David this is Extraordinary! Original. Sweet and yet brutally hones and far from quaint. A contradiction and intriguing. How you can capture so much so swiftly!!
I like your framing, Pipp and see that we have similar taste in a few of the same storytellers. Makes me grateful, and look forward to getting better acquainted. Thank you for making time to leave such a generous note. They make all the difference, don't they?
They do make all the difference for writing is a lonely thing. The connections it brings us come after the hours of work alone. So very worth it though. Especially when you create something new.
Thank you for your encouragement in return and equally looking forward to more!
Oh my you did not capture that moment! And the message so clear and necessary. Words are only ever secondary to action and truths revealed only to those quiet enough to hear. Or something like that.:)
I can only take credit for some small little part of the capturing, Kimberly. Absolutely central to the whole deal was a brave/friendly little Shrike who flew in and landed just ten or so feet away, and then stayed put while I fumbled and whispered, and tried to gain focus...
Just stopped back for a moment to say, on this New Year’s evening, I am sending out a thank you for your gift of words throughout this past year, and in 2025, may you look through your camera lens and find wondrous scenes that endlessly delight. While I do not subscribe to Gun and Garden magazine, my sister just sent me this article, I thought you might enjoy reading in those early morning hours “…while the house is still dark.”
Dear, dear Lor, I love this New Year's wish and am so delighted by your generous words. Years back, I read Jimmy Carter's book about his fishing adventures with Rosalynn, all the times they figured out how to ditch their secret service folks so that they could just fish a stretch of river together, the two of them... I'm excited to take a look. Thank you.
Dearest David I am pondering the possibility of hiring your clever little hunter to cure my sleepless nights. Paid of course - in as many mouse toes and tails as she can eat - perhaps next time you have lunch with her you might pass on my message, I would be most grateful and of course would return her when she's done -🙏🏼
I do so love reading these lovely notes that you leave following your visits, Susie. And this one, the absolute delight of imagining this wondrous little shrike helping solve your scritchy, little, mouse toe dilemma. I'm still giggling. I'll put in a good word for you...
Sounds like a fairy tale from the brothers Grimm, but curiously , it does not start out with once upon a time. Then I am to assume it is classic David P, storytelling truths , spun with a bit of whimsy, recording conversations using a feathered quill dipped in fairy dust.
I know, right? I've seen Loggerheads at a distance impaling grasshoppers on thorns and such to come back to later, but this was like an episode of Wild Kingdom. Thanks for the fun note and for your continual, exuberant noticing.
Short, sweet, perfect! Shrikes are one of my favorites. In Alaska I could find them year-round, but we only seem to see them here on the Oly peninsula in winter. Such a treat to find one.
Thanks Gary. Yes, a rare sighting for me as well, but it is winter. Obvious by the brownish tones that it is a young one and so confident! I'd guess we were no more than a dozen feet apart when she (assigning gender without a real clue here), flew in and began to swallow 'the whole thing.' Shrikes are almost always a fifty feet or more away sighting for me, so hanging out for a few while this close was extra groovy.
Many, many years ago when I lived in Alaska (35 years living there, almost all of my working career as a firefighter) my wife and I were searching for “property” to build on up in the foothills of Anchorage on a mild mid-winter day. We were in the car, stopped along the gravel road, talking about the area when a northern shrike flew in and landed about 15 feet away on some neglected barbed wire fence. It perched there for 30 seconds or so, before the small vole in its beak was skewered onto the barb, and it took off. It was an adult shrike, with the strongly contrasting black, white and grays, and I’ll never forget that view. Often in winter we see sub-adults, as they are more numerous than the adults. This was a life-bird for me. All these years later, I am still thrilled with each shrike sighting, with or without prey. In fact, I saw my first-of-year Northern Shrike just yesterday here in Sequim, WA. Thank you for sharing.
David this is Extraordinary! Original. Sweet and yet brutally hones and far from quaint. A contradiction and intriguing. How you can capture so much so swiftly!!
I like your framing, Pipp and see that we have similar taste in a few of the same storytellers. Makes me grateful, and look forward to getting better acquainted. Thank you for making time to leave such a generous note. They make all the difference, don't they?
They do make all the difference for writing is a lonely thing. The connections it brings us come after the hours of work alone. So very worth it though. Especially when you create something new.
Thank you for your encouragement in return and equally looking forward to more!
Oh my you did not capture that moment! And the message so clear and necessary. Words are only ever secondary to action and truths revealed only to those quiet enough to hear. Or something like that.:)
I can only take credit for some small little part of the capturing, Kimberly. Absolutely central to the whole deal was a brave/friendly little Shrike who flew in and landed just ten or so feet away, and then stayed put while I fumbled and whispered, and tried to gain focus...
Just stopped back for a moment to say, on this New Year’s evening, I am sending out a thank you for your gift of words throughout this past year, and in 2025, may you look through your camera lens and find wondrous scenes that endlessly delight. While I do not subscribe to Gun and Garden magazine, my sister just sent me this article, I thought you might enjoy reading in those early morning hours “…while the house is still dark.”
https://gardenandgun.com/articles/jimmy-carters-boyhood-fishing-memories/
Dear, dear Lor, I love this New Year's wish and am so delighted by your generous words. Years back, I read Jimmy Carter's book about his fishing adventures with Rosalynn, all the times they figured out how to ditch their secret service folks so that they could just fish a stretch of river together, the two of them... I'm excited to take a look. Thank you.
🤍🤍🤍🤍
Dearest David I am pondering the possibility of hiring your clever little hunter to cure my sleepless nights. Paid of course - in as many mouse toes and tails as she can eat - perhaps next time you have lunch with her you might pass on my message, I would be most grateful and of course would return her when she's done -🙏🏼
I do so love reading these lovely notes that you leave following your visits, Susie. And this one, the absolute delight of imagining this wondrous little shrike helping solve your scritchy, little, mouse toe dilemma. I'm still giggling. I'll put in a good word for you...
Giggling is so good for the soul! 🙏🏼
PS That photo is extraordinary !
That's exactly what I was going to say.
The mouse too, had an opinion on what's important about 'mouse toes', but remained silent.
Great capture David. I'll say it again and again, you have an eye.
I bow in your direction, good sir, with gratitude. Thank you.
Now I want to hear an entire story around this!
A ticklish little tale about a ticklish little tail. 🐭♥️
I love this little wordplay, Holly. Love it!
Interesting and unexpected, lol!
Thanks Frank.
That is a superb photograph
Thank you, Richard.
Sounds like a fairy tale from the brothers Grimm, but curiously , it does not start out with once upon a time. Then I am to assume it is classic David P, storytelling truths , spun with a bit of whimsy, recording conversations using a feathered quill dipped in fairy dust.
I would love an entire novel. 👏
Happy New Years Eve Day!
...and to you.
May the new year be full to overflowing with surprises and wonder.
You, dear Lor are tonic to a sometimes doubting soul. What a gift.
And yes, there was a bit of a Grimm's fairy tale aspect to the whole thing...
And those mouse toes. I mean c'mon.
Thank you for the fairy dust smile while the house is still dark.
I love this most interesting glimpse of a shrike in delicious (to her) dilemma.
I mean, who ever gets to see this?! Totes cool.
Especially love this word pairing:
"...exuberant silence..."
I know, right? I've seen Loggerheads at a distance impaling grasshoppers on thorns and such to come back to later, but this was like an episode of Wild Kingdom. Thanks for the fun note and for your continual, exuberant noticing.
I’m doubling down, K.G.
Ew and wow.
...ditto...
Short, sweet, perfect! Shrikes are one of my favorites. In Alaska I could find them year-round, but we only seem to see them here on the Oly peninsula in winter. Such a treat to find one.
Thanks Gary. Yes, a rare sighting for me as well, but it is winter. Obvious by the brownish tones that it is a young one and so confident! I'd guess we were no more than a dozen feet apart when she (assigning gender without a real clue here), flew in and began to swallow 'the whole thing.' Shrikes are almost always a fifty feet or more away sighting for me, so hanging out for a few while this close was extra groovy.
Many, many years ago when I lived in Alaska (35 years living there, almost all of my working career as a firefighter) my wife and I were searching for “property” to build on up in the foothills of Anchorage on a mild mid-winter day. We were in the car, stopped along the gravel road, talking about the area when a northern shrike flew in and landed about 15 feet away on some neglected barbed wire fence. It perched there for 30 seconds or so, before the small vole in its beak was skewered onto the barb, and it took off. It was an adult shrike, with the strongly contrasting black, white and grays, and I’ll never forget that view. Often in winter we see sub-adults, as they are more numerous than the adults. This was a life-bird for me. All these years later, I am still thrilled with each shrike sighting, with or without prey. In fact, I saw my first-of-year Northern Shrike just yesterday here in Sequim, WA. Thank you for sharing.
You, good sir are a font of wisdom and hard-won experience. Thanks for adding to this story.