I am tip-tap-typing something-or-other — an email, perhaps — and some helpful program-or-other flags “hummous” as a misspelling, using that squiggly red underlining.
I stare at the screen and scratch my head. I dunno. Maybe it’s wrong, but it looks right to me. Well, except for that red squiggliness.
Unsure, I frown at the screen. And then I do what I always do these days: I check with Google, entering my spelling — hummous — in the search bar. Continue reading
My latest self-imposed bird-in-flight photo challenge is to get these exact same shots, but sharp.
Detailed. In nice light . . .
Checking right . . .
All clear to the left . . .
Cowabunga!
Appropriately enough, a friend recently sent me this statement, attributed to Winston Churchill: likely falsely, lamentably, but apropos for this post nonetheless.
Success consists of going from failure to failure
without loss of enthusiasm.
– Origin unknown
I haven’t done any black & white photography, but sometimes I play around with the filters built into my photo-processing software. That’s how I discovered that I like this photo better in black & white.
For now we see through a glass, wavily.
According to some observers, wavy old glass has artistic value and I have to say that I also think it’s kind of cool. I had heard that old glass is wavy because it flows over time, bunching up at the bottom of the pane, but that’s not true. Instead, the waves are the result of the original production process.
These photos are of window glass in Hampton Plantation House, built in stages from 1735 to 1790. Are these panes of glass original to the house? Dunno. But they’re not new.
The robins and cardinals are back. The cursed Bradford pear trees (more on that another day) are in bloom. Daytime temperatures that grudgingly hit 45 just last week, have soared above 70F for the last few days. Here in the South, it must be spring.
And the clincher? Maple trees are sprouting their winged seeds.
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya, Tomorrow!
– Annie
Yes, tomorrow is going to be a good day. All the signs point to it.
Well, OK, it’s not actually stained glass, but an otherwise unremarkable swamp-reflection photo had this little gem tucked in one corner.
I’m not sure quite how it happened: An area with densely interlocking branches overhead and just the merest hint of a breeze on what seemed like a flat-calm day? Dunno. But I’ll be watching for it again.
The screen pulses in front of me, requesting, nay, demanding a response before I can complete our online check-in.
Please confirm passenger type.
I wonder uneasily how honest I have to be: what level of personal disclosure is necessary about my passenger type.
Flippant Impatient Easily Irritated
I wonder if the truth will make anything better: I’ve pretty much given up on it setting me free from what ails me, especially in the air.
Legs Too Long for Economy Makes Frequent Bathroom Trips
Can’t Hear Most Movie Soundtracks
I wonder if they’re looking to improve some aspect of their service — airplane maintenance, foodlike-substances service, or safety briefings, perhaps — and are wondering, in turn, where to start. You know, like market research. OK, I’m in! How many can I select?
Made Uneasy by Strange Mechanical Noises Hates Brand of Hummous Sold Onboard
Already Knows How Seatbelts Work
I wonder if they’re trying to optimize seating compatibility. I can help with that, too.
Don’t Need Seatmate’s Life History Could Do Without Children Kicking Me in the Back
Not Now Sick and Don’t Much Want to Be When I Get Off the Plane, Thanks
I wonder if they’re trying to balance the plane’s load, by weight or possible allergens. I have useful information here, too.
Carries Computer and Camera Onboard Checks Actual, You Know, Full-Size Suitcases
Doesn’t Travel with Animals
But then I look at the pulsing screen a little closer. Oh. That kind of type: just gender and age, without too many options for either. I check the applicable boxes and carry on.
But as the screen shifts to the next fun-filled step in this process, I wonder why I had to do that. Don’t they already have this information? Yes, yes they do.
Please confirm passenger type.
And I consider the possibilities not yet covered.
Reads Too Much Into Questions Expects Systems to be Logical
A Little Insecure
Now these, perhaps, are more broadly helpful types for them to know about — for anyone to know about — than Adult Female, which doesn’t usefully distinguish me from about a quarter of the world’s population. But hey, they didn’t ask. Did they?
My post on the ruddy duck last week raised a question from Jim T as to why birds that live in water need to bathe at all.
I wondered whether it was because their feathers were designed to repel water in the normal course of events, so they had to splish splash and fluff their feathers to clean their plumage and get water down to the skin. But I didn’t know.
So I checked with my Bird Expert, who checked with his Bird Expert, and it seems that my guess might be close to right. The purpose of bathing is to remove dirt and, possibly, parasites from their feathers. Ducks and other water birds might not get that wet, just sitting in water or even diving, so they need to splash and fluff simultaneously to get truly wet and, therefore, clean.
But wait, there’s more.
After a land bird “bathes” in a bird bath, they always fly to a perch and undertake a substantial amount of preening. Preening can “zip” feathers together again (a feather surface is held together by hooks and barbs likened to Velcro). Preening “re-zips” the Velcro.
Posted: 2025 Jun 13
Thanks to John Whitman for this slightly dismayed face from downtown Ottawa.
This space is available for other submissions.
