Walking. ’tis the season.

955 consecutive (almost) days. Like in a row. Forecast is for rain, and more rain. I can hear it tapping on the gutters and the hood of the car. Wally is sleeping, he looks up out of the corner of his eye, no chance i’m going out in this, no chance. You’re on your own dad.

We’re now 45 days from 1,000, and duty calls. I trudge downstairs out the door, and drive to Cove Island Park.

I’m sitting in the parking lot, car is running, heater blows. Wind gusts up to 44 mph splash buckets of rain against the car, the wipers slapping from side to side struggle to chase it all off the windshield.

I need to find something, anything to record that I was here. You did it. You were here. But, it’s not letting up and there’s no chance I’m going out in this.

I cue up George Winston’s December, and like the magic of the season, it turns the soul to a softer place.

I turn the heat up to 71° F and sit and listen, to the heater blowing, the music, and the wind and rain. Krouse: “Nothing is more comforting than the sound of rain when you’re not in it.”

[Read more…]

Sunday Morning


George & Grace @ Daybreak. 5:35 a.m. July 3, 2022. 72° F. Cove Island Park, CT. More pictures from this morning’s walk here.

Sunday Morning


George & Grace @ Daybreak. 5:40 am, May 29, 2022. 59° F. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. More photos from this morning here and here.

Walking. When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber.

I’m thumbing through Instagram yesterday, and be damned if that photo doesn’t come across my feed.  Location? Cove Island Park!

711 days. 711 almost consecutive daybreak walks at Cove Island Park.  Like in a row. And not one, not one, single Eagle sighting.

And if that’s not bad enough, George, 50% of my Swan duo, is posing behind the Baby Eagle, as if to say, wake up idiot. WTH.

I send the photographer (Pituco1501) a note: “Wow. Great shot. I was there this morning and thought I saw an eagle, but then said nah, can’t be.”

I had punched out a text to Susan & Eric seconds after what I thought was an eagle: “Swear I saw an Eagle, but missed the shot!”

Eric replies: “B.S. Dad. It was a pigeon.”

Nice. And this coming from my offspring.

Instagram Photographer replies:  “Thank you so much!!! I know it’s hard to see them. Be patient sooner or later you will!! 🦅🦅”

Nice touch with the Eagle emojis. If I can’t see them live, maybe I can roll around in emojis.

Be patient. Sooner or later you will. 🦅🦅

711 days, and counting.

My God, like when?


Notes:

Sunday Morning


DK @ Daybreak. 6:44 am, April 3, 2022. 38° F. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. More photos from this morning here.

Without spring who knows what would happen. A lot of nothing, I suppose.


Notes:

  • Grace (and George) building their nest. (Grace being named by my good friend LouAnn.)
  • My Swan(s) @ Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. 6:57 a.m. yesterday morning. 42° F.  Other photos from yesterday morning here.  Backstories on swans here.
  • Post Title: Mary Oliver, from “Late Spring,” Felicity: Poems  (via Alive on All Channels)

Saturday Morning


Grace, having breakfast. (Grace being named by good friend LouAnn.)

My Swan(s) @ Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. 7:00 a.m. this morning. 47° F.  Other photos from this morning here.  Backstories on swans here.

Symmetry (2)


We’re just going to keep posting Swans until exhaustion.

My Swan(s) @ Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. 6:15 a.m. this morning. 28° F.  Other photos from this morning here.  Backstories on swans here.

Symmetry


My Swan(s) @ Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. 6:18 a.m. this morning. 31° F. Photos from this morning here.  Backstories on swans here.

T.G.I.F.


My Swan(s) @ Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. 5:35 a.m. this morning. 18° F, feels like 10° F. More photos from this morning here.  Backstory on swans here.

Sunday Morning


My Swan(s) @ Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. 6:45 a.m. this morning. More photos from this morning (including Crescent Moon) here.  Backstory on swans here.

Tuesday Morning Big Stretch!


My Swan in a Big Stretch @ Daybreak. 6:40 am, Feb 22, 2022. 34° F. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT.  Backstories on my Swan here. More pictures from this morning here.

Just She, and then there were …


Went out yesterday afternoon in a flash winter weather advisory (a 20 minute snow squall / white-out) to be welcomed by another most pleasant surprise. Backstories on my Swan here.

And…Her.

7/ 3/ 54. I keep myself going with various kinds of dope: books, written and read, dreams, hopes, crossword puzzles, the sentimentality of friendships, and real friendships, and simply routine.

 Patricia Highsmith, “Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks: 1941-1995.″ Anna von Planta (Editor). (Liveright, November 16, 2021)— Patricia Highsmith, Her Diaries and Notebooks: 1941-1995

 


Notes:

  • Photos: DK @ Daybreak. 6:45 am, Feb 8, 2022. 36° F, feels like 29° F, Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. More photos from this morning here.
  • Related Swan Posts: Swan1

Walking. Swan-ful.

6:10 a.m.

Dark. 12° F, feels like Nasty.  Wind cuts through all the layers. Shiver.

I’m driving down Weed Avenue, eyes scan The Cove.

When she’s here, even in the blackest of Nights, there’s no missing that White Coat, those 25,000 feathers, that Beacon.

Sadness, I need your black White wing.” (PN*)

I drive on, now 500 yards from the park.

There!

I pull off the highway, grab the camera, and approach.

I offer her a soft, short whistle.

She pops her head up, “Hey there Mister, All Good Here.”

Then, she tucks her head back under her wing, and back to sleep.

I pause watching her for a moment, and then glance up at Polaris, shimmering overhead.

Yes, O.K. All good here too.

This World can keep on, keep spinning on its axis.

 


Notes:

Walking. Swan-less.

5:35 a.m.

Dark. Wet. Rain. 43° F. I pan through the hour by hour Weather Channel Forecast:

5 am: “Light rain.”
6 am: “Light rain.”
7 am: “Light rain.”
8 am: “Light rain.”

and so on, hourly until 7 pm.

“Wintry mix likely for the next several hours.”

I sit up in bed. No chance, you are going out in that.  

Mind drifts to my Swan. She’s out there. Rain, raining down on her coat.

I google ‘swans’ to find Biology of Swans. “Swans have about 25,000 feathers on their body – the vast majority of these are tiny, little feathers situated round the head and neck.” 

Somehow this puts me at ease. For a moment.

25,000 feathers must keep her warm, as she dives to feed in the frigid waters of The Cove. She can’t be cold. She can’t be hungry. 25,000 feathers.

I pull the covers up, and close my eyes. Damn it. I need to get to The Cove. [Read more…]

Miracle. All of it. (Take 103)

The first shot of her was taken yesterday. Mid-morning. The others, from this morning.

I went back out yesterday after my daybreak walk, the winds were howling. Like I hadn’t had enough of this?

She was 50 yards out.  She spotted me, and there was no doubt of her intentions. Human, Food.  She tried to crawl up onto the ice and get to the shoreline. Unsuccessful.  I walked further down, she was in full pursuit, like she was panicked that I would leave. Come on Man, I’m hungry.  I kept walking. She followed. I had nothing on me. Nothing.

I turned, got into the car, didn’t look back. Couldn’t look back.  You do know that feeding them is wrong, right?

It was colder this morning when I went out. Much colder.

A large part of the cove was frozen over.

She was on my mind.  She hangs with a flock of Canada Geese. I haven’t seen her mate in months, likely basking in the Gulf of California.

And there she was.  Sleeping soundly. Ice solidly formed around her.

And I stand, watching.

She responds to a whistle, but I couldn’t disturb her.  Both hands in my pockets, the right scooping half a cup of itty bitty Nyjer seedlings, which I sift through my fingers.

Another day Girl. Another Day.


Notes:

  • Photos: DK @ Daybreak. 6:24 to 7:19 am, January 30, 2022. 9° F, feels like -2° F. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT Other photos from this morning here. Related Swan posts: Swan1
  • Post title Inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.

Monday Morning

5/24/41…

After all that, the change … was like the sudden, unwelcome awakening from a glorious dream. An awakening on a Monday morning when, with one’s castle and clouds and the silver sea dissolved into a sordid room, one realizes that one has to get up and dress in the cold night in a few minutes and plod through a weary day.

Patricia Highsmith, “Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks: 1941-1995.″ Anna von Planta (Editor). (Liveright, November 16, 2021)— Patricia Highsmith, Her Diaries and Notebooks: 1941-1995


Photo: DK @ Daybreak. 6:52 a.m., November 22, 2021. 48° F & Rain. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. Related Swan posts: Swan1

Daybreak


Birds @ Daybreak. 4:58 to 5:18 am, May 21, 2021. 55° F. Weed Ave / Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. Related Swan posts: Swan1

T.G.I.F.: Nesting…Take 2.


DK @ Daybreak. 5:20 a.m. May 13, 2021. Weed Avenue, Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. Related Swan posts: Swan1

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