Tck, Tck, Tck October 15, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Coastal Restoration.Tags: climate change, copenhagen, globalwarming, tcktcktck
2 comments
A Monarch Minute October 12, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Uncategorized.2 comments
So I’ve been pretty busy lately. I spent two wonderful days in the Lower 9th Ward this week at an Institute for Sustainable Communities network meeting, have been preparing for a week of advocacy presentations in Chicago and a funders tour in the 5 Bayous and a possible trek to DC following Chi-town. And on top of all that, I even managed to get a little fishing in yesterday thanks to BW, and although I didn’t manage to get any fish in the boat, I’m happy that BW did.
I also happened to be passing my favorite photog spot, and even though I really needed to be making 12,000 copies and burning 100 DVDs, I decided to stop for a few minutes and see if my friends Mr. Osprey and Mr. Eagle might swing by to say hello. Although they didn’t stop by that day, they did swing by the boat yesterday for a very quick flyby.
Yes, that is an osprey and an eagle. Really, I swear. And this photo reminds me of a recent post I made about the importance of never, ever leaving home without my camera. Well, let’s just say that if you live in south Louisiana, you should never, ever leave home without your camera, but you should also make sure you’ve got the right lens locked in place cause you just never know. Oh well, better luck next time.
So, anyway, back to my quick stop at my favorite photog perch…while Mr. Eagle and Mr. Osprey didn’t stop by that day, another winged creature did.
For more Monarch Minute photos, click here.
To view the video I’ve been making copies of, click here.
And to check out the photos from my amazing and inspiring trip to the Lower 9th Ward, click here.
Next stop…the Windy City. Later gators!
The Art of Simplicity is a Puzzle of Complexity October 9, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Ramblings.7 comments
I know it’s a little early for a Christmas story, but just come with me on this trip down memory lane. Every Christmas, someone in my family would invariably get a puzzle. It was usually my brother. And after all the presents had been torn open, thank you’s exchanged, and the blizzard of wrapping paper collected and hauled out to the trash, the puzzle box would get opened and the pieces dumped on the dining room table.
And so the dance would begin. While Grandma worked away on preparing our holiday feast in the kitchen, three or four of us would start flipping all the pieces over trying to sort out, and set aside, the edge pieces. Hands would start bumping in to each other and apologies would be exchanged.
Sometimes you’d get lucky and two or three pieces would already be assembled having snuck through the box-shaking machine at the puzzle factory. But the rest of the 4982 pieces would just be strewn about the table taunting us.
Sometimes two or three people would sit at the table while munching on Grandma’s infamous sugar and molasses cookies trying to stave off the hunger pangs induced by the incredible smells emanating from the kitchen. Grandma would occasionally glance out of the kitchen at the puzzle put-er-togethers and then return to whipping up mashed potatoes and monitoring the progress of the turkey and ham in the oven.
Throughout the day, Grandma would continue her peeks out of the kitchen. Sometimes she’d see a group huddled over the puzzle as the pieces started to fall together. Sometimes she’d find just a lone soul, head shifting back and forth from the dwindling pile of pieces to the incomplete, but taking shape, scene. Sometimes the table would be abandoned momentarily while moans and groans at a missed field goal could be heard around the television.
And although we all knew in the back of our minds that the puzzle would not be completed in time for the table to be set for dinner, no one protested when the pieces had originally been dumped on the table. As Mom stared the usual “We need some help setting the table” routine, we’d started searching about for a nice suitable piece of cardboard and began the delicate process of transferring our “work in progress” to be set aside for later.
After the dessert dishes had been cleared, the puzzle, now resting on its cardboard perch would return to the table and the dedicated would continue on with our mission while the not-so-dedicated found a quiet corner from which to nap. But, as if sensing the approach of something big, various and sundry relatives would awake from their slumber and begin circling the table looking for an empty chair. Grandma’s peeks out of the kitchen became more frequent.
The suspense was incredible. Hands and arms began flailing about. More apologies at accidental bumps. And then, the group groan could be heard by the few faithful sports fans in the living room. How could it be?
And without fail, Grandma would stroll out of the kitchen, reach in to the front pocket of her flour and gravy-stained apron, and pop in that last piece of the puzzle proclaiming her victory and our defeat.
And that’s when I’d always remember that each piece of the puzzle is equally important. And I guess I learned a little something about life—something that I try to remind myself of every day. I am but one piece of the puzzle and I don’t mean a hill of white beans unless I’m connected to all the other pieces.
Not Smarter Than Your Average… October 5, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: wetlands, bald eagle, osprey, Louisiana Wildlife, herons, Photography, night heron, egrets
6 comments
Wish someone would write me a story, but the chances of that are pretty slim so I guess I’ll just have to write you all one instead. I’ll even make it an illustrated story since I know you’re just here for the pictures anyway.
The old truck rumbled down the crossroad. She hit the seek button on the radio. “Pump up the jam…,” ugh, high school flashback. Click. “Just $19.95 plus shipping and…”. Click. “It’d be easy to add up all the pain and all the dreams you set watch go up in flames…” Geez, that’s a pretty song. She usually doesn’t enjoy Country, but that’s pretty nice. Whoa! What the what? That’s Dave! Holy cow. She’ll need to find that song on iTunes when she gets back to civilization.
“…breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see? Today is the first day of the rest of my life….now I’m ali…” What was that? She checks the rear view mirror and pulls the old Ford to the side of the road and starts backing up while reaching in the camera bag. Click. “Is that what I think it is?”
Gosh, not sure. She sure wished that thing was a little closer and her eyes hadn’t starting giving out on her before she even hit puberty. Let me try again, she thinks. Click. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Hmm…sure does look like one even though it’s pretty darn fuzzy. But, she’d been fooled before. Click. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Oh yeah, definitely got something here she said to her friend peaking around the corner for a glance.
She opened the door carefully not to scare off the majestic creature and inched closer to the bank. Click. Click.
“Hey, where ya going,” she shouted. Click.
She cranked up the engine and headed in the direction of her prey. Hmmm…that could be it. Not sure. Click. Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Tough to tell. She grabbed the video camera from the front seat and decided to try to wait it out.
La la la. Boy that’s one stubborn bird she said to the buzzard or whatever that scary bird was hanging out in the nearby dead tree.
“Whoa. Kinda got some Dracula thing going on there Mr. Big Scary Bird.”
“Come on possible eagle. Come see.” Oh well, at least there were some other not-so-stubborn birds around to photograph while she waited. Click. Click. Click.
“Alright, I give up my stubborn, possibly-an-eagle-but-possibly-not-friend. I’m tired, hungry and lonely, and now it’s starting to get dark,” she said as she folded up the tripod and hopped down from the tailgate. “Maybe we will meet again some day.”
After unloading the truck, she sat down at the kitchen table and popped the memory card in the slot on the laptop for a closer look.
“Drat. Hello Mr. Osprey. I’m definitely not smarter than your average eagle. Send him my regards when you see him.”
“Nice catch though, Oscar! Wish I were fishing too.”
Happy x 2 October 2, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Fishing, Friends.Tags: redfish, Fishing, southern Louisiana, saltwater fishing
4 comments
Happy October 1, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Fishing, Friends.Tags: redfish, Fishing, southern Louisiana, saltwater fishing
4 comments
For Your Viewing Pleasure September 30, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Friends, Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: alligators, bald eagles, blue heron, cypress swamp, herons, Photography, south Louisiana, swamp tours
6 comments
Sorry y’all. Haven’t had much of anything interesting or funny to say lately, but a good friend was nice enough to take me on a swamp tour recently. So how about some pictures and I will save you from having to read my dribble?
What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been September 20, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Friends.Tags: alligators, Bayou, Bayou Grace, Chauvin, Coastal Restoration, flooding, hurricane relief, Hurricanes, south Louisiana
7 comments
Some day during the past week marked the one year anniversary of my arrival in Chauvin, LA. I can’t actually recall the specific date. According to my first blog post after arriving here, I said that I had arrived 11 days earlier. If the post on September 28th was correct, then I guess I arrived on the 17th since 28 minus 11 is 17. But since WordPress goes by Greenwich Mean Time for upload times, I might have actually made that post on the 27th, which would mean that I arrived on the 16th because 27 minus 11 is 16. But, then again, I stated that I only thought that I had arrived 11 days earlier.
You’d think I would have written this momentous occassion down somewhere. Oh wait, I did. I was keeping a journal of all the crazy things I experienced, like the giant pig running down the middle of the debris strewn highway straight at my car and almost hitting a downed telephone pole to avoid it. And seeing and smelling the dead pig in the bayou that didn’t survive the flood waters. And seeing televisions in trees. And the old Bayou People talking in Cajun French about the crazy Yankee girl unloading semi trucks of supplies. And shoveling seven inches of mud out of flooded homes. And being scared that the alligator that people saw a few days earlier in the field behind where I was staying in a borrowed RV from Idaho or Texas or someplace would eat my dog. And driving across a road collapsing in the water in order to help tarp roofs and gut out homes damaged by wind and high water. And eating fried alligator for the first time and deciding that it was really, really good and hoping that maybe it was the gator that people saw in the field behind where I was staying in a borrowed RV from Idaho or Texas or someplace. And hundreds of other amazing, tragic, humorous, crazy things. But long story short, my laptop got completely wiped out about three weeks in to this adventure and I lost everything. Yes, I do know that I should have backed everything up, but I barely had time to sleep in those first few weeks following the devastation of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, let alone back up my computer.
So let’s just say I marked my first anniversary on the bayou somewhere between September 15th and September 18th. But I guess I can’t really say that I “marked” it if I don’t actually know when it was. Anyway, I thought I would spend some time sharing the wisdom I have gained during this past year (give or take a few days). But unfortunately, my brain is completely fried after helping with three Bayou Bash fundraising parties in two days for the local kids and I need to hit the shower so I can help out with two more today. So for now, let’s just say that I am probably the most blessed person I know to have had the opportunity to meet the most amazing people I have met and experience the most amazing experiences I have experienced. Wouldn’t have traded one minute for anything in the world . And here’s hoping for another amazing year, minus shoveling mud and tarping roofs and gutting homes and crying with people who no longer have homes.
I’ve had the opportunity to photograph some unbelievably beautiful and amazing things during the past year, but this is my favorite. Most people probably wouldn’t give this photograph a second glance. Technically, it’s not a particularly great picture. The lighting isn’t too good. It’s not framed well. One of the subjects has her eyes closed. But to me, this photo is priceless. And every time I look at it, tears of joy and sadness stream down my face.
Don’t Leave Home Without It September 18, 2009
Posted by dianehuhn in Louisiana Wildlife, Photography.Tags: bald eagle, Photography, south Louisiana, eagles, eagle migration, flying eagles
7 comments
