It was such a bad year that a fork wasn’t enough, I stuck a knife in it. I hope 2022 is better for all of us.
Here in Phoenix, 2022 started out cloudy, rainy, and cold. A few of the outdoor kitties were smart and stayed where it was nice and dry in the catport, formerly the carport.
Tabby, Callie, Kit, and Misty
Meanwhile the indoor cats were very cozy: Ferguson, Torti, and Bouche:
Bouche is hard to keep inside, unfortunately, he still hears the call of the wild…
Ferguson presented me with a rose…
The Curve-billed Thrasher agreed that cats rule.
Finally, the Arizona sun began to shine again…and the hummingbirds started to chase each other.
And the bees began to buzz and pollinate…I think lavender honey would be delicious.
That was a new butterfly for me, in our yard. I have a new camera, a Nikon D500, but I’m still not getting out into the world much to shoot anything. Covid precautions, family issues, minor injuries, lack of motivation. I did an online course on the camera so I understand the basics but there is a lot more to learn. So…blogging is also more difficult because I don’t have any photos I’m very enthused about…no new birds, for instance. In a slump, I guess, sort of a long one…and now it’s the holidays, which I also can’t seem to get into.
We have many kitties but Ferguson does get featured more than the others. He’s a pretty cooperative model. He did not at all enjoy posing in this winter sweater but he tolerated it…
Since he can’t speak English, he has to find other ways to show his displeasure:
This is the first photo I took of him with the new camera:
So just for fun, I massacred a pomegranate. It had been laying on the ground for a few days so I didn’t think eating it would be a good idea plus ours just don’t taste good. The birds ate most of the seeds so it was not a pointless crime.
And here are a very few birds that have stopped by lately…
So not into the holiday season but hoping to snap out of it some. I hope yours is far more fun. Let’s hope 2022 is better than the last couple have been.
The yard is autumnal now…well, for Phoenix. Anna’s Hummingbirds above.
Abert’s Towhee
Curve-billed Thrashers
And they are even getting ready to start posing in my little tableaus.
Pirate Thrasher
A few butterflies have stopped by:
Fiery Skippers, Sleepy Orange, Dainty Sulphur
Those are very tiny Western Pygmy Blues in pink muhly grass. They are very small, 1/4 to 1/2 inch.
American Snout
Verdin
I’m sad to say that the little Orange-crowned Warbler who has wintered in our yard for the last 5-6 years did not return this year. I suppose they can’t live forever…but she won’t be forgotten and we will go through a lot less grape jelly without her. This is her last March and early April right before she left. Bye, “Tink.”
Yes, that Verdin has some creepy insect in its mouth that I don’t want to share. But the actual bug I’m talking about is the bug that my blog seemed to have. I wrote to WordPress and they said that it’s a Safari bug so I’m now writing this on Firefox and everything seems to be okay…so~whew!~my blog won’t be disappearing yet.
I know people don’t read blogs as much as they used to…maybe it’s a dying breed. I don’t even read them as much as I used to but I do like having this record of part of my life that I can refer back to. So, in many ways, the blog is for me. I used to read so many blogs and had far more readers but they dropped off the radar one by one, switching to Facebook or Instagram or just not doing it at all anymore…I miss it, you don’t get the same depth from Facebook and Instagram posts…oh, well…glad I don’t have to disappear just yet.
The Rosy-faced Lovebirds are not hanging around as much as they were when it was cooler. In fact, the birds are much sparser now but I do still see many of them. I just don’t sit out in my yard like I used to when it’s this hot.
Some Sunflowers Remain
Some bit the dust.
A White-winged Dove, immature Abert’s Towhee, and Anna’s Hummingbird male attempt to keep cool one way or another.
Smoke from all the wildfires surrounding Phoenix made the moon appear just the color it is in this photo on a recent June night.
I dug out my old vintage photo collection from last year and was going to do something new with it but so far the inspiration hasn’t hit…indoor activities are best right now…this was how far I got with it last year.
Okay, you asked (not really), here are some new cat photos:
This is Ferguson enacting some scenes from my favorite ever Netflix series, The Magicians.
Ebony
And another apparent addition to our outside group, Sadly Sad Eyes…a handsome, feral guy:
I think my poor blog has gone by the wayside. I didn’t post for a month due to having to be out of town and dealing with family issues and, now that I wanted to post again, I can’t seem to post any images without a big black box. Maybe I’m not meant to blog anymore…I can’t figure it out, I’ve written to WordPress to see if they can help but, if not, I guess this is the end of Glenrosa Journeys. Thank you for reading.
Update: It’s a Safari bug! If I use Firefox, it works.
Glenrosa Journeys 