laurelfynes.bsky.social
learning from the world, my family, students, birds, trees, plants, waterways, relationships. unlearning. biophiliac. growing roots along great lake ontario. settler. she/her.
class site: https://bsky.app/profile/k2westacres.bsky.social
5,874 posts
7,538 followers
798 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
That nasal, grumpy call is very familiar. Plus their sweet, drowsy song. I adore them… the ubiquitous sound of summer in my park at the end of the street. Well, honestly it’s the sound of summer everywhere in my city where there’s water. Shore, river, creek, pond: warbling vireos. Woods: red-eyed.
comment in response to
post
Oh, there’s an angry vireo in there somewhere too… that feisty “chwee!” sounds like a warbling vireo but other vireos have similar protest calls.
And how often do you see a vulture perched?!
I think I’ve yet to see one and we have so many vultures around. But I only ever see them soar.
comment in response to
post
🔥
comment in response to
post
Thanks! A friend of ours gave me lettuce seeds he’d saved from his garden last year, and I didn’t think I could grow them in my shallow window box pots (no garden) but I tossed them in soil as a lark. And they grew! Before that I’d only grow herbs and edible flowers in my ever-growing salad 🪴🥗🌿
comment in response to
post
They have to be to manage nesting on the reeds like they do. I’ve seen the red-winged gals straddling over the water, almost doing the splits as they grab onto two different clumps of grass.
comment in response to
post
Ooh, thanks for this!
comment in response to
post
It’s been 9 years since militarized cops at Standing Rock shot water cannons at protesters incl praying Elders in freezing weather. One Elder went into cardiac arrest & had to be revived, 12 people hospitalized for head injuries, almost 200 injured. Obama forcibly evicted people via National Guard.
comment in response to
post
If you live in a settler colonialist society, solidarity with Indigenous people will help you understand how you got to wherever your country is today. That’s why they want you to pretend we’re gone or not worth your attention.
comment in response to
post
Exactly!
This teacher gets eggs from her friends’ farm every year, hatches them at school and then brings the week-old ducklings back to join their flock. Runner ducks, which are the cutest.
comment in response to
post
Me too - I adore her writing but this one is even more wonderful. I’m just past halfway…
comment in response to
post
You guys… I think you’re on to something.
comment in response to
post
Indeed. It’s just that a tern this far up from the lake is eyebrow-raising. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one go after a hawk. There’s a five-building complex at the lake not far from us where terns nest on the rooftops. Noisy! I see hawks near us; orioles, robins, blackbirds, jays & more mob them.
comment in response to
post
I get it, breaking bad exists. But no, I teach Kindergarten. Very different vibe. 😏
comment in response to
post
Bluesky is an "echo chamber" but Twitter is some kind of what, salon? An egalitarian agora where ideas are respectfully exchanged?
Twitter is a smoking Cybertruck with a greasy dude reeking of Axe Body Spray offering Circus Peanuts out of the back seat. I have no interest in getting into that ride.
comment in response to
post
💔 and ❤️ for your community right now.
comment in response to
post
Ooh, now the finches are coming together, too? @nobleknits2.bsky.social no goldfinches but the pink ones are here! They were chatty on the big feeder, but they got quiet when they came on this one.
comment in response to
post
See, you’re invited to come anytime, then. Coffee and clutter, art and cats.
comment in response to
post
So, funny thing.
More than once I’ve had a custodian comment on how clean I keep a classroom. They assume my home is the same. 🫣😵💫
Nope. It’d take me 2 hours of frantic cleaning to invite someone over who we don’t already know well. Piles on bookcases, double-stacked shelves, piles on the tables.
comment in response to
post
Whereas I need… fewer people or more rooms 🤷
I mean, I can get rid of my own stuff. If I give it a good day, I can bust through a stack and sort the “keep” and “pass on” items without too much trouble. It’s the other stuff I can’t do much about.
comment in response to
post
Ah yes, useful and motivational.
Teaching in the early years is the most materials-rich, though I suppose art and science teachers come close.
comment in response to
post
Oh wow, I didn’t know this! Not thistle but like it.
I don’t buy it anymore bc it spoils so quickly. If I ever did, I’d get a small feeder and buy much smaller quantities… I love finches.
comment in response to
post
Oh goodness, that’s useful.
My parents’ home became a big DOOM box maze in their last years there, when mom was first set back physically, and then later by dementia. So the amount of stuff in our place regularly gives me a claustrophobic feeling when I consider it. Booooooks. Records. Stuff. 😬
comment in response to
post
Ooh yes, goldfinches adore thistles. Those tiny, expensive black seeds you put in finch feeders are from thistles, I think. It’s likely why I rarely see them at our window, though we get an occasional house finch.
Lovely singers 🥰
comment in response to
post
Sweet! I love those cheerful twee-dee-dee-deeps. Looks like he’s almost all the way summer yellow?
I knew they love thistles but yeah, didn’t know they go for these fluffy ones, too.
comment in response to
post
It’s my third year at this school and I never gave up… it just took this long to create a space safe and inviting enough to bring the birds. Ever since the returning blackbirds discovered it, it’s been busy with the year-round residents, too. Now just waiting for the blue jays & chickadees to come.
comment in response to
post
Sweet. I didn’t capture it, but he feeds her the best seeds he finds. Maybe they’ll be bringing their babies here some day soon.
comment in response to
post
Mr. Cardinal, too.
comment in response to
post
Yaaay!
It’s a thing I miss about those years driving up to look after my folks… her overgrown perennial gardens were a riot of colour that brought all the buzz. Hummingbirds, dragonflies (after the other bugs), butterflies, bees, these delightful weirdos. My herbs bring bees, but not these wonders.
comment in response to
post
Christopher Walken must’ve have his fair share of people doing a similar thing after Dead Zone.
comment in response to
post
That movie lived on in my head for years. Years! So when I first went for the gif and saw it labeled “a man in a trench coat and tie is standing in front of a building…” well, let’s just say I wasn’t leaving that for alt text. 😤
Photo was better quality, too.
comment in response to
post
Oh no, I hadn’t thought of that…
I can imagine it going either way, honestly. It’s iconic.
comment in response to
post
Em dash out in the open…
comment in response to
post
I was thinking Maarva’s words and the people of Ferrix knocking out a rhythm throughout the streets, or Kino Loy’s “One Way Out” speech, but the original SW definitely works too. bsky.app/profile/blac...
comment in response to
post
As an intro, you couldn’t pick a better bird to convince me of his talent… swifts are boss level fliers. These are great shots.
I love swifts so much 😍🖤