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On the Way Home

Friday, March 7, 2008

Most of our walks this winter have started sunny and ended cold and cloudy, like some of our days. Day after day, it dawns gray and freezing. I raise the blind, sigh, "Just another day in Paradise!" and start my day anyway. Boy. Am I ready for spring. This feeling seems not to be mutual.

On the way back from one such walk, I snapped some pictures of Chet Baker in his groovy red sweater. I like the way the sweater gives a punctuation mark to the winter scene. The acrylic yarn actually seems to flouresce in low light. Thank you, Sue, for your knitting artistry. Your art has kept Chet warm on many an adventure.

Baker usually starts a long walk by lightening his load. Poor dog. Can't escape the paparrazzi.
There was so much to investigate, like this little Pooh Corner style house. We lifted the bin with a bit of trepidation, though not as much as we'd have felt in copperhead season, and decided it was home to an upscale chipmunk.
Baker can't pass this tree without walking the plank.
Which is no small thing, once he gets to the place where it broke off. I always hold my breath until he turns around and comes back. But I like watching someone, be it dog or child, explore his potential without too much nattering or nagging from me.

Coyote. I know it. I don't much like coyotes.
Chet in the shadow of a hill, looking into sunlit woods.
We start for home, up the twisting road. We've never met a car on this township road. When we hear one, we melt into the woods.
Are you coming, Mether?
Last hill toward home. The big oak looms.
Little dog, home.

I'm posting this from Nebraska, where Bill and I will be performing music at Bluebirds Across Nebraska's hosting of the North American Bluebird Society's meeting. It's being held in conjunction with the Rivers and Wildlife Festival at the Rowe Sanctuary near Kearney, Nebraska. We literally blew in from Guatemala at midnight last night, to be greeted by a whirling blizzard and single digit-degrees. Somehow, that's just what we'd expected, so it wasn't a shock, except for my sockless ankles in cropped pants. We just gave back-to-back seminars and are due to play music in a couple of hours. Much scurrying around after rental guitar, cords, microphones, lyrics, scribbled set lists. Why anybody would want to hear a couple of people who have been sitting on airplanes for 20 hours try to sing is beyond me. We'll give it the ol' college try.

It's beautiful here, though; the air is thick with snow geese and cranes, and we're looking forward to seeing some tomorrow, after a few hours of that thing we fondly remember as sleep.
I notice that my blog elf, who was supposed to post while I was gone, seems to be sleeping. Sorry about the hiatus. I'll try to make up for it over the weekend.

12 comments:

I'm sure your audience will be treated to a fine night--even if you're tired travelers by now.

Enjoy! Ohio's being buried in a blizzard!

both our puppies are so wimpy that when they let go due to the concentration and being spoilt end up with tender paws and walk in three legged poor little things .

SPRING IS COMING ???? Just a question of when snow forecast again for WI again tomorrow and -7 when will it end

steve

My goodness, even Chet has a role in the Zickefoose feces-in-the-woods narrative. It's a family deal, hey? Or should I say, eh?

How absolutely small this big little dog looks against his environment. You have some beautiful shots here, especially Chet-on-a-limb. (Or trunk!)

Your blog is always such a pleasure to read. Thanks for keeping it going!

Thank goodness for Chet Baker's dayglo sweater--you can spot him a mile away with it.

You've been missed and the assumed offering of Guatemala and Sandhill posts to come just might assuage that sense of being left behind.

The dot of red Baker against the gray ground and gray sky is both tres chic and poetic -- reminds me of the work of some cutting edge avant-garde photographer. The Cristof of Ohio you are!

However, you need to add a warning to those of us afraid of heights - I CANNOT look at Baker out on the edge of that limb without swooning, nauseating vertigo and wanting to leap into the screen to catch him. Ugggh. Only birds should be that high!!!

Stay warm, sing like a lark and then get home!!! Migration is tough indeed!

Love Baker's sweater! He shines in all the photos, and it must make it much easier to see him as he goes exploring. Have fun in Nebraska and say hello to the snow geese!

I'm sure your audience will be pleased!

Your photos of the little red dot in the distance make me smile, as usual. And I feel a little jealous, too, because I wish my little dogs had Baker's freedom to roam and explore. I've never seen them walk a plank nor have I seen them so far away from me!

Have a safe return!

Chet looks like a superhero in that get-up, tracking down evildoers, and pursuing truth, justice, and the American way!!! (...perhaps even faster than a speeding bullet).

I have enjoyed the winter walk series, and am glad to hear you made it back to the States safely. Sorry about the weather - wait till you get home! Ten inches of snow on the front deck at 6am and no sign of stopping throughout the day. The good news is I am off work, so I'm hunkering down with my dogs, a fire, videos, and a quadruple batch of suet dough to dole out to my bird friends.

From 70 degrees with spring peepers and woodcocks on Monday to a foot of snow and blizzard warnings on Saturday --- just another week in Ohio!

~Kathi

Oh Julie, priceless photo of the lil' pooper with the tongue sticking out.

I want to tell you how much I appreciate your putting up some posts while you're gone. Tell the blog elf 'way to go'. I agree with katdoc -the winter walk series is beautiful. What amazing colors.

Get home safely and have a good sleep. It's snowing like a bad thang here in Ontario and I'm dreaming of peepers, peents and all the rest.

Music? You sing? I'm not sure what's more surprising to me--flying in from Guatemala to Nebraska (hunh? That's like an oxymoron, complete opposites) or finding out you're a musician in addition to artist, writer, birder, dog-lover, etc.

Posted by Granny Sue March 8, 2008 at 7:55 PM
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