Day 71: Thursday, April 28 - Eagles!! and one more person viewed my Sketchbook.

Got up early, drove around town with the nicest man, Mike Gillissie, a Los Angeles Fire Paramedic. He's the son-in-law of Betty and Charlie McKenney who had the vision 6-7 years ago for Arlington Garden.  Little did he know when he married their daughter 3 years ago that he would one day be driving a truck, with Jill in it, going from place to place, house to house, picking up the 6' tall, 2'wide grids that are used to hang paintings in art shows.  It's d**n hot today in Pasadena so we started early.  Took our truckload back to the Garden about noon. 

So there, that's the painting aspect of today.

Except for one wonderful email:

Hello!
We just wanted to let you know that Anna B. just viewed your sketchbook (#35593) at Mercer Gallery at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY!
Your book has been viewed 3 times so far.
Sincerely,
The Brooklyn Art Library Librarian

eat your heart out Nancie Johnson.

and then?                                 Eagles!!!!!

I don't know how I forgot about "my" eagles! Every year I find a live cam (live camera) that's been positioned on an eagle's nest somewhere in the United States and have watched with incredible joy as these majestic birds build nests, mate, hatch, tend, care, feed the eaglets. 

This particular camera in Iowa is live 24 hours a day because of infrared technology.

The actual website is http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

This pair of birds have produced 3 eaglets, a record for me. Usually I've seen two and have also seen horrible "accidents" as the larger eaglet pushes the smaller eaglet out of the nest, an eaglet simply disappears.  In this nest three healthy eaglets hatch and there's an accident that resolves itself nicely. The father bird (I'm assuming here) is trying to straighten out the nest and inadvertently catches one of the eaglets in his beak and throws it to the side of the nest..........It takes almost two days for the little guy to be drawn back into the nest and to be warm and toasty again under the breast of the babysitter.

Get ready to waste (except I don't and never have considered it a waste) time with fascination.

I usually have the website up and running in the background of whatever else I'm doing.......you hear the wind blowing, you hear one eagle calling to the other when he/she is approaching the nest, you hear the babies chirping.....and you click over occasionally an spend another 5-55 minutes with a loopy smile on your face.