An Idea

As soon as I posted my last entry, I thought ... Hey, you could make your own transparent Post-It Notes using vellum paper or tracing paper and a Post-It Note glue pen! Do they still sell those? Well, there is always the Scotch Restickable Glue Stick.

I heart office supplies

Transparent Post-It Notes. At Cool Hunting. Via Not Martha. What a great way to highlight pages without ruining the book!

The Pen Addict. Via Not Martha.

I love paper -- especially high postconsumer content processed chlorine free paper, but I digress. I learned a new (new to me) paper-related word yesterday -- quire. A quire is:

: a collection of 24 or sometimes 25 sheets of paper of the same size and quality : one twentieth of a ream

Ta ta for now,
Sylvie

Today

We birded my husband's office today.

Blue Grosbeak in the road
"There's a Grosbeak on the road ..." sung to the tune of "Riders on the Storm"
Blue Grosbeak in action

California Blackberry

There were over 70 American White Pelicans. If you look closely, in each of these photos you can see one with a protruding plate on its maxilla-- this is common in breeding adults.


My husband saw this Pacific Treefrog crawl out from under a dirt clod. It had survived the farmer's discing of the field. What a cutie!

I banged my knees and shins on a log trying to sneak up on this Swallowtail.

The neighbor's cat was napping under our truck when we got home. They haven't named him, although they have had him for 12 years, so we have given him several names -- the latest is Caruthers (after Caruthers Canyon in the Mojave National Preserve).Ta ta for now,
Sylvie

Embroidered birthday card

I made this birthday card today. The colors are much brighter than they appear in this scanned image. The pattern is from Simple Embroidery (part of the Klutz series). I used two strands of embroidery floss -- if I use this pattern again, I think I'll use at least four. Overall, I really like it, and I hope that the recipient does, too!

Yesterday

Clarkia, 5-16-08

"What dreadful Hot weather we have!--It keeps one in a continual state of Inelegance.--If Miss Pearson should return with me, pray be careful not to expect too much Beauty..."
-- Jane Austen

The weather has become beastly -- fortunately, the heat in our neck of the woods is a dry heat, unless you are under a canopy of trees in a hollow near the river. Then, it is 100 degrees and a bit humid. Perhaps that is why the Hooded Warbler showed up -- he thought it was the Boy Scout Woods Bird Sanctuary of High Island in Texas :-) My husband was birding with a friend by the river a week ago, and the friend said that they needed to find a Hooded Warbler in that spot. And a week later, the friend called to tell my husband that he had found one! We headed out after work yesterday and spent three hours enjoying the bird, guiding a couple of other birders to its location, and sweating. The bird's song is SO sweet. Another sweet song we heard was the music of an ice cream truck. On our way home, we saw said truck, pulled over, and bought some frosty treats.

The Hooded Warbler was a beautiful male. Oo la la! He is way off course -- he should be with my mom in Ohio, not in California. My husband got photos and video of him.

The Clarkia is blooming near the river. A few of the flowers were more richly colored than the Clarkia I usually see.

Equisetum

Unknown bug

I was scandalized by the scores of box elder bugs copulating on the ground. I didn't get any photos (too dark), but they join up bottoms and one of them walks forward dragging the other one (who is walking backwards) behind it. They have no shame! :-)

Ta ta for now,
Sylvie

California's Supreme Court Stands Up for Equality

I'm proud to be a Californian today -- our State Supreme Court stood up for equality and affirmed the right to same-sex marriage. According to this article in the New York Times, the court’s 4-to-3 decision drew on a ruling six decades ago that struck down the state’s ban on interracial marriage. The Chief Justice said that “tradition alone” does not justify the denial of a fundamental constitutional right. I give a secular "amen" to that! My husband and I are of different races, and I am so glad that we were born in 1971 instead of, say, 1921.

Ta for now,
Sylvie

Finally

Our California Blackberry vines produced fruit for the first time this year. We planted them several years ago (2002 or 2003), and while they have flowered for the past few years, this is the first time I've seen fruit! I tasted one -- it was small and a bit dry, but fairly sweet.