Leaf glow

I love how sunlight glows through leaves, flower petals, water. A bit of natural magic to lighten the day.

Fowl wisdom

During a walk we came upon this house, and wondered: What’s with the pole?


It’s an owl perch.


For a fake owl.

Apparently fake owls can sometimes keep birds from nesting in certain places. You can see the problem (in the first picture). This house has the perfect nesting place -- with the (unprotected) front door directly below.

According to the New York Times, Con Edison tried placing a fake owl by an electric transformer platform in Queens to keep parakeets from building nests there. The owl, which they named Hootie, makes hooting sounds, and has worked well enough in scaring birds away that they are going to install more Hooties. But the owls need batteries to keep hooting. To solve the battery problem, they plan to modify the Hooties by running a low-voltage electrical line to each of them.

It’s important that the owls keep hooting. Because if they don’t, birds get wise to them, as another NY Times story pointed out. In this case, some building managers in Manhattan were using fake owls (that didn’t hoot) to scare away pigeons. It worked for a while, but eventually the pigeons figured it out and even perched atop the fake owls. So now they reposition the owls every three months to try and confuse the birds. (I wonder if they’ve tried a “Hootie”?)

As per the NY Times:
Perhaps the moral [of the story] was best expressed by a spokesman for the utility, John Geoghegan: “You can fool some of the pigeons some of the time, but not all of the pigeons all of the time.”

Evening a-glow

Coming on sunset at Camel’s Back Park.

There are many paths to enlightenment. Be sure to take one with a heart.
~Lao Tzu

In the afternoon

A peek into a neighborhood garden.

Street art

We’ve come across this on several sidewalks around town. I like the gentleness of the image.

What’s her name?

What’s her story?

Extremes

This house is on the historic register.



This house isn’t.

They are within about three blocks of each other.

Memorial

In memory of those loved ones who are now gone;
in honor of the gifts they gave.

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!
~Maya Angelou

The sound of water

Nothing like sitting beside a gentle stream to take the edge off…


while sipping a glass of vino :>)


A happy weekend to all.

It all counts

uno

dos

tres

Just finished a six-week class in beginning Spanish. Among the things we learned were the numbers, verb forms, and names of objects.

uno tulipán

dos caballitos

tres ánsares

The class was a start. Now, the trick is to stay with it so I keep learning…


I bought a self learning record to learn Spanish. I turned it on and went to sleep; the record got stuck. The next day I could only stutter in Spanish.
-Stephen Wright

Esta Vida Loca = this crazy life

In the dreams of fish

These are fish…

these are fish on Photoshop

(Just couldn’t resist)

Revez bien...

In a wrinkle of time

As I walked out of the Nature Center to take a look at the river, I noticed something moving on my left. It was a Great Blue Heron. It was also going to the riverbank.

I followed quietly and took photos while it stood, scanning the river.

After a bit, it flew to an old tree that jutted from the bank.


Then, like a sailor on a gangplank, it walked to the end of the log...

…and flew away, following the course of the river.

This took place beside the greenbelt, which is usually filled with people on weekends -- but no one came by during this time. We were alone. As soon as it flew away, bicyclists appeared, as well as a few joggers with dogs.
It was like we had been inside a little wrinkle of time.

Lilacs

Lilacs blooming all over. Their scent always reminds me of May when I was a kid; school out for the summer, graduation, the leaves on the trees thick, fresh, and green. The weather still cool enough to enjoy doing things outside, before the dense heat of summer sinks in. May always seemed like a bright window of hope and adventure.


The world's favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May.
- Edwin Way Teale

Lost and found

A few thoughts about umbrellas:

A businessman needs three umbrellas - one to leave at the office, one to leave at home, and one to leave on the train.
--Paul Dickson

I wouldn't touch a superlative again with an umbrella.
--Dorothy Parker

In this world it rains on the Just and the Unjust alike, but the Unjust have the Just's umbrellas.
--Lynne Alpern

A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.
--Mark Twain

Bottle tree

Spied this bottle tree during a walk. You don’t see them much in Idaho, but they’ve been around the southern U.S. for many years.

The tradition came from Africa. It was thought that colorful bottles in the trees would attract – and trap -- the evil spirits that roamed at night. Once ensnared in the bottles, they could do no harm. The sound of the wind blowing around the bottles was actually the cries of the captured spirits. And when the sun rose the next morning, the light would kill the demons trapped inside.

Of course, now you can buy bottle trees to decorate your patch of green. Maybe it’d be a good thing – we could all benefit from fewer evil spirits…

Reflections

Have a “reflective” weekend -- and a glass (or two) of good wine…


In water one sees one's own face;
But in wine one beholds the heart of another.
~ French proverb

Duo in red

Exquisite tulips this spring, due to the cool rainy weather.

The red ones are my favorites.

Interruption

Spied this kitty sleeping in a window box.

She was not amused…

Life is hard, then you nap.
~"Anonymouse"

Hoping for good luck?

With all the rain we’ve had today, a fountain seems appropriate. This one is in front of City Hall. I wonder how many "lucky coins" have been tossed into the pool?


Three coins in a fountain
Each one seeking happiness
Thrown by three hopeful lovers
Which one will the fountain bless?
~ Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne

The Belgravia

Next to the CW Moore Park is the Belgravia building. Built in 1904, it was Boise’s first apartment building, and it has stone walls up to two feet thick. It now houses various businesses and offices. on top,

I love the balconies and the nooks and crannies of this building.

Isn't this staircase unusual? The steps are steep, though. I wonder what it was like to live there in the early 1900s?

A turn of local history

Scenes from the C.W. Moore park in downtown. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Moore was one of Boise’s pioneers. He opened a general store, got into mining, ranching, and later founded Idaho’s first chartered national bank.

The park is small, intimate, has a few benches and trees, and the waterwheel. A nice place to sit for a bit, have a cup of java, maybe read a book on a lunch break.

Besides the park, there is also an apartment complex, penthouse, and plaza named after him. His descendants still live in Boise, and are active in the community.