It is fun to watch and photograph the wandering peacocks at the Philadelphia Zoo. The sad part is they eat the fast food (fried chicken, french fries) that people leave behind on the ground. I can’t imagine this is very healthy for the peacocks.
For more shots straight out of the camera:
We visited the Butterfly Park in East Brunswick last Sunday. I was planning to post a Nature Notes about the park (didn’t happen! not enough hours or energy in a week); instead, I have material for next week’s Nature Notes.
I have two more interviews with bloggers on writing coming up for this blog – one for this coming week, and one for the following week. I will post the answer to the Film Festival quiz tomorrow morning on Sunday (in the comments of the film festival post). Still time for guessing – thanks to those who already tried!
Update on Friday: “Baruch Dayan HaEmet – Blessed is the True Judge.
This is the blessing said upon hearing the news of someone’s death.
About 11:10 AM this morning, RivkA passed away.
Funeral plans are in the process, and we’ll post them as soon as we know.
May RivkA’s family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”
One more update, a parsha thought on Hayye Sarah by Jeffrey Woolf: “Abraham came to Hevron to eulogize Sarah and to cry for her. The Rav זצ”ל used to emphasize that ordinarily the order is the reverse. First once cries. Only after time passes and perspective returns, can one eulogize the departed and evaluate who they were.
Sometimes, though, one is obligated to suppress one’s primal shriek of pain in order to tell the world just who the person was who has gone. That way, the Rav said, we try to involve as many people as possible in mourning the tragedy. Once the eulogy is achieved, we may all let ourselves go and cry out in pain.”
My compost heap: every now and then I do cover it with dirt.
Thursday Challenge theme is MESSY (Children, Rooms, Garage, Yard, Disorganized, Hair,…). Next week is CRAFTS (Supplies, Knitting, Crocheting, Woodworking, Pottery, Painting,…).
My daughter and her friend enjoyed their ride on the Philadelphia Zoo carousel last week.
I imagine this parrot is saying “Awk! I am a handsome dude, aren’t I? Awk!”
There is so much to see at the Philly Zoo that we only saw about half the place when we heard it was closing time. The girls really enjoyed the petting zoo and the big cats (pumas, leopards, lions).
For more posts with a lot or a little red, visit:
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I am running a new series interviewing bloggers who like to write about writing. The first one was an interview with Lorri of Jew Wishes. Please come back tomorrow and next week for the next two in this series. Thank you.
Sometimes you can photograph an ordinary bridge and get some good shots. This bridge goes over the Raritan River, and on top is Route 18, a busy thoroughfare that takes you from New Brunswick, through East Brunswick, and eventually leads down to the Jersey Shore area.
This is the top of the bridge. I liked the colorful leaves growing on the fence.
Unfortunately, graffiti is too common a site on bridges in our area.
The bottom of the bridge with the Raritan River: the bridge is at the end of our walk that started at Rutgers Gardens.
Past posts with bridges and the Raritan River:
For more Sunday Bridges:
Goldenrod was growing by the Raritan River near Rutgers Gardens. Goldenrod is blamed for allergies, but that’s because it blooms at the same time as ragweed.
Thursday Challenge theme is GOLDEN (Jewelry, Coins, Sun, Leaves, Fields, Hair,…).
Next Week: MESSY (Children, Rooms, Garage, Yard, Disorganized, Hair,…)
It’s been a while since I did a review, so perhaps this should be a month in review (or two months?). Jewish holidays can do that to you – you can’t remember what it was you were planning in mid August, and all of a sudden it’s October. I was very busy putting up the films for the Rutgers New Jersey Jewish Film Festival in September – if you live in New Jersey, I hope you will see one of the films!
More on my blog:
There are some lovely paths by the Raritan River in the back of Rutgers Gardens. We enjoyed walking through nature last Sunday.
Some leaves were changing to red; not all the leaves looked so healthy. I wondered if it was because of the dry summer we had.
Is this what Monet saw before he painted his famous lily pads?
I believe this pretty lavender flower by the river is a cleome.
I was excited to see milkweed, as Michelle of Rambling Woods has talked about it on her blog as attractive to butterflies. And I even saw some milkweed aphids, too.
And since many of you enjoy seeing my family, here’s my husband and daughter. The chocolate around her mouth is probably from an Oreo cookie, which may not be a very natural food, but it’s in her nature to enjoy cookies.
For more Nature Notes:
This photo of the Washington Monument was taken in late August by this watery World War II memorial.
These photos were taken directly under the monument:
For more photos with sky, visit Sky Watch Friday.
I photographed this cardinal in my backyard in early September. Today I saw a robin in my backyard. I usually see the cardinals in pairs or groups – the bright red birds are a delight.
Here’s the September cardinal again, profile view.
I looked around in my backyard for what to photograph for Nature Notes, and the rose hips caught my eye. “Rose hips are red, my kale is green, one evergreen died, my harvests are lean.” I’m growing kale in my front and back yards instead of grass. The ones in the front are doing quite well; the ones in the back look like someone nibbled on them. One of my little evergreen bushes died this summer — it could have used extra watering in our drought-like August. Oh, well.
There is a rowing of burning bush plants near our supermarket. They are starting to turn red, though I noticed one was brown. Perhaps those also could have used more water this summer. Will fall foliage be less brilliant than last year’s due to the summer drought?
For more Nature Notes: