Info Burung Kicauan

When I left off on Friday I was up to my eyeballs in birthday preparations for the Chef, not exactly sure how it would all be accomplished.  Thankfully dinner that night went off without a hitch (roasted chicken - one of his faves) and a new brownie recipe will make it's debut this week - all I can say is start fasting now.  Whew!

It's been a relaxing, but cold weekend here in Southern California.  When the Chef and I rolled out of the movies on Saturday night it was 39 degrees at midnight and the temperature later went down to 35.  We rarely see the 30's at night so that's brisk for us - even me who grew up in -35 and colder temps in Canada.  Come Sunday afternoon it had warmed up some, but the wind was super brisk - so when we started to discuss brunch options I may or may not have begun to spontaneously shiver at the thought of venturing outside.  Then I remembered a wideleg velour pantsuit I haven't been able to wear much.  Seize the day!  And the fur to go along with it...

We got a late start on Sunday, but decided to head over to the local flea market to take a quick peek anyway.  Suffice it to say a couple days of pouring rain held crowds at bay, but there remained some interesting cats to see (did you catch Sunday's post?) as well as a lot of really cool finds in amongst the junk.  I'm sorry, but I have to call a spade a spade.  I mean is anyone really interested in a 25 year old faded out plastic Garfield that's missing a leg?  Anyone? Anyone?  

Thanks to brisk temperatures there were very few people perusing the racks, so I was able to take my time.  Somewhere in there I think I caught it:  the flea market bug.  The thrifting fever (not to be mistaken with Bieber fever just to be clear).  Second, third and fourth hand mania.  Whatever you want to call it there was a moment of clarity where I realized I'm finally getting the hang of this, and could actually select and get excited about picking up a couple things.  Okay one thing, but there were almost 5.  And 2 days later I'm actually regretting the 4 things I left behind.  Can you imagine??
  

I am pleased to report that on my recent birding adventure to the north country, I encountered The First Robin of Spring! Clearly these early returnees to the wintry parts of the species' range are made of different stuff than your normal, everyday robins.

I've written here before about TFROS. I wonder if they subsist on iceworms during spells of inclement weather.

With spring around the corner - or at times it feels like 10 corners thanks to rain appearing yet again tonight - I find myself thinking about what's to come and how to freshen up my closet.  Does anyone else feel like heaving a bunch out and starting new? There is something about this time of year where days seem to drag by holding the next season just out of reach.  Spring?  I'll sure be glad when you get here.

Life would be so easy if only I could just toss everything into a crate at the end of each season and purchase a whole new line-up for what was coming next.  But the reality is it's not that easy, so I have to spend time thinking about what trends are on the horizon, what I already own that can be incorporated and what the budget will allow for additions here and there.  Ahhhh the life of an adult with bills.  Bills.  What a dirty word.  Tonight I spent some time looking over another one of my faves - Chloe - and the Spring 2011 RTW images.  Clearly neutrals are going to be big in the months ahead, so here are just some of the things that caught my attention and got me excited to start clearing space in the closet.

This is a new thing I'm thinking about doing:  what's stopping me in my tracks.  You know how it is, right?  Every once in awhile there is that certain something that catches your eye and you just can't get it out of your mind.  Like that one time I met...oh forget it.

They were even more beautifully Bohemian than I thought they'd be. We found a small flock of seven Bohemian waxwings in a retirement community cul-de-sac in Traverse City, Michigan. This was yesterday, February 15, 2011, just after noon. That's life bird number 600-something...

The telling of the complete saga will have to wait for another day because I am now having to re-enter reality and there's simply no time for storytelling. But when I DO tell the tale, you should know that it will include: extremes of cold, a stretching of the time-space continuum, a pet store, frantic phone calls placed to unknown persons who MIGHT have seen a flock, many helpful messages from Michigan birders, a stern scolding for my list-serv faux pas, bad food, good beer, the first robin of spring, bear tracks, snow buntings, Geoff's questionable choice of chapeau, late nights, early mornings, doldrum afternoons, and planked whitefish.


But like I said, there's not enough time to get into all of that now.
Thanks for following along, my friends.
I'll see you out there with the birds.

As a self-professed lover of denim it pains me to admit I don't believe I've donned it in combination for at least 5 years.  While some of you are wildly cheering, all I can think of is outfits lost to days gone by.  Somewhere along the way the mere expression began to conjure images of Hee-Haw and cowboys and, well, not much that's attractive.  Epic fail for the denim aficionado.

While out on Saturday I spotted the prettiest chambray, ruffled sleeve blouse ever.  Quite naturally I immediately envisioned the top with my new favorite pintucked wide leg denim (last seen here) - those things have been getting mad play around here lately.  That being said, there was still a moment of hesitation...denim on denim?  Wth am I thinking?  I'll tell you what I'm thinking - brilliance, that's what!  Apparently this pairing is a bird call of sorts as well because when I threw on the outfit for a Sunday drive in a not-yet-explored neighborhood suffice it to say flocks of peacocks came out of nowhere.  And no I am not high!  Examine it for yourselves.


Okay so how are you feeling about the denim on denim?  I was thinking this could be an upcoming challenge...what do you think?  As far as the blouse - it was discovered at Gap and correct me if I'm wrong, but they seem to have gotten some of their old mojo back.  I noticed this long sleeve version online and am picking it up to wear with a pair of cream colored wide leg flowy pants, a strappy sandal and an up-do.  Oh spring - are you out there?  

Before I go, can you imagine these peacocks?  It was like a day at the zoo without the boundaries of the zoo walls, and only cool until we went to drive away and there were about 25 of them roosting in one yard.  A little too Alfred Hitchcocky for this girl thank you very much.  All things in moderation.  Speaking of which we did get more pictures, but I'll upload them to facebook later today when I get the page up.  Caving in to yet more social media.

It's late in the day, but I wanted to get this one up before too many days slip by and the magic wears off.  My kinda magic anyway.  I'll be honest:  I'm not much of a valentine-r.  We usually don't do much but wander around in public sarcastically calling one another 'Valentine' all day long (and sometimes for a few days in advance) much to the chagrin of anyone within ear shot.  It's actually mildly hilarious.  And of course there's always the chocolate, but let's face it - there's always the chocolate.

'Be here at 7.  You're going to pee your pants.  And don't bother asking - I'm not telling you.  Oh, and don't bother guessing because you've never had it before.'

I knew it would be food, but what could it be?  A chocolate covered chicken?  And on top of that something weird started to happen.  I started to get nervous.  Like it was a real date in the old days.  I mean we still go on dates, but they're usually pre-discussed types of dates so this was kind of fun. To get even palm sweatier, when I called to ask what I could bring he said nothing...that he had the menus printed up.  He printed menus.

Friends, by the time you read this, I will be far to the north, traveling with my old pal Geoff Heeter. We're on a several-day quest to add a bird to our life lists: the Bohemian waxwing. In case you don't know it, this is a species that's very similar to the smaller, more common cedar waxwing. But the Bohemian is a bird of the far North and it rarely ventures as far south as Ohio. Or across the international border into West Virginia.

This winter the Bohos seem to be popping up quite regularly in southern Canada and across the northern portions of the northern US. I've been following sightings on the listservs and it seems like our closest opportunity is going to be along Lake Michigan. That's about a 10-hour drive north of here—13 hours for Heets.


If you don't know Geoff Heeter, you should. He's one of the two dudes (Dave Pollard is the other) responsible for The New River Birding and Nature Festival held each spring near Fayetteville, WV. The New River festival is kept intentionally small to keep the quality of the experience high, and to permit the event to be held where it is—just minutes from great birding spots.

If you are not familiar with the NRBNF, here are a few words and images for your edification:

You get to go birding watching in places like this spot along the New River.

While you are in a beautiful spot such as the one shown above, you are likely to get a chance to see the hard-to-find Swainson's warbler.

And when you do, you may feel inclined to do the Life Bird Wiggle.

It's quite the charming and friendly, spiritually-enriching, fun-as-hizzle birding festival. The organizers and a great crew of field trip leaders go out of their way to make sure everyone is happy. You need to check it out.

Now back to my buddy Geoff Heeter.

He knows how to run whitewater rapids safely in a raft. He knows how to make a primitive camp in the boonies. He knows how, when, and where to harvest ramps (and how to cook them up). He knows how to keep a string of pack horses from bolting when there's a mountain lion around.



And he runs Opossum Creek Retreat near Fayetteville, WV—a delightful bunch of cabins he built by hand using local timber. Opossum Creek is the epicenter of the New River Birding Festival. Heets is a really amazing person and I'm proud to call him my friend.

However the occasional hole does appear in Geoff's very impressive suite of skills.
Last spring at the traditional final night cookout for the New River Birding Festival, Geoff and his right-hand man Keith Richardson were manning the brand new, huge and shiny gas grill. They hooked up the gas and fired that baby up, turning to prep the meat for its fiery demise.
That's when acrid gray smoke began appearing from beneath the grill's lid.

Upon opening up the grill, these masters of outdoor cookery discovered that they'd left the owner's manual inside the cooking unit. Had it not been reduced to ashes, I wondered (aloud) whether or not the instructions read something like:

Congratulations on the purchase of your new grill. Please follow these instructions before use:
STEP 1: Remove this owner's manual before lighting the grill.




When I realized that I need a little birding break, and I felt the urge to head north after Bohemian waxwings, I called Heets to see if he could join me. Happily, he could make it happen. And now, as you read this, we're somewhere in the northern reaches of Michigan, searching for Bohemians.

I'll be sure to let you know how the quest turns out.

Have you seen everyone's winter white challenge posts the past couple days?  Holy mother of pearl they've been off the hook!  Even though I've been hanging off the couch viewing through the veil of delirium it hasn't masked the awesomeness.  Nerd alert:  I love sharing ideas.

I would like to begin by throwing up a big middle finger to photobucket.  How in the h*ll can you have 30% space one day and the next be at 10% over capacity?  I am so sick and tired of these hosting joints trying to take advantage of me (and likely others) to make a quick buck.  I deleted a ton of back up pics and STILL it won't budge.  As if I don't know what the tactic is.  Good luck with that!

On another note I would like to formally announce that I am sicker than I have ever been in my adult life, with the exception of the walking pneumonia that damn near claimed my life last year.  Monday consisted of the following:  get up, cry, go back to sleep, get up, drag down hallway, watch lung cancer survivors on Bold & Beautiful, cry, watch commercial about Lucille Ball dying from undetected heart disease, cry, pass out, wake up, sneeze 18 times straight, eat a chocolate, cry...I think you get the idea.  Finally hauling it to the computer to see photobucket wreaking havoc unnecessarily sent me right to the kleenex box.

• Anna Jane - See Jane
• Valerie - Red Vines for Breakfast - holy shiz i just checked her out and she's got her mom's fur on.  DEAL!
• Rosa - True Crew Love, but she also posts here so check both if you don't see it on one.
• Elle - Elle Sees
• Jayme - Jammer at 10am - girl is a sports fanatic and went to the superbowl...here's hoping she made it back.  

The second we open the back door to start the morning feeding frenzy, the doughheads make a big show of flying away. But they only go far enough to be in a good position to swoop in first to the fresh handfuls of dough on the deck rail and in the hanging dough feeder.

Here are a few of the most avid doughheads.