Bad Meteor Luck, and some Phenology

[pameladean]

carbonel, with whom I have gone to see the Leonids, is out of town. minnehaha K, with whom Beth and I have looked at Mercury, is even further out of town. I was not organized enough to get to the next level. I did go outside at two a.m., and I did actually see meteors. The only problem was that the sky was full of patchy clouds, especially in the direction of Perseus, and so what I saw were little yellow twinkles and flashes, no streaks. In a different mood, one in which I'd have thought to arrange seating, I might have really liked them, but as it was I got so frustrated with the ambient lighting in the alley and the mere glimpses of meteors that I went back inside.

Closer to earth, I have seen the following:

A clutch of young robins learning to eat fallen crabapples.

A young male cardinal making chipping noises at my cat.

A whole line of white-faced meadowhawks sunning themselves on the back sidewalk, and Ari rushing forward and startling them one after another into glittery flight.

A green darner exploding from under Ari's nose from the overgrown front flower garden.

And this, originally written as an email to Eric, but with the soppy bits taken out:

So I was pottering around the house collecting dirty dishes when I noticed that no matter what direction a window faced, it showed a brilliant pink sky, sometimes with lit-up fiery clouds. I got rid of the dishes and grabbed a couple of bags of trash and went outside. This gave me a good view of the uniformly, now more pale pink sky in the east, and the big fluffy clouds underlined with orange, in the south, but not of the sunset. I went into the front yard and the visible sky was blue-gray and gray and white. A lot of robins flew by.

I walked up to 38th Street, which gives a view due west not much encumbered by trees. The sunset was almost done, but I did get to see some brilliant stripes of pink and orange in the far west, and slate-blue clouds melting into pink above that.

When I turned for home, realizing that I had left the back door unlocked, I heard the chittering of chimney swifts. A triolet of them, and then another, swept the sky just above the treetops, and then they swooped down almost to ground level, one of them flying only a few feet in front of me. They all swirled about in the middle of the intersection of 38th and Blaisdell like a dust devil made of birds, and then rose up and flew away south, still chittering.

Pamela

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for that lovely word picture.

[pameladean]

My pleasure, truly.

Pamela

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Sigh. Thanks, Pamela. That was beautiful.

[pameladean]

Turnabout is fair play. That goes for you too, sartorias.

Pamela

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

All your birds remind me of something I saw earlier this year. I had stopped by to grab some fast food and was eating in my sitting in the parking lot. There were 3 pigeons doing the triangular mating thing. The two males were doing everything in their power to make themselves impressive and attractive. Much strutting about, chest puffing, odd noises, and the occasional flurry in the other's direction. The female was utterly bored, hopping around picking up crumbs and ignoring them both. Occasionally one would try to move in on her and there were would be an even bigger flurry, to no effect. The males returned to strutting, chest puffing, etc. while she continued to graze. It was pretty darn amusing.

MKK