Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Porch’

Do you get Mother’s day gifts? We’re a more experiential type of family – gardening, cooking togther, going to a play are all acceptable activities for this holiday in particular. I started the day on Zoom with my siblings and reminded them that i had two mothers; a warm, nurturing, demonstrative mother, and the Flapper. The yin and yang of unconditional love.

The Bride feted me with freshly baked sourdough bagels for breakfast. The Groom delivered scrumptious sandwiches for lunch even though he was on call in the MICU. And for dinner, we all piled into his car and traveled across town for a Mother’s Day celebration with our cousin Peg’s family that couldn’t be beat! It was also her son’s birthday. He was finishing up medical school and about to apply for a residency so we wanted to hear all the gory details! The weather cooperated with sunny blue skies and puffy clouds; “A good day to fly,” Bob said. Like a good pilot, I can expect to hear this several times a month.

It seems Mr T was given a 400 million dollar personal gift this weekend. It did not surprise me to hear that our President of Grift wants to accept a 747 plane from Qatar, even though this is obviously unconstitutional. “All of this would be worrisome to the White House except that, as I’ve written, Trump does not care about national security. “Trump is the only thing he’s interested in,” former National Security Adviser John Bolton told me earlier this year.https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/05/trump-qatar-plane-gift/682785/

What bothers me most about our current president, besides his lack of empathy, is this transparency – his belief that he can get away with anything so why try to hide it. He pivots with impunity. He dares us to try and stop him in the courts, and if a judge opposes him, his sycophants send pizzas to their homes. Hundreds of unsolicited pizzas have been delivered to federal judges in seven states – a sick and dangerous threat that echoes the shooting of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas’s son, Daniel Anderl five years ago.

If that isn’t alarming, if it doesn’t look like we’re sliding into a kleptocracy, well you’re not paying attention. Remember Melania’s coat that read “I really don’t care, do you?” She wore that on her way to visit to an immigrant child detention center no less. I wonder how she celebrates Mother’s Day. This was part of her official post a few days ago on celebrating moms – “I urge you to prioritize your well-being. Nurture yourself, for your strength is the bedrock of a brighter future for our children…”

Happy to hear FLOTUS wants us to care for ourselves since this administration is dismantling many of our social safety nets and aggravating allies. But I had a Pinterest plan to bake a French strawberry cake for our cousin, which ended up being more like a cobbler unfortunately. On Saturday, we got up early and stood in line at the Farmer’s Market waiting for the cow bell to signal its opening – I didn’t want to miss out on the first strawberries of the season!

I should just accept defeat graciously and stick to baking muffins. This is the unwritten rule in our neighborhood; Les is the Queen of cakes and Kris is the Empress of rosemary bread. And our beautiful Bride, besides baking bagels, raised money for our TN neighbors’ legal representation after a soul deadening week of ICE agents marauding Nashville’s streets in masks. If you would like to help, please contact TN Justice for our Neighbors: https://www.tnjfon.org/

Remember that your grandchildren will ask you what you did during this time. This was us on Peg’s porch with her sons and her 92 year old MIL who had just flown in from California.

Read Full Post »

What do you do when a bird decides to build her nest on your porch?

One of my favorite non-profits, besides Planned Parenthood, is the Audubon Society. I love perusing their magazine, soaking up stories of our feathered friends along with gorgeous photography. The new Spring cover shot is of a spindly-legged Wilson’s Phalarope (picture a large Piping Plover) standing on one foot, and the title of the issue is “Delicate Balance.” But the article that intrigued me the most on the inside was about cats – “Where the Not-So-Wild Things Roam.” It’s a funny and disturbing story about a cat called “Bad Kitty.”

Did you know that domestic cats that are allowed outside to roam about their neighborhoods are responsible for killing almost 1.3 BILLION birds a year? That’s just in this country alone. Now don’t get me wrong, I love cats. I can’t help it if half my family is allergic. When I was young and lived alone in NJ, Henry was my everything, my calico red cat. He looked like Edward G Robinson because at some point in his past street-life his jaw was broken. He had a short crooked tail too.

Henry and I would walk through the woods every weekend, without a leash. Of course, every now and then he’d have to zoom off but he’d always return. My cat had the run of The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge at all hours. In the early 70s, along with mom jeans, I didn’t know better.

The Audubon article suggests buying a large colorful collar for your cat, https://www.birdsbesafe.com/ if you must let them outside. Bells do nothing to alert a nesting cardinal. Birds however will see a feline approach if they look like they’re wearing a bright, hysterical clown collar. Better yet, if being in the great outdoors is essential to your feline’s well being, the author suggests building a “Catio!” Imagine a screened in porch standing alone with lots of cat architectural climbing details incorporated into its design.

I mean I used to let Aunt Kiki’s cat out on our sleeping porch in the Blue Ridge, and she did enjoy it – the view, the wind, the bears and the bluebirds. If you’re not into DYI, you could buy a Catio for a small fortune…

Yesterday I was hosting the little Frenchie Emperor for the afternoon, and he didn’t understand why I wouldn’t let him out the back door. I patiently explained that a robin was sitting on her nest directly outside between the pillars of my covered porch. He’s very cat-like in that he loves to chase birds almost as much as he loves to chase rabbits. I would open the side door and he’d look up at me like I was crazy, like it was absurd to go into the backyard through the side door when there was a perfectly fine and faster entry Right Over There.

“Rarely do we get this opportunity to get a front-row seat to a wild organism starting its life,” says Brian Evans, a migratory bird ecologist and project lead at the bird observatory at the Smithsonian National Zoo. “All we have to do is start noticing.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/home/2024/04/15/how-to-keep-bird-nest-safe/

AND DO NOTHING. When a bird builds her nest in or around your house, just sit back and enjoy the spectacle. I put out ribbons for her pleasure but I don’t think she used them. And I noticed that when the dog was in the yard, she flew away and seemed agitated flying haphazardly around the fence. But when my neighbor came by and we sat talking underneath her nest, she stayed put! Birds are smarter than we think.

I’ve resigned myself to the early birdsong and the messy patio furniture, and hope that some squirrel or other creature doesn’t discover her nest. I figure it’s better than listening to the news in Israel, or Mr T’s trial in NY. I can’t worry about November with Passover approaching. It’s time to clean out the tsuris (troubles but also flour in Yiddish) from our lives. And pick the flowers in my garden.

Read Full Post »