Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Linda Schaub
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Linda Schaub
- Who is that masked man, er … raccoon? #Wordless Wednesday #My new furry friend at the Park – NOT!
- “Spring is sprung. The grass is riz. I wonder where the birdies is?” ~ Anonymous
- Bewildered and bedraggled Snowdrops. Angry Robin bemoaning frozen worms. #Wordless Wednesday #Weary from Winter #3 years of Wordless Wednesdays for me!
- Ahh – Spring arrives today!
- Why a Duck? Why not a Seagull? #Wordless Wednesday #Marx (Bros.) Madness!
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FIFTY FAVORITE PARK PHOTOS
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- Parker noshin’ nuts
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Black Squirrel
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- Parker, my Park cutie!
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- Pekin Duck
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- Mallard Hybrid Duck
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- Midnight munchin’ nuts
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- Mute Swan
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- Goslings
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- Mama Robin
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- Seagulls on ice floe
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Parker chowin’ down
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- Mallard Duck
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- Northern Cardinal
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- Great Blue Heron (“Harry”) fishing for shad
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- Parker: shameless begging
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- Viceroy Butterfly
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- Great Blue Heron
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- American Goldfinch
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- Seagull
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- Robin baby (not fledged yet)
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Robins almost ready to fledge
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- Parker angling for peanuts
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- Robin fledgling
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- Parker making a point that he wants peanuts
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- Parker smells peanuts
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- Parker with a peanut
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Seagull
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- Red-Bellied Woodpecker
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- Pekin Duck
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- Starling
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- Canada Geese family
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- Canada Goose and goslings
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Parker says candy is dandy.
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- Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
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- American Goldfinch
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- Hunny Bunny
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- Parker looking for peanuts
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- The pier just past sunrise
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- Mute Swan
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- Parker in the snow
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- Parker and a treat
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Me and my shadow (a/k/a Parker)
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Seagull
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- Canada Goose
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Mute Swan
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- Fox Squirrel – Parker
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- Northern Cardinal
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BADGES
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- 02-02-2018
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- 03-13-2018
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- 03-25-2018
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- 03-26-2018
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- Year #6!! 02/2019
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- 04-13-2019
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- 11-21-19
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WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
What excellent shots you got!!
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Thank you Anne – it was interesting seeing the line of nesting boxes – there were even more that I left out.
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What Bird is it?
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Hi Michael – it is a Barn Swallow.
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Its gorgeous
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Yes they are … some of them are cobalt blue with buff-colored chests.
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I was wrong Michael – these are Tree Swallows – the Swallows in Monday’s post were Barn Swallows. I learn something all the time.
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I think I’d enjoy our Barn Swallows more if they looked like yours. Ours aren’t nearly as colorful. Just grey tones and all business, never seeming to spend more than a few seconds perched in any one place.
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These Barn Swallows were interesting. I wish I could have gotten closer but there was lots of rocks plus tall grass and I worried about ticks. Every single nesting box (and there were many others) had a Swallow standing guard – some, like the second picture, the Missus was inside.
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It looks like the Barn Swallow condo market is booming! Great study and shots Linda!
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Thank you Wayne! Yes, those Barn Swallows are taking advantage of these ready-made houses, nice and dry and move-in ready. Too bad the volunteers didn’t put a sign reading “Bluebirds only” … there were many more boxes along the shoreline and these were just a few of them. Did you notice how they are numbered?
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Yes, that means an organization put them up.
Try and find out who’s behind building and placing them there? Might be interesting.
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Yes, there is a Bluebird Conservation Club of Michigan and they construct and put them up. I took an interpretive tour at this park once and the guide was pointing out the boxes and told us some of the facts and also that they try to put the boxes 15-25 feet apart so that even if the Barn Swallows nest in there, they are still enough boxes for Bluebirds. I have never seen a Bluebird in the boxes though, just Swallows.
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Bluebirds must be the same size as Swallows to fit through the entrance hole?
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I have actually never seen a Bluebird so I was going to go to a bird site and compare dimensions – I Googled and found this:
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It is impossible to design a swallow-proof bluebird box because swallows are so much smaller and slimmer than bluebirds.
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Marge bought some wren houses one year … she had a wooden walk-out deck with a wide top railing. So she bought the houses and set them on the top of the railing. She was happy to see that wrens moved in a few days later, but days after that, she was disappointed to find sparrows had evicted the wrens and moved in. Sparrows are not nice birds – they evict birds smaller than them.
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avian bullies!
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A waterfront home. What could be better?
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Yes, high class digs and move-in ready!
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Home Tweet Home. love the title Linda.
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Thanks Andy. I could have put put “cheep digs” too!
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They look so peaceful sitting on their homes and enjoying the view. Nice series of shots!
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Yes they do seem peaceful and feeling secure in these sturdy homes. Thank you Rebecca – there were many more boxes along the shoreline; those were the ones I could get closest too and I wanted to show how they are numbered by the volunteers.
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Tree swallows. Very pretty!
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Unfortunately, these Swallows were not as close-up to get good pictures. They placed the nesting box stakes in rocks or grassy areas, so difficult to get too close.
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I couldn’t tell. The pictures look great to me!
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You’re right Eileen – these are Tree Swallows – at least the one up top is. I was just looking at a comparison. Barn Swallows were Monday with the buff-colored chest and these do not have a forked tail, more rounded.
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I think barn swallows are like cliff swallows – they build mud nests under eaves. Tree swallows nest in tree cavities, so they use nest boxes as substitutes, like other cavity nesters. I apologize if I have been a bothersome know-it-all. I mean no offense, and I really do think your photographs are awesome!
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No worries at all Eileen! Thank you for clarifying the difference between the Swallows. I am not offended in the least and am glad for the clarification. I am a learn-as-you-go birder. At this particular metropark they have excellent guides and interpreters and I have taken several interpretative walks and also a couple of interpretative boat trips. They were informative. They probably said the correct Swallow name and I forgot. I have mislabeled butterflies before and been corrected.
I was surprised to learn that the unusual patterns on the tree last week was the work of beetles. I should have known that insects caused this as years ago our oak trees got Carpenter Ants and had to be removed.
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Whew! I don’t like to make corrections to people’s blogs. It seems a little awkward at best. Yes, barn swallows nest in colonies, which is very different from nest boxes. Do you get any violet-green swallows or northern rough-winged?
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No problem at all Eileen. I should have known the difference as I’ve written about and posted pictures of the Barn Swallow’s nest in the rafters of the covered bridge at Heritage Park. The chicks were looking down at me from their big nest. No, I have never seen any other types of Swallows in any of the park venues I visit; I will watch for them though. This has been a good year for me for bird sightings – I will have Sandhill Crane photos and also Osprey photos (if the latter came out – I was in four parks over 4th of July weekend and have not looked at the photos yet).
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Great photos Linda!
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Thanks Ruth – glad you liked them!
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Love the different moods in each photo and then in the post as it flowed
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Thanks Yvette. It was interesting watching all those Swallows guarding the nesting boxes. There were many more boxes that were too far away to photograph. I was torn between using the nesting boxes for Wordless Wednesday, or those Barn Swallows I used Monday and finally opted to go this route.
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I like what you did with the moods in each photo –
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Thank you Yvette. One of the best things about blogging has been my renewed interest in photography. This weekend will not yield any photos as it will be very hot, humid and stormy.
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Beautiful pics of the swallows, Linda. I think tree swallows are much more aggressive than bluebirds. They outcompete them for the available nesting boxes.
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Thank you Laurie – it was pretty fascinating seeing all the swallows lining up on the nesting boxes all along the shoreline. I wonder how the volunteers feel about building the boxes for bluebirds? I have never seen a bluebird before. I am glad I learned they are tree swallows as opposed to the barn swallows in Monday’s post.
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Great photos, Linda. They must have youngins in the nest to see them sitting there protecting their turf. Cute title for the post too!!
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Thanks Shelley! Lots of boxes and a Swallow on top of each one – some were closer to me than others (otherwise going through the tall grass and weeds and rocks meant potential ticks). I only had that one picture of the two Swallows at the box – Dad on top of the nest box and the female feeding her youngsters at the hole. Glad you liked the title too. I was originally going to call it “Cheep Digs”.
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You’re welcome. That’s a cute title too! You’re so clever.
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Aww, you swell my head sometimes Shelley. 🙂
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😍🤗🥰
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Fantastic captures, Linda! How did you ever get them to hold still long enough for the pictures? I guess they stop flitting about when they are on parental guard duty. Tree swallows make use of the bluebird houses at our local arboretum, too.
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Thank you Barbara! You are right – they take their parental guard duty very seriously. Amazingly, those Swallows did not budge an inch off their respective nesting boxes. They were guarding the youngsters (and I guess the Missus too). Pretty interesting to see them so still at box after box along the shoreline. There were many other nest boxes, some too far away from the path to take photos of. I guess that is why I keep telling you I’ve yet to see a Bluebird like the beautiful one you recently photographed sitting on the wooden sign – the Swallows are keeping them away.
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I love how adroit Barn Swallows are in the air! They are aerial acrobats of top-notch quality! 😁
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I am also amazed Tom – I see them at Heritage Park as well and marvel how they “buzz around” the covered bridge, swooping, diving and going underneath the bridge without stopping. And imagine this – they also capture and dine on insects in mid-air too!
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They are a beautiful bird. At one of our Metro Parks sites, they had an entire field of houses for the Blue Birds, however, they had volunteers clear out any intruders’ nests. Your pictures are stunning Linda.
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Thanks Diane. I would have liked to get closer but lots of weeds and reeds (maybe ticks). I wonder why they don’t evict the intruders’ nests here?
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Good question!
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So picturesque! Lovely perspective and photo subject. 🙂
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Thank you Esther – they were all so diligent guarding their respective nest boxes!
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Gorgeous
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Thank you Redavons.
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How magnificent!!
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LaShelle – I am a learn-as-you-go birder. I learned the Barn Swallows I saw in the marsh area were not the same type of Swallows as were nesting in these Bluebird boxes. So these were Tree Swallows, (which you may know as you live in a rural area). I like learning new things … you don’t get stale that way. 🙂
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I’m forever learning something new too! We have a chuck-will’s-widow that lives on our farm. If you saw it you’d think it was a whippoorwill because they’re very similar but the chuck-will’s-widow makes a distinctly unique call to the whippoorwill AND they are going extinct! I saw the one that lives on our farm one evening and let me tell you… it was a SIGHT. I was absolutely elated.
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These Swallows perching on the dead tree made my day, so I know what you mean LaShelle. I would always come home with blurry blobs most of the time, but here they were so close to m and I think they were worn out as I hurried and took pictures lest they move, but they didn’t for a few minutes.
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Here’s the post I was referring to. Photography is such an amazing way to communicate ❤️ https://everpineforestandfarm.com/2022/02/11/love-that-jars-the-night/
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Thanks LaShelle – I’ll read it now.
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Let me know what you think!
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I enjoyed it very much and I follow a woman (another Anne) who lives in South Africa. She is a birder and I recall her writing about a Nightjar as I thought the bird name was so unusual.
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Nightjars are several different kinds of birds. They are so cool!
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The one I saw on the bird site really did have a face like a frog – I would love to see one catching bugs in its open large frog-like mouth.
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Yes! They are bizarre looking 😂 but in person they are spectacularly beautiful and when they fly they make a weird shape with their wings!
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Oh, I also wrote about it on my blog. When I head into town, I’ll send you the link 🥰
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Yes I read you had to go into town for your internet or use your phone. An idyllic life for sure and I can see why you thought you and Anne had similarities. They are in the mountains, with waterfalls … very picturesque and quite different from NY and I think you said you were from Chicago. A big difference. Southerners are so friendly. Anne is originally from Tennessee.
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The internet thing can be tricky sometimes but it’s also really wonderful. My son is forced to play outside while other kids are attached to their screens and we spend a lot of time together as a family. I typically just use my phone to download books or make calls to catch up whenever I’m in town 😂 sometimes I hit up the coffee shop after dropping Niki off at school and I sit there to write until I’m ready to post. Anne and you have such a unique voice when you write. I LOVE your blog!
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I was thinking when I read the post about how you sat out there near the fire and listening to the birds – an education that Nikolai won’t get from screen time or a book and he’ll be interested in birding and loving nature the rest of his life. Thank you LaShelle – we’re going to enjoy one another’s blogs and learn about what we each discover as we venture out in nature.
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I agree!!! I am already enjoying yours 🥰
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We do have a lot in common with our love of nature.
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Yes we do!
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I responded back to you about the watercolors – it went into moderation. Jen was keeping up with our comments, moderating as we were commenting. You will see it tomorrow, but here is the recent post I did about watercolor painting then I’m going to leave for tonight. It’s been fun visiting with you! This was a non-nature post … my painting, which looks like a kid did it, is all the way at the bottom of the post. I was in a 5K earlier this year and I did part of the virtual 5K where I knew the plein air artists were and asked if I could use their paintings in my post which I did. I’ve met them a couple of times and plan to join the group when I’m retired and feel comfortable with my skills (that may be awhile):
https://lindaschaubblog.net/2022/07/11/whilin-away-the-hours/
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I am going to have to start looking for barn swallows in nature. But it’s so much easier when you do it. 🙂
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That made me smile JP. I’d say you have to go to a marsh to see a lot of them, but we have many barn swallows at the park where I walk every day. They dive bomb the walkers and each other and are constantly in motion. This was interesting to see them lined up, defending their turf, er nesting box, which they technically misappropriated as they were put there for bluebirds.
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