Laura, your cruise sounds fantastic!

Ooh, nice Laura!

It’s beautiful here this morning but apparently the rain will come back just in time for the soccer game I’m supposed to attend. Boo! Fingers crossed it holds off for a couple hours beyond the forecast.

Epic, if you haven't been to Marrakesh you should go to Marrakesh. (Everyone should go to Marrakesh).

My retirement plan, such as it is, is a two bedroom rent-stabilized apartment in an elevator building near a university hospital. If I need to get some exhausted grad student or travel nurse in here as a roommate to make the bills when I'm a sweet (ha!) old lady I can do that.

Additionally, it'll probably be a long time before I quit working entirely. 40 hrs a week in my 80s likely isn't feasible, but the odd day or two on a cop show can be a nice chunk of money when you're in the union.

the odd day or two on a cop show can be a nice chunk of money when you're in the union.

Trudy, there was a big article in the WaPo today about Tom Selleck that made me think of you (you did some work on Blue Bloods, right?): [link]

Had an odd thing happen just now.

I have a suet feeder on my little balcony, placed on the rail so that I can watch it from the table where I have my laptop, and where I spend most of my day.

The suet feeder is pretty popular, and I have several regular visitors. One of them is a male downy woodpecker. He is cautious, perhaps even timid. He will only come to the feeder when there are no other birds in view. If another bird shows up, he promptly leaves.

A bunch of starlings finished off the suet in the feeder just as I was eating lunch. They left. About five minutes later the downy woodpecker showed up. He found an empty feeder. He hopped around to the different sides, checking that there was no suet dough left. He then flew over to my big sliding glass door, and made three hovering/fluttering passes at it. Just close enough to brush the glass with his wings and make a noise, but never at an angle that made it seem he was trying to fly through it. Then he flew away.

I have never seen him do anything like that before.

I chose to interpret that as a request to refill the feeder, and did so right away. Now I am waiting to see how long it takes for him to check back again.

eta: Answer, about an hour.

I chose to interpret that as a request to refill the feeder, and did so right away. Now I am waiting to see how long it takes for him to check back again.

He was definitely asking for more.

Speaking of bird visitations, as you may recall shortly after Jacqueline's death I had a window open and a hummingbird flew into our house and wouldn't leave for an hour.

In many cultures a bird flying into a house is seen as a visitation from somebody recently departed.

And, indeed, I've always considered a hummingbird sighting to be a kind of blessing.

Anyway, I'm deep in assembling things for the Memorial and posted a picture of Jacqueline on Facebook. And when I went out to run, with her much on my mind, I was stopped in my tracks halfway across the Panhandle as I spied the first Hummingbird of the season. Green with a flashing ruby-pink throat. It hovered right in front of me, darted about and came back.

Were you wearing a colorful shirt?

Were you wearing a colorful shirt?

Nope. Grey hoodie. Green hat with yellow brim though (Go A's!).

Nice visiting feathered friends notes.

Since we are docked we’ve had a lot of seagulls. Back at sea tonight and disembarking in Fort Lauderdale in the morning. My sisters will stay overnight with me then head out.

The cardinals in my yard seem to approve of the birdseed this year, even nibbling a bit at the stale leftovers from autumn before I refilled the feeder. Late last year only breadcrumbs seem to tempt any wildlife into it.