October 3, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 29 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:

Tell me, O Octopus, I begs,

Is those things arms, or is they legs?

I marvel at thee, Octopus;

If I were thou, I’d call me Us.

Now the placemats are all done, it’s time to use them when we set the table. I wonder who will get the first big blob of greasy gravy on them?

If it’s YOU, beware.

Darth Vader of the Sea is watching.

September 23, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 28 Comments

Autumnal Equinox

All those lovely summer days

Under the warming sun

Turning to changes not

Unexpected, but which had perhaps been put out of

Mind.

No more leisurely days of morning birdsong

Allowing robins to

Land on my branches, singing

Ecstatically, and

Quite boldly,

Uncaring of who hears them

If they are out of tune.

Nothing to look forward to

On this autumnal equinox

Xcept to hope for a mild winter and that another spring comes soon.

I can’t wait for spring!

September 8, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 42 Comments

Tumbling Down

When the Canada geese (not Canadian geese, please – they don’t have passports) start moving between fields and estuaries, in morning and evening flights, you know they are into autumn behaviour. They graze in the fields, picking at kernels of corn and anything else left behind in the harvest. Part of the day is spent near the water, preferably a river estuary, where they are relatively safe from approach by land, and where they can find bits of food, as they keep their feet cool while they soak up any sunshine that might still peek through gathering clouds.

Flights are constantly moving between field and stream, usually early in the morning and late at night. In the first video clip, the flocks are moving from the fields to the estuaries. In the second one you can see them tumbling out of the sky as they get ready to approach their destination. They seem to fold up their wings and tumble, open them to steady themselves, and then fold them again as needed. It’s their way of putting the brakes on and coming in for landing.

Please turn on the sound.

September 2, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 32 Comments

Anybody Home?

Are you in there, Turtle dear,

Hiding in your shell?

I don’t mean to make you fear,

I would treat you well.

But you’re smart to stay inside,

Waiting ’til it’s quiet,

Better to keep still and hide,

Not to cause a riot.

When my footsteps fade away,

And it’s safe to peek,

You will live another day,

Playing hide and seek.

August 20, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 33 Comments

Musical Houses

Apologies for the cell phone quality of the photo, but this post is more about content than photography.

My neighbour who took the cougar video in a previous post, also took a picture of this house he built with birds in mind.

The birds didn’t even have time to get interested when the squirrels decided to move in and occupy the premises with their expanding family of at least three babies. I doubt if they stayed long, but it was a funhouse for the kids. Too bad the cell phone doesn’t take clearer photos. Mine is the same. It’s not a high end phone and pictures taken quickly and at any distance just don’t come out that clear. But if we overlook the blurriness, the idea of these little guys exploring the three-storey house makes me smile. I felt it was worth posting regardless of the quality.

I wonder if they played musical chairs with the houses. Remember that game? There was always one fewer chair than there were children. We marched around to the music not straying too far from the chairs and when the music stopped, we had to sit down on a chair. One child was always left without a chair, so he was “out.” Another chair was removed and the game began again. Each time one child was out of luck and another chair was removed. At last there was only one chair and two children. I shudder to think of the scramble for that last chair. I would be tempted to declare two winners.

I’m sure the squirrels scrambled around these birdhouses. Maybe they played “King of the Castle” instead.

August 10, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 22 Comments

Decisions, Decisions!

Do you see the tiny morsel of food that is crawling along the stucco wire towards the hummingbird?

Decisions, decisions,

A lunch snack for me,

A coming incision

Will soon have to be.

An ant suicidal

Is now within reach,

It’s protein not vital,

Won’t taste like a peach.

It’s truly quite bitter,

In more ways than one,

I say with a twitter,

Your good luck is done.

The red scarlet bean bloom

With nectar awaits,

It helps with the gloom,

While the ant taste abates.

July 28, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 33 Comments

Here, Kitty Kitty!

A couple of months ago, this kitty was visiting our neighbourhood, just three doors down from us. A brave neighbour took this footage with his cellphone to document the visit. Notice Kitty’s kinked tail. I shudder to think how he/she hurt it, but it seems to be an older injury.

Now the question is, what is Kitty eating to stay in what is obviously pretty good shape?

Are you lost my Kitty, dear?

This is just a hunch,

All the neighbourhood’s in fear

They’ll become your lunch.

Little puppies stay inside

Keeping out of sight,

Best you find a place to hide,

Lest you get a fright.

Time for housecats not to stray,

Hunting precious birds,

Near your home, it’s best to stay

Heed your mama’s words.

Bunny rabbits, hop, hop, hop,

Nibbling garden plants,

Pay attention, stop, stop, stop,

Or Kitty grabs your pants.

I could climb up in this tree,

And escape the threat,

But he still might follow me,

Faster too, I’ll bet.

Oh my goodness, I have heard,

Kitty’s on the prowl,

Mama says to heed her word,

If Kitty starts to growl.

Surely Kitty needs more food

Than just a little squirrel,

But if hunger is his mood,

I’ll leave with one quick swirl.

Cooling down was so much fun,

But what did I see?

Kitty is a sneaky one

Wanting to eat me.

I think we are safe up here,

No cats on this roof,

Still we must be careful dear,

Lest we make a goof.

July 17, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 22 Comments

Stop Bugging Me

I believe these are two juvenile northern red-shafted flickers. Presumably, the one on the chimney is the male, looking for company. It’s not really mating season, so I think he’s just looking for his sister who was probably his nest-mate.

Just guessing. They didn’t really tell me.

In the clip below, he looks around and, not seeing her, decides to get her attention another way.

When she arrives, she is restless and scratching here and there, as if she has some kind of mites or other minuscule critters bugging her.

Big brother watches her scratch for a while, and then remembers itches of his own. He scratches and then becomes aware how nice the sunshine feels on his wings. As he spreads them out, he thinks it won’t hurt if his sister sees what a handsome fellow he is with his colourful wing feathers.

But oh, it itches! Her head is turned right over. This gives us a look at the pale orangey-red feathers on top of her head, telling us she is still a juvenile.

Here they are, having a “scratch-in,” both wishing those critters would stop bugging them.

Might they be mites? Horrible things!

July 13, 2026
by wordsfromanneli 44 Comments

Calm, yet Busy

Dare I hope that this is one of the baby robins I rescued a few weeks ago?

I asked him if he had lost a leg, and he told me he was just keeping his toes warm, one leg at a time, while he waits for a bug to check out the beans growing next to him.

Crispin has been at work high up in the fir trees, cutting down fir cones. They fall from a great height with a loud bang each time one of them hits the metal roof of the wood shed. Maybe I should get a hard hat for him. Then he comes down to gather the cones and stash them in secret places nearby. I made the mistake of helping him by bringing about 25 freshly fallen cones to the wood shed for him. I hadn’t counted on the sticky sap getting on my hands and had to go looking for some WD-40 to dissolve it. How do the squirrels not glue their mouth shut when they eat these sticky cones? I guess it’s like eating toffee.

Mrs. Hummer is resting on the Florence fennel, watching the nearby scarlet runner beans. Their flowers are so bright red, and they must have some delicious nectar in them because there is a line up of hummingbirds waiting their turn to get at them.

While Mrs. Hummer watches the beans, Mother Rabbit is watching her. Do you see them both in the photo below?

Bunny Junior doesn’t have the patience to sit around watching hummingbirds. He’s on the lookout for any weeds that might still be green in this dry spell. Luckily for him, the weeds are the last to die of thirst, and rabbits love weeds.