November 13, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 18 Comments

I like to dive and sift the silt beneath the ocean’s floor,

The seafood doesn’t realize my mouth’s an open door,

I sometimes find a fish to eat and bring it to the top,

I like to turn the fish around to let its head first drop.

But while I flip that fish around, a seagull ventures near,

And grabs my dinner from my mouth, without apparent fear.

It means I have to go back down and find another fish,

Perhaps a flounder or an eel will now become my dish.

I bring my dinner to the top before I start to eat,

It’s easier to show the world my manners can’t be beat,

But best of all what pleases folks is when I eat the bugs

That later would have turned to pests and stung them on their mugs.

I help to keep the ocean clean, especially the floor,

Quite naturally they love me best, so what’s not to adore?

In my tuxedo I look smart, as smart as I’m allowed,

I’m dressed up in my special suit, and make my kind so proud.

November 10, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 24 Comments

I’ve had a long swim, but I’m glad to come in,

And rest on this smooth rock so fine,

With room for one fin, I just turned up my chin,

I won’t be disturbed ’cause it’s mine.

I’ll dream of the fish that made up a fine dish,

For snacking today as I swam,

I made a quick wish, scooped him up with a swish,

And filled up with all I could cram.

Excuse if I slurp, or I may have to burp,

I’ll work on my manners quite soon,

Don’t think I’m a jerk, but it’s way too much work,

To learn how to eat with a spoon.

November 7, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 31 Comments

“Ruby, do you see that guy?”

“What? The one that’s walking by?”

“Yeah, the one with spindly legs.”

“Lord! Have mercy, quick,” she begs.

“Oh, but Rufus, look at that,

He has fruit inside his hat,

Guess he didn’t have a bag,

So it holds what he can snag.

“I’ll distract him as I fly,

You grab fruit as he goes by.

Then we’ll fly off to have lunch,

We will sit and munch, munch, munch.”

“That’s so brilliant, Rufus, dear.

I can do that, have no fear,

And then as we munch our lunch,

Know I love you a whole bunch.”

November 3, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 25 Comments

No, squirrels don’t eat rope, and they don’t chew on it for fun. But Crispin has discovered that the old fishing float is still hanging by a few threads from when he worked on it last year. It’s real rope – not that chemical fake rope – so it’s quite chewable and the bits that break off are handy for padding the nest he is making somewhere deep in the woodshed.

After all, there was “snow in them thar hills last night.” It’s getting chilly, and a bit of lining would make nights in the nest cozier.

I’ve been waiting for the Scotchman float to fall onto the ground one of these days, when Crispin will chew through enough rope to send it tumbling down, but so far, so good.

What a little acrobat he is!

Watch him in the video clip below. See how his hands and feet move, and his nimble fingers keep him on task without him having to worry about falling.

Talk about multi-tasking!

October 24, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 40 Comments

Black and Orange

It’s quiet on the prairie land,

Save whispers in the leaves,

I’m safe above coyote’s band

Because they can’t climb trees.

Beware, I say, of Halloween,

When spooks and bats abound,

When ghosts at night drift in between

The witches swirling ’round.

Don’t fret for me, I set the scene,

With orange fur and black,

I play my part on Halloween,

I yowl and arch my back.

So run coyotes, run away,

Until that black night’s done,

Your pack will be afraid to stay,

I’ll be the bravest one.

October 20, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 28 Comments

Ups and Downs

“Happy, sad, and hopeful” was the sequence of feelings I had over the events in my garden yesterday.

Happy

I saw a flock of birds sitting on a small cold frame in my garden, and quickly got out the camera to take a picture. It was through a window I should have cleaned ages ago, but when I uploaded the photos, I didn’t worry about a bit of blur. I was just very happy to see that most of the birds were crossbills. I hadn’t seen crossbills in my yard for a couple of years, and they don’t stay long when they do visit.

Their odd crossed bills are unique, and I find the way they walk, similar to the way parrots walk, endearing. So I was happy to see these birds.

Just behind the cold frame is a Florence fennel plant that has gone to seed, and the wind has knocked many of the seeds onto the top of the cold frame. Those seeds were the attraction for the crossbills.

Two of the twelve birds I can spot in the picture are some other kind of songbird, but the rest are crossbills.

Sad

I took several pictures and then the birds were spooked and all flew up. It seems there were many more in other parts of the garden, and as the flock took off I heard that sickening thump of a bird hitting a window.

I was shocked to see a female crossbill hanging onto the garden fence, presumably after hitting a window. I felt heartsick.

What to do? Go pick her up and keep her warm? It was a chilly morning. But maybe that would freak her out more and she was already traumatized.

Leave her alone? I just wanted to help. But would I do more harm than good?
I felt like a shallow reporter, taking pictures of a tragic situation.

It looked like she had taken quite a hit to the head. A drop of blood clung to the feathers behind her eye. At least the blood wasn’t pouring out. It seemed to have stopped.

The crossbill held on without moving for at least ten minutes. I thought she might be dead. But then she moved her head a little bit. Another five minutes went by and I worried about the chill in the air.

Hopeful

Suddenly she flew up to the top of the fence and sat there for about five seconds. Then she took off into the air, and flew into the safety of the thick branches of the nearby fir trees.

I hope she’ll make it. My worry is that her flock is not to be seen, but I hope she can call them back or somehow find them.

October 18, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 27 Comments

King of the Castle

When we were kids, my brother and sisters and friends were delighted when a load of topsoil was delivered to backfill the edges of our new house that was in the final stages of construction. We would run to the top of the mound of dirt and then challenge each other to push us down and replace us, with taunts of “I’m the king of the castle, and you’re the dirty rascal.” (It was a good thing my mother didn’t hear us talking like that.)

Crispin is the king of the castle here, but he has no challengers at the moment. The new load of firewood is perfect for him as he snacks on one of the walnuts he has stashed away.

I’m king of this fine castle,

The view up here is great,

I don’t get any hassle,

To see how much I ate.

In case of any danger,

Of hawk or hungry owl,

Or any other stranger,

Who’d like to make me howl,

I’ll pop down in the wood pile,

And hide until they leave.

That way I’m sure I could smile,

No worry that I’ll grieve.

October 8, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 26 Comments

Dinner Time?

Owl photo by neighbour, R.G., of cougar video fame.

Just look at that poor little rabbit,

I’m thinking how great he will taste,

But running away’s not his habit,

His sense of survival, a waste.

Perhaps I should scrounge up some pity

And let him escape his bad luck,

This squirrel would make dinner so pretty,

Unless he escapes, nip and tuck.

Oh dear, it’s that barred owl prowling,

Just look at his beak and his claws,

I’d bite him and send him off howling,

But he is too big for my jaws.

We need to convene a town meeting,

Though making rules stick is quite hard,

“Goodbye” is our standard owl greeting,

“A barred owl should always be barred.”

We find the barred owl to be scary,

And hope he will silently leave,

If not, we must always be wary,

Or he will swoop down and we’ll grieve.

October 3, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 38 Comments

Come Swim with Me

Next time you have a fish dinner, you may not even have to go fishing first. The meal is all served up on your new placemats.

I worked on these for many days, and when it was time to do the last step, I must have had that “horse to the barn” feeling and rushed through the corners when I was putting on the binding. Don’t look too closely. They are not neat and squared off.

BUT, I had a lot of fun making up these placemats, cutting out the shapes and finding a fabric that would serve as a reasonably close match to their colours in real life – not that you’d ever encounter the Darth Vader fish in real life. Each piece is first ironed on with some slightly sticky white webby material called Steam-a-Seam. When you peel off the fusible material, you iron the shape onto the place where you want it to be and then sew around it with your choice of stitch. Mine was a blanket stitch that grabs the edges every second stitch.

I doodled around with my free-motion stitching (which just means you can go in any direction by moving the material around – not just forward and back when the machine does the steering) and was able to put some scales on some of the fish and lines on their fins, and make the pupils and irises of their eyes.

In the background, I see two strips of material from the Captain’s old jeans, one light and one dark, to make up part of the water, and a light blue denim shirt for the top layer of water.

In case you were wondering, I do know that an octopus has eight legs, but he’s sitting on one of them.

That strange creature reminded me of one of my favourite Ogden Nash poems: