I won’t go into detail about how many times I get discouraged.  Today I feel “encouraged”!!  A very busy lady-friend took time to mail me a calendar with beautiful bird pictures.  Also an article from Yankee magazine, Jan-Feb 2013, pp. 92-97.  I’ve just read the interesting details regarding the photography of Allison Trentelman in Stillness and Flight.  This morning was particularly difficult for me and the gift couldn’t have arrived at a better time!!  My neighbor has placed moth balls about six inches apart in front, and back, of her apartment.  I am extremely sensitive to odors and the smell of moth balls closes my throat and nostrils so I can’t breathe.  I had intended to work in “Pandora’s Garden” but was forced to flee into my apartment, close the doors and turn on the air-conditioning.  She, likewise, uses highly perfumed dryer sheets  when she dries her wash.  Those details to convey my sincere appreciation for a thoughtful gift received by mail.  (Moth balls to keep snakes out of her apartment.)  I’ll look at this current situation as a blessing is disguise: I’m forced to work indoors on neglected “downsizing” projects!!

Allison Trentelman strikes me as a sister I’ve never met.  “The more I photograph birds, the more enamored of them I become.  Watching their antics out the window is a constant source of amusement and beauty in my life.”  ~~  Lorraine’s pictures won’t find their way into a magazine but spending time–with my inexpensive camera–watching Bluebirds, Hummingbirds, and others, is a joy.  (At this hour [3:00 PM] I am monitoring the Bluebird house because one or more eggs may hatch in the next couple of days.  “Mama Blue” has been faithfully incubating day and night for almost two weeks.)