Tonight we watched Ghost Bird; a documentary about the ivory-billed woodpecker(s) supposedly seen in Arkansas in 2006. I saw the DVD at the Seattle Public Library a few weeks ago and checked it out, thinking it would be a light and amusing look at the crazy self-delusions of birders and maybe poke a little fun at wacky southerners as well. Not so ( Read more... )

It's late on a school night so this isn't the complete February Bird Report which I know the Imaginary Reader is anxiously awaiting. But today was an exciting day, birdwise, so I'm sharing a few preliminary numbers. (Perhaps unbeknownst to the IR, I've taken to meticulously recording my daily bird sightings in the classic marble-covered lab book, ( Read more... )

I'm being a little cocky with the days: can I be relied upon to count the number since Saturday? I'm not so sure. This is a quick little post that results mostly from my having started Brighton Rock which book I've never read before. Somehow I had no idea that it was a vicious murder mystery (though there's no mystery as to the murderer) involving ( Read more... )

Myrna's battery is fading fast so there may not be time for more than the bird and book update.

Birds both days ( Read more... )

I confess off the top that I've carried my book around today but I've not read a bit of it. Rumor has it it is supposed to be 80 degrees in Seattle this weekend; perhaps I'll park myself in an adirondack chair and read. Which is, I now remember, unlikely, because it's West Seattle Yard Sale Day on Saturday and of course I'll be wanting to hit as ( Read more... )

I guess that there will likely be a "day 234" and a "day 345" if I continue with these daily updates but "day 123" seems significant in some way that the substance of this post just won't match. No, I'm feeling a bit distracted and a bit stressy so it's likely to be a quick post and then it's off to wash a few dishes and get some sleep, not quite ( Read more... )

Gradka is behaving like a crazy cat and it's very late so I shan't be so leisurely here. Which is a pity as I'd like to write about tonight's movie at SAM, The Fallen Idol. I've squandered some time since getting home (decent bus karma and no sick cat, hurrah!) looking into the original short story upon which it was based (both short story and film ( Read more... )

It's a few minutes before 11:00 so I should be listing birds and getting to bed but I'm just so excited to be posting on the day and not the day after. This evening we checked out happy hour at Il Bistro, which is a little restaurant I've been curious about for at least a few decades. It turns out to have a loudish bar and a fine last word. I hope ( Read more... )

Tonight, after one of those Metro experiences which had me, at least, questioning the whole carless business, we arrived home to find that the house had that less than just fresh feeling. A search ensued which I thought had ended when I found that Gradka had not been entirely well in the catbox. "How nice," I thought, "that this time, at least, she ( Read more... )