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Today is a good day!


BigFatCoward

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Zoomed with my dementia patient mom today. She was SO. EXCITED. that she remembered how to log on all by herself. And she was able to switch from “gallery view” to “speaker view” when  I gave her a video tour of our house (we’ve lived here 6 years and she hasn’t been able to visit since she lives across the country). At the end of the hour, she blew us (my sister was also on) a kiss and said “I do so love both you girls. Can we do this again next week?” Yes, mom, we can. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Today is a good day because it’s starting to feel a little bit like autumn. Still 33C, but some trees have started shedding their leaves, there’s a fresh breezing bringing along the new season, I have a crate of pears right next to me waiting to be turned into preserve. Autumn is overall in the air and for some inexplicable reason that always makes me feel light, hopeful and happy (even if the realistic expectation of this autumn is another quarantine). It feels so tranquil to just sit on the terrace, listen to the rustling of the leaves, the chirping of the birds and the lack of traffic and people. I want to have a freshly brewed cup of coffee and collect the hazelnut and walnut and ignore my problems for another 40 hours. 

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I went paddle boarding yesterday to take advantage of the good weather for the end of summer. Went out around Kingswear near Dartmouth. The coastline was phenomenal, and I found a gorgeous little secluded beach only accessible from the water. And to top it off, got followed by a trio of inquisitive seals. I could almost have reached out and petted them (not that I would have). A wonderful end to what has otherwise been a, let's say sub-par, summer.

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7 minutes ago, Liffguard said:

I went paddle boarding yesterday to take advantage of the good weather for the end of summer. Went out around Kingswear near Dartmouth. The coastline was phenomenal, and I found a gorgeous little secluded beach only accessible from the water. And to top it off, got followed by a trio of inquisitive seals. I could almost have reached out and petted them (not that I would have). A wonderful end to what has otherwise been a, let's say sub-par, summer.

That's sounds amazing.  I lived at the beach for a few years, and I think I miss paddling around and visiting with the seals and porpoises most of all.  

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40 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

That's sounds amazing.  I lived at the beach for a few years, and I think I miss paddling around and visiting with the seals and porpoises most of all.  

I haven't had the good fortune to see porpoises yet (not sure if they live around here). Seals are not exactly common, but I've seen them a few times. Dolphins as well. One of my fondest memories is sailing across the channel from Camaret Sur Mer and having a pod of dolphins playing in our bow wave.

I'm super jealous of my uncle in Newfoundland though. He gets to watch humpbacks breaching from his living room.

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Today is a good day because I’m making tiny steps to drag myself out of this weeks-long rut. I’ve written a little and I’m reading in the park and visiting the rabbit that lives in the park. I called my grandmother on the phone and had a nice chat with her, and later I might go to H&M and pick up a couple things I’ve had an eye on for several months but didn’t get because I didn’t consider myself deserving of them enough. And now I’ve decided to shit on whether I deserve them or not and just get them because I want and I can. That’ll be nice. And I also mean to repot an aloe plant that’s dying for reasons I can’t figure out and try to salvage it. 

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6 hours ago, The Great Unwashed said:

I also got the results of my MRIs on my brain yesterday and everything was all clear. No tumors, bleeds, or evidence of mini-strokes. 

That is terrific! Ya!  Good day for sure!

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1 minute ago, The Great Unwashed said:

So, another one...I've been struggling with writing my book for literal decades. I had a middle, but didn't know how to start or finish it. 

But inexplicably, it all fell into place yesterday. I've started polishing up chapters to shop to agents/publishers.

Keep them good days piling up. :thumbsup:

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I thought of @Hereward today when we randomly stumbled into an ABA Code 4 (that means the bird is only very very rarely found in North America) twitch of a Little Stint. Even better, we happened to be just standing next to these other birders when they found the bird, so we got to enjoy our observations and chatting with the other birders before literally dozens of people rolled up in a panic. All told we ended up with 70 or so species on the day and one very unanticipated lifer! 

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9 hours ago, The Great Unwashed said:

So, another one...I've been struggling with writing my book for literal decades. I had a middle, but didn't know how to start or finish it. 

But inexplicably, it all fell into place yesterday. I've started polishing up chapters to shop to agents/publishers.

Here's the critical question, midway through your bank robbery story did it turn into a vampire thriller? 

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7 hours ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

I thought of @Hereward today when we randomly stumbled into an ABA Code 4 (that means the bird is only very very rarely found in North America) twitch of a Little Stint. Even better, we happened to be just standing next to these other birders when they found the bird, so we got to enjoy our observations and chatting with the other birders before literally dozens of people rolled up in a panic. All told we ended up with 70 or so species on the day and one very unanticipated lifer! 

So cool! I’ve never seen one. 

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3 hours ago, Hereward said:

So cool! I’ve never seen one. 

I would have never in a million years found that bird by myself and probably would have written it off as some weird-variant Semipalmated Sandpiper. I mean, when I saw it in person next to all of those Semipalms, it was obviously different (especially the way it moved), but I swear to god people have been posting photos of the bird and it's nearly impossible for me to grok the difference in photos. 

Does UK get Little Stint during both migrations, or just Fall migration? 

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56 minutes ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

I would have never in a million years found that bird by myself and probably would have written it off as some weird-variant Semipalmated Sandpiper. I mean, when I saw it in person next to all of those Semipalms, it was obviously different (especially the way it moved), but I swear to god people have been posting photos of the bird and it's nearly impossible for me to grok the difference in photos. 

Does UK get Little Stint during both migrations, or just Fall migration? 

it’s good to have some help sometimes. Though some kindly experts had to put me right on Saturday that the bird I’d found wasn’t a Wheatear, but a female Redstart. Bit embarrassing! My Increasingly outspoken daughter claims this is evidence I’m a sexist who only recognises male birds. :(


As for the Little Stint, just the autumn migration generally. Only a handful of sightings in the spring. 
 

PS Did get one Lifer at the weekend, though, a Honey Buzzard.

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9 hours ago, Hereward said:

it’s good to have some help sometimes. Though some kindly experts had to put me right on Saturday that the bird I’d found wasn’t a Wheatear, but a female Redstart. Bit embarrassing! My Increasingly outspoken daughter claims this is evidence I’m a sexist who only recognises male birds. :(


As for the Little Stint, just the autumn migration generally. Only a handful of sightings in the spring. 
 

PS Did get one Lifer at the weekend, though, a Honey Buzzard.

Congratulations on the lifer!!!! That's so rad. :love:

Regarding the Redstart -- I'm going to continue this convo in the birding thread (which I had forgotten existed). Confusing fall birds is nothing to be ashamed of! Also I'm going to entice you and E to join a project I helped start that is focused just on this issue!

 

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'Tis the anniversary of our second date mumblty years ago.  The date began when Partner picked me up in the Labor Day weekend Friday, and took us to dinner.  The date concluded when Partner drove me back home so I could finally get back to prep for the classes I was to teach, as my first semester as a grad assistant on Monday night.  So I warn you all -- be very careful with sex! It can lead to multiple years of marriage to the same person!  Yikes!

We're trying together to make dinner be a little special.  It's a beautiful day -- outside is packed.  We had thought of making an order to a Basque restaurant for their paella, to take out.  We decided to not to.  But I did have a particularly nice bottle of wine stashed away.  I think we can share that with our dinner -- a Greek lentil dish with home made Farmer's Market Greek cheese, a Spanish tortilla and a apple tart, from some really nice upstate little apples already ripe.

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Last night I went for a walk around the park and found seven police SUVs and an EMS vehicle parked at the corner. A 90-year old lady with dementia had wandered away from home and searchers had been combing the neighbourhood for hours looking for her. A man noticed a confused looking elderly person a couple of miles away and asked her if she needed help. She must have had id with her because he brought her home in a taxi, just before I went to the park. Now that’s a really good day!

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21 hours ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

Congratulations on the lifer!!!! That's so rad. :love:

Regarding the Redstart -- I'm going to continue this convo in the birding thread (which I had forgotten existed). Confusing fall birds is nothing to be ashamed of! Also I'm going to entice you and E to join a project I helped start that is focused just on this issue!

 

Looking forward to it!

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Today is a good day because I have survived my first week working as a high school teacher. The past two days have been really intense, I am exhausted. So the job is tiring and demanding, but I think I will get used to it and build up some stamina; and with practice, lesson planning won't take as long anymore. The coworkers seem friendly and want to help a beginner, which is great for me. The students are, well, teenagers, some seem to be lazy or moody, but most are actually really eager to participate. I have mostly the first years (around the age of 14 or 15), which is great, because they start learning new things from the beginning and they haven't skipped out on important knowledge while in quarantine, and also because I am not taking over from another teacher who got them used to their order, so I can build the dynamic and order I want in the class. And my limited and totally biased experience teaches me that working with high schoolers is much easier and more pleasant and less self-confidence-killing than working with primary schoolers.

The downsides of the new job are the long commute (really hate it) and, well, not really a downside, because measures to limit the spread of disease are important, but, well, the anti-covid rules are somewhat impacting certain parts of the job. I am totally understanding of the necessity of these measures and definitely don't want a virus to get into my workplace and attack my students, my coworkers, and their families, I just wish I could start a new career in different circumstances.

All in all, however, a good day/week, I hope it continues into a good month. :)

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