Last month was the Naturefest at the nature center in Rocky River Valley. I wanted to go not only to check out the indoor craft show, but also the raptor presentation. So off I went Saturday afternoon, April 29th .
    It was a lovely day & while there were lots of people there, it wasn't packed. The art show had a variety of vendors, as well as educational tables from environmental groups. I asked a couple exhibitors for details & discovered resonable rates & a good return on business. It's something I'm definitely interested in participating in & will contact them about next year's show.
    It was prime time for wildflowers, I'd never seen so many in my life; bluebells, trilliums, violets & several others that I couldn't identify. I wanted to go on the naturalist led wildflower walk, but was afraid it wouldn't be back in time for the raptor show.
    At 2 pm I walked down a trail to a large tent where the presentation was to be held. I sat on a front row bench so my view wouldn't be blocked. A couple ladies from the Medina Raptor Center gave a brief talk on how they rehabilitate injured hawks & owls for return to the wild. Their passion was evident as they described the patience & time it takes.
      Soon they brought in the first live bird, which was a rough-legged hawk, a species I'd never seen before. I gave up trying to hear the speakers, as I focused completely on the bird & making sketches of it. Partway through they realized what I was doing & brought the bird closer to me, for which I was grateful. Next, another lady brought in a peregrine falcon, which was stunning. I've painted these birds before, but obviously never done justice to the sight of one close up. The falcon opened it's wings to reveal a checkerboard of grey on ivory feathers. I'm going to do a picture of that someday. The lady holding the peregrine attempted to make a fashion show out of it, swooping & turning her arm continually, making sketching more of a challenge than usual. She returned later with a saw-whet owl did the same thing. Ahk! In between, a little grey screech owl was shown by a calmer lady & I got a nice sketch of it looking down, which is an unsual pose.
   My camera's batteries were ebbing and working sporatically, so unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the raptors. However I got 2 pages of sketches of them, some vivid memories & a pleasant afternoon in the woods.

   While Memorial Day is a time to honor our heroes, veterans and the family members that we have lost, it is also a time to embrace our memories of them. This Memorial Day take time out to share memories of family and friends who are no longer with you--celebrate their life, and the moments you had with them.

   Friendship to me is a mysterious thing. To be honest, I don't completely understand how it works, since I've not had much experience of it.  My over-protective mother would not let us visit other children when we were little, in junior high no one wanted to risk also being beaten up & in much of high school, I was invisible. There was one glorious period in sophmore year when I had a small group of friends, which remains a golden memory.

    At that time, I had a naive belief that people stayed friends forever, so it was a huge emotional trauma when they stopped talking to me for unexplained reasons. It took years to get over, but eventually I learned from it & surprisingly, didn't get bitter.

   Since then, I've learned that there are different degrees of friendships & sometimes they only last a short time.Often one must avoid certain subjects that might endanger the friendship. While I still don't understand all the rules, I do know that being friends takes a certain amount of work, namely that one must make the effort to keep regular lines of communication open & be willing to move past disagreements. I'm rather mellow about the latter, but am still having trouble with talking to people as much as I ought. This leads to misunderstandings, since my lack of response looks to friends as uncaring; when it's really time management, bad moods, a poor internet connection & occasionally too overwhelmed with Life. My sister believes that friends drain her energy, but she's always had more of them that she knows what to do with. To me they are still uncommon enough that I don't take them for granted, but my people skills or lack thereof often makes others think that I do. It's ironic that when I'm most silent is when I'm usually most in need of the warmth of friendship.

   I know that I will continue to learn about the process of being friends as long as I live. It's a baffling, but quite precious thing.

   Two Ralph Fiennes movies have landed on DVD/video in recent months, each very different. The latest is Merchant/Ivory's last production, The White Countess, finished shortly before Ismail Merchant's death. Set in Shanghai of the late 1930's, it's a sumptuous production about emigres hopes & dreams.

Ralph plays Todd Jackson,a former American diplomat who has been blinded in an accident & now dreams of creating the perfect nightclub. He wants as the centerpiece Countess Sofia (Natasha Richardson), exiled from Russia & now supporting her large family by working as a dance hall hostess. Her relatives disdain her, even as they take the money she earns to provide their food. There are a number of intriguing secondary characters including a Jewish neighbor who has fled Europe and a dashing Japanese man with shady connections.

     If you're in the mood for something other than blockbusters, something that gives you food for thought, look these films up at your video store. Plus, you'll be able to feast your eyes on a gorgeous, talented actor.

    Today is Pierce Brosnan's birthday. If the name is unfamiliar, you probably know him as James Bond, when he made the series more profitable than all of it's previous incarnations. I liked him long before then, starting in the 1980's with the very first episode of the TV show "Remington Steele". That was one of my all time favorites; the wit, the references, the sexual tension, it was fantastic.

    I've followed his career ever since then, seeing all of his movies, from blockbusters like The Thomas Crown Affair to small art house films such as The Deceivers. He's not only a good actor, but a good person, being involved with various charities, most noticibly for protecting marine life.He recently narrated a set of TV specials filmed by Jean-Michel Cousteau. Along with his environmental work, he supports cancer research, since his first wife, Cassie, died from ovarian cancer. He met his second wife, Keeley, when she was interviewed him for a morning news program. There's never been a whiff of rumor about him being unfaithful, which heightens my respect for him.

    Each year on this day, I have corn flakes for breakfast, as I read long ago that it was his favorite food. It's my own version of a birthday cake to celebrate one of my favorite people on the planet. Like Cary Grant, whom he's been compared to, he continues to ooze sex appeal & intelligence as he ages, much like a fine wine.  

  The carpet installation was a nightmare. They arrived late & did a horrible job: breaking 2 pieces of furniture, damaging the cable TV wire, cutting the phone line, scratching a door & wall, bending a picture on the wall & generally being severely disagreeable.  I got into a shouting match with one after he broke the encylopedia bookcase, I don't know if he was drunk, high or just incredibly stupid. I was without internet service for 3 days, until the phone company fixed the line & the cable guy had to replace the cable cord on Tuesday. It was such an upsetting experience that I don't even want to think about it at this point.

    However, I'm slowly replacing things to their permanent spots, though it will be some time until the closet is cleared out. I piled stuff nearly to the ceiling in there, as well as in the bathtub. Today I brought all of my larger paintings up from the storage locker downstairs, a new neighbor kindly allowed me to use it. It's going to take awhile to get everything back to normal. My arthritis has been hurting a lot more than usual, so it's making it hard to move around to get things done. I think my body is telling me I've been overdoing it.  It's been an awful couple of weeks, but I hope to catch up on my regular activities, in addition to recovering from the trauma of the carpet guys.

   My online presence will be scarce for the next week, as the rest of the carpet is being installed on Monday.The kitchen lino was done this week. They are supposed to do all of the rooms in the one day, which means the 2 most crowded rooms will have to be emptied & stored in the smallest rooms. They even want all the bookcases emptied, which means a couple hundred books need to go somewhere. Not to mention my paintings & all the other stuff that my packrat self has accumulated over the years. I can put some stuff on my bed & in the bathtub, but I'll need to use those before Monday. I've commandeered an unused storage locker from an empty apartment downstairs to put some stuff in, but I honestly don't know where everything is going to go, however briefly. I'm feeling very overwhelmed & panicky. Plus, my health problems are acting up, making it all that much more difficult.

   In addition, there's lots of last minute things that need to be done. The TV/VCR &  computer has to be unplugged & the latter made movable. Aquariums half empty & without fish in.Rufus put into his carrier & hidden in the bathroom away from the noise. I'm going to be up round the clock on Sunday, no sleep untill they leave. I'm dreading it. I don't know how I'm going to do everything, I really don't.