Vulture – Education

Turkey Vulture

Okay, I don’t even know where to begin on this word/bird association. It certainly doesn’t seem intuitive to me. On the other hand I’m not certain it’s a bad choice either. After all, vultures are far more interesting than they appear. Turkey Vultures have an amazing sense of smell. They have even helped sniff out gas leaks.

Check out wikipedia for more information on these birds.

The card was very appropriate for this day. It was the last day of the conference and I was both a learner and a teacher. I was relieved that my presentation went well.

Hummingbird – Energy (Thursday August 6th)

Allens Hummingbird

This is a fantastic match between bird and concept. If ever there was a bird going non-stop it would be a hummingbird.

The day began and I thought that it would be about managing my excess energy.  Nope, that wasn’t meant to be, instead it was the need FOR energy.  I stopped for breakfast before heading to the conference.  While eating I felt my face getting hot. While standing waiting to pay, it seemed to get hotter.  I got to my car and looked and I was red as a beet, neck included and had started breaking out in hives.  I drove back to my hotel and took two benadryl then ran through the shower. After slathering on some cortisone cream I went to bed hoping for the best. I did consider going to the hospital, but thought I’d give it an hour and see if I couldn’t bring things down myself. If it had worsened, you better believe I’d have gone.

I usually only take 1 benadryl.  Two knocked me out for the full 4 hours. I did check on my status at the 30 minute mark and the hives on my elbows had started to go away so full on sleep seemed smart.  I was very relieved to wake up and be free of redness and hives. PHEW! I went to the second half of my conference day feeling sleepy and relieved.  Yeah, I definitely needed more energy.

Turkey – Generosity (Wednesday August 5th)

Turkey

You know a turkey may be the most generous of birds, but I don’t think it’s voluntary. Every Thanksgiving thousands of the birds are eaten. I find them delicious.

To commemorate a past event you kill and eat an animal. It’s a ritual sacrifice … with pie. — Anya (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Did it match my day? Well, I tried to be certain that I tipped my wait-staff 20% But otherwise I was focused on being frugal. I’m on a business trip and didn’t want to overspend on anything.   Not the best match today, but maybe I’m not digging deep enough for greater meaning…

Nutrition – Health (Tuesday August 4th)

Good Food

My Twitter for the day read: Card of the day: nutrition – health (WTF? it’s like they ran out of ideas for words they wanted to use, why not bird seed or bird feeders??)

And I think that’s all that really does need to be said about word association.

Today was a 12 hour driving day. The drive was beautiful, mountains, streams, trees, wildflower… ah nature. Driving brings out the bad food cravings like nothing else can. I’ve been working on changing my focus from what I want that’s bad to what I could want that’s good.  I’d call this a very good day nutritionally speaking, particularly for a driving day. No junk food from the stop-and-robs and moderate fast food.  I did indulge in a Dr. Pepper. This is my favorite soda, but most of the time I don’t drink soda pop. It’s just too much in the way of caffeine, sugars, and corn syrup.  I end up with headaches from soda so I generally avoid it.  However, there is much to recommend it when you need to stay awake while driving.  I just have to make sure I take advil with it.  🙂

Yeah, I’d say this was a great card for the day, I just wish they’d done a better job with the imagery.  Shoulda been a bird feeder.

Loon – Imagination (Monday August 3rd)

Common Loon

I actually think this is one of the best match-ups so far. The loon’s cry is eerie, haunting and beautiful. It is a call to stir the imagination. You can hear it at http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/loon/identification.html

My day was busy as I tried to get everything done at work and at home in preparation for my trip. I should have used this card as a warning to imagine my trip in more detail. I could have saved some money if I had really visualized everything that I might be doing, and the weather I might encounter.  On the other hand, I now have a gorgeous new sweater…

Waxwing – Curiosity (Sunday August 2nd)

Bohemian Waxwing

Word/bird? Well, I’m curious how they put this together. Waxwings are gregarious, cheerful masked birds that love fruit and have been known to wait until the fruit has become alcoholic in nature before indulging. I think I might have chosen overindulgence for this fancy bird.

It was a curious day overall, I helped my daughter go through lots of stuff. We’re trying to lighten up our lives by getting rid of excess stuff.  I got a small pile of books together to get rid of too.

Woodpecker – Hope (Saturday August 1st)

Downy Woodpecker

This is an interesting word/bird association. I would have chosen work or perserverance, but hope isn’t out of line. After all, don’t we work or perservere in hope of achieving something? As for my day? Well I had a lot of hope that I would be able to get things done so I could head out for a party and I did.

I think the simplicity of the deck is getting to me. I am going to perservere in the posts for each day, but they’re not going to be very lengthy. Most of the cards are so simplistic as to be irrelevant. I can find something in every day for every card. I don’t see it focusing or highlighting anything. I just thought of something, maybe hope is truly appropriate. The ivory billed woodpecker was thought to be extinct. All birders are hoping that the sightings of this bird in the wilds of Arkansas are real and it will make a comeback.

Pelican – Spontaneity

American White Pelican

Pelican’s have traditionally been associated with sacrifice, it was thought that they fed their young blood pecked from their own breast. Pelican’s don’t move with any kind of spontaneity either. To take off they have to put a lot of effort into it. Once airborne they are gorgeous flying with long wing beats and soaring up thermals. They reminded me of B52 airplanes from World War II, flying in formation with wingbeats matching up like a drill team. They are a marvel to watch. But they are far from spontaneous.

Ignoring the irritating bird/word association, the day didn’t seem very spontaneous. Not until evening when I was eating and suddenly there was a hard bit. The hard bit was a piece of my tooth that I didn’t even know was loose/chipped. How weird is that?! I had a big filling in the tooth so it was just a bit off the side. Later I lost the filling too. So now I can look forward to dental work on Monday morning. I am sooooo not excited about this.

Lark – Clarity

Western Meadowlark

I grew up in the middle of no-where Idaho surrounded by farm land. Every summer morning I was greeted by the sounds of the Western Meadowlark.  It is one of the loveliest of songs, to me. And always reminds me of the promise of a bright summer morning. Although the picture on the card is of a more generic lark, I am going to link it with the meadowlarks of my youth.  Clarity is a fine association for me. I find my head clearer, and my mind more alert in the morning hours.

As a watchword or theme for the day, maybe. I tried to see things more clearly, to focus on projects and to have a clearer vision of what had to be done.  I have a new folk remedy for migraines I must try (a tablespoon of local preferably raw honey). Someone at the party last night suggested it.  Who knows, it might work as well as anything else…

I did have the clearness of thought to ask my husband directly about our finances and what would happen if I wrote a check out for stuff at the slumber party.  Needless to say, the answer wasn’t what I hoped for. Still, it was a good thing. I am really hoping for us to stay a little more on the positive side of the bank account.   Doesn’t happen that often that we get to the other side, but with my husband being under-employed and my adult daughter now back and unemployed things are a little tight.

Crane – Celebration

Sandhill Cranes

I have watched Sandhill Cranes do their mating dance and it is a wonder to behold. It is a celebration of life, romance and spring. After the Robins arrive in Idaho the Sandhill Cranes return bringing with them a break in the snow and ice. The lakes are thawing when the cranes are dancing. I like this pairing very much.

Unfortunately I didn’t find much to celebrate yesterday. First I was in an online meeting for 2+ hours, this can deaden anyone’s verve. Then I got a migraine. It’s all downhill after that.

There is much in my life worth celebrating, just not yesterday.