Last week I followed in my husband’s footsteps and came down with Covid. I thought it was a sinus infection or the flu since my first two tests read negative. Spent two days in bed and this past Friday had a surge of energy, but my test said Positive. Today, Sunday, my test says Positive.
The 2 days of almost no energy were the worst…worse than the cough and congestion. But, the good part is that I have been forced to rest, relax, and get out of my usual busy-ness. Here is a visual representation of how I felt on the worst days:
I was weakened, devitalized, reduced…lacking vigor, vim, verve, fire, starch…I had lost my snap, my bang, my punch, my git up and go, my ginger, kick, zip, zing, zizz…
I am sorry that I had to miss a couple of lunches and a party. A family member was set to spend two nights with us and that had to be canceled.
I am thankful that I am recovering bit by bit and thankful for all of you checking in on me and for my husband who is doing his best to social distance while still waiting on me a bit. And I am thankful for my handy copy of Roget’s International Thesaurus (third edition) for some of the words I used to describe the condition my condition was in.
I am also thankful that the squirrel was not dead or paralyzed, which is what I thought when I first saw it outside my kitchen window. That first glance told me it was dead…had somehow ended up there and slowly died in that position. I went outside to get a better look and a photo and low and behold, an eye opened and then closed again. I thought “Oh No! It is paralyzed!” seeing the back legs hanging and not moving. So, I went inside and got a cardboard box and my “grabber” (device for picking up things from 3 feet away). I was already planning on taking it to the local Wildlife Rescue place. As I approached, the squirrel moved it’s head and I backed up and went back in the house and watched as it scampered up a tree seemingly uninjured.
On the 10 o’clock news I hear the weatherman say “And today in San Angelo it hit 100 degrees” and i see the name San Angelo on the big televised map of Texas. I have seen this name for years, but it meant nothing to me. I had never been there. I didn’t know anyone who lived there. And then one day, on Facebook, I saw a post about the San Angelo State Park. The poster had gotten some nice bird photos there. It was Spring, and I thought: “Road Trip.”
San Angelo is 205 miles to the northwest of Austin. We drove through rolling hills and interesting towns, the elevation gradually rising with each mile. The state park is on the outskirts of San Angelo. It has 7,677 acres and is a fairly new state park, having opened in 1995. There is a north shore area and a south shore area with a large reservoir made from damming up the Concho river. Check out the website for more information:
Here are just a few of the other things we saw during our all day visit:
Texas Longhorn Cattle
American Bison
Blooming Mesquite
Prickly Pear Cactus And Daisies
Female Red Wing Blackbirds and White Wing Doves Up Close At The Bird Blind
Turkeys
Scissortail Flycatcher
And as we neared the park exit…
Road Runners Mating…note the lizard in the male’s beak. When they separated he still had the lizard…maybe to attract another mate?
We also saw deer and ground squirrels and a fox. And we saw other unidentified birds that I didn’t get shots of. This is a wonderful place and I recommend it to all who love spending time in the great outdoors. Now, when I see the name on the map, it will bring back the happy memories of all that I saw.
As March progressed, I anticipated and looked for signs of Spring. I saw many and knew more would be coming…more flowers blooming…birds singing and nesting. But, there was also a gnawing at my soul in the background of the beauty. My mother’s death date approached, March 25th. It has been 15 years since her death and the pain of grief has lessened. But, I want to hug her and share my life with her and I want her to see the physical beauty she left the world. The tears are coming as I write this even though I have been thinking about writing about it for quite a while.
On the other hand, I am glad my mother is not here to see the destruction of our country. She who supported civil rights with her body and soul…she who always rooted for the underdog. She was a proud American and she voted. I’m sure that if she saw the video of the woman being taken away by unidentified men to be locked up and silenced, she would have felt that woman’s fear in empathy.
A couple of days ago, March 29th, I attended a Birthday party for my friend Joan who was turning 80 that very day. This was also my Mother’s birthday. As we sang Happy Birthday to Joan, I was also singing to my mother. My mother’s death was just 4 days before her birthday and as she lay comatose on life support, we had sung Happy Birthday to her.
Okay! Enough grief for now! Here comes the Joy. In my blog posts of April 2019 and March 2021 I shared photos and a few words on one of my mother’s legacies, the lovely purple spiderworts she transplanted from her yard to mine over 20 years ago. From a literal handful of plants to the current abundance of them is one of nature’s miracles. What started as one purple clump in the backyard has now spread all over the yard and into the front yard. And both my brother and my friend Laura have transplanted some from my yard into their yards, where they are now flourishing.
As you look at these photos, remember that a small, positive action can take hold and grow. This is something to remember as we navigate our way through the coming months.
Beauty Among The Rocks
At The Trunk Of The Bur Oak
Near The Rotting Hackberry Stump
Near Philosopher’s Rock
Growing Low To The Ground
Pink Colored With Bee Gathering Pollen
With A Tiny Bee
With A Big Bee
So Pretty!
And there are many more photos of the flowers that I will not publish here…the flowers next to yellow dandelions …some next to orange crossvine blooms…the ones I can see in the front yard outside my office window…the view of them through my kitchen window…
May the natural world give you peace and strength each day. And remember that each positive act you take may grow and spread
While we were eating breakfast yesterday a bit of drama played out in our back yard. I like to face the windows to the back yard just so I can watch yard critters while I eat. My husband spotted a Cooper’s hawk sitting on our back fence…in the same spot I had seen it at dusk the day before. I got my camera and took a few photos through the one window without a screen (removed for just this purpose, to be able to focus my camera). A squirrel appeared moving along the back fence towards the hawk. I was about 45 feet away (that is what my husband’s range finder says) and just had my little Nikon Coolpix A900. But, I think I captured the scene.
Eastern Fox Squirrel approaching Cooper’s hawk on the Squirrel Highway
Squirrel Moving Closer to Hawk (see the tail behind the tree?)
Squirrel displaces Hawk
Hawk flies into nearby neighbor’s tree and then:
Hawk is back. It briefly spread both wings and it’s tail out, perhaps to look bigger. I didn’t get the shot before the wings closed back down. I think the squirrel was down in the bush behind fence at that point.
Squirrel is back!
Standoff!
Squirrel nonchalantly grooming it’s tail while hawk watches.
After this, the hawk flew to a side fence and then flew off out of the yard as another squirrel approached on a perpendicular squirrel highway. Blue jays had been squawking in the background but never got very close to the action.
Neither my husband or I had ever seen this kind of squirrel behavior before. Usually, when a hawk is around the squirrels are frozen against a tree trunk/branch or nowhere to be seen. The first batch of baby squirrels start being born in January and so maybe the squirrels are being more protective of the area? The squirrel was a male squirrel and so maybe just defending territory? The hawk is probably hanging around to get at the fat white winged doves that come to our feeder and may not prey on the squirrels. If the hawk attacked the squirrel I think both would give a good fight.
I had been hoping to come up with a fun political metaphor for this little drama we witnessed, but so far I have not.
I find much joy in observing small bits of interaction from the non humans around us. I hope some small joys of your choice come to you today and every day in 2025!
(original photo by Jerry Larson and used with permission of Jerry Larson and the Waco Tribune-Herald)
Who is this sun glassed adventurer?
He is my baby brother, Robert Richard Downes, kayaking on the Brazos River. The photo also adorns the cover of one of Robert’s books entitled Hello to a River, which chronicles his canoe and kayaking trips.
Texas is home to some wonderful rivers that have inspired many adventurers. My brother is one of those. He drew inspiration from several generations of outdoorsmen and women in our family. I remember canoe trips we took in my father’s canoe starting when I was 5 and my brother was 4. That canoe was inherited from my dad’s grandfather and currently sits on saw horses in my back yard. Robert tells of his journeys on Texas waterways (and a few others). His book includes the writings of our father, John Richard Downes, who kept notes about the canoe trips he took on the Texas Colorado river. I contributed one short piece about me meeting my father at the end of his last canoe trip to bring him and canoe home.
Each trip down a river will be different. The traveler might encounter sudden storms, miserable heat, mosquitos and unexpected currents. But, along with the unpleasant, there is the pleasant: the helpful people met along the way; the sightings of birds and other creatures; the time spent with one’s own thoughts. The lone traveler becomes the philosopher.
This book is a fun and readable true story that will fit nicely on the bookshelf next to Robert Graves classic Goodbye To A River. And this is a good gift for lovers of Texas rivers and nature.
Here are Robert’s Other Books:
A collection of essays about the author’s adventures in Texas, Mexico and other Latin American countries. Gift this to anyone with an interest in foreign travel and Texas.
This is a true crime mystery about a case my brother worked on when he was employed by the U. S. State Department in Mexico. It is about the disappearance of American professor Nicholas Schrock while he was traveling to a summer teaching job in Guadalajara. Great details about the investigation and a good look inside of the everyday work of our government employees.
This latest book is a departure from Robert’s past work and is a fictional spy tale. Here is the opening line: “It all started innocently enough, at least to an outside observer, but appearances can be deceiving.”
These books are available at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. (search for his full name “Robert Richard Downes” because there is another author with a similar name)
Here is the “About The Author” bio at the back of his latest book:
Robert Richard Downes is a retired Senior Foreign Service Officer with over 37 years of federal service, the majority served overseas with the U. S. State Department. He lived and worked in Australia, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Venezuela as well as studying in Austria, Germany, and Hungary. After leaving the State Department, he returned to his native Texas where he fills his time reading, writing, kayaking, and volunteering for local charities and international organizations.
We just came out of an insane election time and I hope this did not put a damper on your sharing a Thanksgiving table with family and/or friends. And if you were alone, I hope you treated yourself well and found some things to smile about.
My husband and I listened to the music from Hamilton while we prepared our big meal. Just us this year, but we made our homemade mashed potatoes and I made my special spicy cranberry sauce. While I am nostalgic for the Thanksgivings of years past at my grandma’s table and later my mother’s table, those days can not be recreated. Our holiday celebrations morph a bit each year. I am thankful for getting to spend the holiday with my husband. I am also thankful for calls and texts from family and friends we could not be with.
As I get older I am working on a daily gratitude practice, which simply calls me to find small joys each day and share them with others. This practice has really helped me get past the anger and sadness I felt at the election.
And I am so thankful for the big trip to Massachusetts that we took in July to visit our family members there.
Because of a resurgence of Covid, we tried to find things we could all do together outdoors. The whole group of 7 of us met at the New England Botanical Gardens at Tower Hill, west of Boston, at Boylston, Mass. We ate lunch at the little cafe there. It has an outdoor seating option. Then we hiked around the grounds. It was hot and humid trekking, but was fun being together and sharing the joys of this beautiful outdoor space. First we walked down a hill to a pond. There was a pavilion for sitting and looking for birds and pond critters. Then we continued on through tall trees until we came to several interesting structures and statues. Here is one of them:
Temple In The Woods
Then we headed up hill to the more landscaped part of the gardens.
Saw some plants I was familiar with like this milkweed:
Monarch On Milkweed
And some others that were new to me:
Anyone Know What These Are?
There were a couple more ponds:
Frog On Lily Pad
And some interesting landscape choices:
Plants Planted In A Pattern On A Vertical Wall
The next day we headed to another outdoor spot, minus one of our party. Mirror Lake is on the old grounds of Ft. Devens, north west of Boston. Ft. Devens was an old army base from 1917-1996. Part of it now serves as a training center for the Army reserve and National Guard. A small township has evolved there.
Mirror Lake
We parked and walked down a hill to the entrance station and paid our fee. After staking out a spot for our chairs, we all went swimming. The water was perfect for a hot day. My husband was experiencing a bit of nostalgia at being here. When he was in the Army, he did his Individual Advanced Training (AIT) at Ft. Devens. The 4 months he spent here training was in the winter and so he had not been swimming here before. This is a family friendly area with life guards and boat rentals. One of our group was a regular there this summer, getting his exercise after work. We splashed around and laughed and looked at fish in the clear water.
And then this happened:
On Our Youngest Member’s Finger
A little dragonfly took turns perching on our fingers. Dragonflies can be symbols of change and transformation. I think our family bonds changed a bit and got stronger on this trip. I am thankful for that.
I hope you enjoyed this little personal trip report and maybe will visit some of the places I did. And I hope you find some small joys each day.
Once upon a time in Austin, Texas, maybe in the Spring of 1955, a little tow-headed baby girl was visiting the Texas Memorial Museum with her parents. As they entered the building, the little girl looked up, pointed, and blurted out “PISH!” Her startled daddy and pregnant mother followed their little girl’s pointing finger and saw a large, framed fossil of a fish mounted over the doorway to an exhibit room. The baby girl only knew to say a few words and they didn’t realize that fish was one of them. This incident became a family story that her parent’s would tell over and over throughout the years, much to the little girl’s delight.
A few years after, maybe 1962 or 1963, the little girl’s elementary school class visited this same place and she saw the fish fossil with new eyes. And her new eyes saw many other delightful sights.
Beautiful Windows Grace The Main Entry Floor-Second Floor (seen as you enter museum)
Pterosaur Replica Flying Overhead (cast from bone fossils found in Big Bend, Texas)
She marveled at the flying dinosaur over head and was a bit unnerved by the large Tyrannosaurus skeleton across the room. The guide said that it also had been cast from fossil bones found at Big Bend. She knew her parents had been to Big Bend because they talked about that place a lot. Maybe some day she would go there and see where these dinosaurs had roamed.
From this floor her class crowded into a hallway and one by one went down the steps to the first floor.
Staircase To Exhibits
Oh My! So much to see here! Meteorites from outer space… fossils and bones galore…
Star Fish Fossils
Label reads:
Starfish
Crateraster mccarteri
Skeletons in Slab
Cretaceous
Travis County, Texas
These had been found right here in her own county! The guide asked them to see if they could find the four legged starfish amongst all the five legged starfish.
Four Legged Star Fish Amongst Five Legged Star Fish
Sea Lily Fossil
The little girl didn’t know what a sea lily was, but she knew they must have been pretty. She remembered all the fossils she had collected on family hikes in the area…mostly snail looking critters that lived millions of years ago. It was hard to get her mind on how far back that was.
Around the corner was more…
Glyptodon
She had seen armadillos before, but never one that was as big as a small car.
And nearby was a giant that used to swim in Onion Creek. Scary to think of…the little girl had been to Onion Creek and seen little fish and frogs…things this creature might eat…this one was big enough to eat her.
Onion Creek Mosasaur (Cretaceous)
Mosasaur and Large Mammal For Size Comparison
Then the little girl and her class trekked up the stairs to the Third Floor. There were animals here that she recognized and knew were still around.
One Of Many Dioramas Depicting Texas Wildlife
Beetles, Butterflies, Moths
The little girl would remember this class field trip as one of the best ever fieldtrips. Better than the bakery where they got to sample fresh baked bread and better than the Coca Cola bottling plant.
Years later, when the little girl became a grown woman, she took her own little girl to visit the museum. She showed her the fish fossil and told the story.
Now the woman is an old woman. She recently visited the newly refurbished, repaired and reopened museum. Now, it is called The Texas Science And Natural History Museum. Some of it has changed. There is no longer a framed fish fossil over a doorway. But, much has stayed the same. During this visit she did not take the stairs. She and her husband chose the elevator.
Decoration Inside The Elevator (circa 1930’s)
She knew the building was old, but didn’t realize that it was built during the Roosevelt administration and that many of the fossils were found during excavations under WPA (Works Projects Administration) sponsorship. Thank You FDR!
The woman hopes everyone gets to visit this small, but mighty museum that tells some of the story of the natural history of Texas.
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*If you are in Austin on Sunday September 22nd you can visit the museum for free on Austin Museum Day. There is a parking garage adjacent to the museum.
Museum website:
sciencemuseum.utexas.edu
*Photos by B. McCreary
*some info from museum Visitor Guide and some internet surfing
I spend as much time as possible sitting on my porch observing the wild life that goes on in my backyard. It is usually a peaceful time with the trilling of wrens and the soft gurgles of the doves. Sometimes my neighbor plunks happy tunes on his guitar. The only thing that will drive me back in the house is the sound of leaf blowers close by, or more often, the heat. The large umbrella keeps the sun off, but in the afternoon sitting under it is like being in an oven.
Once in a while, if I look up, reality is obscured.
In April and May I shared with you a Great Horned Owl family’s behavior and the development of two chicks. For this month’s blog I want to share some more families.
Some families feed and nurture their young.
Grackle Parents With Fledgling Grackle Begging For Food In Background
Some families lead their young.
Duck Mama With BabiesDon’t Leave Me Behind!
Some parents hide the young to protect them from predators.
This Doe And Fawn Could Not Be Seen From A Nearby Trail. (This shot was through a window up above the area)
Some parents protect their young in other ways.
Killdeer ParentKilldeer Parent Distracting A Possible Predator (Me) By Feigning An Injury
Who are they protecting?
Baby Killdeer Chick In Marsh Below Boardwalk
And let’s not forget the sibling relationships. Some siblings irritate each other.
Sibling Squirrels Jostling For Space
Some siblings get along with each other.
Sibling Squirrels Sharing Space
(Bird photos were taken at Aransas Pass; the Doe and Fawn photo was taken at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center; Squirrel photos were taken in my back yard)
Last month’s blog told of the Great Horned Owl Family that took up residence at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin and my obsession with them. My obsession continued into May. Most mornings I would tune in to the live owl camera (courtesy of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology) to see how the two owlets were doing. And in the evening, while watching t.v., I would set up my iPad nearby so I could check on them periodically. I learned to take screen shots off the iPad.
I also volunteer at the Wildflower Center. When I was out there I made it a point to go look at them in person, roosting in their nest in a nook up above the archway that leads into the central courtyard.
Back in March the question was whether or not Athena, the mother owl, would return to nest at the Wildflower Center as she had since 2012. Fast forward to May and everyone is anticipating the eventual fledging (leaving the nest) of the owlets. The big question was “when would they leave?” “Would it be tonight”?
It was a waiting game, but not boring. The chicks continued to grow and behave in new ways. I was amused by their cuteness and concerned about their well being.
May 1st- Wet Chicks
May 4th-Waiting For A Meal
Sometimes the nights would be peaceful and the sounds of frogs and chuck will’s widows (night bird) could be heard along with the burble of the nearby water feature and the gentle cheeping of the younger chick.
But, at other times, event noise would keep the little ones alert. Sometimes the owlets appeared alarmed at the sudden shouts of wedding guests cheering on the newly weds after the reception.
I am old enough to remember when rice was thrown at the bride and groom as they left the guests. Later, rice became birdseed. And now, the guests blow bubbles at the lucky couple.
May 4th- One Chick Seen Behind Plant As Bubbles Float Upward Past The Nest Area (the bubbles are the little x shapes)
The parents were most excellent owl parents and continued to feed the chicks and watch over them.
May 7th- Parent Bird Has Just Fed The Chicks
The owlets would move around in the nest between parent visits. They would groom themselves.
They would jump, and flap their now mostly feathered wings. They would chew on old carcasses.
They would wait.
May 12-Mama Can You Hear Me? (the younger bird was often cheeping)
May 13- Where Is Our Food?
They flapped more and more and got closer to the edge of the nest area…usually staying on the plant side of the stone ledge. But, sometimes sitting just on the lip of the ledge. And then it happened.
May 14th- Older Chick Loses Balance. Tries To Grip Ledge And Disappears Downward. Junior Is Looking Elsewhere.
The Senior Chick has accidently fledged. Some of us were watching live as this happened. I saw the bird practicing flapping and I think I even said out loud “Watch out! You are going to fall!”
May 14-Junior Dozes By Himself After Other Chick “Fledged”
May 15- All Alone The Next Morning
The Senior Chick was spotted in a nearby tree the next morning and was being fed and attended to by adult birds. That was a relief to hear.
There was a lot of activity on May 15th. The remaining chick was peeping and moving around in the nest and flapping. In the evening the parent birds were returning to the nest every few minutes with small bits of food (maybe crickets?). It is thought that they were encouraging the younger owlet to go ahead and fledge. It would be easier to continue to feed the youngsters if they were in the same location. At one point I saw the owlet flapping on the edge and then he backed up as if he realized how close he was to the ledge. But, then went to the ledge again! It was like he was trying to get up his courage.
May 15- Camera Goes Wide Angle In Anticipation Of Fledging- Athena and youngster
May 16- I visit the Wildflower Center for a volunteer shift and see the owlet up in the nest on the left side of the plant, on the ledge and cheeping.
May 17-Junior Flapping On The Edge
I start to wonder if anyone is taking bets on when the remaining owlet will fledge. He looks ready, but apparently he is not. There is an event that night. It is the evening “Members Only” opening of the animatronic dinosaur exhibit (Dinosaurs Around The World, May 17-July 17). The roar of a nearby dinosaur can be heard periodically, as well as a toad croaking in the pond.
May 18-In the evening there is a party event (probably a wedding) and the little owl was panting some and moving around nest area. Music and toads could be heard. At 10:54 p.m. the owl was sitting on the left side of the nest area, waiting. All of a sudden a loud human yelling began and photo flashes illuminated the area, including the nest area. The startled owl moved behind the plant as the wedding party finished their business. He was back out a half an hour later and I captured this photo.
May 18- My Last Shot Of Junior (taken 11:28 p.m.)
May 19- 7:20 a.m. He fledged! The camera was again at wide angle. He flew to a wall by the nearby pond and then went into some plants behind the pond. Then a parent bird showed up on the edge of the pond and flew off with a carcass in it’s talons, as if it was saying “Follow me!”
I missed them immediately! I am grateful that I got to witness this part of a life cycle. One of the wedding songs I heard played in the background one time was Louis Armstrong singing “What A Wonderful World” and that pretty much says it all.
Others have spotted the birds in trees on the property and they are well cared for by the parent birds as they learn to fend for themselves. Only time will tell if we get to witness this miracle of life next year.
Check out the Cornell Website at :
Allaboutbirds.org
And the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at:
Wildflower.org
And for some excellent photos of Athena and her chicks and other life at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center check out photographer Bill Boyd’s photos at:
Natural Musings 