Midsummer Dreams: What Brings Joy?

“Here, beneath this tree, she had lain on her back in the sun and watched the butterflies. Part of her would linger there for ever: a footstep running tip-toe to the creek, the touch of her hand on a tree, the imprint of her body in the long grass. And perhaps one day, in after years, someone would wander there and listen to the silence, as she had done, and catch the whisper of the dreams that she had dreamt there, in midsummer, under the hot sun and the white sky.”
— Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman’s Creek.

Art by Lucy Campbell

Three of my favorites in one painting: a wolf, a raven, and trees. I’d love to curl up and hibernate in a mighty oak guarded by my beloved animal family — to dream of butterflies and seashells and other simple but profound bearers of joy.

Dreams of Tea With The Raven King

Crows, ravens, I love them all. How spectacular would it be to have tea with the king of the ravens.

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Dreams by Langston Hughes

Tea With The Raven King by Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman

Raven or Crow?

Both ravens and crows live in my neighborhood, but I think these two thirsty birds are crows.
What do you think?

This photo was taken as I peeked through the long pointy fronds of a ponytail palm situated directly outside my downstairs living room.

Here’s an especially informative Audubon link that helps to discern the differences between the two:https://www.audubon.org/news/how-tell-raven-crow

Black Crows…Counting Crows…A LOT of Crows.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…”
crows7I did not intentionally trick you into thinking I was referring to the musical groups,  OR DID I?

OK, yes I did, hee hee. Sorry. 

And sorry for the uninspired Poe reference.

I don’t know about other parts of the country, but we here in Carlsbad are being INUNDATED with crows.

Actually, I think they’re really ravens, but I’m not sure.

There are SO many that it’s now a topic of conversation and everyone stops to take pics when they fly back to wherever they roost in the late afternoon just before sundown.

It’s like an end-of-the-world scenario. Or a Hitchcock movie.

Yesterday, I heard an amazingly loud cacophony, ran upstairs, and took a series of photos.

Some people, like my aunt, used to call them, “miserable crows” but I like them.

I know crows/ravens/whatever they are, are highly intelligent creatures.

Wolves and ravens have a social and mutually beneficial relationship.

Can you count the crows? Or ravens? 

crows6In all the trees as far as the eye can see, a murder of crows or a congress of ravens. Whatever. All I know for sure is that there are a shitload of birds here.crows8 A little after school learning going on.crows1 The birds are coming, the birds are coming!crows3 Who’s up for a soccer game?crows4

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