A “Strawberry” Team

Friday, June 21, 2024

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, the year’s longest day when twenty-four hours split to share equally the daylight and darkness. It marks the end of slowly increasing daylight and starts us anticipating a dark season’s gradual arrival.

The evening light lingered and illuminated us Moon-Chasers. We donned our uniforms, took a camera, and headed to an appropriate place near the airport on the city’s east side. We intended to capture this month’s almost full “Strawberry” Moon. We were going for that “nearly full” moon because commitments prevented us from chasing June’s fullest moon, happening tonight.

In lots of lingering daylight, we watched the rising moon. At first, it appeared very dimly, hovering almost invisibly over the tall trees and ridge of peaks that were our horizon. The barely visible Strawberry made us unsure we could capture it adequately, but in elevating the moon became clearer and eventually very beautiful.

Photos of that moon capture the eastern countryside’s dark sky. The darkness was a significant contrast to a lighter sky west and toward the city.

Susie and I did lots of moon and airspace shooting. We quickly recognized that we were in an area that invited playing, and we did that, too.

We love our Team Uniform!

Dear Friends: Ode to an interlude of beauty, fun, and friendship. Diana

Stretching

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

I have two days off! I don’t see tree limbs blowing outside, so the weather might be lovely. I’m so ready for warm and windless days. Get this: Two evenings ago, before going outside to feed my horses, I selected from my closet a long woolen coat to wear against the insistent, freezing winds. It’s mid-June!” Although the summer solstice is around the corner, I still am using inside space heaters.

Today, my first obligation is handling some waiting chores. Then I might take the dogs to the Badlands and give them a good run. That’ll also get me hiking, much needed after a couple of learning days of learning in a new workspace.

By the way, my learning there, so far, is less about selling jewelry than about handling department-critical routines in the openings and closings. Some tasks are physical and require lifting and bending that my back resists. Thankfully, my friend Susie recently demonstrated some stretching routines, which I’ve begun using. I hope stretching will increase my overall flexibility, and meanwhile, it’s boosting my self-confidence; I’m more willing to take on physical tasks.

Selling jewelry is a different animal. Selling an expensive luxury item requires technical knowledge about its design, structure, and worthiness. A jewelry seller starts by articulating specifics that address an item’s value while teaching a consumer. I’ve been listening as my mentor Marie sells. She has fantastic product knowledge and is highly sensitive to customers. I understand now that ahead my path is very challenging. While learning how to sell jewelry, I must also be searching to find my footing in that complex role.

Dear Friends: I enjoy learning challenges, and now, I’ve found a doozy. Diana

Play Ball!

Saturday, June 01, 2024

Yesterday, my friend Julie and I attended this season’s opening game. We watched the Bend Elks against the Walla Walla Sweets from seats high up in nearly full bleachers. Their game was pretty good, but we left at the top of the fifth inning because I didn’t have a warm jacket. (Here in Bend, when the sun goes down, the wind gets chilly.) I’ll go see the Elks again, next time wearing my new (official) Elks ballcap and new Elks t-shirt, and bringing an appropriate jacket.

I enjoyed seeing the game with Julie. She’s from Chicago and knows the Sox and the Cubs. She’s also a retired social worker. She observed the crowd around us, as interested in people as in the game. She pointed out relationship behaviors that showed people relaxing, bonding, and enjoying the game. In the noisy, busy stadium environment, her observations of family-like pleasantries spoke to the “human values side” of baseball.

About sociology and human values, yesterday, the department store where I work part-time said farewell to our manager, Lisa. She’s happily moving on in her career but she was in tears throughout her crew’s goodbye.

A wonderful leader, Lisa is alert and smart, quick-moving, technically capable, and people-oriented. She knows everybody who works in the store and likes us all, and she manages efficiently and effectively overall.

Here we all were yesterday. Lisa is in the middle, identified by a big, shiny necklace.

Dear Friends: After a memorable day off, I’ll be working and adapting to change today. Diana

Good Energy

Monday, May 27, 2024

Memorial Day has arrived this year on the heels of my birthday. My special day improved more last evening, by the pièce de résistance of having dinner with my friends Susie and Julie. Today’s header is Susie’s capture of us, in the excellent Latin-style restaurant–Mexican martinis, fine food, and a joint farewell to this Birthday, my best of all.

Today is for getting back into gear and keeping my mood high. So far, so good.

I’ll add a little about those Robins nesting among my barn rafters. I think the larger bird is a female and that she’s “My Robin.” She is back in her birth area and about to hatch her first babies. A little research suggests all that makes sense.

When my baby Robin fledged enough to fly away, it seemed a very involving saga had ended too suddenly. I kept wondering if the bird might return, and read that wild birds may mature and return to their birth areas to nest and raise their young. I gathered that full maturity takes a couple of years and that the lead returning bird likely would be female.

Here’s a fact: my baby Robin flew away two years ago! Without questioning the accuracy of my memory or my recalled learning, I believe my little Robin was a female. And as another birthday gift, she’s returned to her birth area and sits on eggs in my barn.

Thank you, Susie, Julie, Robin Bird, distant good friends, and colleagues at work, for making this newest year start off special.

Dear Friends: Positive and negative energies are generated by the eye of the beholder. Diana

Birding

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

My camera captured this watching bird from a great distance. The image is good but surprising because I couldn’t recognize the bird type. Its coloring suggests a woodpecker, but it has a seed-eater’s beak. This probably is of a common variety, and wanting to know has encouraged me to download an app that identifies birds from photos. I will learn the answer after uploading this photo from my computer to the phone app.

I love photographing birds, and they can be challenging. They’re fast movers and can test a photographer’s skills. There are thousands of species, each with a unique appearance and behavior. Some are incredibly beautiful, and it’s thrilling to capture their assets.

Photographing wild birds, even on or around my property, connects me with nature. Spending time observing and appreciating brings peace, relaxation, and inspiration. Plus, I’m learning, about different bird species, their behaviors and habits.

Bird photography is educational and enriching; there’s always something new to discover and capture. Bird photography and bird-watching teach lots and inspire sharing because almost everybody loves birds. And in the world of birds, there’s much to love.

Dear Friends: A bundle of challenge, diversity, beauty, learning, and sharing. Diana

Seeing

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

After discovering an automatic focus for distance shooting among my camera’s settings, I turned it on and pointed toward the most distant available object. High in the sky and nearly invisible to my naked eye except for its smoke trail, a commercial jet moving very fast seemed headed to Portland. The jet’s high speed and near-invisibility made me aim my camera at the smoke trail’s front end. I wondered if the distance lens would find the subject. I learned it could discover and neatly stop the action. A grand surprise.

The camera also has a dedicated mid-range automatic focus and yet another for very close-up captures. I never bothered to look for anything except an overall automatic focus, which on this camera has proved capable and satisfying.

I decided to try out the mid-range automatic focus. It produced images that encouraged me to adopt new perspectives on some trees on my property. I call this one, “My Dancing Trees.”

That mid-range automatic focus also neatly captured the late sunlight on the twisted trunk of a maturing Juniper.

Finally, I tested the camera’s automatic close-up (macro) lens. A tiny feather was lodged against the grill of my heat pump and fluttering rapidly in the wind. A challenge was the feather’s rapid shifting; only briefly did it flutter to an open position and reveal its spines. I brought it near the macro lens and waited, snapping in a perfect instant.

The camera captures excellent images. By using it as a manual focus tool, I’ll be pushed to create images that are as good as or better than these.

Dear Friends: Moving into manual shooting could create all-new visuals. Diana

My Robin(s)

Monday, May 20, 2024

From on high, this Robin (or its mate) always watches my every move.

Here’s why:

It’s safely tucked into a rafter. I searched for a while before seeing it. I’d noticed a mature Robin flying in and out of that hay shed often enough to make me wonder if it had built a nest there. Various bird types have nested in previous springtimes, sometimes in loosely structured and precariously situated nests located in worrying spots. This Robins’ nest is impressively safe. It is securely beyond my reach, my dog’s, and most other predatory types.

For several reasons, I love hosting and seeing that healthy nest. Robins build their nests in areas offering good shelter, adequate food, and water. This nest’s location suggests that my property is a good local ecosystem that offers essential resources.

I’ll be observing closely this intricately constructed Robin’s nest and maybe seeing some of the birds’ nurturing behaviors. I’m having a pipe dream: If I’m really lucky, maybe I’ll see eggs hatching and the chicks growing.

More is drawing me toward connecting with this Robin family. Several years ago, I rescued a fledgling Robin; it had fallen from a nest and was too young to survive independently. I raised that baby successfully until it could fly well and care for itself. I enjoyed every moment with that cool bird. My little fantasy is that it might be one of the parents caring for this nest.

Besides, I like to associate Robins with springtime and new beginnings. That nest in my shed reminds me of the renewal and growth that occurs in nature and inspires similar feelings in me.

Dear Friends: Now to work again, to create a special photo and “birthday surprise.” Diana

Bitties Insisting

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

My house is under siege by two tiny birds, apparently mates, taking turns tapping unendingly into a lower corner of a high window. They’re working too high for wingless me to reach them without a 20-foot ladder. Little by little a hole grows. The birds are tiny—chickadees or nuthatches—but determined. I watch and yell to no advantage.

Their chosen window is precisely where a Northern Flicker drilled a large hole years ago. Apparently, birds are attracted to high spots protected by an eve. I love birds but would drive away these littles. I yell and threaten, but they ignore me. The long-ago Flicker left an unsightly hole that, finally, a house painter made to disappear.

Now, here we go again. This time, it’s a bird tiny enough to leave space in my palm.

They’re so high up it’s hard to tell, but I think a Chickadee bird pair is tapping into my house. My first impression was that the birds were Juncos, but a Junco doesn’t drill unendingly.

It’s a wonder seeing these tiny birds pecking into my house siding, determined to create a nesting space. A little research says that they can and won’t give up until they do.

Dear Friends: I’m becoming an unwilling nest host to bitty birds. Diana

Split Screen

A jet flies northbound as the nearly full moon rises over Washington. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)

Saturday, March 23, 2024

The Worm Moon will be at its fullest while rising in a couple of days. Early today, its waxing fullness setting in the west and brightly through my bedroom window awakened me.

I enjoy photographing full moons and plan to try capturing this month’s. Additionally, the upcoming rising full moon will be exceptional. That event includes a solar eclipse.

While doing some pre-full-worm Moon-rising research, I discovered the photo that’s today’s header. I can’t stop wondering how it was possible to capture that jet crossing against the full moon so clearly. Maybe it came from using special equipment or from an instant of sheer luck.

One of my assumptions is that the photographer was near an airport, had previously seen similar crossings, and this time had special equipment and captured the image. Another assumption is that it’s simply from a good camera–a lucky shot, and likely software-enhanced. Whatever, it’s gobsmacking.

Assuming the image is from a professional photographer lengthens the distance between that person and me. It makes the outcome less about using special equipment and/or about general good luck. It’s more a result of having the wisdom of experience and the skill of anticipating accurately.

Dear Friends: Undaunted by the near-perfection, I will be out again trying my hand. Diana

A Moon Mood

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Yesterday evening, after driving up my driveway and reaching its top, I saw the moon, a mere sliver of its fullest self and crystal clear among many dark clouds. I felt instantly attracted to that sliver, sensed it as free-floating, and wanted a photo. I hurried into the house to become organized, get equipped with a camera, and hurry outside again. By then, the sky was full of dark clouds obscuring the light sliver.

I walked around while looking skyward to glimpse even a tiny bit of light. It was a no-dice situation that denied any possible hint of a moon presence. I couldn’t just give up, and so wondered why I’d been compellingly drawn to that sliver.

As a personal baseline, I love full moons. From earliest human history, they have affected all beings’ senses of emotion, intuition, and growth. Humans have latched onto the times of full moons to conduct rituals, release energies, and renew beginnings. The sliver moons might influence humans more subtly. Last night’s sliver seemed to encourage me toward introspection, internal growth, and maybe seed-planting for future endeavors.

There’s evidence that the moon’s phases influence all living beings. In humans, full moon periods align with our physical activities and emotions—external and internal. We are also influenced by slivers, constantly changing by waxing and waning.

Waxing crescent moons (sliver growing) encourage beings into modes of excitement and anticipation; waning crescent moons (sliver shrinking) encourage beings into modes of internalization and reflection.

I’ll add that any perceived powers of moon phases aren’t scientific. There are common perceptions (including mine) that draw from long-time observations of cultures and traditions.

Dear Friends: Today’s header photo is from the internet. Diana