Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Ruby Tuesday

Well, it's Ruby Tuesday (hosted by Mary/the Teach at Work of the Poet) . I'm late posting again and struggling to force myself to do it. I had the photos mostly loaded yesterday afternoon but the will to post them and visit around not so much. My brother's death two weeks ago seems to be hitting me hard. I wish I could say I was grieving but mostly I'm tired and pissed off. Old wounds are gushing blood and venom at the moment and I'm not sure what to do with my feelings. Unfortunately when this happens I tend to just get tired and withdraw from even cyber contact.

Add to my mood that the weather has been horrible. Yesterday was the first day that it has been warm enough to leave the windows open and the chilly weather has been accompanied by gray skies for the most part. Sorry I'm whining. Lots of good things are happening in my life. It's against my code to feel sorry for myself, but here I am feeling sorry for myself.







I posted this guy before. I was so excited at having seen him that I totally forgot he'd be great for Ruby Tuesday. The picture isn't very good. The skies were gray and my windows are filthy, but he's a Pileated Woodpecker and I've never seen one before. I didn't know wood peckers could be so big. He's about the size of a crow.

It was cool to see the Flicker this close. Usually they hang out across the street and I can only get blurry far away photos. This little fellow hung out for a while on one of the few sunny days of the past couple of weeks.





That's it from me. Four blurry birds with a bit of red on them and two not blurry birds with a bit of red on them. Hope the sun is shining on your Tuesday.

30 comments:

Suburban Girl said...

Yay...I love that woodpecker!

Anonymous said...

Grieving is a process - it doesn't get any better, but it gets easier to accept with the time. Some soothing herbal tea may do wonders if you want to cheer up.
I have no idea how you caught all those birds in act - I am too slow to picture birds - flowers - yes - they stay still and cooperate :)

Stephanie V said...

Aren't flickers the most beautiful birds?
Grief has a course to run towards acceptance. Focus on the birds...

Annie Jeffries said...

I am continually surprised the light touches of color that nature bestows on birds. They are endlessly fun to watch.

Nessa said...

Don't push yourself to get over your brother's death. It involves many feelings to be noticed and processed and we all do it in our own way and time.

Your birds are fascinating.

prkl, Finland said...

The Pileated Woodpecker is waaay weird looking fella with that ruby red haircut. And what is he on? I mean look at those eyes. I want two of those. 8D Happy RT!

Jim said...

My vote is for the woodpecker. Hope you get to being cheered up a lot! I'll 'pull' for you.
Happy RT, I have some old red cans on mine today.
..

Auntie E said...

Great RED Birds, Watching them now as I RT surf. Love seeing them trying to taking a bath in my fountain, and doing pretty good! Trying to get a shot.

srp said...

Loss of a family member is not something to really ever get over... just get through. Take care of yourself.

I love the northern flicker too... they come to my feeder in the winter and early spring, but I haven't seen them recently.

Ralph said...

that woodpecker is the coolest looking bird. The scarlet tuft on top is outstanding, and he seems so alert - as if he knew you had the camera trained just on him. Nice!

Deborah Godin said...

Great RT shots! That Pileated is really impressive, window, dirt and all :-) As for the other, never worry, you don't have to 'be' any certain way for your blog friends!!

Felisol said...

Dear Raven,
Why is it that we withdraw and bottle up feeling when depressed?
I have no easy explanation. I guess one need some kind of self protection when being so hurt and vulnerable.
I think it's good that you are sharing. Shared sorrow is half the sorrow, shared joys are doubled. So we say, a bit shallow, with a true core.

I always say if I hadn't kept a diary in my teens, I have have lost it totally. I was never good at sharing feeling, but a better listener.

I hope that all these unforeseen good things that have happened to you lately, help mellow the pain.
You are not alone and people also do good things to help you out.

Sleepless nights sucks anyway.

I like your bird pictures. I'm only familiar with these small ones from pictures. Being extremely shortsighted I have trouble with even making a decent picture of a seagull.
I also am friends with scarecrows, magpies and the odd eagle.
I'm feeding songbirds, some even lives under our clematis. I just can't tell which is which.

Give my best to Angle and Tara
From Felisol

storyteller said...

Lovely series ... I'm grateful you found the will to follow thorough even as you grieve the loss of your brother. My older brother passed more than 10 years ago, and I still miss him often ... even as I feel his presence with me as well.
Hugs and blessings,

Dr.John said...

Good pictures.
Anger , even anger at the one who died is part of the grief process. Being upset with yourself is also part of that process. Like it or not your grieving.

DrillerAA09 said...

Thanks for stopping by Driller's Place. We have a pair of the Pileated Woodpeckers in the woods behind our house. Aren't they great?
Flickers are a pretty common site around our house as well. Great shots. Have a wonderful RT.

bj said...

Thanks, Raven, for stopping by my place. I loved seeing your birds..especially the woodpecker. I've never seen one in my whole, entire, LONG life. They are beautiful.
So sorry about losing your brother. That's a hurt that will never go away. I have lost a brother to an illness..he is alive but not in my life anymore and it hurts so bad I can't even talk about it. cryin too hard to finish..bj

Lee Spangler said...

Raven: Thanks for visiting my site and enjoying the fire truck. I had not seen some of your birds this close up and the pictures are fine. I hope you will find cheer later. It is good to feel a variety of emotions.

quilly said...

I was going to tell you what Dr. John already has. No need for me to repeat it. I hope you go through the process quickly. My thoughts are with you.

That Flicker is gorgeous. I am glad you got some good shots.

Anonymous said...

Raven my heart goes out to you and your grief. Your birds shots are very cool, the Woodpecker is great and yep they can get very big!

♥peachkins♥ said...

great bird photos.Thanks for dropping by my blog today..

yyam said...

I'm sorry for your loss. The physical fatigue is your body's reaction to the grief. Please take care.

Blurry furry photos are still great. You managed to get really close. I have had no such success. My shots always end up with the bird not in them...:)

Dianne said...

there's all those stages to grief - it's a bumpy ride isn't it

love ya :)
and so does Mia and Siren

I have been trying to get a shot of our local woodpecker for 6 years LOL

Gattina said...

you know we are no robots at least we shouldn't ! everybody has the right to feel sad and cry we can't be happy 24 h per day especially when something sad happens.
Your birdies are gorgeous, I love the funny face and red hat of Woody Woodpecker !

Robin said...

You are entitled to feel however you feel, there are no rules and no codes for this. Let yourself process this however you need to, be gentle with yourself as you go.

Unknown said...

Beautiful birdies!
Well done!

RA said...

Lovely photos with some ruby! I have read about your brother's death when you posted it and couldn't more agree to the comments of Dr. John and Quilly. Hopefully you'll find an inner peace. Have a wonderful day :)

Ms. Foodie said...

Great shots!

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. Just take it easy, the pain of losing someone will not go right away but I pray that you recover soon.

Carletta said...

I hope the sun shone on you today Raven - inside and out.
Sorry to hear you're feeling down. Give yourself time - peace will come.
Love the redhead! :)

momcooksdadcooks said...

the first bird looked like she blended with the leaves! nice:)

San said...

How I love your bird photographs! And when you roll them into a Ruby Tuesday post--WOW.