Linda's Magic Workshop - Linda Britt Design

Guinea Hen The feathers on the backs of birds form patterns when birds fold their wings and sit, perch or walk.    Slate-coloured Boubou The male and females of the same species are different because the male birds are usually so much more colorful. (I've often thought that was unfair!)  Male Woodduck Female Woodduck I started paying attention to the bird’s back patterns in Australia when I took a picture of a bird on a tall stick and tried to identify it. (Of course, I can't find that picture for this blog post!) The bird’s back was toward me and the back is not a typical field mark.  Sometimes I’m so involved in looking at the feathers and patterns that I forget to look at the field marks for identification!  Great Argus  And color certainly helps form the pattern. Different sizes and locations of feathers on the bodies and the wings, the way the wings fold together, different colors and the different ...

I've always loved birthdays.  It’s obvious from the photo of my 1 st birthday.   Mom made birthdays special with a small party of family and friends, a cake and candles and a small gift.  I always knew I was loved. Through the years the birthdays changed.  Sometimes I was near family and sometimes I was far away.  No matter – I had a birthday phone call and a package.  My husband made sure we went to dinner or were with friends.  Yes, I have been and am spoiled and loved!  When we moved to Tucson in the mid 1980’s a group of women just clicked and we started a birthday group.  I did not have a lot of women friends until then and had no idea how rich my life would be because of them.  Our birthday group started out with 4 ladies and the birthday girl could pick a theme (if not, the rest of us did) and she could invite whomever she wanted.  The group grew into rather large group.  The joy that we gave and recei...

Peter kept telling me that we needed to go to "Dagger Flats' in Big Bend and so we did.  The winding narrow gravel/dirt road required going slowly as we watched for snakes and birds and rabbits. We even met one car on the single lane road.  The further along the road we went the more Giant Dagger Yuccas we saw until we were surrounded and looking at large vistas of them. Before the bud   Hundreds of flowers on each stalk See all those white dots in the photo?  Those are blooming yuccas! I was fascinated by the tall stalks laden with white blooms and really started to look at the way the flowers open from one large bud into hundreds of smaller blossoms.  I took pictures of all the stages - lots of pictures - and selected these to show you the life of the blooming stalks. The surprise - seeing a bright yellow and black hooded oriole singing his heart out among the white flowers.  Awesome! Hooded Oriole Buds and opening ...