This northern flicker came by on Nov. 9. Flickers and other woodpeckers are frequent diners outside my window.
What’s my excuse for running a photo of a bird? I don’t have one. But on the eve of Thanksgiving, I figured I’d chance it.
As someone who spent most of the first 20 years of my life in big cities, from Berlin to Los Angeles, I am particularly grateful now — more than half a century later — to be living on the outskirts of a small one, where there’s enough space and trees and greenery of all kinds for wildlife to be part of the scene.
Watching deer make their daily treks through the yard and trimming the ivy is part of the attraction of sitting at my computer and looking out the window.
And then there are the birds that frequent the suet feeder close by and the seed feeders farther away. There’s no end of cheap entertainment to be had this way, if you’re not too particular and don’t mind repetition.
I’ve also discovered, latecomer to technology that I am, that I can keep open the page I’m writing this on while at the same time listening, via YouTube, to Eric Clapton’s tribute to J.J. Cale in the background. Now there’s a treat on a quiet Thanksgiving eve.
Speaking of technology: There is lots that is regrettable about the effect of the digital upheaval on our lives. It has, for instance, pretty much killed local newspapers as a force. But it has also enabled dinosaurs like me to keep their hand in by reporting, even if sometimes it’s about the very small things in life.
Like, on slow days before national holidays, birds outside one’s window. (hh)
That’s a beautiful photo.
We are forever grateful for your being such a “dinosaur!”
Thanks for this, Hasso.
Thanks for the comforting words H.H.. It’s a sad commentary on todays society that foul language can pollute our flora & fona & public dialogue .. I’ll plead guilty for at times I’ve been mean spirited in my remarks over the years.
And you have great taste in music! Thanks for sharing Hasso. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving
Love your columns!
When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it is your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else…
Georgia O’Keeffe
And, Hasso — you do just that!
Thanks HH for your reflections and in-focus pic
Thanks for the kind and gentle words Hasso. I am thankful for you.
Thanks Hasso. We enjoy great wildlife entertainment at our place in N Albany too.
“And it’s all small things…” think you are reporting on the important things in life, those things that many overlook…thank you! Happy Holidays to you, and yours…
Happy Thanksgiving Hasso. Thank you for all you contribute to our lives.
Reporting an HH with bike spotting, at 14th and Broadway, around 3:30pm Friday 11/26.
Kudos for your local reportage and rep-ing us riders in the face of the petrol culture.
I want to add my thanks. Since I started reading your blog, I have been much more
aware about what is going on in Albany. My husband and I have lived here for 25 years
and love this town. I must admit it took some getting use to. I love our daily paper and
am so thankful for getting it, but am fearful it is as you say that someday we will no longer
see it on our doorstep in the morning. I remember your editorials years ago and loved
reading them. Really missed you when you left.
Thanks for the image Hasso, especially the mental one of you working on your computer, looking out the window and listening to Eric Clapton. Rock on!