Blog
Reaching for the Door
On High
A simple portrait of the master from 10 years ago, sitting on high atop the bookcase as he loved to do. Sorry we didn’t have any cat trees back then little one.
Eastern Fox Squirrel
An eastern fox squirrel sits on a park bench in Irving Park on a foggy December day. We have two species of tree squirrel you frequently see in the city, foxes and eastern grays, neither is native. We have native squirrels in our forests but I’ve rarely seen them.
Dog and the Snowman
Also a good name for a folk-rock band.
Light in the Darkness
A Christmas Tradition Broken
I normally go to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge on Christmas morning, as I don’t have kids and usually don’t travel to see family. If it’s pouring rain I might have the refuge to myself, or nearly so, and it’s a contemplative time until mid-morning when the crowds show up. But this Christmas brought ice that kept me from going up, as it would not just be risky to drive there but they often close the auto tour entirely when the roads are bad. But I can at least post a picture from Ridgefield, a juvenile red-tailed hawk in February 2008, listening for breakfast from its perch on a blackberry vine. It’s the juvenile redtails (that don’t yet have their red tails) that hang out close to the road and allow the tight close ups of some of my other pictures, although I saw them like this a lot more back then than now.
Christmas Cat
Ellie and I spotted this orange tabby while on our walk one sunny morning, and he certainly spotted us, freezing as he climbed between the wooden slats of the porch and watching Ellie intensely as I took his picture.
Closed for Season
Water Finds a Way
There is a playground near one of the entrances to Irving Park, a while back they added these water features so kids could cool off during the summer. The city shuts the water off in the cooler weather when nature brings her own water, normally as rain, but sometimes snow or fog. These pictures are from a few days apart, at the top of the hill is my beloved dog park where in both pictures you can see people playing with their dogs.
Boolie 