Up-cycled Recovery

bird bath upcycled

Recovery

Bird Bath got holes

name of the use gone

Time for chrysalis.

Woodpeckers hunt worms.

Sparrows steal sunflower seeds.

Add sand and compost to

iron antique up-cycled 

succulent planter sprouts.

Get back on your search

stretch those chicken wings

and fly sister.

Ivory Billed Woodpecker is Endangered there are a few out of range here

where I live. 

Phil the water truck gentleman rescued one with a broken wing. 

Phil's a cowboy who looks like he played football.  He found

a vet who coached him online how to care for this wild creature. 

The bird was released yesterday - never looked back.  

We thought the bird would not make it to fly again.

I contacted two endangered species birding groups without response. 

Wish I had taken pictures of Connie (we assumed female) 

Phil had her wrapped in newspaper and a cardboard box in the 

cab of his big yellow water rig truck. 

Bloody and in shock Connie had crazy eyes

I found grubs in my garden. We fed her meal worms, baby chicken feed 

and chicken electrolyte water. 

The bugs wriggled in wet paper towels inside Kerr jars to give him to bring home. 

She didn't eat or drink for two days. 

Recovery was slow but she got stronger.

The day we released Connie someone from this rehabilitation center called me back.

Copyright August 9 2016 Caroline Gerardo

poem and images 

Grave in The Rose Garden

Another Grave in the Garden

Hurricane failed to rain?

Leaving passion's steamy heat

whisper then whistle under the covers

like a smoke detector battery gone bad.

Broken on my doorstep

 there's a symbol on the knocker: 

welcome hearts lost in darkness.

If I patch your wings, 

if  I calm your despair,

give me pardon.

Your songs bereft and sad,

make healing grow.

Remember moments when the wind

whips up the canyon lifting chamomile seeds

she's making tea to ease your pain.

Tonight begin a life under the rose garden.

The sun blazes down across the sea.

You came home to me.

Photo of tiny bird on my doorstep this morning.

Flycatcher Fidalgo he was a character in my current

novel in progress. Unknown what happened to him.

 I have a southwestern willow flycatcher pair that

lives in the canyon below me and nests near my fountains. 

They are endangered and don't belong here.

 I wish I knew the cause of death...

This guy is buried under this porcelain plate below the

rose cultivar climber Blair Annabella, my patent 1992 named after daughter.

The rose is hearty. Flowers start pink then the petals blush to cream before they fall.

Hurricane Odile hasn't brought a drop of rain here. 

Are you living somewhere with drought?

 Let me know how you deal with it.

Christmas Vireo Song

"Your fingerprints touched my life," He said. 

 

"My fingers burn from scratching

the diamonds underneath the ice.
You abandoned us under the lake," I answered.

A boiling pot of water whispers
cinnamon sticks to remind.

Christmas candy childhood

playing with the wisemen.

Gently touch baby Jesus

in the manger,

 taste the horehound

 in dill & thyme amber.

 I believe in Santa.

Maple syrup trees never grow tired.

They remain faithful to their charge.

Love's desire is one last opportunity.

Bell's vireo pair on the glass wall

birds diving for insects,

avoiding pinecones soaked in honey millet.

Warblers don't need crystaline sugar meth.

Male white eye ring summer grass breast

remains faithfully calling to his bride.

"Cheedle cheedle chew," he offers her.

It is a Christmas grandiflora song,

spreading hope to the woodland.
Winging sounds of sleigh bells.

Merry Christmas copyright Caroline Gerardo

Marketing Make A Wish

Scapegoat Review emailed me to publish my flash fiction piece Entropy out of the sky.

Dandelion seeds I blew into the hillside seem to be flourishing as the intentions appear.

This same morning a gull billed tern popped upon the glass wall looking for some treat.

"I only have nyjer thistle, sunflowers and millet for mourning doves and towhees. You Sir, are no slender necked rummaging sparrow."

He whistled "Chewh ahw."

"All right, you brought me good news after months of stabbing rain."

So with the filling the hummingbird feeder, as they dive bomb to remind me,

I now have adopted a bossy white tailed kite.

Hopefully he likes to eat wild dandelions to help spread the word.
Do birds know anything about austerity?

photographs Copyright Caroline Gerardo 7/26/2011