Quoth the Raven

What I'm reading: I am finishing up a fascinating book called The Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich.

I am a nature-lovin' girl at heart and I have been fascinated by studies of animal behavior since I was a kid reading Born Free and Never Cry Wolf and every other possible living-out-in-the-wilderness-studying-animals book I could find. Ravens and crows have always fascinated me and I happened to come across this book at Borders and picked it up to read on my trip. If you are interested in these kind of science/nature books, run out and get a copy of The Mind of the Raven. Bernd Heinrich is a great scientist and a wonderful writer and I found myself getting as excited about his behavioral experiments and observations with ravens as he was. Ravens are really amazing birds--very intelligent, playful, and great at solving complex puzzles. For general info about ravens or other birds, check out the really cool website by Cornell University here.

During my recent trip to Washington State, I was able to see and photograph some ravens. This one was looking fluffy and sassy in a tree on Whidbey Island.

And this one was walking around and hanging out at the ferry from Victoria back to the U.S.

I'm thinking there's a raven quilt somewhere in my future. Maybe a looooong time in the future, but it's something to ponder and doodle.

North by Northwest

Hello from chilly Washington State! Everyone I've talked to has said this is the worst spring/worst weather they have had in a long time. I don't mind it though because I am out of hot, humid Atlanta!! After having coffee and the best doughnuts in the world, traveled north from Seattle to Whidbey Island.
Look at all the shades of gray in the landscape. The mountains in the background are the Cascade Mountains, which got snow the past couple of days (good thing I'm not headed that way as I didn't bring snow gear!!)

I love lighthouses so went to see this lighthouse at Fort Casey State Park

Also saw native Pacific Northwest wildlife:

All together now: awwwwwwwww

lots and lots of birds on the island. I have no idea what kind of bird this is but it has great colors

All is not just fun and bunnies though, I have been getting daily updates from my vet about Gomez. Gomez was really doing badly yesterday and the vet was really worried about him which made me worry about Gomez even more. But today the vet called and said he thought Gomez has turned the corner and is on 3 different medicines and no catheter and seems to be doing better. I am so relieved. It was so hard to leave to go on this trip with Gomez sick and the price of gas and the instability of everything. But I had planned this for a long time and had all the tickets/reservations/money saved, etc. so here I am having fun, getting rest, enjoying the rain, and drinking lots of coffee in spite of everything. More from the next WiFi place.