Blog of Cris Koonce

"Today a new sun rises for me.
Everything lives, everything is animated.
Everything seems to speak to me of my passion.
Everything invites me to cherish it."
- Anne De Lenclos

Every year I make a 12-month calendar for my Dad for Christmas. The pictures it contains are of all the good times and people past and present. It's fun to make and even more wonderful to see him enjoy it both at Christmas and throughout the year. Love my papa.

This past year I made a calendar for myself too. It has pictures of family and critters. Lots of critters. This month's calendar image is of the little wren above. The wren is one of my favorite birds, right up there with mockingbirds (for their spiritedness and fearlessness), chickadees (for their curiosity), and bluebirds (for their beauty in colors and song).

The wren is inquisitive and animated. And they are just so darned cute. Little balls of feathers with twitchy tails, hopping all around purposefully. They are always busy. Every so often one will look in my office window to see what is going on. It's nice to have such entertaining company.

Speaking of busy... I'm supposed to be putting a new screen in my window's screen frame. Don't want the smaller, buggy critters to come in my office to help me work. That would be bad. Until next time.

"Is not this the true romantic feeling - not to desire to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping you."
- Thomas Wolfe

"I was not a classic mother. But my kids were never palmed off to boarding school. So, I didn't bake cookies. You can buy cookies, but you can't buy love."
- Raquel Welch

Wishing for you a Valentine's day of warmth, kindness and peace - and love in any one of its many beautiful forms.

It's been an incredibly busy time.

This photo journal entry was going to be of a cottontail rabbit. I'm guessing you noticed the picture above is not that of a bunny. When taking the dogs to and from the back yard, they have frequently paused on the deck to sniff - really sniff - between the boards in one particular spot. I honestly do not know how they keep from hyperventilating some times. This usually means that some little critter has made a home under the deck. As long as it isn't a skunk, I'm okay with that. There are probably other creatures that are on the please don't make your home under the deck list, but I digress.

One day while eating lunch and looking out the bay window onto the deck this winter, a young cottontail rabbit ever so slowly appeared out from under the deck steps. The fur on the top of his head was all a muss, like that of a little kid when popping its head out from under the bed covers. This prompted the thought of posting a rabbit picture.

During work today, I came across a folder of warm, richly orange colored gladiolus pictures taken last summer. (Just before the deer ate them - and the drought hit.) Happy, soothing colors. Sounds great to make a quick addition to the pictures in rotation of the computer wallpaper. That's how the quick break started. But the photo had other ideas. The photo said it had delicate grace, light and form and that all that color, though nice, was distracting. Hummingbirds would surely disagree. The hummingbirds are wintering south of the border, so they didn't get a vote.

The key word for the selected quotes was supposed to be, "classic," - prompted by the feel of many black and white photos. That lead to a quote about "not a classic mother," and the word love. That lead to thoughts of my mom who liked Thomas Wolfe, which lead to a quote about true romantic feeling, which reminds me - Hey! It's Valentine's Day.

So, Happy Valentine's Day.

"The Nature of This Flower is to bloom."
- Alice Walker

Thinking of spring and hoping for rain and cooler temperatures to give relief for all.

This was the first year I planted gladiolus. I've always enjoyed their graceful, ever-changing beauty. They come in a variety of colors. I had to be quick to cut the stalks to put them in water in the vase. The deer seemed to enjoy the tender flower buds - at least enough to try them out... aka, eat them. So, pretty much, if we wanted to get to look at them, we weren't going to be able to do that much actually outside in the garden.

"I thank You God for this most amazing day;
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes."
- E. E. Cummings

Continuing is the theme of For the Birds - bird pictures. Mr. Shannon inquired as to the possibility of a peacock picture appearing in the mix. I shant disappoint. So these are for Shannon - and for Miss Joni too, who has shared her appreciation for these magnificant creatures as well. They are interesting birds. It never ceases to amaze me how colorful birds can be.

Both of these photos were taken at Clark Gardens Botanical Park, at different times.

There is a lovely, delightful young lady who works at Clark Gardens. We will call her Miss B. Miss B. has a waryness of birds, especially large ones. She never had a bad encounter with a bird, but she is, well, terribly afraid of them. Imagine how she felt, new to her job when she discovered that the peacocks like to stay in the area near the office building - where her office is. The peacocks like to look at themselves in the large glass windows (floor to ceiling) that are - you guessed it - at the front of the building on either side of the also glass front door. During some seasons, the peacocks will jump at the glass to challenge and attack the peacock that looks just like them.

Early in her tenure, Miss B. noted how the peacocks like to stand on her car, and how she would walk way around them to get where she was going, or wait until they moved away from the area she needed to be. It should be mentioned, these peacocks are used to being around people, so they don't exactly scurry away when a human is near. Now - that time has passed, Miss B. says they don't bother her nearly as much as they did in the beginning. Yay.

I'd like to extend a special thank you to Miss Eileen. Eileen, one of my favorite parts of wirting this little blog is the anticipation of getting a note from you. I deeply enjoy the stories and comments you share.

Until next time...

5x7 peacock photo note cards are available.