My cousin, Natalie Maxwell McDonald, took this photo of a juvenile barred owl. You can just barely see the stripes under the owl’s neck and on the back. In fhe first photo, notice how camouflaged the bird is.
Whoot! A Juvenile Barred Owl
Mountain Chickadee
This is artwork by Dorothia Rohner, author/illustrator of “A Wish for Twins” and author of “I am Goose!” She drew this picture while visiting Montana.
Barred Owl
My son, Levi and his fiance, Sabrina, have a 2023 project where they are going to photograph every bird native to Iowa. They got this beautiful picture of a barred owl. The barred owl makes many different sounds, but the bird’s most recognizable call has four hoots repeated twice and sounds like “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?”
Alligator
I held an alligator for the first time while in Florida. His belly was as soft as a baby. Notice his rounded snout. Alligator snouts are round on the end and their bottom teeth don’t stick out of their mouth. Crocodiles have v-shaped snouts and their bottom teeth stick out.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
I saw this antique candle collection in a store window in the mall and thought it was fascinating. I couldn’t include the whole display in this photo. This is about a third of the candles.
Fall Frenzy Writing Contest
This is my entry for the Fall Frenzy Writing Contest. The rules of the contest included picking one of the provided fall pictures, writing about the picture in under 200 words and posting it to a blog. https://lydialukidis.wordpress.com/fallwritingfrenzy-2022-rules/
Halloween: Credit Selina Wing for Bing
The Pumpkin Gang
When doors creak open on Halloween,
Some sights can never be unseen.
A hundred pumpkins, maybe more,
Lurk behind that creepy door.
Pumpkins snicker.
Seeds are spit.
None are smashed,
All are lit.
With candy-snatching pumpkin grins,
A jack-o-lantern chant begins:
Tricks or treats.
Surrender your sweets.
No beets. No meats. No Shredded Wheats.
Don’t care if candy rots our teeth.
Give us your chocolate in little wrappers,
your caramel cubes, and sour snappers,
giggling taffy, and waxy lips,
mints, suckers, licorice whips.
Candy corn and sugar rocks,
Hand over every rattlebox.
Feed us fudge and gummi ghosties,
Malted milks and cinnamon toasties.
Surrender the candy?!
Don’t be cray-cray.
Hide your treats and run away.
But, no worries anyway…
The pumpkin gang will soon decay.
Peter Pan
This Peter Pan tribute car was parked on my dog-walking route. The lyrics on the car come from a song “Lost Boy” by Canadian singer, Ruth B.
For lost boys and girls
Praying Mantis
I saw this gal on a trash can in Chicago. Praying mantis is the only insect that can move its’ head from side to side. They eat other insects and could be called “preying” mantis. This is a female which has a large body but no large antennae. The female cannabalizes the male after mating.
Female praying mantis
Wizard Minigolf in Branson, MO
Luna Moth Cocoon and Pupae
I found a large cocoon lying on the ground which I later identified as a luna moth cocoon. I kept it for a few months but nothing hatched. I opened it with scissors. The cocoon was made of fibers/silk. Inside was a pupae that had died.
Shelley Jones Clark
