A Heron Sighting

I have some photos of a very cool bird to show you guys. Now, I'm still not entirely sure what kind of bird it is, but my best guess so far is a Blue Heron. There are just a few a details that are different from the Blue Herons I've seen photos of online. But I'm still pretty sure this is a Heron of some type. I took these photos on the same day I took those November walk photos in the last blog post.

I took a ton of photos because this bird kept changing its neck and head in new ways. Plus, how many chances am I going to get to photograph one of these?

This photo is my computer wallpaper right now. I loved the way that these different birds were coexisting. If you can make this photo any larger, you'll see that the duck was looking at me. Her mate was swimming nearby. At this point, I think the heron was entirely focused on fishing.

Again, if you can close in, take a look at this bird's yellow eye. I thought there was a sweet look to the eyes, unlike the eyes of some other herons I've seen pictures of online. 

Here it looks almost like a swan.

Look how they can scrunch up their necks.

Can you spot the heron in this pic? Without its reflection, it might be hard to spot.

A close view of its fluffy, feathery back:

And a look at its legs. The knees are something. They look almost like they can bend back. If you guys could have seen how this bird was slooooowly stalking through the water, you'd be fascinated too!

There's her mate. They were so cute. 

And what a wonderful nature preserve for all these birds to hang out in! We saw a muskrat swimming around this area last summer. There are probably all kinds of birds and animals attracted to this water.

I like this photo because the water is nearly invisible. The plants just look they're floating. It was one of those days where the sky matches the water perfectly and it all blends into this light grayish-blue.

I'm going to add a few photos of what was left of the flowers in this area. I'm not sure what these little powder puffs are. 

There are some very bright trees in the park that I am yet to identify. It's tempting to say they're pine, but they're so soft. And I haven't seen any pinecones or anything remotely like one on the ground. Any ideas?  

Here's another one:

This thistle looks like some kind of creature with outstretched arms in this stage. There are even spikes on those "arms".

Little Aster Daisies or Michaelmas Daisies:

It's hard to remember what some of these plants looked like in summer. I ended up googling Goldenrod seeds, because I remembered Goldenrod growing around that area. I'm pretty sure I was right and that's what this is!

This post seems like a good one to end on with winter on its way. These photos look like the end of a season. Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁

 

A posing crow, essential oils, and palmistry

Happy Spring everyone! The Spring Equinox is here and it's starting to actually feel that way. We're getting near 50° and that's a big deal after this winter. I took a few photos recently that also feel like a big deal to me. They're a big deal because I haven't taken a lot of crow photos. Crows generally fly away by the time I've gone in to get my camera. But this one was ready to do some modeling! It not only waited for me to go inside and get my camera but gave me a whole bunch of different poses to photograph.

Don't you wonder where the crow's feet are? It's amazing to watch the balancing act of a bird that chooses to cling to the very top of a tall tree on a windy day. But this bird was balanced.

"Caw!"

"Just look at my bendy neck!" Did you know a crow could do a 180° with it's neck? I didn't. I guess no one is going to sneak up on a crow! This looks almost Photoshopped or unnatural in some way.

I was at the library a few nights ago and actually ran into a crow book. I didn't end up checking it out, because it was written in a pretty boring way. This is saying something, because I really like crows! So the interest was there. I actually put it back on the shelf, then picked it up again, paged through it and said to myself "Nope, still boring". It was written like the driest scientific manual ever. But someday I would like to read more about crows (in a different style of writing) because there is so much to know. They're some of the smartest creatures out there!

So I didn't end up with the crow book, but I did end up checking out some other books. I think some of you might be interested in these two. The first is about essential oils. That's my groovy skull scarf in the background. It ended up going with the kind of sketchy style of the book cover.

I've only just skimmed this book so far, but it appears to be good for the stage I'm at with essential oils. That stage being that I have a few oils and a few recipes and a handful of questions. This book looks like it will offer some explanations I'm looking for. I posted a pic of the contents here, in case any of you were wondering if this is a book for you.

From the parts I've skimmed, this is a pretty hip and up-to-date book. I could tell it was written recently. There are also some cute illustrations in it. This is a favorite:

He just cracks me up, pointing at his beard like "Check this out".

Another book I brought home was this one about Palmistry. As I paged through it today, I felt like I'd seen it before. This would have been years and years ago. It just seemed familiar. So far it's been pretty flattering in what it said about my hand. :)

The back, to give you more of an idea of what's in here:

The chapters:

The health part was surprising to me. I expected this book to mostly be about personality traits. But according to the health section, various bumps and lines on a hand could signal health problems. I dared to look at that page and I'm doing fine health-wise, according to my hand. :)

I'd be happy to discuss the subjects of either of these books if you guys have an interest. Anyone have a favorite essential oil recipe or use? Or maybe a little palm reading advice or thoughts about that?

P.S. ~ Besides March 20 being the spring equinox, there will also be a full super moon. So it is astrologically a big night! We haven't had a spring equinox and super moon together in 19 years.

A doctor who could scare you to death

In my last blog post, there was a picture of a person wearing a homemade plague doctor mask. It was a long, beaked mask that looked like it was made from paper mache. I recognized this shape of mask from my trip to Venice a few years ago. There are many beautiful carnival masks for sale in Venice, and a lot of them have this beaked design:

I had no idea what I was looking at during my trip, but I did notice that this mask design was everywhere. Below is a photo I took through a shop window in Venice. I was actually trying to get a picture of the masks on the back wall, but ended up with the silhouette of plague doctor masks as a frame. If you click on this picture, you will see more of the details. The two masks at the top are a common design. Often you see either glasses painted around the eyes, or writing on the beak.

Once I returned from Venice, I looked up the symbolism of the beaked masks. I found that they were called "plague doctor" masks, but that made me more puzzled. Further web searches turned up the reason for the beak design. Doctors working during a plague would have been smelling some unpleasant odors. The beak left room for the doctor to stuff flowers and potpourri in front of his nose.

So the mask that I thought was goofy looking, turned out to be quite serious and practical!

The picture below shows the various parts of a plague doctor's outfit. Wearing a wide brimmed hat would have identified a man as a doctor. There's also a theory that a wide hat and long beak would keep the sickly from getting too close to a doctor's face, and therefore infecting him. The doctor would carry a stick to direct people and also inspect a patient without touching them. His long coat would be tucked into his mask and covered with suet and wax. The suet was supposed to draw the plague out of the victim and trap it. The wax was there to prevent body fluids from sticking to the doctor.

After posting the plague doctor picture from Ren Faire, I exchanged some interesting tweets with an artist who goes by the name King Unicorn. He created the plague doctor art doll that is pictured below:

Isn't this character cool? He's a non-traditional take on the doctor, but he's eerie in his own faceless way! Click the image to see more of this character and read the inspiration for the design. You'll freak out when you see his back! King Unicorn is a great illustrator as well as a sculptor, and I think you will all enjoy his work. Here's his web site: http://www.kingunicorn.com/

Along with showing me a different kind of plague doctor, King Unicorn suggested an amazing movie to me: Restoration. The fact that this movie stars Robert Downey Jr. was reason enough for me to see it.

Besides getting to look at beautiful sets, costumes, and Robert Downey Jr., I learned a lot about 17th century England, and I liked the message of the film. It was shocking to go from viewing the excesses of the court, to seeing the plague-ridden villages that everyday people were living in. Throughout the movie, Robert Downey Jr.'s character (also named Robert) learns about his true talent to heal and also about what really matters in life.

I was thrilled to find an eight minute clip of Restoration that fits this post perfectly. I recommend watching the whole thing, but if you're pressed for time, you can skip to two parts of this. If you stop the video at 2:48, you will see the beak of the mask being stuffed with flowers and potpourri. If you skip to 3:42, you will see Robert wearing the entire plague doctor outfit.



Isn't the image of the plague doctor in this movie striking? Can you imagine seeing someone in this leather mask and hat? I think the plague doctor's outfit probably added more terror to the plague. By the way, the fire that is mentioned at the end of this clip wiped out a lot of the plague sufferers, and The Great Plague in general.

Since Robert looks almost Steampunk in his mask, I decided to do a web search for Steampunk plague doctor masks. I started by doing an Etsy search, and found all these goodies: Steampunk plague doctor masks

I think "Plague Doctor" would be a scary Halloween costume! "Plague Victim" might be an even scarier one...

Here's a trivia question for you: Who was the most famous plague doctor?

Answer: Nostradamus!

I was surprised to learn that Nostradamus was a plague doctor. The not so surprising part is that he was really ahead of his time. Nostradamus did not believe in using leeches on the sick, like a lot of doctors during his time did. When you consider that Nostradamus was practicing during the 16th century, and doctors were still blood-letting late into 19th century, he was way ahead of his time! Nostradamus' remedies of choice were: fresh air, clean water, and a juice preparation of rose hips that contained high amounts of Vitamin C.

On a side note, I was reminded of the old Spy vs. Spy cartoon while writing this post. I bet we can all guess what inspired these drawings...

I'm going to leave you with this beautiful tribute video to plague doctors. I think they deserve some kind of tribute, because these men were putting their lives into their hands while trying to help. Actually, most of the trained doctors had already fled the plague, so "plague doctors" were often regular citizens who stepped up to the task. This video is made from a slideshow of art and photos set to some great eerie music! I suggest watching this full screen if you can.