NEWFAZE

The kindness of strangers

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Jay McLaughlin

7 February, 2016 The kindness of strangers

A young man I spent time with once bolted into the ladies room. And immediately undressed. And more. I’ve depended on the kindness of strangers. A bit of photography from this week, and I’ll elaborate on that story at the end of this post.

I lucked out (again) on a hawk picture Monday (1 February) from across the street. It’s not a brilliant picture and it could have been taken anywhere – but I’ve never gotten two flying Red-tails in decent light:

Pair of flying Red-tails – I saw four at the same time!

As an aside, I took that picture on February 1 – marking the tenth consecutive calendar month I’ve seen Red-tailed hawks in my neighborhood. So I’m sure they’re year-round hawks, here, at least this year-round.

I’ve gotten lots of single Red-tails in decent light, and this one isn’t brilliant, but it’s perched in an actual tree. Which is a more attractive setting than the industrial grade galvanized power line tower where I often photograph them. I looked at the time stamp; I took this picture three minutes after I took the one of the flying pair. So it must have been near here:

A Red-tail perched on an actual tree.

Just to give an idea, this is the view from my driveway. It’s zoomed way in, but it’s neat to be able to stand near my car and tell if there are hawks on the tower:

The view (at 200x zoom) from my driveway.

I began trimming some branches back so I’d still have a clear view when the leaves come out in a month or two. Evelyn noted that I don’t muster that much energy when it comes to household chores. When I told one of my brothers about that, he described the scene he visualized. Me out in the driveway with boots and jeans and gloves and an ax and a chainsaw, cutting and splitting and hauling heavy loads of firewood. Then going inside and saying “I’m sorry honey, that Swiffer™ is just a little bit too much for me.” They both know me too well.

I’ve been off my regular routes this week and haven’t taken a million photographs. Which is about how many I have to take in order to get two or three good ones. So here are the few I did get.

All male buffleheads look the same; if you’ve seen one you’ve seen every one. But they’re striking birds and I always enjoy seeing them. They are never (in my experience) close to shore. It’s nice when they cooperate by not diving as I press the shutter button:

Nattily attired male Bufflehead at Pony Pasture.

Just a few steps later this pretty female Downy Woodpecker hopped on a log and began tapping:

Female Downy Woodpecker. Stripes don’t make her look fat.

If you’re interested, it’s easy to distinguish male Downy Woodpeckers from females. Males are identical to females except see that white stripe just above her eye? The back third (roughly) of that stripe on a male is bright red.

This is not an award-winning picture (far from it) of an American Robin (Turdus migratorius). All robins we see in North America are American Robins. Here’s one I saw Friday afternoon in Glen Allen (that’s in North America):

Only in America:

There’s another robin called the European Robin but – you guessed it – not in North or South America. All robins you see (if you’re anywhere in the U.S.) are American Robins. They’re considered a sign of Spring, and they’re mighty cheerful, but it’s easy to find a robin 365 days a year here in Richmond.

There are daffodils coming out of the ground – I took a couple of pictures – but I haven’t seen any flowers yet. They’re imminent. I’ll post one when I get it. I wouldn’t be surprised to get one this week. We’ll see.

It was ten years ago this week that Ivory and Nicky and I set out on our journey to the Yukon Territory. My old friend Cris surprised us at Starbucks to see us off. Groundhog Day, 2006. Completely by chance he had a free morning today. He joined Mackey and Turner and Yuki and me for our hike this morning. It’s startling how fast ten years go by! I kept a blog on that trip but I wasn’t much of a photographer then. The first post just has one unoriginal picture. This is a link to the blog post from the day I left: February 2, 2006. There are a few posts in between, then one from seven days later. My friend Pat had flown to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in – I swear I’m not making this up – Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. We started driving north through the Canadian Rockies. In this post there is some text (a lot) but also two pictures. Click on Brief update to see the post. One picture is Ivory and Nicky climbing a snowbank next to the highway. Pat’s making a sandwich on the hood of my green Subaru. The pictures are tiny; click on them and they get larger. The second picture is of the snowy Canadian Rockies.

The trip to the Yukon was so Ivory and Nicky and I could volunteer at the “other” 1,000 mile sled dog race – the Yukon Quest. Twenty-three teams started yesterday at 3:00 PM our time (11:00 AM Alaska Standard Time) in Fairbanks, AK. The race has been held for over thirty years. The fastest it’s ever been done is 8 days, 14 hours. When we were there in 2006, Lance Mackey won, which is why I have a dog named “Mackey”. While we were in Whitehorse Ivory and Nicky and I had the visit of a lifetime at Muktuk Kennel, owned by Frank Turner, seventeen time Yukon Quest finisher. That’s why I have a dog named “Turner”!

If you’re interested in this nerdy sort of thing, it was 10,300 miles from pulling out of my driveway to pulling back in. You drive from Richmond (VA) to Seattle then take a right and drive 2,000 miles north. I pulled out of my driveway on February 2 of 2006. and pulled back in on March 9. I spent ten days driving up, two weeks in the Yukon, and ten days driving back. With lots of stops to visit friends in Kentucky, Colorado, Washington and Oregon – flip through that old blog if you want to see some pictures. Including a few of me from a decade ago!

Enough for the week – a story, then I’m off until next Sunday. Have a great week!

All best,

Jay

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The kindness of strangers

A guy I spent time with years ago bolted into the ladies locker room. Some time in the early 2000’s. We had just finished swimming and were walking back to the men’s locker room. He didn’t give any warning – he doesn’t talk – and one moment he was next to me and the next he had vanished. Behind the door that said LADIES in large, clear capital letters. There was zero chance he would hurt himself or anyone else, so it wasn’t an emergency. I was in a mild panic when a pleasant looking middle-aged woman left the pool and walked toward me. “Ma’am, my friend just went in there” I said, motioning toward the closed door. “Would you mind asking him if he’d come back out here?” She smiled understandingly and said it would be no problem at all. She walked in then came back out a second or two later. “He’s in there but he took off all his clothes. I’ll help him get dressed again. It will only take a moment.” I thanked her sincerely. Remember, this is a random human being neither of us have ever met.

About another ten seconds passes and she comes back out and with an apologetic shrug says “he pooped on the floor.” Fortunately for both of us there is no shortage of kind strangers. She helped me round up some female staff members who went in there and cleaned up and cleaned my buddy up and brought him back out. Dressed and ready to go.

I am so fortunate. Most of us are so fortunate. I suspect some people who read this blog are strangers to me. I’m sure you’re a kind person! It makes the world go ‘round.

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Posted in Birds, buffleheads, Downy woodpecker, Fun, Pony Pasture, raptors, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, robin, Starbucks | Tagged buffleheads, Dogs, Downy woodpecker, Fun, james river, nature, outdoors, Pony Pasture, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, robin, Smiles - human AND dog smiles! | Leave a comment

Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Jay McLaughlin

31 January, 2016 Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play

Kids threw poop at me. “It was twenty years ago today,” give or take a month. Not when I was a kid – when I was an adult. A few pictures (pleasant pictures), a bit of text, more about that first sentence at the bottom.

I’ve taken a few adequate pictures this week, but nothing I’m in love with. If I had to choose a favorite, it would probably be from today, when Mackey and Turner and Yuki and I hiked at Pony Pasture. It was a bit soggy and a bit sloppy but sunny and pleasant. The dogs have fun no matter what:

My Neapolitan boys taking a break, mid-hike. Boy we had fun today.

I just recalled I took one other reasonable picture today. I was in a place where I’d never seen deer before so I wasn’t ready. They are so fast. I had time to pick up my camera, flick the lens cap off and press the shutter three times before the deer vanished without a trace. Only one image had a deer in it! Here it is:

Deer in the center, running. Deer on the left, watching.

The deer in the center is moderately obvious, if you know you’re looking for it. She’s in mid-air, leaping from left to right and her white tail is pointing straight up. Then I saw a second deer in the frame. Possibly you’ve already seen it too. If not, look immediately behind her at the left edge of the frame. You can easily make out the front half of another deer, watching her run. You can see the other deer’s front legs, her ears and you can see her right eye in the sliver of space between two small trees. I’ll have my eyes peeled next time I’m in that area. But the deer change their paths when there’s snow on the ground.

There were lots of gulls on the river this week, much lower down (downstream, east of the rapids) than they’ve been so far. The river was a bit high today, just over six feet, but not terribly. I believe the water temperature or some other factor is making them move around.

Seagulls (mostly Ring-billed) on the James River at Pony Pasture.

I also believe the animals are detecting the slow advance of spring. It’s a long way off, but the sun is already above the horizon for forty-five minutes longer than it was in late December. It’s still cold and snowy and dark, but you’d better believe these animals are feeling the trend.

Speaking of animals feeling the trend, here’s a picture of a handful of mallards I took at Pony Pasture earlier this week:

Mallards are flocking up on the creeks at Pony Pasture.

There were more mallards today – it was incredible – but the light wasn’t that pretty and the pictures were junky. The whole reason I was taking pictures today was the volume of mallards. In the same spot I took the above picture on Thursday there were twenty-seven mallards! It’s remarkable. I have a difficult time feeling good about Canada Geese – as ubiquitous as mallards or more – but mallards make me smile. Maybe it’s those green heads or that they’re always in pairs or something. We will not soon run short of mallards.

Robins either, of course. We have 365-day-a-year robins in our temperate Richmond climate, but a few early migrants are flocking up as well. My friend Clark and I hike on the north bank of the river downtown in the early afternoon. So on pretty days, the sun is shining directly at it and everything comes out to warm up. I didn’t get any brilliant pictures, but here’s a marginal shot:

Some robins don’t wait for the snow to go away.

The dogs surprised a Great Blue Heron in the creek bed by the golf course at Pony Pasture Thursday. It popped up into a tree and waited for them to leave.

This is a heron thinking “I’m glad dogs can’t climb trees.”

Can’t go a week without a Red-tail picture. I only became aware of them last May (2015) and began studying them then. And paying close attention. So I’ve still been thinking they’d head south for the winter. But this was the final week of January and they’re the most active they’ve been. I suspect this is pre-nesting behavior or pre-courtship behavior or something of that nature. The longer they’re here, the less likely it is they’ll leave. I haven’t seen a rabbit in forever, but there are practically as many squirrels in my neighborhood as there are mallards at Pony Pasture. Plenty to keep a Red-tail’s crop full:

A pair of Red-tails waiting for an unwary squirrel.

A pair of Red-tails wait for an unwary squirrel.

Tomorrow is February 1 – I hope to see the Red-tails again. February will mark my tenth consecutive month of Red-tail sightings – if I get one. Come back next week if you want to find out! Come back next week even if you don’t want to find out!

I mention this again below, but Evelyn has been encouraging me to dabble in memoir. When I was in rehab after my accident in 1988, the therapists asked me to keep a “memory log.” It got me in the habit of writing things down and now it’s almost 28 years old. If I printed it out it would stretch to the moon and back. This next section – and probably next week’s, and the week after’s – is excerpted from old journals. I hope you enjoy!

Until next week,

Jay

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Around twenty years ago, I had a freshly minted Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a brand new job working with kids with severe emotional problems. Here’s a journal entry from that era: “4/19/96 22:13 Fri 7607 [[my street address at the time]] Well, once again, I’m living in interesting times [referring to the alleged curse ‘may you live in interesting times’]. [My job] is making them extremely interesting. I’ve got kids who eat too much, and use vomit and feces as weapons. I have a man who attacks men. I’ve got everybody. But sometimes they sing. And I play basketball with them.”

Evelyn has been talking with me about writing memoir, and given me good books to read. I’ve been journaling since my accident. Twenty years ago I was working in a school setting with kids with cognitive and emotional difficulties.

I’m fortunate to have old emails, and that I come from a family of writers. In May I wrote to my parents:

===

5/17/96 Fri 13:50 7607

I probably won’t have nightmares about it, because I’m not a nightmare type person, but at the same time I’ll probably never forget the sight of [[a student]] walking out of that right-hand stall in [the big bathroom at work] today, zombie-like, a soft and putrid brown mound of his own feces overflowing out of each end of his hand. I’ve since learned that I need to give him choices, so I should have said to flush that back down one of those three toilets, but I just told him to flush it back down the toilet, so he threw it at me. My reflexes aren’t particularly fast, but his are even slower, so that initial launch landed in a blob on the edge of the sink. I was still clean up until that point, but when he attacked me, it was all over. Scratch one new shirt from Eddie Bauer. I didn’t need those top buttons anyway. I’m glad I was able to keep him from biting me. I was glad when [a supervisor] happened to appear at the door.

We’ve got another guy there, […], and he’s attacked a lot of people, mostly males, and before he attacks, he asks them to puff up their cheeks.

===

I later wrote to my parents describing the aforementioned incident.

Here’s my Dad’s response, in part:

Date: Sat, 18 May 1996 00:20:32 -0400

To: Jay McLaughlin <>

From: “W. M. McLaughlin” <>

Subject: Re: Crappy day at work

At 23:05 5/17/96 -0400, you wrote:

>We’re not going to have to do this very often in the future.”

Jay, you are truly a wonderful person. I am so damn proud of you it hurts to think about it. I don’t know what we did to have such a wonderful offspring. We lose people in the squad when a pt. merely craps in his or her diaper, (“Code Brown”) or pukes in their own lap (Code Green) and doesn’t get any on anybody.

At some point it will become more than you can deal with. Please take a time out the very first instant you feel that way (or as soon as you can be decontaminated). Then, take time to think of whether or not you want to step back into the situation.

Fortunately, you are “A&OX4” as far as I can tell (Alert and Oriented to time, place, date, situation), your pts are not. Maybe this is one of the things you learn on the 17 year plan. [My dad’s positive take on the length of time it took me to earn a Bachelor’s degree, what can I say]. However you learned it, you are a damn fine person and I am proud to know you. I think I need to get to know you better.

Much Love,

Dad

PS – Don’t rely on our Codes Brown, Yellow, and Green. They have other meanings in other organizations. Only Code Blue seems to be universal, it being the Ultimate Code for us all.

—

“It’s a magical world, Hobbes . . . Let’s go exploring!”

Mike = W. M. McLaughlin = <>”

So, that’s what it was like to correspond with my Dad. You could write about people throwing poop and he could write about people puking “in their own lap” and he’d still sign off with ““It’s a magical world, Hobbes . . . Let’s go exploring!”“ That’s also why a lot of other things I’ve encountered in my work are a less-big-deal.

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Posted in Birds, disability, Dogs, Fun, James River, Pony Pasture, raptors, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!), whitetail deer | Tagged disability, Dogs, Fun, james river, nature, outdoors, People, Pony Pasture, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, smile, Smiles - human AND dog smiles!, whitetail deer | 6 Comments

Red, white and blue

Posted on January 24, 2016 by Jay McLaughlin

24 January, 2016 Red, white and blue

I started this post before the snow. The first title was “I’m seeing red” because I saw this Red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) while hiking with Ethan at Bryan Park Tuesday:

My first-ever Red-headed woodpecker at Bryan Park Tuesday:

First one I’ve ever photographed – amazing. First one I’ve ever seen, I think. They’re not uncommon, I’ve just never seen any. Great day! That was how I got on the “red” part of the theme.

I saw a Red-tailed hawk (of course) only this time directly across the street from my house in my neighbor’s sweet gum tree:

Our neighborhood Red-tail hunting from our neighbor’s sweet-gum tree:

On the same day I photographed this male Cardinal glowing beside the CSX tracks near Brown’s Island. If you’re writing about and photographing red birds in Virginia, you can’t neglect our state bird:

Our state bird, the Northern Cardinal, looking like he’s lit from within

I was on the same hike with my friend Clark when we saw this handsome Blue Jay:

Handsome but bossy. Sometimes. They’re smart birds though.

So by Wednesday I’d already gotten plenty of red and a little blue. Since Friday morning, it’s been white in all directions.

We were just about to leave the CSX tracks at Brown’s Island when Clark’s sharp ears picked up the rumble of a westbound train; we stopped in the parking lot and got this picture of a GE ES40DC locomotive pulling a load of HERZOG hoppers up the hill:

GE locomotive pulls a rare westbound train past the Federal Reserve and Brown’s Island

That hike at Brown’s Island with the birds and train was Wednesday and it didn’t snow that day or the next. Thursday evening the snow was imminent and I knew the moon would disappear for a few days. I took this picture Thursday evening just after 9:00:

Last glimpse of the clear moon, Thursday evening

We took one last hike at Pony Pasture Thursday morning before the snow. It had been cold for some time and the ice made fascinating patterns in the wetlands:

Ice topography

Additional ice topography

It began snowing here in western Henrico County around 10:00 Friday morning. Friday evening Mackey and Turner and I hiked to the pet cemetery then went for a run in the parking lot across the street. Here’s the two of them, with Turner as always a bit more energetic:

The snow doesn’t affect Turner even a little bit, but Mackey gets big clumps between his toes. He limps like crazy. Ten years ago next month, when Ivory and Nicky and I drove to the Yukon, my mom made booties for them. This is Mackey modeling his booties pre-hike:

Mackey modeling mom-made booties pre-hike

When you come home from a hike with wet shoes and socks, you dry them by the fire:

Cold, wet booties, warm, toasty fire

I did a blog post about those booties back in 2006 when Ivory and Nicky and I went to the Yukon. It was on a different blog but you can see it here if you’re so inclined: Dogbooties.mom

We dug the car out today and drove down to Pony Pasture for our ritual Sunday hike. It was around 2.5 miles long and took more than an hour and a half. It was a serious slog. But I took this quick video at the river as we set out. It was so pretty. As I type this paragraph, Mackey and Turner are snoring on their beds behind me. And I want to get in mine and go to sleep! Have a great week,

Jay

PS My wonderful cat Dash doesn’t get seen enough – it’s dogs, dogs, dogs all the time. Evelyn took this picture of Dash lounging on my lap yesterday:

Happy kitty and a happy person

Posted in Birds, Blue Jays, Bryan Park, cardinals, cats, dog booties, Dogs, firewood, Fun, ice, James River, moon, People, Pony Pasture, raptors, Red-headed woodpeckers, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers | Tagged blue jay, bryan park, cats, dog booties, Dogs, Fun, ice, james river, nature, outdoors, People, pictures of the moon, Pony Pasture, Red-tailed hawks, Smiles - human AND dog smiles!, waxing gibbous moon, wood stove | 6 Comments

Impeccable timing

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Jay McLaughlin

17 January, 2016 Impeccable timing

I first drafted this post earlier this week when it was 60º and balmy. As I sit down now on Sunday afternoon for the final draft, I look out my window at a cold gray sky and a snow-covered front lawn. The blog post, of course, is about three summer weeks I spent in Guatemala a quarter century ago (1992). When the dogs and I were walking through the snow at the river this morning I thought how impeccable my timing is to be blogging about summer in Central America on a snowy January day in Richmond. The Guatemala story is at the bottom of the post.

A few pictures from this week first.

Red-bellied woodpeckers disappeared around here (or at least I didn’t see any) for it seems like a year. Suddenly this week for some reason they’ve popped up again. This isn’t a spectacular picture, but it’ll do. Hopefully I’ll get a better one soon:

Red-bellied woodpecker at Bryan Park

This little White-throated Sparrow was at Bryan Park:

White-throated sparrow at Bryan Park

So was this bluebird:

Eastern bluebird at guess-where

And a Dark-eyed junco!:

Dark-eyed junco at IBID

No doubt everyone’s had their fill of my obsession with Red-tailed hawks. Shoot, even I’ve had my fill of my obsession with Red-tailed hawks! But look at the bright side, they’re not at Bryan Park! Usually. They weren’t around as often this week, though I did “get” one Friday. Also on Friday – half a mile from my house – I looked up and saw a hawk perched on a power line tower. That’s what Red-tails do, but I pulled over and snapped a couple of pictures anyway. The light was poor, but I could tell right away this was not a Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) but a Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus). When I set out on this obsession in May of last year it was difficult to distinguish between the two. From some angles it still is. But from the front, like this picture, it’s simple – Red-tails are white with a dark band, but Red-shoulders have these orange-y splotches:

Red-shouldered hawk, in Red-tail territory

From this angle, nobody makes a mistake about Red-tail ID:

Red-tail, with a couple of feathers out of place

Here’s a picture of Mackey at the river’s edge this morning during the snow. I called him a “reverse dalmatian” – black with white spots:

Reverse Dalmatian – Black dog with white spots

The snow was sloppy and wet but a snowy field is always pretty:

Snowy morning at Pony Pasture

Back in the woods they were still full of beans:

You just could not ask for better hiking companions. See Mackey on the right? Plus Yuki (white) and Turner (brown).

I left my camera in the car because it was snowing like mad. When we got around to the predictable spot (deer there nearly 100% of the time) there was a lone doe, and she was posing like she wanted to be on a magazine cover. But all I had was my phone. Here she is, zoomed in and blurry on my iphone. Her back is to us, you can see her tail hanging down. She’s got her head turned around to the left and she’s looking over her shoulder at us. She’s as calm as a monk. With my real camera, I would have lowered down to get her full face. This is a magazine quality image with the right camera, but not with an iphone:

See her in the center? Look at that white snowy diagonal log - you'll need it in the next picture.

See her in the center? Look at that white snowy diagonal log above her head – you’ll need it in the next picture.

To give you an idea of what we “really” see, this is with no zoom. Look way in the back of the picture, in the center, you can see that diagonally sloping snow-covered log. Directly beneath it you can see the white outline of her tail. They’d be practically invisible, but I’m positive I’ll see them, so they normally appear.

See her again? Under the snowy diagonal log? It’s not easy but she’s there. Look for her tail.

Yuki chose a higher and dryer path back to the car than we normally take, so we all followed him. In about ten seconds he and Mackey bolted into the woods and I saw my first buck at Pony Pasture in the past five years. He was accompanied by three big does and their white tails disappeared into the snow and trees and vines. Mackey and Yuki called the chase off quickly and sauntered back to the trail. Mackey has slept away the afternoon. He’s lying on his bed snoring about four feet away from me as I type this.

I’m looking forward to next week! I hope you are too!

All best,

Jay

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We weren’t in Kansas anymore

In the summer of 1992 I traveled with my mother to Antigua, Guatemala. We lived in Antigua with a host family for three weeks while we took Spanish lessons and traveled a bit. People are more similar than they are different. But Antigua is much different from Richmond. Not even including the weather.

Here’s a picture of my mom (on the left) plus the woman who owned the house and her daughter. And five of our fellow students. Antigua is world-renowned for its Spanish language schools; people come from everywhere to study in Antigua. I’m looking through my journal now. There were people from the US (we stick out like a sore thumb) as well as from Denmark, France, Great Britain and Germany. Those were the only ones I met and spent time with. People come from many other countries. This is in the courtyard of the house where we stayed:

Mom on the left, the homeowner in the center, other students all around, bicycle and dog on far left. The courtyard of the house where we stayed.

Also on the left in that picture notice a blue mountain bike. I was training for a triathlon while I was in Guatemala and I rented that bike. I rode everywhere, including up a long, steep mountain. One of the French guys rented a bike and he rode up too. We’d ridden for a long, long time and a terrific storm came in. We turned around and raced for home but not soon enough:

Post mountain bike ride w/another student. Guatemalan weather forecasts were untrustworthy in those days.

Some friends (in the top picture) were in a different language school and they won a free trip to the beach for a weekend. They invited me along, and the first thing we did – before we went to the house – was go for a swim:

Black waves on a black sand beach at the edge of a black-sand town. All volcanic ash.

See that black wave? I swam way out past it, because I like to swim. When I was coming back in I got flipped under water and held down on the bottom. And held down on the bottom. And held down on the bottom. I can hold my breath for a long time, but I have limits. The water was 100% black from the black sand and the sun wasn’t out and I had no idea of where “up” was. Even as I type this twenty-four years later I recall it with absolute clarity. I remember thinking well I’m finally just going to have to inhale – I’m under water – but I’m going to inhale. And as I inhaled, my head was out of the water. And my feet touched the bottom and I walked through the surf and up to the hut and that was that. It was a big deal – it was life or death – and then it wasn’t. This was four years after my accident. I recall zero from my accident – not anything. So there was no fear. But I believe I came just as close to dying when I was scrounging around in that black water and I recall every microsecond. But nothing happened.

The town where we stayed was great – you walked everywhere. All the buildings, restaurants included, had thatched roofs and no walls. And stray dogs ran in and out, and chickens and turkeys and everything else. The surface of everything was black sand, just like on that beach. I’m reading my journal. There were lots of little dogs, maybe cocker-spaniel-sized mixed breeds. They’d walk around under the tables in the restaurants. I saw four that were clearly from the same litter. Same age, size, coat color, etc. Three of them had working limbs, and were scrawny and undernourished and sad looking. The fourth had a broken back and used its front legs to drag its useless back legs behind it. I recall this very clearly – it left a smooth trail in the black sand behind it, because its unmoving rear-end was sweeping the sand level. But here’s the thing – that dog was fat and sleek and healthy and bright eyed with shiny fur and a cheerful expression. It was obvious what was going on. This was a tourist town, and every person who saw that crippled dog felt sorry for it and gave it food – constantly. Nobody felt sorry for the “healthy” dogs so they had to scrounge for food, usually without success. It’s odd the way things work out.

In a future post I may write a brief note about time I spent at a “hogar” in Antigua. “Hogar” (as I understand it) means “home” and this place was the Guatemalan version of The Virginia Home. People with severe lifelong physical and cognitive disabilities lived there. The difference between our approach in the US and their approach in Guatemala informed my future in the field of rehabilitation. They’re fantastic in areas where we are entirely ignorant. But there are other areas of rehab where we could reform great swaths of Guatemalan culture. The rehab field may go out of business in some idyllic future, but it won’t happen in my lifetime.

I could write half a dozen posts about that trip. The reason it made it to this post in the first place was I was thinking (unsurprisingly) about birds. Once in Guatemala I spent a weekend on a boat and as I’ve mentioned before, I was training for a triathlon. Mornings I would do my swim workouts swimming laps around the boats. And I looked up for a breath and a flock of parakeets flying over my head! Parakeets! I was so not in Kansas anymore.

Anyway, maybe in a future blog post. Have a great week!

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Posted in Birds, Bryan Park, Dogs, Fun, Guatemala, Pony Pasture, raptors, red-shouldered hawks, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!), triathlons, whitetail deer | Tagged bluebird, bryan park, Dogs, Fun, Guatemala, james river, nature, outdoors, People, Pony Pasture, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, smile, Smiles - human AND dog smiles!, whitetail deer | Leave a comment

Even a blind hog…

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Jay McLaughlin

10 January, 2016 Even a blind hog…

…finds an acorn sometimes. Or so goes the old saying. Wiktionary refers to this as an “English proverb” and attaches this terse explanation: “Being right once doesn’t prove anything.” I came at it from a different angle; this post was originally going to be titled with a U2 song from 1991 called Even Better Than the Real Thing because of this picture (and a few others):

It was beautiful in real life but I don’t think it was that beautiful. I don’t know how that happens. It’s like magic.

I took that picture, I was standing right there, and the picture looks better than the real thing.

Mackey and Turner and Lola and Luna and I took a brief jaunt at Pony Pasture Thursday. Turner went more haywire than normal (that’s saying something, if you know Turner), to the point where I had to see what was getting his attention. I suspect these two adolescents hadn’t been paying attention and bolted up a tree when Turner appeared:

Turner surprised them in mid-frolic.

This was what the pack looked like:

Striking fear into the hearts of raccoons wherever they wander.

Striking fear into the hearts of raccoons wherever they roam.

Those were clearly young raccoons and I believe had made a poor choice about where and when to frolic on the ground. No hollow tree nearby, no tall tree nearby, they just scrambled up the nearest one and were not about to come down. Which, can you blame them? I tied all four of the dogs’ leashes around a nearby tree and was able to photograph the raccoons at will; they weren’t about to come out of that tree.

The same day we went all the way to the other side of the park and watched this Carolina Wren nibbling away at something under the bark on a fallen oak tree:

Carolina Wren. They only ever look cute – it’s their default setting. But they don’t hold back when they’re scolding.

Ethan and I often hike on Thursday afternoons when the weather is fair, and we made it to Bryan Park that afternoon. Several pair of Hooded Mergansers have landed on one of the ponds there. Here’s a male by himself:

Handsome male Hooded Merganser at Bryan Park

This was the object of his affection; maybe on my next post I’ll photograph them in the same frame:

Female Hooded Merganser

I have pictures of pairs together, but the light was unspectacular and none were “keepers.” Maybe next week.

The sky this week has alternated between crystal blue and milky gray; the season is uncertain. It was warm and over 60º today (Sunday) when we were hiking. Tomorrow it’s not predicted to get out of the low forties. When it’s crystal blue it’s great for birding and for photography. And now it’s January and there are close to zero leaves on the trees and when it’s not cloudy the light is always attractive. Twice I’ve looked up at tall dead snags in Bryan Park this week and gotten unexpected images:

Blue background #1:

Blue background #2:

It’s a safe bet in January that if it’s clear, it’s cold. On Tuesday – a dazzlingly blue-skyed day – the temperature maxed out below freezing, and the wind gusts were over 30 mph. When Ethan and I got to the park that day we saw this mourning dove perched in the sun, puffed out against the cold:

Puffy dove

If I let a week go by without a hawk picture, it’s because I didn’t see any that week. But Tuesday (same day I took that dove picture) I saw this Red-tail lit up on the tower about ten minutes before the sun dropped below the horizon:

Red-tail minutes before sunset. Probably waiting for a late dinner to wander past.

Tuesday evening (see above photograph) the sky was crystal blue. Thursday morning – the day we saw the raccoons and mergansers and wren – the sky was milky gray. I photographed this Red-tail pair together as Mackey and Turner and I were headed for Pony Pasture:

Red-tail pair on a gray winter morning

They don’t always sit that way. but that’s often their preferred tandem-seating style. One facing each direction. They cover a lot of territory that way.

Have a terrific week, all best,

Jay

PS Early yesterday afternoon Evelyn and I took a quick trip to Charlottesville. I brought my camera along but it was cold and overcast and I never took it out of the car. My friend Clark gave us a nice gift for Christmas and we used it first for a superb late lunch at a place called feast! There was even gift left over for an excellent cup of coffee at Albermarle Baking Company. And we made a delicious visit to The Spice Diva; you should smell the cinnamon. I think we’ll return to Charlottesville soon. Maybe I’ll take my camera out of the car.

Posted in Birds, Bryan Park, Dogs, Flowers, Fun, Pony Pasture, Raccoons, raptors, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!), sunsets | Tagged bryan park, Dogs, Flowers, Fun, Hooded merganser, james river, mourning doves, nature, outdoors, People, Pony Pasture, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers | 4 Comments

We turned our flashlights off after dark

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Jay McLaughlin

3 January, 2016 We turned our flashlights off after dark

Remembering the odd nature of wearing shorts when it snowed called to mind other backwards-ness of my childhood. I’m including a brief blurb about it at the tail end of this post. As I so often do, I’m off to a late start on this post. So it’s abbreviated.

I haven’t taken a million pictures this week but I got a couple. This post includes the final four days of 2015 and the first three of 2016. My photographic talents have settled steadily at the level of “earnest amateur” and that’s comfortable. I’m not as comfortable photographing landscapes or panoramas but sometimes I see the sky on pretty days. This was Tuesday (28 December) evening almost precisely at sunset, just across the street from my house. I “got” a pair of hawks that morning, but I’ll save them. Look at this sky:

December evening in Henrico County

I was at Bryan Park a few hours earlier with my friend Ethan. A squirrel was perched on a branch, “giving us the eye” (in a manner of speaking):

I’m gonna’ keep my eye on you…

The next afternoon my friend Clark and I were downtown near Brown’s Island, watching for trains. We got lucky; it’s been some time since we’ve seen a “double”. Both of these trains are parked; if you’re a train nerd that’s obvious because the headlights are off. We could only see three of the four total locomotives. All three were 4,400 horsepower, and I’m sure the fourth was as well. Both pairs of locomotives had lines of loaded coal hoppers stretching behind them around the bend. Normal trains in that spot have around 100 cars each, and each of those cars has 100+ tons of coal. These trains go to Newport News and the coal goes on barges; I don’t know where it’s bound. Neat to see the trains idling in the fog:

The front end of tens of thousands of tons of coal. On a foggy December afternoon.

It’s been a damp, damp December, and things that like damp weather proliferated. I got some firewood out to split and this handsome snail was ambling across a log:

Snail on an oak log

I took hawk pictures daily for the last four days of December, and on January 1 they’d vanished! January 2 I was on my roof cleaning the chimney. I looked across the street at the trees in my neighbor’s backyard and saw a familiar shape. I wasn’t entirely certain until I zoomed in and got this ¾ angle image of my first Red-tail for 2016. That also makes my first Red-tail for January, marking my ninth consecutive month with Red-tails in our neighborhood. I’ll keep watching:

Neighborhood Red-tail on a new perch:

The same day Evelyn and I decided to take advantage of the good weather to walk to one of our favorite sandwich shops, the Shore Dog Cafe at the corner of Forest Avenue and Ridge Road. It’s almost a four mile round trip, just right for working up an appetite then walking off the meal. It was a sparkly early winter day and not too cold and I brought my camera. I didn’t get a million great pictures – none, to tell the truth – but I got a couple I enjoyed. This is a male Downy woodpecker; this angle doesn’t show the red spot on his head but it was there:

Black and white Downy Woodpecker against a blue, blue January sky

A block or two later this mockingbird was sunning itself in a bush:

Mockingbird in the sun

I’m not in love with this final picture, but I enjoyed the green and the water and especially the finely detailed shadow on the sand at the creek bottom. The woodpecker and the mockingbird and this lovely fern and creek were all on our walk between Shore Dog and the house:

Fern shadow on a creek bottom

I hope you’ve enjoyed these! And this story! And your New Year!

Best,

Jay

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We turned our flashlights off after dark

My memories of our family camping begin early – long before we had the cabin (~1974) or went to summer camp (around the same time). We always had flashlights – there was no such thing as too many. I still have flashlights – a lot of them – in many varieties. When we were young, it was fun to have giant flashlights with lots of batteries. This was before there were even alkaline batteries, and the flashlights would stay bright for a very short time then gradually dim. There are flashlights now – I have several – that are smaller than one battery from one of my old flashlights. And they’re brighter, and they last longer.

But it didn’t matter how bright they were or how long they stayed bright. Because between nights at Camp Waredaca and nights at the cabin, it became a point of pride to keep our flashlights turned off as much as possible. Never turning them on at all was ideal. We’d never go without a flashlight – perish the thought – but the way to make a really cool flashlight about ten times cooler was to carry it around but never turn it on. You could be inside and turn all the lights out and turn your flashlight on to show everybody how excellent it works – then turn it off the moment you went outdoors.

When our Dad died three years ago, at his memorial service, we displayed a ton of his old flashlights. Because love of flashlights (a subset of love of gadgets) is another trait (or quirk) that we picked up from our Dad. I may expand on this in a future post – there’s a whole little universe of quirky habits we picked up from Dad. Turning them off after dark – I think that started with our generation. But flashlights were one of Dad’s things from the very beginning, and they’ve stayed with us. We save a lot on batteries!

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Posted in Birds, Bryan Park, coffee, Dogs, firewood, Fun, mockingbirds, raptors, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!), squirrels, sunsets, Trains | Tagged bryan park, Dogs, Downy woodpecker, Fun, GE AC4400CW locomotive, james river, nature, Northern mockingbird, outdoors, People, Red-tailed hawks, Smiles - human AND dog smiles!, transportation | 5 Comments

We wore shorts when it snowed

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Jay McLaughlin

27 December, 2015 We wore shorts when it snowed

It’s difficult to recall the feel of a snowy winter this year, but it will be cold soon enough. I have my own wood stove burning here in Richmond to keep the chill off on this wet December evening as I type these words. The wood stove always calls to mind frigid winters at the cabin when I grew up. I’ll post a few pictures I’ve taken this week and get back to that.

I hope your Christmas was excellent; mine was outstanding. Our family got together earlier this week since we’re spread everywhere. So Christmas Day I got up and took the dogs to the river to celebrate. Mackey and Turner and I stopped by to visit our friend Yuki so he could join us. Here’s a picture of the three of them on Christmas morning. Yuki (the white dog) is bounding out of the river on the left. Turner is at the water’s edge not far behind him in mid-leap. Mackey’s the black shape in the water next to Turner; he enjoys life at a more leisurely pace:

How three happy dogs chose to celebrate Christmas

Here’s a picture of the three of them as we got on the trail that soggy morning; they enjoy themselves no matter the weather:

The hike begins on a dreary Christmas morning (Turner in front, then Yuki, Mackey bringing up the rear

This is Yuki on the hike; he gets up ahead then always comes back to check up on me. He is a canine super model:

Always makes sure I’m keeping up

I took this picture precisely an hour later when we dropped him off at his house; he’s an only child and he didn’t want Mackey and Turner to leave!:

As a photographer, it’s just fun to point your camera at a dog like Yuki. Look at that guy!

This morning (Sunday) the three of us were back at the river again. They had another hard run/swim so by the time we’d gotten back to “deer territory” they were much less energetic. This is the three of them at the water’s edge earlier; the sun finally came out:

It was so nice to see the sun again

We could see one deer clearly as soon as we got to their area; they’re always in that space this time of year. This time I stood and watched the single deer for a few minutes. Then one stood up on either side of her. They probably see more dogs than they do other deer. This was my favorite picture from this morning:

I never get tired of looking at these beauties

Evelyn is my #1 editor and she’s out of town today so if there are more errors than usual, that’s why. She’ll be back soon but not before I post this. Next week though!

Have a great week,

Jay

= = = = = = = = = = =

We wore shorts when it snowed

Our cabin was perched on top of a steep, forested hill close to the Shenandoah River, half an hour south of Luray Caverns. The cabin faced west and the front wall was dominated by a pair of sliding glass doors, opening out onto the deck. I recall waking up there winter mornings to see snow drifted a foot deep against the glass. Our heat source was this stove; I regret I don’t have a picture of it with a fire blazing inside:

The wood stove at our cabin in the summer. 2 bricks underneath for foot warmers in the winter.

The cabin was small and the stove was large and so was our pile of firewood. My dad was un-fond of this, but as kids we liked to build the fire up so hot that you could wear shorts indoors when outside was a true winter wonderland. It was fun and easy to have it 85º indoors while it was 25º outdoors. We cut and split all the firewood ourselves and we enjoyed doing it. It was fun then and it’s fun now.

It’s ironic, looking back, that I almost never even wore shorts in the summer but it seemed like a great idea when it was snowing. Go figure.

The cabin didn’t have a ton of creature comforts – it was relatively bare bones. No running water, no television, no telephone. But it was always warm in the winter. Plus there were enough books and magazines to reach to the moon and back, twice.

Here’s a picture of our cabin in the snow. And since with these seventy degree December days I’m wondering if I’ll ever see snow again. Here’s a picture of some of us sledding down the driveway:

The cabin in a light snow. See the chimney for the stove? And the front deck?

The cabin in light snow. See the chimney for the stove? And the front deck?

For next week I’m thinking of flashlights. Flashlights that we loved to have but took perverse satisfaction in walking around at night without turning them on.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, I look forward to seeing you in 2016!

= = = = = = = = = = =

Oops! I almost put up this blog post with no hawk picture. I took several in the last full week of 2015. Next week I hope to have my first of 2016. Here’s one I took this week:

Back over the baseball field! The day school let out, the hawks went straight back to the baseball field for the first time since September.

Posted in Dogs, firewood, Fun, Rivers, Shenandoah River, Shenandoah Valey, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!), whitetail deer | Tagged Dogs, Fun, james river, nature, outdoors, People, Pony Pasture, Rivers, smile, Smiles - human AND dog smiles!, whitetail deer | 2 Comments

One person’s kryptonite…

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Jay McLaughlin

20 December, 2015 One person’s kryptonite…

…is another person’s gesture of gratitude! Evelyn and I have a friend named Joel Elston who is a life coach specializing in health and addiction recovery. He recently published a memoir called The Bench. It’s fantastic. Here’s Amazon’s blurb: “The Bench chronicles the life of a compulsive gambler that takes his addiction to depths most cannot imagine, only to discover that the horrors of addiction would be necessary for the amazing transformation that happened in his recovery […].” We know Joel as the guy who goes to the gym whenever he has a spare moment, drinks green smoothies and eats grass fed beef. Imagine our surprise when Joel recently told us that “Superman has kryptonite – I have this:”

Superman has kryptonite…

Which, my goodness, have you ever tasted that stuff? It’s hard not to have a weakness for it. But we’ve had roofers working hard on our house today – on a Sunday – and it’s cold.

Those guys were working harder on a Sunday than I work any day of the week.

And they all took a lunch break and were sitting on drywall buckets, eating and soaking up the sun. We have enough Ghirardelli Kryptonite (a.k.a. “Peppermint Bark”) to reach to the moon and back. Although it’s disappearing quickly. Ev said “why don’t you take some out to those guys?” So I did, and there were four guys out there, and a significant language barrier. They got mighty quiet and serious when they saw me (a.k.a. “the homeowner”) walking up to them. I held out the bag for the first guy to reach inside and get a handful. He got an enormous smile on his face. I walked to the next guy and held out the bag for him – same thing. They started smiling and chatting and became animated and enthusiastic in an instant. Fun little moment on a Sunday afternoon – thanks Evie!

It doesn’t feel a lot like winter here in Richmond – or in a lot of the eastern US, I’ve heard. But the sun is up for a very brief time and it’s still cold at night. The shortest daylight of 2015 will happen the day after tomorrow, December 22. So the Pony Pasture deer are in their winter mode, which means finding a warm spot during the middle of the day and taking a rest. I saw this one on Tuesday. She’d watched us (me, Mackey and Turner) for some time but eventually found us boring. The mailman pulled down the street and she turned her attention toward him:

Watching the mailman:

This morning Mackey and Turner and I were hiking again and this time we brought our friend Yuki. It’s really hard to photograph the three of them together. Here’s Mackey and Yuki having fun while Turner goes to the water’s edge for a slurp:

Yuki (white) and Mackey cavorting, Turner heads for the water’s edge.

Anyway, they’re all leashed up when we get to “deer country” and the deer just watch us walk by. Today I was staring at a doe like the one above, and I was shifting around trying to get different angles. She was staring straight at me, like so:

She’s hard to pick out – look for her black nose near the center, an ear above that, and an eye

I think I’d done that for three minutes or more when two more deer stood up practically under her feet! I was clueless! They all started walking through the woods. It amazes me there were so many deer in the woods and I had no idea. There are at least two in this picture; they’re hard to see:

At least two visible deer – look hard – they blend in. Near the center, one’s head (look for eyes/ears/nose) is facing, another’s hind quarter in front of that.

I saw a bluebird at Pony Pasture Tuesday; they’re easier to pick out:

Pony Pasture bluebird

Buffleheads too, of course. This is what most of my bufflehead pictures look like – always one is diving. If you ever photograph buffleheads, you will have a lot of them disappear the instant your lens is pointing toward them. They’re not trying to get away – they just dive a lot. It’s what buffleheads do. Presumably they’re getting food:

Somewhere, a bufflehead is always diving

I saw a female pileated on Tuesday as well:

Female Pileated woodpecker

And this turtle sunning itself:

Mid-December turtle – crazy.

The local Red-tails are still out in full force. I see them nearly every day. I took this picture on Wednesday when the sun was bright. This is the female. Her mate was one tower away. Notice the conspicuous bulge just below her beak. That’s her crop; she’d just eaten. I would guess a mouse or a chipmunk by the size of that. But there’s no telling:

Female Red-tailed hawk with conspicuously bulging crop

A friend told me about a Facebook group called Wildflowers, trees and fungi. So I’ve gotten a few pictures of fungi recently. I’m working on (not today) a mea culpa regarding my Every living thing project. It began as “Pony Pasture Flora and Fauna” and that’s how I should have left it. An overabundance of hubris nudged me to calling it “Every living thing,” and I thought I could catalog every living thing in Pony Pasture in one year. Fat chance. As I saw more and more plants and insects that I was unable to name, I thought “I’d better change the name to “MOST living things.” Then like thirty seconds later I saw another fungus it’s likely I’ll never identify and I thought “I’d better change the name to MANY living things.” Because there’s snails and moths and algaes and lichens and mosses tadpoles and slugs and molds and it’s mind-boggling. And think about this – this is just in one tiny little park in one medium-sized city! I’ll keep adding to the list, but I suspect my original notion of “every” living thing will not be realized any time soon, at least by me.

Still – here are a couple of neat fungi – or lichens or molds or something – that I photographed today:

Unidentified orange fungus. Or mold.

The “every living thing” mystery continues

If you celebrate Christmas on December 25, Merry Christmas. If Christmas is not your thing, I hope you have a spectacular day anyway.

All best,

Jay

Posted in Birds, buffleheads, Dogs, Fun, fungus, Ghirardelli, James River, People, Peppermint bark, Pony Pasture, raptors, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!), Turtles, whitetail deer | Tagged Ghirardelli, Kryptonite, Peppermint bark, the bench | 4 Comments

Cloudless sulphur

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Jay McLaughlin

13 December, 2015 Cloudless sulphur

That’s the actual name of a butterfly I photographed at the river this week. It caught my ear (the name, not the butterfly) and I like that quality in blog post titles.

One of our many nieces spent a couple of nights with us this weekend and today was her birthday! So we all got to celebrate! There was lots of hiking and lots of dogs involved, plus delicious food, so what more could anyone want. I for one could want more pictures but I wasn’t quite that organized. I’m hoping she’ll send me a couple and maybe I’ll do a brief additional post tomorrow. As I type these words she’s on a northbound Amtrak train somewhere between Richmond and Baltimore.

Part of my not being organized was I’d hoped to get a few pictures from her but I forgot to ask! So hopefully she’ll send me a couple and I can do an add-on post tomorrow or Tuesday. This week at home – or here in Richmond while I made my normal loops – I got an image or two I enjoy. It’s been extraordinarily warm this week and Thursday morning I “got” a new insect at Pony Pasture. The delightfully named “Cloudless Sulphur” (Phoebis sennae) butterfly. The ever-helpful entomologists at bugguide.net came through yet again with the identification. Look at this beauty, fluttering energetically along the banks for the James River in mid-December:

Cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae)

A day later I was at Deep Run Park with another buddy of mine. This American Bird Grasshopper (Schistocerca americana) fluttered off the ground and posed on a branch:

American Bird Grasshopper (Schistocerca americana)

This just in – my niece just sent me a picture from the train – crazy. She took this around 11:00 (or something) this morning at Pony Pasture. When I am with dogs, I slip gently into a peaceful, almost Zen state, a graceful transcendence of my all-too-human soul to a mystical realm of pure light. You’ll know that you too have transcended when you, like me, can (after decades of practice) achieve the calm, restful demeanor of a True Master:

A combination of Mikhail Baryshnikov and an enlightened Zen master (thanks for the picture Cappy!)

Yuki is the white dog and Mackey is the black dog. Turner is the brown dog between Mackey and me. Lola is the other brown dog and Luna is the black and white dog. They’re a fun bunch!

I didn’t focus (that picture should be proof) on blogging much this week. I hope to get in a follow-up post. But I have (this will come as no surprise) a few more outdoor pictures from this week. Plus – this will be even less of a surprise – a picture of a Red-tail. I’ve taken picture of Red-tails in three separate areas of Richmond this week but I’ll only post one picture.

I got a semi-rare shot at Bryan Park with my buddy Ethan on Monday. Kingfishers don’t sit still for long but this one posed for some time. That’s the second time Ethan’s helped me get a kingfisher at Bryan Park – it’s a hard shot to get! This isn’t bad:

Female Kingfisher at Bryan Park

The same day I got a Red-tail at Bryan but it’s not a pretty shot. This one I took near Kuba Kuba Dos at the intersection of Forest and Ridge Road here in Richmond:

This is a big female Red-tail who prowls around the little shopping center at the corner of Ridge and Forest

Still the same day – I had the morning off – I was hiking at Pony Pasture and someone started a leaf blower nearby. I didn’t even know this Great Blue Heron was around until it popped up and flew into this tree top:

Great blue heron HIGH in a tree at Pony Pasture

Thursday I was back at Pony Pasture and I saw in quick succession an Eastern Bluebird:

December bluebird at Pony Pasture

A Downy Woodpecker:

Male downy woodpecker at Pony Pasture

And a Northern Flicker:

Northern Flicker

More later this week (I hope but do not guarantee). And I hope you have a great week no matter what!

Thanks for dropping in, I hope you’ll come again, best,

Jay

PS This just in – a picture of me with the birthday girl and photographer extraordinaire (thanks for this picture Evelyn!):

Cappy! One of my five delightful nieces! Thanks for the picture Evelyn!

Posted in Dogs, Fun, Insects, James River, People, Pony Pasture, raptors, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | Tagged bluebird, bryan park, Dogs, Downy woodpecker, Fun, james river, nature, outdoors, People, Pony Pasture, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles - human AND dog smiles! | Leave a comment

The nicest thing

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Jay McLaughlin

6 December, 2015 The nicest thing

Partners in crime (Bottoms Up Pizza, ~2005)

This is a picture of me with my old friend Skye at Bottoms Up Pizza a few years ago. We used to get out a lot but he moved to North Carolina to be closer to his family. We catch up a couple of times a year now but not as often as I’d like.

His speech is difficult to understand if you don’t know him well. Once we went out for dinner and it was my privilege to witness what may have been the nicest thing I ever saw.

I’ll write about it at more length at the end of this post. So you can slog through the usual drivel and amateur photography or go straight to the bottom.

Actually this first shot isn’t “the usual drivel and amateur photography” – it’s me holding my handsome new nephew Wesson at 7:30 this morning in Blacksburg. Photo courtesy of his father, my brother Shane:

See how sweet he looks? He’s even sweeter!

He took that with my camera, which doesn’t love indoor light. This is an example of what it does outdoors; I took this picture Saturday afternoon when we arrived in Blacksburg:

Mockingbird on a winter morning in Blacksburg

Mockingbird on a frigid morning in Blacksburg

When I get a cooperative subject in nice light like that, if they don’t leave, I take a lot of pictures. Here’s another one that turned out well:

Closeup of the eye and head. I just love the detail.

Of course speaking of bird photography, I always include a photo of the neighborhood Red-tails if they’re around. This was on December 4; December is the eighth consecutive month I have photographed Red-tails in my neighborhood. I continue to be delighted. Although you can’t get as close to a Red-tail as you can to a mockingbird:

Population control for small mammals in our neighborhood

I took a cute picture of a phoebe in Bryan Park on Thursday but the light was poor and I won’t use the picture. Phoebes are subtly colored and they benefit from better light. I’ll get one soon, maybe at Pony Pasture. I did have one cooperative subject that perched in the sun in Bryan Park; these sweet gum balls are always pretty:

Sweetgum ball toasting in the sun

Sometimes when the light is nice and I see a lot of subjects I enjoy, I get manic and take way too many pictures. I did that yesterday in Blacksburg at my brother’s and again this morning. Those mockingbird pictures are the result of that though; it’s nice when I get a good one. This morning it was foggy and 22º and the fog froze on the pine needles. This is a nice December image:

Frozen fog on pine needles

I haven’t put up pictures of the dogs lately. Kristin and Shane and Wesson and their lovely dog Tara welcomed us into their home this weekend – and I didn’t get a picture of all three dogs together! Next time I will. She is a doll. Here are my two buddies. We went for a hike in the woods this morning near Shane’s house since Pony Pasture was far away:

Mackey and Turner enjoying Sunday morning in the woods

Enough of the first part of this post – I hope you’ll return next week. I also hope you’ll read this next piece. It’s been forever since it happened. But I was in the food court at Regency Square last week and I had a huge flashback. It was like it happened five minutes earlier.

Have a great week,

Jay

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The nicest thing I ever saw

My buddy’s name is Skye; some of you know him. Skye uses a wheelchair and although he’s a gifted communicator, his speech is difficult to understand if you don’t know him. Skye loves Italian food (and about a hundred other kinds) and we ate at the Food Court at Regency Square regularly. He grew up here in Richmond but moved to NC a few years ago to be closer to his family.

Regency Square is a nice mall, but it’s not as busy as it once was. It opened in 1975. The food court is great. One evening we had gotten our pizza and sat down just a few feet away from the register. The person behind the register was a young, handsome black guy with a relaxed smile. The manager came up to have a word with him about something. The manager was big and tired looking and overweight in late middle-age. He gave the impression of a person whose life had passed them by, and they knew it. Whatever he was saying to the young guy, it wasn’t going over well.

They weren’t raising their voices, but their postures grew angry and stiff and tense. There was finger-pointing and angry glares. I’ve been in management; you can get yourself in interpersonal situations that have no graceful means of exit. It was painful to watch. It was obvious they both wanted it to be over, but there is just no way to exit a situation like that gracefully. This was probably ten years ago and I feel all my personal anxiety sensations ratcheting up even as I type this.

The food court was sparsely populated, and a young couple came in at the far end looking for something to eat. They were hispanic, probably from Mexico. They looked lost and uncertain. Their daughter was in a stroller. She was about two years old and she was stunning. She was beautifully dressed and her hair was tied in a small bow and her brown eyes were so dark you couldn’t tell where her pupils ended and her irises began. And they were huge. She was taking in every bright sign and decoration on every side, and she was fascinated.

The two men arguing behind the counter were focused on each other, and the little family was focused on food. They decided the menu posted above the two men looked best, and approached the register. The whole family was beautiful. The two men behind the counter were not unattractive, but they were acting so ugly toward each other it made you want to turn your head away.

The couple walked to the register and the young man became aware that they were waiting for his assistance. And his face turned from the angry glare of his manager to the vision in that stroller and as I watched his face was utterly transformed – in less than one breath – and split into a smile nearly as beautiful as the little girl in front of him. And instead of saying “can I help you?” or “may I take your order?” or “what will you be having this evening?” he said “You have a beautiful baby!”

It was the nicest thing I ever saw. Two grown men were locked in a painful struggle that was like a knot tied by a torturer. The harder you worked to get out of it, the tighter it got. And this gorgeous tiny human being rolled up in her stroller and untied it without even knowing there was a knot. It was the nicest thing I ever saw.

It’s been ten years since that happened but the way it’s etched on my brain it feels like ten minutes. Because as I watched it happen, as I watched that lovely little family stop in front of the register, as I saw the young man’s angry glare transformed, I knew in that moment what a privilege it was to watch this happen. I didn’t realize it later; I felt it inside my heart and lungs and soul while I sat there in that food court with my friend. If I live to be a hundred, I have no need to see something more beautiful – that was enough.

Have a great week,

Jay

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Posted in Birds, Dogs, Fun, mockingbirds, People, raptors, Red-tailed hawks, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | Tagged Bottom's Up Pizza, bryan park, food court, Fun, nature, Northern mockingbird, outdoors, People, Red-tailed hawks, Regency Square Mall, smile, Smiles - human AND dog smiles! | Leave a comment

NEWFAZE

The kindness of strangers

Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play

Red, white and blue

Impeccable timing

Even a blind hog…

We turned our flashlights off after dark

We wore shorts when it snowed

One person’s kryptonite…

Cloudless sulphur

The nicest thing

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