A Beautiful Life

In the early hours of May 30 my wonderful mother, Eleanor Laney Lingle, drew in her last breath and departed from this earthly world, taking with her pieces of her children’s, family’s, and friends’ hearts. 

My siblings (2 sisters and 1 brother) and I had brought her home from the hospital 5 days earlier.  We had engaged Odyssey Hospice care to help get her home and set up to take care of her in her familiar surroundings.  As soon as Mother got back to her house, she felt much better and visibly relaxed.  She was able to eat meals with us, even on the porch when the weather was good.  I can’t say enough good things about our hospice experience with Odyssey.  The hospice nurse was wonderful and Mother looked forward to her daily visits.  The hospice social worker was someone my brother and I had gone to school with and who had done summer internships with Mother when Mother worked at Family and Children Services.  Because of hospice, we were able to be together with our mother as a family in her home for 5 precious days.  On one of those days, we celebrated my sister’s birthday with a great dinner followed by candles on a birthday cake while wearing funny hats and blowing on those silly noiseless noisemakers.  Mother partook of the festivities and enjoyed it all, especially the sautéed sea bass and the cake.  Although she was mentally alert, she didn’t have the stamina to join us in playing cards.  She could, however, watch us and provide occasional commentary.

Just the day before she died, she told us how much better she was feeling and we began planning a rotation schedule so that at least 2 of us would be with her over the longhaul.  My sister Lizanne and I were with her during those sleepless hours of what would be her last day.  Toward the end, although we were not aware the end was coming, we were on either side of her with our arms around her, the 3 of us talking a bit.  She died so quietly, so easily, that we don’t know the exact moment it happened.  We slowly realized that she was no longer breathing.  After gently, carefully, checking for a pulse and finding none, we called hospice.  That was at 4:10 am, the corporeal end of a beautiful life that continues on in spirit.

Eleanor Laney as a young woman. 

I write this on June 24^th, three and one half weeks after her death.  I miss her terribly and can’t tell you how many times I have caught myself thinking “I must remember to tell Mother about these birds” or “this will be a great photo to share with Mother” or “Mother would like to meet this person”.  I am learning to be thankful for those moments and to find pleasure in the wonderful memories of Mother.  After all, she is the one who taught me to seek out new experiences, to appreciate nature, to talk to strangers, to be kind, and so much more.  And I will carry on living, with Mother in my heart, so that she may live on as well.

Below and in the next 2 blog postings are photos of my mother presented in very approximate chronological order.

Eleanor with her sister, Margaret.

With her future husband, Arnold Lingle.

On her wedding day.

On her wedding day.

The newly wed couple.

With friends, looking glamorous.

With her first 2 daughters.

A family reunion of the Laneys on the front steps of Broadview, the family home.  There she is, pregnant with my brother, standing behind her seated father.   Her six living brothers (the seventh was killed in WWII), her sister, mother, and father are present with assorted spouses and children.  My oldest sister is seated just in front of our grandfather and I am the little head turned around to see where my mother is!  My other sister is on the front row wearing a white blouse and dark skirt.  This was taken in 1957, just before we moved to  Okinawa. 

Ready for an evening out at the Officers' Club on Okinawa.

All six of us in 1957.

On a sightseeing tour.  Mother is the second from left on the front row.

Mother with her four children in 1959 or 1960.

Another glamorous evening out.

My parents, Arnold and Eleanor Lingle.

My parents with Scooter, 
the family dog.     

Two sisters.

Three friends.  Mother is 
hosting her bridge club.

On vacation at Lake Tahoe.

Turkey in the Garden

A Tom Turkey wandered down from the woods into our garden yesterday.  I tried to get some photos of it through the window, but he was easily spooked.  I decided to just let him be for a while in hopes that he would get comfortable enough to ignore me.  Once he started eating from the table feeder, I reckoned I could sneak around outside from the front door and come toward the side garden, crouched behind the dormant plants so that the sun would be behind me.  I hoped the Tom would be blinded by the sun and not realize I was there.  The shots below were taken while I was on my knees, peering through the shrubs.


Autofocus doesn't work so well with so much clutter in the foreground.  :-(

This is a little better, but that Tom is on the alert!  It didn't take him long to get back to eating, though.  I was able to creep to a spot with less clutter in the foreground.

He is in full breeding color with that red neck and blue head.  And look at the gorgeous iridescence on his feathers!

A closer look at his legs show the formidable spurs that can do serious damage to other males in fights and can also rip your face off if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They move their heads so quickly when they eat or walk, that it is hard to get a sharp photo.  The one below is one of the better ones of his head, but the foreground clutter blurs the iridescence and the the beard.

Here is a better shot of the beard and colors of the breast feathers.  Too bad his head is behind the feeder post.

This last shot was taken through the window while he was on the patio.  You can really see the red neck.  When they display to the females in courtship, the red becomes very  engorged.  

He trotted off in hurry once he realized I was on the other side of the glass.  I hope to see more of him and maybe even see a display or two.  That would be great.


I was watching the Decorah Eagle Cam earlier this morning and for some time both adult eagles were at the nest.  That was quite a sight to see!  I looked closely but couldn't find anything to distinguish one from the other.  Their eggs should hatch around March 23rd, so be sure to check back after that to see the chicks.

Live Cam of Nesting Bald Eagles in Decorah, Iowa

No photos today, only a link to the Decorah Eagle Cam.  The pair of bald eagles is tending a nest of 3 eggs.  Great to watch, especially the changing of the guard.   They are not too far from us here in southern Minnesota.  Enjoy!

Anticipation

Just like the nascent geranium leaves below, life is slowly unfolding to reveal the shape of things to come.

Our house is on the market again now that spring is soon upon us.  The market is moving a little faster now than it was back in autumn when we first had the house on the market.  We took it off for winter and the holiday season.  Earlier this week, we cleaned all the winter road grit out of the garage so it looks fabulous again with its new poly floor and got everything sparkling clean and neat.  For now, we wait...

Small is Beautiful

Almost every time I have been out on Black Creek Lagoon, I have seen a flashes of a small green and cinnamon colored kingfisher flitting through the dense mangrove vegetation.  Back in October, I was finally able to get a good look at one of them and even took some photos that were good enough to ID the little bird as an American Pygmy Kingfisher, aka the Least Green Kingfisher, Chloroceryle aenea.


There are 2 other green kingfishers found in this habitat that this one can be confused with, but, at 5 1/4  inches, this one is the smallest of them.  Probably why it is called "pygmy".  ;-)


The American Pygmy Kingfisher has a cinnamon collar, in contrast to the white collar of the Green Kingfisher and the Amazon Kingfisher.


A few days later I was able to get a look at and some better shots of another Pygmy while kayaking in the mangroves.

Unlike the Amazon Kingfisher, which is considerably larger (11 plus inches!), the Pygmy Kingfisher and the Green Kingfisher both have rows of white spots on their green wings.  The female pygmy and green kingfishers have a green band across their breast.






This was a very friendly male who sat and talked to me for about 15 minutes while I photographed it from the kayak.

Nearby were what looked like nest holes excavated on the bank of the creek.  I will definitely come back later to see if I can detect any nesting behavior.

Sunrise

Another beautiful sunrise in Minnesota ...

Warm February in Minnesota

This time last year I was in Belize, getting help to celebrate my birthday from our friends Chris, Sue, and Martha from Monkey River, Belize, plus help from other friends of Chris and Sue's in Belize - Wil Maheia and Mary Cariddi.  They helped me celebrate while poor Dennis stayed in Minnesota.  This year I am in Minnesota with Dennis.  It is not as warm as in Belize, but it is by far the warmest birthday I have had in Minnesota.  I took some photos around the house today showing the relative lack of snow.  It reached the low 40sF today, well above freezing.

In the woods behind our house looking toward the Zumbro River valley.

 Snow in patches that are shady during part of the day. 

The secret garden still has a good depth of snow, as does part of the roof that is shaded.

Looking up to the woods from the patio.  Even though the snow is mostly gone, there are no daffodil leaves poking up along the edge of the woods.  That is the area that I planted  in fall of 2010.

The only snow of any significant depth is in our hidden garden along the north side of the house.  I can almost imagine the grass has a little green tinge to it in the shot above.  ;-)


Happy Birthday to Andrew, whose birthday is also today.  I have never meet anyone with the same birthday before, except Edgar Allen Poe, and I don't think he counts!  


Dennis took me out to a lovely restaurant for birthday dinner, which we enjoyed very much.  A nice day to have a birthday.

More Scenes and Birds from the Canal

The entry to the drainage canal from the sea is broad and flanked by low growing red mangroves.


Farther up the canal where the water is fresh rather than brackish, there are steep banks.
On the right bank, you can see ferns cascading down toward the water.  In my previous post, I had a photo of the ferns.  
Mixed in among the ferns were beautiful Lycopodium, also called club moss.
On the left bank, where the soil is bare, there was a spotted sandpiper scrambling along.




















It didn't fly off as I floated by in the kayak, letting me take some photos as I went.



It bobbles its tail up and down as it goes.
After reaching the end of the canal, I turned around and went slowly downstream toward the sea, eventually reaching the mangroves.  In a protected sort of bay surrounded by mangroves, there a number of herons and egrets.  
The light was terrible for photography, and it didn't help that the birds were far away and against the grey sky.
Never-the-less, the shots were good enough to ID this bird as an adult Little Blue Heron.


I was able to do a bit better with this individual that was considerably closer and cooperated nicely with the camera.
Its colors are quite subtle with some pale blues and pinks along the base of the bill.


The legs are greenish yellow and eyes are yellow.
It turns out this is a juvenile Little Blue Heron before it begins its color change from white to blue.

A lovely bird; one of the exceptions in which the juvenile is more striking than the adult.