animals and the atmosphere. We ended staying a lot longer than we intended. Hearing the clippity clop of horse's hooves as we rode in the wagon over a covered bridge was awesome!

Fort Adams

Since I am staying in Fort Adams State Park I decided to take a guided tour of Fort Adams. Here, at the tip of the Newport Island, is the iconic Newport Bridge in the distance ($5 toll to go over the bridge). 

This fort was never attacked probably because it was so well designed and fortified with grassy bluffs. Most people don't even see the fort when they drive by it. The place I am staying has a backyard patio that is right up against the fence that surrounds the fort.

In 1812 the fort was redesigned by Simon Bernard who was an aid to Napoleon Bonaparte until Bonepart was sentenced to exile on an island. This Bernard fellow was a genius. He included composting toilets and natural vents to clear the air of gun smoke after a cannon was fired. The steps are angled to repel rain and snow.

The walls are thick stone with granite archways. Brick surrounds the areas where the guns are shot because shards of raw brick are softer than shards of granite. The listening tunnels were the first thing to be installed. In the listening tunnel I could clearly hear my guide talking and he was 600 feet away. The incredible planning of this fort meant that any attacks would be suicidal. Maybe that is why Fort Adams was never attacked.

 

Cooler Than Snakes

 Yesterday we went on a nature walk at Sauchest Point. We stopped to look inside at the nature center which I recognized because I came here years ago when Offspring #1 graduated from officer candidate school. We walked along the rocky beach to the point. We were hoping to see a seal but no luck on seeing seals. We found five snakes. One was, I was positive, a stick. After watching a stick for 30 seconds it bent in half and slithered away. We guessed it was a worm snake. As we watched the snake crawl into a hole, a man said he saw other snakes warming themselves on the gravel path. He added that he also saw harlequin ducks on the point. We hurried to the point. We saw a raft of 30 dark ducks and two whiter ducks out in the bay. We figured out the whiter ducks were Eider ducks. I have never seen an eider duck before I starting caring about birds. So yeah! An eider duck (from which eider down is made) was added to my list. Closer to shore were two diving ducks. As they dived they shoved their bodies upward before descending. The wind was high and the waves were choppy. Wind blew the water spray across the crest of the waves away from us. I pulled out the binoculars. We saw two harlequin ducks fishing in the choppy sea. Double yeah! I saw eider and harlequin ducks today! Snakes are cool but ducks are cooler. Also, with a four year old, be sure to have some peanuts or Lara bars in your pocket to enjoy at your destination.

Alaska Rail

 

The Great Alone

 Have you ever noticed how some families move frequently and others don't move at all? I grew up in a family that never moved. When I was six months old I moved into a house and stayed there until I moved out 19 or 20 years later. I have lived in about 20 places. As a mother I lived in two places. One of my offspring moves all the time to all corners of the globe. The other offspring moved around some but now stays put in one place. So when I read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah, I thought the main character, a girl, was like Laura in Little House on the Prairie. Laura's father moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota to the Dakota's to Missouri. Although I was right about the moving frequently part, the father in this story is nothing like Pa (played on television by Michael Landon). Ernt Allbright is no Charles Ingalls. Of course Charles never went to Vietnam and spent time as a prisoner of war. Ernt moves his wife and daughter to Alaska. He wants to get away from society and live off the land. He means well but the war has broken him. His wife is all too forgiving. Ernt prepares his family for dire time by teaching them how to hunt and shoot and forage and build and give first aid. All of these skills turn out to be helpful. Maybe I liked this book because I just got back from Alaska. Maybe I liked this book because Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors. Maybe this is a terrific novel that you will also enjoy.

Channing

 Channing is the name of a guy who lived in Newport, Rhode Island. There is a statue of him in a park. Channing's father signed the declaration of independence as the representative from Rhode Island back in the day. Although Channing never went to this church, his name is on Channing Memorial Church which is where I went today for the 10:30 service. The church was beautiful with stained glass windows and wooden pews. These windows were not biblical scenes or saints but pictures of farmers planting seeds and people representing faith, hope and charity. The people in the church were very welcoming. They were so welcoming their eagerness sent my spidey senses tingling. Are they desperate for new members? The church wasn't full but it had about 50 or 60 people in physical attendance and more on virtual attendance. The speakers were members of the Latin X community. Also during the service was a two minute mediation in silence which I enjoyed very much. After the service we had coffee and sugar cookies and fruit in the old building behind the church. After this service I definitely felt I had an authentic Rhode Island experience.

Serbia!

Here is another picture from the corn maze. I took this shot from a platform constructed inside the maze that was twelve steps up.


This morning I stepped outside to sip my coffee and listen to the birds. I heard Serbia! Serbia! Serbia! That was the Carolina Wren. In this house she comes so frequently we call her Carol. I heard a white crowned sparrow, a song sparrow, and an Eastern Towhee. This is quite a bit different from the birds I hear outside my house in Duluth. I hung a dried corn of cob from the bird feeder in hopes of attracting a blue jay and not a raccoon.

 

Lost In A Corn Maze.

 Today we went to Escobar Farms to get lost in a corn maze. I brought my compass. After the first corn maze we took a hay wagon tour of the farm pulled by this tractor. The tractor pulled us past fields of corn and pumpkins. We traveled through the dairy barn and around a very, very large manure pile. Cow birds flocked around the cows. We could feel the frame of the hay wagon bend and shift as we went through a muddy corner. We went through the second corn maze and got lost again. Although the experience might seem over priced to some customers, the Escobar family might not be able to make ends meet with dairy, beef, corn and pumpkins alone. Perhaps our fall family activity is what the farming family needs. We breathed fresh air. We had sunshine on our faces. We made new memories.

Frosty Drew

 Last night we went to the Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center in the dark. No flash lights (other than red ones) were allowed. We stood outside in the grass while waiting in line for our chance to look through the telescope to see Jupiter and Saturn. A man pointed his laser pointer in the sky and pointed out the Milky Way, Cassiopeia, the big dipper, the little dipper, the north star, the northern cross, and all sorts of constellations including a huge dragon that took up half the sky. The moon was new so this was a perfect night to be standing outside in the dark looking up at the sky. Shooting stars went by. A group of loud and clumsy girl scouts disrupted the crowd. The girl scout leader apologized. I said there was no need to apologize because I understood. I did not expect that the crowded east coast of our nation would have such a wonderful resource as a dark sky unpolluted by city lights.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

 Anthropomorphizing is when you attribute human emotions to animals. David Sedaris anthropomorphizes a squirrel and a chipmunk in his book Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. In that chapter, the squirrel and chipmunk are on tinder looking for dates. The chapter about judging others and immigration involves a Vietnamese pot bellied pig. Also in the book are dogs, cats, parrots, lizards, snakes and rates. I listened to the audio version of this book which is read by David Sedaris and also two other voices. This is a laugh out loud book if ever there was one.

Feels Good To Be Lost

 Today was the first day I have driven in a week. One week off of driving was a welcome break. I drove alone to the co-op market for a few items. While there I got a message asking if I could go to the Newport public library and pick up some books that were already checked out. My saucy Aussie did fine in the car getting me to the market. She failed miserably getting me to the library which was 3 blocks away. I walked from the market to the library and back. Getting to the library took me a mile out of the way. But it was a nice day and I saw interesting people, interesting dogs, interesting buildings, interesting alleys, and interesting stuff for sale in store windows. Now my car is parked in it's parking space again in the Fort Adams state park for I don't know how long. Actually, it felt good to get a little bit lost again.

Hallucinations

 In 2012 Oliver Sacks wrote another book and this one is about hallucinations. I learned many fascinating things. For example, did you know, people who go blind including those who have macular degeneration, will most likely have hallucinations within a few months of loosing most of their vision? I did not know this and, by golly, this would have been super helpful to know a dozen years ago. Most doctors don't know this either which lead them to prescribe anti-psychotic meds for people who are blind but not psychotic. Hallucinations is a book that describes patients with respect and honor. I myself have had hallucinations. After 29 mosquito  bites, I hallucinate more mosquito bites. After picking 4 wood ticks off my body, I feel wood ticks crawling on me when there are no wood ticks and when there are more wood ticks. Last week I was on a large lake in Pennsylvania. I was standing up and talking to the naturalist when I felt someone poke me in my right kidney. I turned around to see who poked me in the back. Being on a moving boat makes it easy to think someone might bump into me. No one poked me in the back. The rocking motion of the boat realigned my spinal cord which caused my spinal stimulator to create a sensation in my right kidney. One summer day in 1982 I was sitting on my couch in my home all alone. I heard someone call my name is a sing song voice. I quit reading my book. I looked around. I heard my name called again. I thought I was loosing my mind. The third time I heard my name called I hesitantly answered, "Yes?" As it turns out my nice neighbor, Rose, had locked herself out of the house on her deck and she hoped I would enter her house and unlock the patio door. I was happy to do so because this meant I wasn't having a hallucination.