I saw a Kestrel in my yard!

My apartment has a second floor sun room off the back of the house. While I'm printing, I can watch birds in the honey locust tree and the bushes at the side of the yard. I've been seeing a few birds that I hadn't seen before on such a regular basis.

There's a bunch of little red birds, with brown wings, that hangs out in the bushes with the sparrows and chickadees. I thought at first they were a young cardinal, because I see lots of them. But they are too small. So, I consulted Google, and turns out, they are a rosy house finch! They are lovely.




























Then few days ago, I saw a large bird, I'd say about 10 inches tall, fly onto the wire that goes across our yard to the alley. Its back was to me, but it had a black cap, and dark wings. The space between the wings was lighter and spotted just a little. The bird was being pissy, sitting on the wire and squawking, doing that head-bob warning birds sometimes do. I looked at it for a long time, five whole minutes or so, until it flew away. I thought "Was that a kestral? that was a kestral!" But I'm not a birder by any means, so I had to look it up. Agian, I put its description into Google. Sure enough it was a kestral! This photo is exactly what it looked liked, found on the St. Louis Audobon Society. It was even in this position as I watched it. So cool! I've got a feeder out ther, but now I'm wondering if I should put some mice on a plate, or fish in a pond for the kestrals...

Action/Abstraction at the St. louis Museum of Art

Sunday, I attended the Action/Abstraction show and the Art Museum with Audra. She had free passes and strangely, couldn't find anybody to go with her! I jumped at that since I love abstract expressionism and free things. Plus, I hadn't been to the art museum yet. The show was pretty good, many pieces I've seen before. The audio tour was awful. It was mainly about the two critics responsible for promoting the abstractions of deKooning, Jasper Johns, and Pollock, and how they feuded, ignored artists of color and women, and were basically asshole who did more harm than good.

The other weird thing about the audio tour I found to be grossly inappropriate was the narrators descriptions of some of the pieces. While listening to the commentary about a Norman Lewis painting, Twilight Sound, the narrator began to lead the listener to "the upper right hand corner, where you'll see an image of a face."

It actually took me aback a little, to hear this on an audiotour. Abstract expressionism is meant to evoke the viewer's imaginative and emotional responses on an individual basis. How dare these narrators think its necessary to guide my mind's eye this way? I was very disappointed and did not listen to the remainder of the audiotour.

The rest of the show was good though. I could have used more factual info about the artists and their lives, and less about the damn critics fighting over the art. A Mark Rothko painting was hung prominently in the third room, which brought me much joy as Mark Rothko is one of my favorite artists. Several of the Ad Reinhardt painting also made me very happy and I enjoyed studying them very much.

I hope to return to the museum soon, because one of their permanent exhibits is a Mummy! YES. I haven't seen a Mummy since King Tut came to the Museum of Natural history in NY. Mummies will always be cool, just like dinosaurs!

Hanukkah and the Winter Solstice

Hanukkah Tov! I got chewed out at 5:30 because I did not present my Jewish boyfriend with chocolate coins when I wished him Happy Hanukkah. I wanted to get some when we were at Trader Joe's the other night, but he said no, so I reminded him that he TOLD me NOT to get the coins, and THEN he says "You're SUPPOSED to say you forgot something and run back in and get them anyway! Because its supposed to be a surprise. Because its ROMANTIC."

For a man who barely acknowledges his Jewish Heritage he sure can lay on a guilt trip.
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It's the First Day of Winter today and it was COLD. The coldest yet here in Saint Louis. It was about 8 degrees this morning at 9 am, and with the wind chill i think they were saying -11. Neat. Thursday was a bunch of ice as it rained toward evening and the temperature dropped. It was a little scary actually, because then the rain warmed up and made a slick skating rink out of the roads. Trying to walk down the front steps I almost broke my neck!

I miss Chicago winters. They at had purpose, design. Cold snaps came off the lake, and snow got dumped there til March. It was great. I'd ride my bike in -17 February winter with my balaclava covered in ice and LOVE it. I never once complained. I love my weather serious.

What I don't like, are wishy washy, "mild" climes. Who really wants it to be 80 degrees and sunny, with a breeze and low humidity every day? I can't do that. I grew up with a storm called a "Nor' Easter" that would blow through Connecticut and leave 4 FEET of snow before it dumped the other 6 feet in Buffalo or went up to Maine and wreaked havoc. I need a summer that boils and a winter that freezes so I can really appreciate t'other when I'm living with the one.

We'll have to see if Saint Louis really has winter. So far i've been disappointed, especially in the people who were like "Man its so cold out there! Its like FORTY DEGREES!" Come on. Anything above zero isn't worth complaining about. Suck it up Saint Louis-ans!

Saint Louis so far hasn't done anything right for me. It can at least give me a cold, snowy, blustery winter. Please. I'll be able to put something in the "Pros" side of my "How I feel about Saint Louis" list. So far, its all Cons except for one: City Museum. That's like, 5 Pros.

*edited for reprehensible grammar infractions.