how to be an artist

Stay loose
learn to watch snails
plant impossible gardens
invite someone dangerous to tea
make little signs that say "yes" and post them all over your house
make friends with freedom and uncertainty
look forward to dreams
cry during movies
swing as high as you can on a swingset by moonlight
cultivate moods
refuse to be responsible
do it for love
take lots of naps
give money away
do it now
the money will follow
believe in magic
laugh a lot
celebrate every gorgeous moment
take moonbaths
have wild imaginings
transformative dreams
and perfect calm
draw on the walls
read everyday
imagine yourself magic
giggle with children
listen to old people
open up
dive in
be free
bless yourself
drive away fear
play with everything
entertain your inner child
you are innocent
build a fort with blankets
get wet
hug trees (and smell them)
write love letters.

Sark 1990

Fly Away Home #1-- 10,000 Miles

Just watched Fly Away Home with the kids, and would rank it as one of the most inspiring children's movies I've ever seen ... up there with Whale Rider!

This song by Mary Chapin Carpenter plays while Amy flies "her" geese home to their over-wintering site .... get the biggest lump in my throat every time i watch/listen.

Have you seen it? WHat are you waiting for????????

just get your box of tissues ... you're gonna need it!

Saturday night live skit on Palin/Clinton

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

If this doesn't bust your gut, I don't know what will.....

clik en enjoy!

ps. but beware -- you'll have to wait through a short advertisement, but the skit is worth the wait!

what's so funny about this picture ....

laughs, giggles, ha ha's in foreground, but what's going on with that guy in the background? Could that be Stijn doing his classic version of the power nap? you-bet-cha!!!!

This is typical camping weather for the Netherlands - rain, rain, rain - but we FEESTED the night away in the "praat kaffee", with grilling and chilling, and water play in the playground adjacent. Can't let the weather dampen your spirits, now can we?

.... hmmmmmmm, and what's this strange metal thing doing bolted to a tree? Why, of course, it's a bike rack!!!! Isn't it obvious?

... the master of the power nap, up close and personal

Crocs have navigated the globe, and you can find this plastic footwear anywear these days. Thanks again, Marita, for an adventurous weekend camping in Holland. Hopefully we can return the favor again sometime soon!

Mason Bee Be Free!

if this isn't the sweetest bug vid, then i don't know what is! Hope you enjoy it as much as i do ...

Before you know it, I'll be making bug lists like i'm making bird lists ---- ooops, too late!!!

leaf-cutter bees

Another amazing creature is nesting in our backyard, and this time it's a leaf-cutter bee -- enjoy!!!!!!!!

sunday with the roofvogels

Bird Friends of mine invited us over today to watch the ringing of barn owls that nested in their barn (ringing = banding in European lingo) by a Flemish Barn Owl protection group. Fortunately, there happened to also be a kestrel nest just 2 m from the barn owl nest (how lucky is that!!!!!), so we got to witness 3 kestrel young getting ringed as well. Stijn doesn't think they're cute, but I immediately fell in love with them!

There were 5 barn owl chicks, and Phoebe was thrilled to be able to hold one of them for a few moments. They were very docile and easy going, and she loved every minute of it.

Alex enjoyed a moment with a barn owl chick as well, which she loved. The kids have been watching "Dr. Doolittle" and all wish they could talk to animals, especially after this special session!

Here you see a younger chick and its older sibling which was born some days earlier - what a dramatic difference in size!

The female was soooooooooooooooo pretty to see, and luckily she remained in the nest box so we could get a close look at her. Now that's icing on the cake!

how many chicks have you seen in your garden?

This spring I've seen loads of chicks in our garden, thanks to our well-stocked feeder that attracts them from far and wide. Somedays they devour the food in < style="font-weight:bold;">chick count? Not spectacular, but not bad either ...

5 blue tits
5 great tits
2 marsh tits
3 green finch
2 great spotted woodpecker
1 robin
1 hedge sparrow that won't stop chirping!
4 goldcrest

scorpion fly

nobody guessed, but thought you'd enjoy knowing about this cool SCORPION FLY (family Panorpidae, order Mecoptera). The MALE shown here has enlarged genitalia that resemble a scorpion's stinger, but MY fotos from a few posts back were of a female, which lacks this prominent feature. They've been very active in our garden the last few weeks and a joy to behold! Undoubtedly one of my favorite kinds of flies!

Carl the Carrion Beetle

While brushing my teeth this evening, I spotted a CARRION BEETLE nonchalantly walking across our hallway!!!!! It's Nicrophorus investigator, which translates to "i thrive on eating DEAD animals!"

It also goes by the name Sexton beetle (English) or Doodgraver (Dutch) - meaning "dead digger". This particular beetle was infested with tons of tiny, reddish-colored Gamasid mites, which apparently are harmless to the beetle, but look kinda creepy to the unknowing.

After putting it into one of our plastic insect houses, Phoebe's first question was, "what can we feed it?" I can already see she's hoping to keep it as a pet, but that would entail finding dead animals. At least that's cheaper than a trip to the pet shop to buy food. Oh no, is Stijn's Dutch frugality rubbing off on me?

I'm thinking .... Hmmmmmmmm ...... this could be my new angle for coaxing them into walking in the woods! We could design a scavenger hunt (ha ha ha, no pun intended) to see who can find the most animal carcasses ... but i wonder how fresh they have to be.

Just this evening, Phoebe talked about how she missed Dudley, the dung beetle, and how we provided a happy home for him for 6 months - funny what kids remember...

One thing's for sure, when they reminisce about their youth, they're more likely to remember the creepy crawlies we found than the home-baked cookies!

disaster strikes!

ohhhhhhhhhhhh, you won't believe the FRUSTRATION, the DEPRESSION, when I discovered my beehouses had been raided! By WHAT, I have no clue, but clearly SOMETHING had mounted the bee house, broken through the earthen plug, and feasted heartily on the pollen and beebabies so carefully tucked inside. I found the evidence one morning, so i think this happened during the night, but i'm not 100% sure.

Above you can see that several pieces of bamboo had been manipulated for closer inspection by the beast, and I even found 1 piece of bamboo lying on the ground underneath the bee house.

And here you can see that one bamboo piece (top, right) was "munched" on and split into pieces as the critter devoured the very last of the bee babies in this house. This occurred during the SECOND RAID! Yes, the critter made a repeat visit! Not only does this critter have a mouthpart that can excavate earth and split wood, but it also has a good memory, along with the ability to climb patio posts, scale patio walls (or fly). Hmmmmmm...... this could be a tough mystery to solve.

As you may recall from a previous post, we built 2 new bee houses, and both have since been used by solitary bees. However, the bee nest shown here didn't last long, unfortunately. First you see it (above, lower left) ....... and then you don't (below) :/

To make matters worse, a blackbird nest was ALSO raided the very same week. There were several chicks in the nest - although i never counted because i was waiting for them to get bigger - and these 2 eggs that never hatched. I found the magpie feather a few days later, so don't necessarily want to put the blame on them, but I wouldn't put it past them as they're aggressive nest predators. The upside is that I saw the female actively building a new nest the following day.


So .... if anyone has ideas for WHAT animal could have done this, I'm all ears. Beech martens live in Belgium, and are known to eat insects and raid bird nests:( Woodpeckers are also a possibility ... but they eat like kings at my well-stocked birdfeeders, so you'd think they'd show a little more respect. Maybe one of the juveniles got out of hand or gave into peer pressure. Whatever it was, it will not get the LAST bee nest as I'm protecting the final bee house - by bringing it in our house! Oh boy, wait til Stijn gets home and finds a bee nest next to his bed:)

what great historical event happened yesterday?

a few hints ..... with these fotos taken last month when we were there visiting ...

Arromanches ... where huge slabs of concrete remain that were once used to transport tanks and military vehicles ashore

Here we're standing next to one of those concrete slabs - and they're HUGE! One can only appreciate the scale and magnitude of this operation when you visit these sites and see what the allies were up against.

This is the cemetery at Omaha beach, where 9,000 American soldiers are buried. Every headstone carries its own story .... whether it's a soldier that died on the day of the invasion, the day before the war ended, or somewhere inbetween.

a pillbox at Pointes du' Hoc .... where Rudder's Rangers scaled the cliffs, against all odds, and eventually took control. Now there's a colony of Mew gulls nesting on those very same cliffs ... and barn swallows nesting in the bunkers.

Obviously the kids missed a lot of the details, but they absorbed a great deal of history during our stay in Normandy, and they will never forget the breadth and expansiveness of the beaches, which seemed to go on and on endlessly, and where the allies fought and died so courageously.

a home for solitary bees

What a happy day it is to see solitary bees using our beehouse. We don't get so many solitary bees where we live -- sad to say -- so when one begins nest-building, it generates a LOT of excitement and awe.

It's so fun to watch them "hole up" their nest with bits of earth, working fastidiously until the job's complete. It can take a day+ depending on the size of the hole.

Thijs loves building things, so thought we'd try our hand at building beehouses! With a piece of wood, some goggles, ear protection, and a drill, we were all set.

Drilled different sized holes, each about 2.5 cm long, into this bit of wood, but the question remained: would the bees LIKE it?

and the answer is ..... YES! Within a week, a bee had chosen one little hole and filled it completely with earth, giving us great confidence that YES, WE CAN (all of us!) make a home for nature:) Why not give it a try!

what on earth...

... is this insect?

With wings of gold

A long, slender abdomen with bright RED tip

And a ridiculously long beak!

Isn't he beauty-FULL:)

more spring visitors

I found this poor swift on the road while biking home from my Dutch lesson late Thursday evening. Must've run into a window or car because it lost one of its eyes, which doesn't bode well. Visited the rehab center the following day - at least they'll see that he's well cared for, and if he's not releasable, they'll hopefully use him for education. So much to learn from these amazing creatures!

Week prior we tried caring for this runt blue tit. Parents weren't feeding it, either because they were so busy feeding the other 5 baby blue tits -- or maybe they sensed this little guy just didn't have what it takes to survive -- he looked pretty pathetic when i took him in. At any rate, I fed him from 10:00 -6:30 pm (every 15 mins!!!!!), until I went to my Dutch class. He was doing fine when i left, but when I returned that evening he'd passed on.

Several weeks ago, this alpine water salamander (Triturus alpestris) showed up in our pond! And what a great surprise it was!!!!!!

He has the most beautiful orange underbelly, with pretty spots along the side. So far he's continuing to hang out, most likely dining on insect larvae (hopefully lots of mosquito larvae!!!!) and whatever he can find, but I'm a little surprised he's staying so long, since it's not a BIG pond (2 m x 1 m x 40 cm)! But maybe the lack of predators sold him on this real estate .... or was it the romantic tikki torches and flaming red rhododendron?

Universe-ity

This is a lifetime motto of mine -- so nice to finally see it in print -- and so happy to share it with you.

17 February

"The entire universe is a university. EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY is a professor to us. We constantly learn from everybody and everything. We learn even more through pain than through pleasure. Whether we want it or not, the world will give us the experiences we need and make us grow."

by Sri Swami Satchidananda
The Golden Present: Daily Inspirational Readings

2 more little friends

Ever since the kids have begun asking for pets, the critters have come knocking on our door, so to speak. This week we had 2 new visitors .... a frog and a bird. The frog (een bruine kikker?) spent a day exploring the fishpond in our backyard, and then went on its merry way. "Perfect", I thought, "the kids get to enjoy the little fellow without getting too attached." But then came our next guest ...

Three days ago a greenfinch took a non-lethal smack on our window, and luckily I was on hand for a rescue. It wasn't able to fly and would've been easy prey for a neighborhood cat, so I quick brought it inside and made it a happy home in no time. Still had a bird cage from when we tried (unsuccessfully) to save a juvenile house martin 2 years ago. And here you see the little fellow, which i thought was a female but am now wondering if it's a juvenile since the breast is quite streaked.

With no obvious signs of trauma, and no evidence of broken wings, I decided we'd try to rehabilitate it ourselves. Inserted 2 shallow dishes in the cage, one with seed I've seen them eating at the feeders and the other with water. Within a day we heard/saw the little fellow eating the seeds, which is great fun to watch as they skillfully manipulate the seed husk with their tongue and manage to spit it out without spitting out the seed. But this morning, his feathers were "puffed up" like he was cold, and by afternoon he was tucking his head under his wing like he was tired, both signs that he was suffering from illness. Sure enough, by nightfall he'd fallen into a sleep he'd never awaken from.

They'll be sad to lose their little friend (and me TOO!), who we watched and studied and got to know quite well in such a short time. In retrospect, I suppose I should've taken him to a rehab. center, where he would've received antibiotics and better care. But then again, the kids would've missed out on the whole experience -- and the joy of learning -- and the pain of failure that goes along with it.

the meikever LIVES!

... watch as this decapitated june beetle wiggles its mandibles and legs hours after i found it lying on a sidewalk near my favorite tea shop. You never know what amazing things you'll see in the course of a day - enjoy!

swallows falling from the sky

... the latest
... and most depressing news in the bird world
.... get ready to shed some tears
..... but get right back in your CAR!

Swallows dying by the thousands
09/04/2008 21:04 - (SA)

as posted on News24.com

Johannesburg - Tens of thousands of swallows have died in Limpopo province a week before they were due to migrate to Europe, said BirdLife SA on Wednesday.

Executive director Gerhard Verdoorn said the vast climate changes during March, from the extremely hot to the bitterly cold, played a major role in the death of the swallows.

About three weeks ago, cold air from Angola passed over Namibia and Botswana and entered the South African Lowveld. Temperatures plummeted from 21° to 9°.

"Because of this, the birds could not feed properly as it was too wet and too rainy for them to get the food. They became hypothermic (low body temperatures) and hypoglycaemic (low blood-sugar levels)," said Verdoorn.

Farmers and people in the area became alarmed as they thought the birds were being poisoned.

"The tens of thousands of birds were falling down everywhere and just dying," he said.

The birds were supposed to migrate on March 23, the day of the equinox, but disaster struck around March 17 when temperatures dropped rapidly.

"The bulk of birds that did manage to survive started their migration on March 28," said Verdoorn.

No short-term solutions

The mass death of birds started in about 2000 in the Bushveld and Free State.

"Over the past couple of years it has become a more-frequent occurrence and it is not only the swallows that are being affected but several other species of birds."

Verdoorn said there were no short-term solutions to the problem as no one could change the weather.

"The weather changes occurring are vast. February was regarded as being the wet month and March the drier one, but now the situation has changed.

"A long-term solution to the problem would be to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, by using less energy, burning less petrol thereby reducing carbon-dioxide emissions which can have changes on climate change," said Verdoorn.

waking up on the marshes of El Rocio

What i loooooooooooooovvvvveeed about Spain was watching the sunrise and "waking up" with the marsh. Coto Donana is so birdy, and to feel the pulse of life here is an experience of a lifetime. Loads of cattle egrets, the lone squacco heron(LUV that name) looked on each am from the very same post, like an old man not ready to get out of bed ... the Cetti's warbler announcing the dawn with explosive singing - anything but timid - quite the opposite of the penduline tit - that avoided being seen or heard, which made a glimpse of it all the more precious. Amaiiiiiii, don't you LOVE that sunset? I DID die and go to heaven when i saw it .... and i've never come back to life since, thankfully.


The town of El Rocio, steeped in religious tradition, rests adjacent to the spectacular marshes of El Rocio, where we discovered the richness of bird life - with spotted crake, holy ibis, and so many other awesome finds - amidst an abundance of sweet songsters - every day was a symphony just waiting to be savored.


... and what have we here? Three macho Spaanse caballeros drinking a little champagne and enjoying being in the center of the universe. Makes you wonder how commonplace is this behavior ... and does it influence their success in life? Are men that are MORE bold .... MORE successful at spreading their genes?


During the weekends ... there were horse, horses, horses everywhere. The Spanish love their horses and use them as a means of getting to town and back. The sandy roads must feel better on their hoofs. But I can only imagine how hard the HOT, DRY summers are on these beautiful equines ... how many of them will perish from the stress?


Seville was beautiful, especially because we had spectacular views of LITTLE KESTRELS that nested in the monstrosity of the cathedral. Looked more like a city to me, with layers upon layers of construction that must've taken eons to design and build. Couldn't tell where it began and where it stopped -was breathtaking, but overbearing in my opinion.


First, we explored Coto Donana safari-style, which gave great views of the pristine coastline, expansive dunes and marsh complexes. Saw more birds than expected this way (due to patient driver that stopped for birds more often than expected), with Audouin's gull and glossy ibis being new lifers for me. Wild boar and deer were quite abundant, which was another happy surprise.


A pit stop during the safari tour to search for Spanish Imperial Eagle! No doubt an impressive sight, but most of us were not to behold it during this trip in spite of multiple attempts to find them. A few lucky ones did catch a glimpse at Acebuche! But we did see 150 species of birds during our 8 days of birding in southwestern Spain. And I got 16 new WP birds (West Palearctic) ... Audouin's gull, Goshawk, Glossy Ibis, Pallid Swift, Squacco Heron, Penduline Tit, Spotted Crake, Black-crowned Night Heron, Spanish Sparrow, Black-winged Kite, Red-knobbed Coot, Little Bittern, Holy Ibis, Dartford Warbler, Black-eared Wheatear, and Common Scoter.


Acebron gave great views of virgin cork forest, which reminded me so much of the gnarly live oak forests of the southeastern United States, and for good reason -- CORK trees are in the same genus - QUERCUS!!!!! Felt at home on the sinuous trails, and also watching the black-crowned night herons on the marshes, but without the ALLIGATORS that you'd see in Florida.


Experienced the most challenging roads between Villamanrique and the visitors center at Jose Antonio Valverde - there were humongous potholes! And happy to say we navigated them smoothly! Had splendid views of black-winged kites hovering in the air, plus kestrels mating (yee-ha!), Spanish sparrow, and an albino corn bunting:)


Gilbert exemplified our mantra for the week: Eat, Pray, BIRD! Gil IS the fanatical type of birder that literally lives, breathes, "eats" birds 24-7. With him around, there's little time for R&R, but then in a place like Coto Donana, who can "rest & relax" when there's so much to SEE!


... enjoying the sun after a visit to la Huelva to see replicas of the vessels that Christopher Columbus used to discover the New World - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

... enjoying a few drinks and live music in Seville

... Jos and Josette took the liberty to enjoy the music more than the rest of us, but maybe we enjoyed watching them even more.

... at Ribetehelos, we had excellent views of the Dartford warbler, a precious little bird. What a great trip this was, not just for the birds, but also for the comraderie and the relationships forged during this adventure ... may they last a lifetime.