Friday's Air

[Joppette]

Good morning all! It's 4:58AM here. It got to 80 yesterday!!!! It has not been that warm here in 9 months! Something to celebrate and enjoy.

On the health front, progressing quite nicely. Still have a horrendous cough, but miles away from where I was 3 days ago. I am feeling human again. You will know when I'm back to "normal" when I no longer start the "Air" messages in the middle of the night. LOL!

Yesterday, I witnessed something I never saw before, and was amazed. It may seem like a small thing, but for me, nothing that happens in this life is small. All remarkable things are a cause for celebration, inspiration, and AWE. A beautiful little female bird flew into my window outside my office. I felt so bad, I was there lurking on the web, and heard it and saw her fall to the deck, stunned. I got up to look at her and assess the damage.

She was teetering, and her beak was wide open as it seemed to me she was gasping for air. I thought about whether or not she had a nest of little ones, waiting for Mommy to return to feed them. I hoped she would get her wits about her again, and return to the nest.

All of a sudden, a much larger bird, of a different species, and a brilliantly colored red winged black bird, flew over to her. He looked the situation over, and then to my surprise and delight, he flew over her, put his talons on her and made a mighty effort to pick her up off the deck. His wings fluttered furiously, as he did what he could to get her back up! I stood there watching this, in complete amazement. He did get her legs under her, and she stood there teetering as he flew off.

I continued to watch her, and sure enough, in a few minutes, she shook off the headache and flew off! A true testimony to the spirit for life!

Yesterday I forced myself to get out (for the first time in six days) and attend a fundraiser for Gilda's Club. I'm so happy I did. They did a video that I had not seen before about their children's grief program. To my surprise, it was the pilot program, their first ever attempt at working with children with grief, and it was my group that was filmed. As I heard their stories, and testimonies, tears flooded my eyes. I felt so proud of these kids, and the progress they made in their grief journey, and because I was one of the facilitators, felt so emotional about it all. It was a very cool video. It gave me such a sense of peace, knowing that this first group of children were "mine".

Love stuff like that.

Anyway, today is supposed to be 73, and rainy. That's okay. Makes the flowers grow. Hubby is back home and that is a good thing. We will be making a final decision on a new car this weekend, as my lease is up June 1. I am excited about that too!

So have a good day. Celebrate this day as it's the only Friday, May 21, 2010 you will ever get again!

Judy in MI

[jaminkw]

Morning All! Morning temps in KW stuck in the upper 70s--78 right now. With storm fronts coming thru from time to time, Stan and I are enjoy some pleasant time on the screen porch.

Judy, so glad you are feeling better. As an avid bird and bunny fan (actually all wildlife), I love your bird story. What a treat to witness that. They must have been feathered friends lol. What a wonderful testament to your volunteer efforts that video was. Nothing better than helping children.

Well, it's TGIF for all you working Joes and Janes. Here, it's delivery day for the new furniture and the old furniture is still here lol. It's nice furniture so I'll donate it to Second-Hand Sam's which is run for the benefit of Samuel's House, a half-way house for women coming out of jail and their children. One of KW's finest charities.

Have a great day everyone.

Judy in KW

[Bud Baker]

Good morning, everyone! TGIF!

Today is National Bike to Work Day, and I did. It was 64 degrees as I rode to work, supposed to get up to 90 degrees this afternoon, and the storms are supposed to be gone for a while.

I took a day off riding yesterday, and am riding a very easy pace today, so I'll be rested for the 100 mile club ride I'm doing tomorrow.

Glad you're feeling better, MI Judy. Enjoy the new furniture, KW Judy. Have a great day, all!

[eric byrne]

Good Evening Everyone,

Hooray weekend arrives again,weather really sunny and hot,work was so uncomfortable to-day,shirt was sticking to my body,great to come home and have a shower,feeling much better.Not been posting much this week,really busy at work,I have been preparing for a visit to the college by the HMIe (Her Majesties Inspectors) on Monday,who are staying for the day interviewing staff and checking all the quality systems are fully operational and being adhered to by all the different levels of staff.This is the forerunner to their weeks blanket coverage next term which includes class observations also.

My daughter has fallen out with her flatmate and has moved back home,I have been spending nights moving all her belongings back here,where on earth did she accumulate all this stuff,dont know how long she will stay,but it will be great company for my wife and I in the meantime.

Oh one interesting item was emailed to the staff in the college this week was an open invitation to complete a questionaire for a educational cultural visit to China for three weeks at the end of July early August,which includes sightseeing to the major tourist sights including the Forbidden City,all expenses paid excluding insurance and visas,well I completed the questionaire and quite unexpectedly I received from the organisers news that I have been shortlisted as a candidate and to complete some more detailed questions along with a request for a reference which has been fully supported by my Assistant Principal.So I might be asking for a hall pass shortly?.Well China just had to be on my bucket list,and has brought everthing forward rather than waiting till after I have retired.

See you to-morrow.

[recce101]

Judy in MI, your bird story is amazing, especially since the larger bird was a different species. We have a lot of bird activity in our back yard. My wife spreads birdseed every day and watches them along with our golden retriever, who just watches too and rarely bothers them. She (the wife, I mean) can identify the chirps by species, which is probably not that hard, but also has a feel for what they're trying to communicate to each other. The other day we were in the living room, she heard chirping, said "that's a danger call," and ran outside to see a cat on the wall (which the dog dutifully chased away). Much too frequently, baby birds who can't yet fly fall out of the nest, and she usually knows that from the chirps between baby and parents even before seeing it on the ground. On occasion she's been able to help get the baby back into the nest, but often the episode ends sadly. Sometimes the young bird is able to fly horizontally for a short distance but doesn't have the strength to fly back up into the tree, and we've seen cases where a parent is able to nudge the youngster up a slope to the wall, then along the wall to a low branch, then from one branch to another back to the nest. There's a lot of drama in that yard, and it was a revelation to me that all the chirping was not necessarily sounds of joyous springtime, but communication to accomplish tasks necessary to survival. Also, the parenting skills of some species are much better than those of others, and sometimes the coordination and sharing of duties between the male and female parents is quite remarkable.

And Eric, hope you get that China trip!

Ned