oh, sweet gloriousness. it's drizzling, overcast. all the windows are open and the house is 71 degrees inside (66 outside). tomorrow's high is 68. i have to remember this...this in august (and the memory of a very chilly june) when i am lost in a sea of misery that is created by hot weather. like this past weekend.

and it's almost september. which, at some point, means fall. fall leaves. less sun. more rain. cool, cold. then...october.

and yeah, i've been thinking about halloween. i bought some supplies this weekend to improve on my costume (just a few details were in need of upgrading). i still need shoes. and, i might need a second costume, depending on and what else is going on in stumptown (and/or the emerald city) for hallow's eve.

october means:
-the bitch magazine sm[art] auction (judy chicago!)
-i will be having a (small) party!
-halloween falls on a friday (shut up and dance!)
-i may be (co)organizing a costumed bike ride!
-i may be going to seattle again (H&M!)
-pumpkins!

(this post is so nerdy i almost got embarrassed and deleted it...but, i'm not going to.)

Taken from the best damn blog about the daily completion of a newspaper crossword ever.

Я совсем не против осени.
Только было б потеплей
И побольше яркой просини,
И немного журавлей...

На балконе звёзды ясные,
Даром что грязна Москва,
Что-то нежное и властное,
И скупое на слова.

Не успел найти подходящию музыку, так что наверстывая упущенное - представляю. музыку настроя на неделю. В прошлый понедельник был Xanopticon и Gorillaz. Сейчас, восстановление энергетического баланса со старым олдовым треком, какая там бочка... Не даром в Zoom 3 - Trance Generation использованы части этого трека:
Transwave - Adoration to the Aum


UPD. И ещё немного прекрасной музыки начала 90-х:

What a coincidence! I took some pictures of some birds in the backyard this morning...


Hide and Seek... I See You!

( Two more under the cut... )

 

 
Pretty little Wood Duck

Seagull in flight

First, a footnote to Monday night's post. As it turns out, those aren't ordinary TREES covering the hills I saw from the air. They were most likely shrubby palo verdes and lots of saguaro cactus. Apparently, the Tuscon Range (one of four mountain ranges that surround the city) is known for its saguaro forests. It's so cool to see those strikingly columnar cacti sticking up along the surface of the hills and along the top ridge.

My two best bird photos of the day were a perched female hummingbird (not sure what species), and then a white-winged dove on a nest. Saw a few hummingbird species for the first time, including a Costa's that eluded my camera...all my pictures turned out blurry. It was fun to see the western travelers ooh and ahh at the cardinals we saw.

It was hot, but not as bad as I imagined it could be. And now we're heading south into higher elevations so it'll only get cooler.

And, since photobucket is being testy and not letting me upload, here's a link to my blogger account, where I posted a couple photos.


Today, we're off to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita mountains. Then we drive to Nogales, a town on the Mexican-US border, for the night.

This pretty playful jay was photographed near Bryce Canyon . It was very interesting to watch it to play and feed. ;-)

( more jay here )

Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) in spring display. Palingbeek, Belgium
Токующий фазан(Phasianus colchicus). Палингбеек, Бельгия
( 2 more pictures 720x486px , 270kB )

This extra-green shore crab patiently posed after tolerating my toddler's ham-fisted handling. Everybody got out okay.

 

Давно такого не случалось. Первые признаки этой напасти проявились на прошлой неделе( ...Читать далее )

I didn't take this pic but I found it so very amazing I wanted to post it here.

this man.
this man makes my morning, every morning i take the bus to work.

he's usually perched (as pictured) on a street corner just outside chinatown. depending on the weather, he is sometimes in a kilt, but this is his usual garb. he salutes each trimet bus as it passes. i am in love with him.

one morning he wasn't there, and i was horribly sad, wondering if my morning was cursed without his jovial blessing...only to discover him one stop down at my transfer in a wheelchair (!), with a whitman's sampler box sprawled upon his lap. i took the opportunity to talk to him (of course, walking towards him with a big, beaming smile), was slightly unsettled from his high-pitched voice (i pictured something...deeper?): he told me to "love myself, no matter what" and i said "will do!" as boarded my next bus.

a few weeks later i had my camera with me, and decided to de-board a stop early to take a picture of him at his usual post. he told me his name (which i've since forgotten, of course) and i told him how i look for him every morning. he seemed grateful.

i love you, mr. bus-saluter.