Twenty Nine

I believe this may be the first time I've gotten a visual record of the wood thrushes who nest in our woods.  Most summers we have a pair somewhere back in our woods, singing their ethereal, haunting song, but seldom seen.  They are birds of the woodlands.  Their song, which you can hear a short clip of HERE is, in my opinion, the most beautiful in the woods of N. America.  They actually sing a duet with themselves, using both branches of their y-shaped syrinx to create a two-part harmony.  

I actually thought this was an Ovenbird when I snapped the shot because there are also a pair of them in the woods and one was singing it's "teacher, teacher" song very loudly and very close.  And, although the ovenbird is a warbler, it is large and stocky and brown and very similar to the wood thrush.  And also a bird I more often hear than see.  Well, hopefully I'll catch the Ovenbird another day.  In the meantime, I'm happy to have grabbed a shot (even though it's not particularly good) of a Wood Thrush for the 2021 yard list.

This morning I had my first radiation treatment.  I was a bundle of nerves going in, but the staff at the Cancer Center are all just wonderful and they made me feel really cared for.  Today's treatment was longer because they had to do about 10 minutes worth of imaging first, all with my boob dangling through an opening in the table and my neck tilted at a very uncomfortable angle.  But soon enough it was all done.  I then was taken right back to the Radiology Oncologists office for my weekly visit.  Today it was short since she didn't need to examine me.  But she talked to me about taking care of the skin to minimize burning.  And in under 40 minutes I was on my way with a cheery "see you tomorrow" from the staff.  One down, twenty to go.

Lunch today at a local farm with two friends who I've not seen since last summer. One vaccinated, the other recently recovered from a fairly serious bout of Covid - so we all got to hug which felt unbelievably good.

I'm looking out the window from my upstairs work space and see a rabbit munching on clover and a pair of blue jays courtship feeding.  Life feels pretty good right now.

Be kind, be safe.  Chocolate with nuts of some sort today, I think.

xo
Debbi