Sharing His Song

"In spite of everything, I shall rise again; 

I will take up my pencil, which I have
forsaken in my great discouragement, 

and I will go on with my drawing."
~ Vincent van Gogh

This drawing is from my Sketching Everyday Blog. It is from a photo taken at Cedar Run, a local wildlife refuge.The owl in the scene is a beloved male barred owl named Squam.

From the CedarRunWildlife Instagram post;

cedarrunwildlife "It is with heavy hearts we share the news of the passing of our great friend, beloved teacher, and loyal ambassador, Squam. For many of the tens of thousands of people who know Cedar Run, chances are, they know Squam. Squam was a true ambassador and educator. He engaged tens of thousands of our members, neighbors, school children, visitors, volunteers, staff and community members with his sense of calm and endearing looks. It was hard not to feel love when looking upon Squam. A true teacher to the end, his lessons will continue on far into the future. Squam first came to us in 2002, when he was about two years old, he packed a lot of living in his 18 years on this earth. He lived a grand life with us, and will be missed by many. One of his favorite things to do was to share his song with us. He loved to sing in auditoriums, where his song would soar and fill the space, or he would sing to the female barred owls in the wild and try to call them to him, sometimes he would sing to the passing fire engine or to the music he heard on the radio. Sometimes it seemed he would sing simply to share his song."

This is a drawing by student and friend, Judy Scott, who worked at the wildlife center
rehabilitating birds and other animals for many years.

 Judy wrote; "  I have access to Squam and I combined two pictures. This is a sketch of Squam and a fledgling Barred Owl. In 2007 Squam was a foster parent to a young Barred Owl that came into the refuge. Although Squam is a male, he was a great surrogate, teaching the young one to eat and fly. Eventually the fledgling was released back into the wild. Thanks for all your support of Cedar Run."

“When the owl sings, the night is silent.” 
 ~ Charles de Leusse

May your spirit continue to soar dear Squamie.

Please add your own recollections about this awesome wildlife ambassador in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.

X ♥  O

 

Birthdays, Breaks and Babies

Today is my horse, Santa Margarita's, 21st birthday. It seems like only yesterday that she was a newborn foal, so bold and full of herself, ready to take on the world.

 I haven't seen her yet today, but I will go out at dinner time with Jerry and make a big fuss over her. I'm really looking forward to seeing my big birthday girl today.

Not much to report on the home scene. Healing is going well, but slowly as expected. Here's one of my x-rays showing the craftsmanship and carpentry skills of my doctor. Thank goodness for modern medicine!

As per my suspicions, we just found out that our woodchuck, "Chuckie" is "Chuckquita"! She  has 5 or 6 babies under my hay shed. They are the size of guinea pigs and so cute! We can see them through binoculars from the house. They are very young and wary, so we can't get close to them. My dad had a groundhog as a pet when he was a kid and the whole family really loved him. Check out this video of a lady who rescues orphaned wildlife. I'm having a cuteness overload. Don't you just want to hold one?

More Warm Weather and Longer Daylight Hours

As the days grow longer, more daylight is a major sign of Spring! While sleeping last night, we essentially skipped over the 2:00 am hour!  Shifting from 1:59 am to 3 am, our satellite powered clock changed to Daylight Saving Time completely unbeknown to us. I didn't even realize it had happened until I began working at my computer!  So if you haven't done so yet, be sure to set your clocks ahead one hour today. YAY !

The Magic of Spring -SOLD

My Daffodils are starting to bloom!

The wild turkeys are constantly on parade here now. The males have become somewhat of a nuisance. There is a lot of fighting and jockeying for position going on. The most annoying behavior however, is the frequent pecking at the chrome on our vehicles and at their reflections in our basement windows.

The toms are prime examples of raging testosterone and all the females seem quite impressed.

 

Our Friends and Ancestors

"Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time."
~ Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society
 

"Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it."  ~ Henry David Thoreau

"Humankind has not woven the web of life.  We are but one thread within it.  Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.  All things are bound together.  All things connect."  ~ Chief Seattle, 1855

"I realized that Eastern thought had somewhat more compassion for all living things.  Man was a form of life that in another reincarnation might possibly be a horsefly or a bird of paradise or a deer.  So a man of such a faith, looking at animals, might be looking at old friends or ancestors.  In the East the wilderness has no evil connotation; it is thought of as an expression of the unity and harmony of the universe."  ~ William O. Douglas, Go East, Young Man, 1974

My Yard and Mini Wildlife Preserve

Yesterday was a beautiful April day. The sun shone warm and the wind blew cold. With pocket camera in hand, I took inventory of Spring's progress.

I hung my giant hummingbird wind sock. A most appreciated and enjoyable gift that I received last year from friends, Dorrie and Dave.

Jerry keeps the wild bird feeders coming and filled. He's been making these flat plate feeders that the Cardinals and other finches just adore.

He purchased this Thistle feeder last week. It looks like an alien and took the birds a few days to get used to. It holds ten pounds of seed and even came with spare socks! We figure it will accommodate about 30 Goldfinches at a time.

My Lily Of The Valley have sprung up over night after our 80 degree day here on Wednesday! Oh, don't you just love how they smell?

The Butterfly Bushes are starting to grow like weeds.

Jerry brought me a couple of hanging Begonia so I now have some color at my studio entrance.

The hens and chicks that my mom and I transplanted last summer look strong and healthy! I moved them under the eave of the house in mid winter as they were looking really peaked.

A late blooming tulip amongst the LOV.

The Daffodils and other early perennials in the South facing front yard are past peak.

My beds need weeding and mulching. The Pampas Grass is starting to get new stalks.

Today the first female hummers have arrived! I am so pleased to see that they look plump and healthy. Perhaps almost ready to start laying eggs!

I hope you enjoyed this early spring stroll around my yard here at The Sandarosa. It's not Birds And Blooms material, but it is our little slice of heaven and we love it here.

More Wolf Killing Planned In Alaska

I just got a letter and petition from the Wilderness Society today that had an enormous amount of thought provoking replies. If you are concerned about wildlife protection and the connection between man vs. nature, I think it is worth the read.

This quoted passage showed up twice, so I thought I'd post it here.

"We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals.

Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth."

This is taken From the Outermost House by Henry Beston.

A couple More Animals From Wild Safari Park

An ostrich shot by sister, Denise Bush.


This guy was lookin' for a lift or possibly a handout.... I drew from this photo today while my photographer buddy, Nancy Louie, sat on my back studio porch shooting hummingbirds. You can see my daily drawing attempt on my Sketching Everyday Blog today

Tomorrow, I'm posting the human animal family here, then I'll be done with My Great Adventure Family Reunion 2009. :-D

Wild Things

"Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher 'standard of living' is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free. For us of the minority, the opportunity to see hummingbirds is more important than television." ~ Aldo Leopold

This photo was taken just minutes ago from inside my screened porch. :-D
I'm in hummer heaven!

More Wild Animal Pictures

Here are some shots of European Brown Bears taken at the Wild Safari Park on Saturday. This bear was enjoying a good back scratch session.

These two were getting into a fight.

We were close, but we were protected by a couple of strands of thin electric wire that separated us from all the growling, huffing, puffing and aggressive posturing.

Wild Safari Park

Yesterday I went to Six Flags Great Adventure for the day with my two sisters, two brother in-laws and niece and nephew ages 6 and 4. Although the weather was a little less than ideal with a few intermittent showers, overall it was a wonderful reunion and a really enjoyable day. Ellyn, Mike and the kids joined us from Myrtle Beach, SC. It was fun spending the day at a theme park with a child's perspective. I took my little Cannon point and shoot and got some good snap shots. Of course, our ride through the Wild Safari Park was my favorite part. Here are a few shots from our car. I'll post more shots from our day throughout the coming week.

Baby Animals - Cute Fuzzy Gosling

I've been photographing baby animals at Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in preparation for their Wine and Wildlife fund raiser this weekend. These shots will be used for painting reference and possible stock photography submissions. I'm also donating their use to the refuge. They can use them in their newsletter, on their web site or as notecards. Here's one of my favorites. Sooo sweet! Now who doesn't love baby animals?

Art For The Animals

"Nature gets into our souls and opens doors to hidden parts of ourselves." ~ Pamela Heyda

This is one of the paintings I will be donating this coming Saturday at Cedar Run's "Wine And Wildlife" event. It is a 5" x 7" oil on canvas board. Find out more about this fund raiser here (post just below this one) on my web log.

"We must preserve the natural world; for without nature, there would be no beauty to inspire us." ~ Hap Hagood

Wine And Wildlife At Cedar Run Refuge

Last week I visited Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge to take some photos of the baby animals. This coming Saturday, May 30th, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm, they will be holding their 8th Annual Wine & Wildlife Festival. I will be participating during the event by painting some of the fur babies that I met last week. They were all sooo adorable! The wonderful folks who care for them really have their hands full this time of year! Even though they were extremely busy, they made my visit very enjoyable. My artwork will be auctioned off at the silent auction. All proceeds will benefit the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge operations and educational programs. The event features wine tasting and beer sampling, a gourmet picnic by Tony Lawrence and live music by BLUESBOX DELUX . Sponsers, staff, supporters, artists, artisans, animal lovers and live animals will all be present. An enjoyable afternoon will culminate with the awarding of a wide selection of choice auction items awarded to the highest bidders. For more information email barbara.jones@cedarrun.org or call 856-983-9702. The refuge is located at: 4 Sawmill Road, Medford, NJ 08055. It's a wonderful cause and a bargain at only $45. per person. Make your reservations today! VISA, MC, AMEX & Discover Accepted. Animal lovers, you don't want to miss this event. Please RSVP ASAP! Only a limited amount of walk-in tickets are available!

Bill Maher and My 2 Cents on Obama's Victory

I'm really not a political person. I'm registered as a "Non-Affiliated" voter here in NJ and in the past never got too involved. This time was different. I started out in my usual unattached mode, but as things started heating up and Palin came into the mix, my involvement heightened and evolved. This election was so much more than electing the next President of the United States of America. I watched all the debates. I started paying more attention to what the organizations I support were saying. Watching the news, I felt the vibes. I was appalled by McCain and the Republican 's fear-mongery which seemed like a cover up for the fact that they had nothing constructive to bring to the table. Both John and his wife grew up and still are very wealthy. Barack and Michelle come from very humble beginnings and understand the middle class better. The problems facing us are huge and the transitions no doubt will be painful. Yes Bob, I do optimistically finally feel like the "Times They Are A Changin'!


"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." ~ Maya Angelou

Read CNN's Interview: Bill Maher on Obama's Victory.

A Victory for Wildlife and Positive Changes!

2008 Election Wrap-Up from DefendersActionFund on Vimeo.

Messages From Spirit

Messages From Spirit can come in many ways. Sometimes it's a subtle whisper and sometimes it's a downright obvious sign!


This morning when I got up, I went to my closet to grab a shirt off the top shelf. It was dark in the room and I reached up and blindly grasped the top one. To my surprise, the t-shirt in my hand was one I had not seen, thought of or worn in a very long time. How did it get on top of the pile?


Although we are prohibited from displaying any political items at the polls, I think my shirt definitely made a statement. Everyone who sees me today will know exactly where I stand.

Wolf is the embodiment of protection and wisdom and according to some native legends, the tribe's greatest teacher.

The Future of Wildlife

As one of America's millions of conservationists, I'll be using my vote this year to help publicly address my particular concern for the future of our country's wildlife and natural resources.


So this year when you vote for your local, regional and national leaders, I hope you’ll also consider voting for those that will be champions for the environment and wildlife.

Wild Turkeys In My Yard

I am and always have been an animal lover. I have a connection with nature which has found a vehicle for expression through my art. I really got serious about studying animal symbolism after discovering Ted Andrews' book, Animal Speak.

I found the book in 1994, one year after it was published and through it, I began to better understand the impressions that I had always gotten from nature. This understanding led me to write my first introductory guide book; An Awakening To The Presence Of Animal Spirits.

The wild turkeys have been in my yard all day. There are several groups; four large males, three females and eight females. Four represents steady progress, three represents self expression and eight is symbolic of new beginnings. The main symbolism of this bird is shared blessings, and they always remind me to be thankful for them all!