Debra LaValley's Blog

We have been blessed with spring weather the past few days. It has been lovely. You know that it has been a cold winter when temperatures in the 40s and low 50s have people in shorts and short sleeves. I haven’t gone that far, but I have replaced my bulky winter jacket with my wind breaker. It has been glorious. It may be short-lived, but we will enjoy it while we can. There is virtually little to no snow around. Mud is appearing – the ground thawing. The black flies and the mosquitoes are not out yet – so you can enjoy the outdoors without covering yourself with DEET. Unfortunately – the ticks will be appearing — I HATE TICKS!

My dad and I walked an old railroad bed to a secluded cove near Crete’s Farm in Boscawen and came upon the mute swan that has been in the Penacook/Boscawen area. It was pretty far away and was keeping company with a flock of Canada geese. It was a fairly monotone-gray photo so I got creative in my HDR software and also did some tone mapping. It gave the shot new life.

Enjoy the nice weather – the weatherman said we are in for about 3 days of rain starting this Friday. It is too bad because the big 100th Birthday Celebration for Nana is on Saturday. Hopefully, it will only be light rain and not a deluge!

Sign of Spring Today: I heard a red-wing blackbird trilling this afternoon! They have returned. 🙂

February has sped by! I can’t believe that March is tomorrow! It has been a cold and cloudy weekend. I was a volunteer for the Audubon Late Winter Bald Eagle Survey yesterday and saw no eagles 😦 It was cold and snowy. Today, I went out for a little while and did see one of the sub-adult eagles.

Many folks are still out of power after the bad wind storm we had in the state last week. My brother Ken and his family got theirs back today – but MaryBeth is still without power.

I have been playing around with HDR photography. I have only done a few – it is neat. The above is an example. It is actually 3 bracketed shots combined and then doing tone mapping adjustments. It took a very blah and gray photo and gave it a bit of life. I can’t wait until the weather improves so I can experiment more.

13 more days and then the 100th birthday party for Nana. Family and friends are coming from all over the country. It will be fun! More later!

It was a beautiful day today – even though with the wind blowing it was a bit chilly. I spent most of the day with my dad. He wanted to see an eagle. I have been seeing them for over a month – wouldn’t you know that we would not see any eagles today. A cousin did give me a tip that there was a swan on the river on Eel Street in Boscawen. My dad and I swung by and sure enough. It is highly unusual to see a swan around here – they are a rarer sight than a bald eagle.

Tonight – I am going to veg and watch the Winter Olympics. I really enjoy watching them.

This isn’t the best shot – but considering I was lying sideways on the bank of the river in the snow and trying to shoot over and under bushes and through tree branches – it didn’t come out half bad. This handsome couple appeared to be fighting over who gets the wishbone! It seems that they had duck for lunch!

This was taken in Penacook along the Merrimack River. Bald Eagles are Awesome! I hope they are a breeding pair and that there is a nest in the area!

I have been looking through my photos and I came across this scan. My mother is the girl on the left. I spent many years in Girl Scouting. I was even a Senior Girl Scout and quit in my Junior year (If I remember correctly). I have many found memories of camp especially. I always loved camping, and we really roughed it with tents with no floors and “wiffies” instead of outhouses. Those were the days! Of course, now I require plumbing when I go camping and at least an air mattress (only if I plan to stand and walk the next day LOL). My mom was a Girl Scout leader for many years as well. I never see uniformed Girl Scouts any more. I know there must be Girl Scouts around – since I have seen the Girl Scout Cookie order forms. My favorites are the Samoas and the Thin Mints (one sleeve is a serving). I would imagine that the Girl Scout numbers have decrease significantly over the past 40 years, which is a shame. Scouting was a great experience!

It has been like Siberia here the past week or so. I don’t mind snow – but I do not like subzero temperatures and wind combined. So – let’s think of summer – a particular summer – the Summer of 2003. My parents were visited by an albino squirrel. I would stop over their house on the way to and from work – armed with a camera and a zoom lens. I used the breezeway like a duck blind. I sat on a footstool and point my camera out the window and waited for the albino squirrel to come. And come he did – like clockwork. We really enjoyed watching the unusual squirrel do the regular squirrel acrobatics. This white little fellow was the center of attention when ever he came into the yard. He was extra shy and any sudden noises would send him running back into the woods.

The albino squirrel came around most every day and then suddenly disappeared. We had hoped that he had found another backyard with better food – but alas – my brother informed us that he had heard that a neighbor’s grandson had shot and killed it with an BB gun. What a shame. You wonder why anyone would feel it necessary to kill such a lovely animal – just for fun. I won’t start preaching on my views of an unsupervised child with a BB gun.

The albino squirrel may be gone, and we may never see another one in our lifetime – but we will remember the Summer of 2003 – the Summer of the Albino Squirrel.

Today, my niece Sydney turned 14! She is growing up fast. It is strange that I am not growing up 🙂 LOL I can’t think of much else to say – so I will throw in another of my poems from yesteryear.

Dream Cake

Fevers flash
melting what little ice there is
from your chilly bones.
The street simmers with heat.
A dog barks. Hearing something
run through puddles.
Someone laughs from inside a tree.
“Who ate the owl?”
“Who?” “Who?”
Green eyes wink up at
a mouthful of feathers
smiling from a hole in a tree.
Birds sing deep in the grass
careful to stay in the dark.
A gray feather sails to earth
in a soft sabre dance
cutting through the night
through the shadows
slivers of dreams
to be served shivering.

I got myself out of bed early Sunday morning and headed out to take photos. I left the house at around 8:00 and around 9:30 left the river areas and was heading to Loudon. As I crossed the bridge by the Hannah Dustin ParkNRide – I noticed a bald eagle sitting in a tree. I quickly turned around and pulled in to the ParkNRide and then ran down the path to Dustin Island. Unfortunately, I was so excited – I made a bit too much noise so the eagle did not stay around too long 😦 I followed it down river and got in more shots and another eagle joined this one. If we are lucky maybe they will be a breeding pair and build a nest near by! I saw one of the eagles again just before 2:00 PM. I had a very long but exciting outing. I am hoping to see more of the eagles and take better photos.

I am finding it hard writing anything of worth this week. There was a catastrophic earthquake in Haiti that has killed many thousands of people. It is all very tragic. My thoughts and prayers are with all touched by this tragedy.

I dug out my poetry collection and will post a poem I wrote many years ago on a winter’s night. I believe I was sitting in the living room at my parents’ house (I was still living at home at the time) and Tasha the cat was sitting on the television. It was one of her favorite spots because of the warmth. I was remembering at the time a night years even before that night when an ice storm put about an inch of ice on the road. I was at my friend’s house who lived down in “The Bog.” It was so slippery – no vehicles could make it down the hill. I spent the night and we strapped on ice skates and joined a group of neighborhood kids and skated around the roads. It was a blast.

Winter Night

Closets stuffed with clothes
a moth chews silently
while children skate
on frozen roads.
It’s all here within the glass.
Who will throw the
next stone and free the air?
The cat sits on top
of the TV — staring at
a picture framed above.
Her tail twitching.
There is a black hole
in the living room —
too dense. It has
collapsed from its own weight.

The cat disappears into the void.