Porch Post

No birds are eating from the yummy big steak-like sunflower seed feeder that I hung as low as I could off our porch, just above the trees where I've been watching the black birds (got to look up their names) raise their babies all season. They're sharp birds, boldly hunt for food and will take a stab at whatever they can find -- from worms to MacDonalds fries. Every morning I hear them squaking and watch them, often through binocs, as they fly around finding breakfast... It's busy -- the bird version of happy hour -- but they have not found their way up to my porch, where a banquet awaits. Plugging in my water fountain does not call to them, nor do the strawberies that are bite size and ripe hanging from baskets, or the herbs or flowerboxes. I thought such a nice environment would becon better than plain cement and garden furniture would. No Dice.

However, I saw a turtle dove standing on the railing one day, and I never see birds come up here, even though we're only about 5 stories high. I just wanted to makethe food OBVIOUS in hopes of that bird or others coming back. As a last resort I took down the clear feeder that I'd stuck to the window (a first try) and spread out it's corn, seeds, nuts and shelled sunflower bits in a corner on the patio floor.

Lo and behold, the turtledove now comes daily with a mate and so has a sparrow with a black head and markings... and with it, a littler sparrow that is all brown. Don't know if this is a Mr and Mrs or a mother and her fledgeling. 

A sparrow is out there eating now, and the little brown one comes and goes. They say that birds will come if you leave out food, and these do come every day... but apparently they are not spreading the word!

Life Continues to Reveal

If you ask me I'd tell you, without a moment's hesitation, that I am a City Girl. That's right, with capital letters.

As such, I've lived in several cities, something I aspired to when I was stretched across my bed at age 16, dreaming up what I wanted to do in my life. I've visited many, enough to move about easily when I go, which was one goal, but I've actually lived in Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Paris, New York and now Houston.

The cities I like best are ones with abundant public transportation, because I like getting around on foot, flagging a cab, or taking a bus or train or subway. That would not be LA. I didn't love LA, but that's a whole other story.

I like the action. I like sweaty, sticky summer nights, walking through the streets hearing a distant sax riff carried on the breeze, which seems to always happen in the village in New York. I love cobblestones, intricate doorways, dusty bookshops, crowded sidewalk cafes, funky one of a kind stores tucked away on a side street and mom and pop coffee shops with writers and readers that sit for hours and are regulars, ones you can get to know if you sit there long enough yourself.

A really great thing about city life is the people who leave their blinds and drapes open so those of us on the street can get a glimpse of their lives as we pass by... and more than a glimpse if we pause. Whenever I have moved into an apartment, I go to the window to check out who my neighbors are. Just like when you see people doing things in their car, forgetting everyone can see them from all sides, so too are the folks who live in their apartments in a big city (my shades were ALWAYS closed).

City life offers so much culture-- plays, art, music, dance, food, flea markets, movies, gyms, stores galore --and interaction with people (and often their pets) from every walk of life. When I moved to Houston, most of that disappeared.I guess it was exaggerated coming from New York, which probably offers more of the above that most cities in the entire world. I was not looking for Houston to duplicate my NY lifestyle in the slightest, but I didn't know I'd struggle so much to find any of these things. The one thing I was looking forward to at some point in life was getting back to nature. Little did I know I'd find that I'd find it here, the 4th largest city in the US. It's just about the only thing I've found here that enriches me, but it's an absolutely marvelous surprise. And it's not in the form of horses, cacti and tumbleweeds, which might be your first guess when you think TEXAS.

This blog will tell the tales of my adventures in nature. I'm not promising it will always be a fascinating read. But it expands my joy to take notes when the experiences are fresh... and I can have them for a time when I may move on from here. Hopefully there will be some appeal to the bona fide out there who love all things animal, weather, plant and sky.