© Text and photos by Nancy Lee Moran 2012

September 2011
      How it began . . . with a phone call
      In my town, we have a fuel and food shop. The manager Sue (not real name) is devoted to animals. She suffers if an animal is mistreated or homeless. She advocates for dogs and cats, finding homes for them, just like a social worker for animals. Since my husband and I have two papillon dogs (ages nine and ten), Sue knew us to like papillons. She asked us to foster-parent a young papillon that needed a home, one skinny as a toothpick. I took Milly to see the veterinarian on the next day.
      Below here is a first picture of Milly, after I washed her up a bit. She, like most papillons, is friendly and intelligent. So is she to become an unexpected blessing?

October 2011
      I have been cleaning the floors and trying to teach Milly some new ways, since she had never been house-trained. I had taught our other two dogs to ring wind chimes to “go outside.” Milly is very clever, so Bill and I remain hopeful. The veterinarian knows we are okay about just being foster parents, if she sees a suitable prospect for a permanent home. We are also okay about adopting Milly, if need be, rather than have her be homeless.
      Sue, who originally phoned me about the dog, offered to pay for her to be neutered, which we gratefully accepted. Milly’s health seems okay, though she was too undernourished for surgery (to be neutered) until three more weeks of gaining weight had passed. Later we learned that she was fifteen months old.

Here is a letter that Milly “wrote” to Sue on October 10, 2011:

To: My “Social Caseworker” at the General Store Dear Miss Sue,       It has been two weeks tomorrow since you found me an adoptive home with Bill and Nancy. Things have been going pretty well.       Morans have a true papillon house. Me, Abby and Salsa, three papillons! The family feeds the squirrels and birds just so we papillons can chase them. Bill and Nancy consider me to be a slow learner when it comes to “going outside to do my business.” Yet it took me only a few seconds to figure out to look up into the trees and on top of the arbor. (Abby and Salsa showed me how!) Now that I am here, those squirrels have needed to speed up. Not to seem critical, but Abby and Salsa are on the elderly side, not nearly as quick as me. I bound here, I bound there, leaping all over the yard.       At first I was shy and meek around Abby and Salsa, who were friendly to me. But now that I belong, I’m becoming more bold. Just this evening, I was yapping at Abby, yapping right in her face so that she would chase me and snap at me (a fun game!). But Sue, can you believe it? After one of my yaps, Abby nipped me, hard!       So then I found Salsa and played tug-of-war with him over the toy squirrel. The game has become a bit dull, since I am getting so strong now that I can snatch the squirrel away. Salsa’s reflexes are kind of slow. Sue, is this some kind of retirement home you put me into? What do Bill and Nancy think I am, the director of geriatric activities? Hold on, I’ll get the bingo.       Last evening, I had another complaint. Notably, I had to take a real shower, not just a sponge bath like I had on my first day here.       Today was my first day of doing most of my business outdoors. A couple days ago I made several carpet messes in a row. Bill (my new dad) asked Abby and Salsa what to do about me.       Abby said, “Send her away.”       Mom said, “Call Sue! Three dogs is too many.”       Dad said, “Oh, I suppose all three together weigh as much as one medium-size dog.”       Salsa said, “Give her another chance.” He’s a great old dog, a gentle soul, quick to forgive. Here is his picture:       Abby rolled her eyes and suggested sending me out into the world on my own (which is why I am NOT including a picture of Crabby Abby!).       Then Mom said, “She does have a sweet, affectionate personality.”       Then Dad said, “She is smart. Remember how quickly she learned to chase squirrels?”       So, here I am still! Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll keep you updated. I hope you’ll visit me. Mom explained that you are really busy managing a whole store in addition to your social work with dogs. Gratefully yours, Milly P.S. Mom Nancy says to tell you that she likes the squirrels and wants them to be able to eat sunflower seeds in peace. Can you believe it? I am going to catch one someday.

January 2012 (below)
      Here is Milly, right in the center of things! She belongs with us now. She is adopted and has a microchip implant, the size grain of rice, with her new family’s information, in case she ever becomes lost.

      And here is Abby (below) with Nancy, in a photo taken by Nancy’s friend Lynell Morgan.

See more about our papillons and about papillon art at these links:
Nancy’s Papillon Art
Stories about Nancy’s Papillons and Squirrels

Graceful Butterfly Dogs

The Important Stuff

Papillon 911 Rescue and Adoption of Marietta, Georgia, has an article by Deborah Wood:
Top 10 Reasons Why NOT to Own a Papillon

Author Wood informs anyone considering a papillon as a pet that papillons:
~ Can be easily injured by large dogs and by preschool children
~ Like to bark
~ Resemble tiny border collies in activity-level (are more active than lap dogs)
~ Are often difficult to house train
~ Are dependent and get lonely easily

I, Nancy Lee, would like to add to Wood’s list as follows:
1. Papillons do best with a fenced-in yard and a daily walk. The fence protects them from large dogs while they romp and explore.
2. They should not be handled by young children as papillons have fragile bones and may be dropped and seriously injured.
2. They are easy to wash and tend to stay fairly clean.
3. The single coat is easy to groom (comb) and does not need to be cut.
4. They need protection from cold temperatures, since their fur is a single coat.
5. They shed more hair that I had expected. Salsa, who has such a full coat, sheds a lot. Sometimes I give him a “lion cut,” a partial shaving of his hair.
6. Being dependent (needing lots of affection, attention and reassurance) they like to sleep with “the pack,” snuggled up close to friends (human or dog companions). They will suffer if left alone for the whole work day. They may have separation anxiety and get into mischief. If someone works away from home during the day, a more independent breed like a terrier is a better choice.

Deborah Wood also writes:
“Papillons are intense. They are highly intelligent and trainable. They are also sensitive, and some are shy. They will notice the smallest change in the environment, and bark an alert. They get bored and throw their toys in your face until you play.”
“If you want an intelligent, portable, intense, dependent, busy, trainable toy dog, a Papillon just might be the right dog for you. If you want a quiet lap dog who is a couch potato, if you want a small-children’s pet, if you want a dog who doesn’t care if you raise your voice, then you probably want a different breed.”
(Credit: Deborah Wood, author of Little Dogs: Training Your Pint-Sized Companion, Help for Your Shy Dog and The New Owner’s Guide to Papillons.)

papillons ~ dog breed ~ small dog ~ abandoned dog ~ butterfly dogs ~ dog rescue

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      The famous rock formations are formed by red-orange-colored sandstone found around Sedona. Since the 1920s, Sedona’s signature red rocks have appeared in Hollywood films, mainly in Westerns.
      I had wondered if art collectors might like paintings of this place of majestic, mysterious beauty. The fun part is that I painted with an oil color by the Daniel Smith company, Sedona Genuine, a natural red ochre mined from the Sedona area. The mineral granules give the transparent paint a grainy look.

Sedona Series #1 (above) December 2011 (in private collection)
      “Sedona December” is a 6×6 inches oil painting I created from memories of visiting family in the Red Rock Country of Sedona, Arizona, for Christmas 2008. In the cool, clear atmosphere of winter, the rocks and vegetation have subtle colors.

Sedona Series #2 (above) January 2012 (available for purchase)
      “Beyond the Blue Door” is an 8×8 inches oil painting I created from two photos I took during December 2008 in the town of Sedona. Sugar Loaf is the low mound (rock formation) on the left side. Coffeepot formation is on the right.
      Inclusion of the adobe wall (part of a Sedona house) is a hint of surrealism (unexpected juxtaposition of elements), which is how the painting appeared to me in a dream.

About Sedona
      About four million tourists visit Sedona annually, often going on to see the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell.
According to Wikipedia . . .
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedona,_Arizona)
      “The formations appear to glow in brilliant orange and red when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. The Red Rocks form a breathtaking backdrop for everything from spiritual pursuits to the hundreds of hiking and mountain biking trails.”
      “The famous red rocks of Sedona are formed by a layer of rock known as the Schnebly Hill Formation. The Schnebly Hill Formation is a thick layer of red to orange-colored sandstone found only in the Sedona vicinity.”

Sedona Series #3 (above) February 2012 (available for purchase)
      “Prickly Pear” is a 7×5 inches oil painting created from a photo I took in Sedona, Arizona in 2008. Cacti are complex creatures. The flat paddles of the prickly pear turn (rotate) in space as it grows into a tangled structure. For an artist, the paddle forms create foreshortening and color challenges. Some paddles reflect light from the sunny part of the sky, while others reflect light from the darker part of the sky (north or east, when the sun is low on the western horizon). Some reflect the warmth of sunlight bouncing up from the soil and rocks. Some have a glancing side light.

Sedona Series #4 (above) February 2012 (available for purchase)
      “Pillars of Red Rock” is a 5×7 inches oil painting created from a photo I took in Sedona, Arizona in 2008. These rock formations near Sedona express strength and dignity. See the layers of rock, eroded by eons of wind and rain. As in usual in my art, the paint surface is delicate, clean, and refined.

About Mystery Films set in Arizona
If you are attracted to the landscape of Arizona, and if you like mysteries (who doesn’t?), American Public Television has created quality films from the novels of Tony Hillerman. The films show the natural wonders of the American Southwest and the rich culture of the Navajo native peoples. Detective Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police investigate puzzling murders in the PBS American Mystery! films of Skinwalkers (2002), Coyote Waits (2003), and A Thief of Time (2004). The acting is top notch, especially Wes Studi as Leaphorn. You may remember Wes Studi as the ruthless Magua in the 1992 film The Last of the Mohicans. In 2009 he played Eytukan in the film Avatar.
Below here is a photo of Wes Studi which may be seen on the PBS web page for Skinwalkers below (I could not find the photographer-credit on the web page, to include here):
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/mystery/american/skinwalkers/popups/studi_intv.html

Read about author Tony Hillerman (May 27, 1925 – October 26, 2008) on Wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hillerman

Arizona ~ AZ ~ cactus ~ cacti ~ landscape ~ megaliths~ ~ orange color ~ oil painting ~ peaceful ~ prickly pear ~ Red Rocks ~ red sandstone formations ~ rock pillars ~ Sedona ~ Schnebly Hill Formation ~ Southwest ~ stucco wall ~ adobe wall ~ Opuntia ~ paddle cactus ~ rounded cladodes ~ miniature oil painting ~ Tony Hillerman ~ PBS American Mystery! ~ Joe Leaphorn ~ Wes Studi ~ Navajo ~ Native Americans

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Angels Watching Over
12 X 9 inch original oil painting by Nancy Lee Moran

Christmas Art Image for 2010

      It was daylight, candles unlit, when I visited the historical home named Wildwood House in Nebraska City, the town where Arbor Day began. I imagined the vintage candles lit during an evening of long ago, when the house was new and filled with family and guests. A guest may have played carols on the ebony grand piano, a piano that had been hauled by train and then by horse-drawn wagon, bringing culture to the new state of Nebraska.
      When painting, I added a white rose near the manger, as it is a historical symbol of the Virgin’s purity and innocence. The candles reminded me of guiding stars over the manger. The primitive manger figures were carved by hand.
      The Wildwood House also inspired my 2006 oil painting, “Beauty from the Past.” Built in 1869 in the “wild woods” near Nebraska City by a banker, it remains a charming Victorian home of ten rooms decorated with period furnishings. Nebraska became a state of the Union on March 1, 1867.

Here is a link to the other Wildwood House artwork on my website.

Beauty from the Past (Wildwood House)

antique piano ~ candle glow ~ candlesticks ~ angel candles ~ manger scene ~ carved wood ~ white rose ~ purity of Mary ~ Virgin ~ innocence ~ Beloved Mary ~ baby Jesus

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Riona, 12 X 9 inch original oil painting

Notes from my fairy journal of October 2010

      The fairy Riona passed by my maple tree, bringing bright hues to the leaves so that squirrels would be reminded to store up nuts. She glowed with zest for the warm sun. She foretold that winter would be mild this year (a blessing!). She urged the plants to gather all the sugars from their leaves into their roots, then to sleep peacefully during the winter.
      Her name means royal, which seems fitting for a fairy who is resplendent in autumn glory.
      The combined images just BELOW here show how the painting progressed, from simplicity to its finish in November 2010. I used transparent oil for the bright leaves and used opaque mixtures for the rest of the painting, to help the leaves glow.

See how autumn relates to human artistry . . .

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~ Stanley Horowitz

See MORE Art and Sayings of Autumn at this link.

Her dress was inspired by a wool dress made for the doll Ellowyne Wilde, designed by my friend Marsha of Hankie Couture. From cotton to wool, as in the poem below . . .

The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools. ~ Henry Beston, Northern Farm

May the brisk beauty of autumn inspire you . . .

A few days ago I walked along the edge of the lake and was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves with each step I made. The acoustics of this season are different and all sounds, no matter how hushed, are as crisp as autumn air. ~ Eric Sloane

fairyland ~ faerie ~ faery ~ elf ~ imp ~ pixie ~ sprite ~ woodland fairy ~ fairy wings ~ garden fairy ~ maple tree ~ autumn leaves

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Topics by Nancy Lee Moran
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2010-2011

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Mia, 8 X 10 inch original oil painting
Notes from my fairy journal of May 2010

      Each spring, a fairy arrives with the blooming of the magnolia tree, which is her patron tree. She is entrusted with protecting the songbirds of our country neighborhood. She enjoys the warmth of the morning sun upon her face, while the fragrance of the flowers soothes her spirit. Should ever she spy a cat or hawk, she rides upon her companion bird to create lively flying tricks that draw the interest of predators away from songbirds. She also protects eggs and nestlings from squirrels.
      She senses changes in the air that precede thunderstorms. Then she reminds the robins to strengthen their nests and gathers spider webs to help secure the eggs. Her joy is seeing baby birds become fledglings and learn to fly.
      Since fairies prefer to remain unseen, I pretend not to see Mia. Each day, when I bring bird seeds to a small feeder nearby, I steal a glance and wish her well, grateful she is one of “The Good People.”

The combined images just BELOW here show how the painting progressed, from simplicity to its finish on 8/8/10. I designed Mia’s clothing on a 14-inch doll, using real magnolia petals.

Here is a link to my website page for Mia.
Here is a link to my website page for Solace.

Elena, 8 X 10 inch original oil painting

Elena is another member of the Magnolia Sisterhood of fairies, shown with her companion bird. The combined images show how Elena’s painting progressed, from simplicity to its finish in October 2010. I designed Elena’s clothing on a 14-inch doll, using real magnolia petals.

Solace, 8 X 10 inch original oil painting

    In early June, with rain falling all around, she had only a leaf for cover, a leaf as her solace. She lived in the elfin woodland of Pisgah National Forest (North Carolina, USA), near Brevard, in the land of waterfalls and Appalachian Mountains. From under my umbrella in 2003, I watched her quietly, soft padding of raindrops as the only sounds.
    During summer 2009 and May 2010, I spent hours painting my memories of her home: a mossy stump, ferns, ivy, and grape hyacinths. Loving natural history as I do, I like to ponder how the human eye perceives both the variations in and the patterns of nature. Being somewhat orderly, I must resist my tendency to make things even and lined-up. Liking detail, I must keep myself from getting lost in it. Nature is more complex than what a human being can paint. An artist must simplify, since a lawn may have a million blades of grass; a tree, a million leaves; a head, a million hairs (unless it is a balding one!).
    The combined images just BELOW here show how the painting progressed, from simplicity. Here is also a link to my webpage for Solace.

Fairies reside within imagination, in the magical part of nature. They reside in our human way of imagining changes of size, from the elfs to giants that populate mythology.

“Come away, O human child:
To the waters and the wild
with a fairy, hand in hand…”
~ William Butler Yeats

fairyland ~ faerie ~ faery ~ elf ~ imp ~ pixie ~ sprite ~ woodland fairy ~ flower fairy ~ garden fairy ~ magnolia tree ~ magnolia blossoms

NOTE about Pigsah Forest USA
The following information is from Wikipedia:

American forestry has roots in what is now the Pisgah National Forest. The Cradle of Forestry, (Biltmore Forest School), was the site of the first school of forestry in the United States. It operated during the late 1800s and early 1900s at the direction of George Washington Vanderbilt II, builder of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. The Cradle of Forestry and the Biltmore Estate played a major role in the birth of the U.S. Forest Service.
~ LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisgah_National_Forest

The photo below is of my husband and son near the fairy woodland in 2003.

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When Iris Briefly Bloom

    In the passage of a year, I almost forget the fragrance of the iris that bloom each May in my garden. What a joy to rediscover it! On mornings like this one, the first sunny one after several days of rain, the sun warms the dew drops on the iris. The warmth, especially as absorbed by the dark violet iris, seems to waft off, to enhance the scent and let it linger. The subtle aroma seems to speak of mild summer days. It suggests that I close my eyes and brush my cheek on the velvety petals.
    The neighbor’s children have picked many of my violas and grape hyacynths. Sitting to write about iris has reminded me: I shall cut some iris for their busy mother. I know, however, that when iris are cut and placed in a vase, the elusive fragrance diminishes. Iris seem to prefer the garden! In a week or two, I shall thin out the rhizomes, removing older woody ones. I have plans and sketches for several new paintings of iris, too.
A historical note: The American Iris Society was founded in 1920 to foster appreciation of the flower and to encourage creation of new breeds.

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My Poldark House by Jen Anne of Penwith

    One of the most enjoyable aspects of acquiring and owning dolls for me and I am sure for lots of other people too, is the opportunity to name them and invent a story for them. One’s imagination soon occupies a private alternative world of one’s own creation, and it is only one further step to write some of this down and take photographs to illustrate these little lives.

    Originally I supposed I had put aside playing with dolls, except when amusing my children, but when my daughter had her first dollshouse I was captivated by the world that can gradually be put together within a series of small walls. Of course I had to have one for myself and one turned into several. I went to dollshouse fairs and saw the wonderful creations that are made for adult collectors and I was hooked. One of my most thrilling projects was a house based on a series of books. Living in Cornwall as I do, I loved the Poldark books about a family living down here in the far west of England in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Winston Graham wrote twelve books in all about the Poldarks, which were serialised on BBC TV very successfully, largely filmed on location down here.

    I could identify the house that was used in the first series to represent Nampara farmhouse, which I wanted to recreate. I took photographs and made many plans, trying to be true to the layout in the books. It was frustrating because although I could figure out how the house was arranged it did not shape up to be very satisfactory in dollshouse terms. I had an idea who I wanted to build the house for me (no, I am afraid I am not sufficiently confident of my own skills!) and I had seen his beautiful representation of the Bronte parsonage, which had a very satisfying layout, opening front and back, and allowing the opportunity for a smartish front and a back suggesting an entrance from a working farmyard. So I decided to base the house on this, but have it finished in old stone that would suggest the local stone down here, Cornish granite.

    The house was built and transported from Yorkshire to Penzance. My builder, George Parker of Hebden Bridge, had added wiring and a number of lights suitable for a house of the period that I had chosen, with scope for more. Of course the construction of the house had taken time with much conferring, and by then I had collected quite a few pieces for it. What a thrill to install them! As soon as it was dark I switched on the lights and peered in, and that is when it came to life in an uncanny way. I had flickering candles and lamps and fires that lit only limited areas of rooms and the amazing atmosphere of life lived in those times was vividly suggested at a stroke.

    I know some people think that dolls detract from the reality of a miniature house because they may not live up to the quality of the miniatures, but I was determined to have dolls. I was very fortunate to spot some pictures of dolls created by Jamie Carrington and decided to approach him to make my principal characters. He made me two brilliant servants who are funny and totally unwholesome people in the books and they could never be bettered. I also had him make me the hero and heroine, Ross Poldark the impoverished mine owner, and Demelza the girl he rescues from tormentors at a fair, and installs as a servant.

    With such “straight” characters who have captured the imagination over the reading of a number of books which follow them through some years of their lives it is much harder to be satisfied that one has the perfect representative. I felt both the dolls I received looked too old to play out the first book as I had wanted to do. But they were not to be wasted because they were fine dolls, so one was cast as Ross’s cousin Verity and the other was left as Ross until I could better him, and in fact several dolls undertook the role, made out of kits and dressed by me, as good male dolls are hard to find in the market place.

    I collected furniture and fittings over a considerable length of time, and also invited several other dollmakers to create eighteenth century characters who could come into the house at appropriate moments. I was thrilled with the Elizabeth Poldark that was made for me by Jan Clarke, I regard her as the most beautiful of my main characters, and the same artist made me another wonderful Demelza representing her when she wore decent (indeed, in this case, very fine) apparel.

    I had by then a significant collection of dolls for the house including some children so it was obvious that time had moved on…. but gradually I began to think of changing the plot of the books, rewriting them in my mind to suit the character of the dolls I had. And I suppose that was when I realised that it is dolls, and the way they dictate their own stories, that really fascinate me!

    I hope to introduce the dolls to you. The Poldark books by Winston Graham have just been reprinted in England. They are a very good read and I should not like to tell you too much about the storylines.

    Meanwhile, should anyone reading this feel inspired to write about their dollshouse or any alternative worlds involving dolls, we would be very interested to hear from him or her.

Here are some fun web links:

Here is a link to my own picture-stories of dolls in Cornwall.
In May 2010 is the Kensington Dollshouse Festival in London:
    Kensington Dollshouse Festival (pretty photos)
Link to the website of doll artist James Carrington, who created some of my dolls.
    James Carrington

       © Text and photos by Jen Anne of Penwith

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2009 to 2010 Blog Web Pages

See April 2009 Art Newsletter

See April 2010 Art Newsletter

See June 2010 Art Newsletter

See August 2009 Art Newsletter

See August 2010 Art Newsletter

See October 2010 Art Newsletter

See November 2010 Art Newsletter

See December 2010 Art Newsletter

2007 to 2008 Web Pages for News ARCHIVES

See 2007-2008 News & Art Blog

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by Nancy Lee Moran

What does the end of summer mean to you?

A Hawk Tale

A wonder happened as I was strolling in our small town with my husband. Near sunset as we passed by our church, Bill tugged my arm. I followed his gaze to see a hawk perching on the railing of the steps leading up to the church door. The size of a rooster, it stood erect, pivoting its regal head almost in circles. Appearing calm and poised, it ignored us as we stood still for about ten minutes. We had never been within fifty feet of a bird of prey, much less as close as ten feet, near enough to see its feather textures. I felt awe.

My favorite time of this summer:

Some mornings, as the sun was beginning to dry dew from the grass, I scattered bird seed on our patio and sat under a shade tree fifteen feet away. Soon about twenty birds would settle in to eat. Two pair of morning doves, whenever alarmed, would lift off with much clamoring coo-coo-co-coo, whistling, and wing-clapping ~ scattering the other birds, too. Many sparrows and wrens flitted about. Usually four blue jays and a pair of cardinals joined in. And one young rabbit often rested in his favorite spot under a lily plant.

Here are links to the web pages about two paintings that mean Summer Days to me. I included the images here, also.

Red Petals (geraniums)

“Red Petals”
14 x 10 oil painting $680.00
at Lewis Art Gallery, phone 1-800-306-7733
Limited-Edition Print Available, too
Click image to see web page of this art.

To Purchase Nancy’s Prints Click here to see Nancy’s art prints.

Abundance (wheelbarrow)


“Abundance”
24 x 18 oil painting $1840.00
at Lewis Art Gallery, phone 1-800-306-7733
Limited-Edition Print Available, too
Click image to see web page of this art.

A Hawk Tale, Continued

April 2010

     A hawk, probably the same one, has been hunting in my yard this spring. Though usually a country bird, it may visit large back yards. I live a couple blocks from the edge of town, near some pasture land and rolling hills. My husband and I planted a row of upright arbor vitae evergreens many years ago, about eighty of them. (See lower on this page for arbor vitaes.) Once eight inches tall and spindly, they have grown to a height of twenty feet, have become a shelter belt and nesting site for many birds.
Going into the back yard one afternoon, I startled the hawk, which sat beneath the evergreens eating a mourning dove. While graceful in flight, it seemed clumsy as it ambled out from under the branches and expanded its broad wings, lifting off with heavy wingbeats. Another day I found simply a pile of gray feathers. I realized it was a quick death (unlike death by prowling neighborhood cats) and that predators get hungry, too ~ but darn it! I felt like a co-conspirator, inviting birds to our patio with seed and suet, luring them into harm’s way. Our visitor is a red-tailed hawk, similar in size to a large rooster or small goose, it has a call like a piercing screeee. These hawks usually hunt mammals like rabbits and squirrels, rarely cats or dogs. Yet I am wondering, what about Abby, my papillon dog who is smaller than most cats!
     A red-tailed hawk named Pale Male was one of the most famous residents of New York City, living on ornamental stonework high above affluent Manhattan.
Here is a link to his own Wikipedia page: Wikipedia page

     The mourning doves come in pairs to gather seed on the patio. The pairs sit on the telephone wires each morning, as if awaiting the opening of the Birdseed Breakfast Patio Cafe. The color of olive-beige with some darker spots, they have plump bodies that taper into long slender tails. They and the sparrows seem to be the least wary of being near people. Since childhood, I have loved the soothing coos they emit, long sounds like laments, hence the name mourning. If you would like to hear the distinctive call, here is a link to the page on the Cornwell Lab of Ornithology (branch of zoology about birds, www.allaboutbirds.org), where you can press a button to hear its haunting call. I imagine you will recognize the sound of this very common bird.

Listen to mourning doves.

See pictures and and hear piercing cry of hawks.

Link to my favorite bird song of early spring, that of the Northern Cardinal. A pair nests in our yard and stays during winter, too.

The Beauty of Arbor Vitae conifers

I see the trees as graceful and lacy ornamentals, especially when winds of the Great Plains skim through them. My husband and I have pruned the old wood from ours to keep the trees more airy. Deer like to eat the foliage of this tree. Since arbor vitae prefer moist, rich soil, we put leaf and bark compost underneath ours, where we plant ferns, impatiens, hosta, and periwinkle (Vinca minor) there in the shade.

Here is one of my repainted dolls, Ekatrina, sitting beneath the arbor vitae trees in 2009, holding a sprig of dogwood. She has painted eyes, a new wig, and a Boneka smocked dress.

Visit Ekatrina’s web page.

Here is a photo I took last autumn, from plants gathered in my yard. The main foliage behind the golden sea oats is arbor vitae. Outdoors, the sea oats bobbled in the breeze, as if nodding. As frosts arrived, the sea oats passed from green to bronze-glitter and colors of smokey leather. The arbor vitae, being a conifer, remained green during winter.

Visit Nancy’s webpage that has this image.

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