Month: September 2020

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Everyone talks about the beautiful colors of fall. The leaves change to brilliant hues, custom made for wall calendars. The birds change colors also. I’ll show a few examples.

The list goes on and on. The fall birds are often juvenile and female, lacking the bright colors of the male. But many male birds also shed their bright plumage in favor of dull browns and greens. This makes fall birding a head scratcher!

September 13

We had a last minute visit from Doug and Lisa. They had big news. Doug got a promotion and bought a new car! You have probably heard that news already but I wanted to include it here. The car is a Subaru. Doug explained that the name is Japanese for the constellation of the Seven Sisters. That explains the Subaru logo. But wait, where is the seventh star? It is invisible! Doug named the car Celeste.

We had a great visit. Dad grilled hamburgers and we had the usual which everyone enjoyed. We had to eat indoors because the bees are pretty bad right now. You can’t even drink a beer outside without them swarming around you.

September 19

I have been hitting the beach again around dawn. There are still shorebirds migrating and the chance for rare gulls is increasing. The sun is coming upper later, of course, so I don’t really get out as early as in the spring.

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This is the Bottle Gentian, and it is in my side garden. I got them in an order from the Lake County Forest Preserve native plant sale last spring. I put them in and forgot about them. So I was very pleased to see them blossoming. The are hidden by some taller plants. I will need to move the tall plants and give these guys some more sun. The flower doesn’t open like a normal flower. It stays shut until a bumblebee opens it. The smaller insects are not strong enough to get into it. They grow in the wild in a few spots along the lakefront.

I have been busy trying to help Eloise reinstate her pension. It basically involves looking for documents and making phone calls. We went to see her on Friday. I think I made some progress so I feel relieved at the moment. I’ll be so glad when the process is finished. She’s Doing fine but is bored, like everyone else.

I have been painting. At the moment I am doing hummingbirds. When I get a good one I will post it.

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We left early (after birding) on Tuesday morning to go see Eloise in Cudahy. She is on the far south edge of Milwaukee, directly east of the airport. We had a little birthday party on the front porch of the nursing home.

After seeing Eloise, we drove to Sheboygan. On the way there we saw about fifteen army vehicles heading south. I wondered if it had to do with the Trump visit to Kenosha. We got to Ginny’s house about noon. There was a for sale sign in the front yard. I had just by accident seen the listing about a week ago so I wasn’t surprised. She has an offer already. It’s a nice spot. I took some photos of the yard while we were there.

Ginny is going to retire at the end of the golfing season. She is looking at houses in the UP. She wants to be away from things I guess. Stephanie is going with her. Alex will be moving to lower Michigan to live with her boyfriend. Lots of changes.

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We were so happy to drive down to Chicago to visit Doug and Lisa. It was a beautiful summer day with cooler temperatures and clear skies. On Sunday it took less than an hour to get there. We stayed outside and spent a lot of time examining the thriving grden in the back yard. The plants were immense and very healthy.

The plants attract a lot of bees and Lisa is putting them into iNaturalist to get an ID on them.

Doug built some trellises for his cucumbers. Do they remind you of anything?

Lisa made a great Mediterranean chicken by marinading it in a yogurt and lemon sauce. Doug grilled it perfectly. The skewered eggplant was from the garden. We watched them pick it! There were a lot of Cherry Tomatoes and all sorts of fresh herbs. We left with a little goody bag.

We heard all about Lisa’s new job with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. She drives to Schaumberg, near the IKEA store, a morning commute of about 30 minutes. I can’t really explain any other details except that she will be analyzing water.

We had a great visit and an awesome dinner. Thanks, Doug and Lisa!!!