感謝祭：kanshasai, meaning "Thanksgiving Celebration"

Those are relatively tough kanji, actually. The last one, 「祭」is まつり、matsuri, meaning "festival", which you may have heard before in Japanese media. :3

I was going to make the traditional list of "things I am thankful for", derp derp, but that would be a very long post, including such things as clean water, pugs, and Canada.

Instead, here is a list of groups whose hard work I am thankful for.

The ASPCA: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

11/19/09: Wilma, rescued by the ASPCA

The first and oldest humane organization in the Western Hemisphere, the ASPCA works to rescue animals from abuse, pass humane laws, and share resources with shelters nationwide.

donate to the ASPCA or donate as a holiday gift to someone special

Unicef: The United Nations Children's Fund

The United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and health care to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. It has since evolved into the world's largest advocate for children in impoverished and war-torn nations, providing long-term humanitarian assistance to children and their mothers.
 

donate to UNICEF

PRBO Conservation Science

Founded as Point Reyes Bird Observatory in 1965, PRBO Conservation Science is dedicated to conserving birds, other wildlife and ecosystems worldwide through innovative scientific research and outreach.
 

donate to PRBO

If there's another cause you favor, you can always find a charity of your own to support. :D

Or if you've got a few minutes, you can donate your clicks to a good cause.
 

Happy Thanksgiving, 感謝祭おめでとうございます。:3

Birds and Beads

やっと秋らしくなりましてよかった。^w^

One last image from the Japanese Festival:

This little bird, likely a female Anna's hummingbird, appeared in the welcome center and promptly started snacking on a flower arrangement. The staff set up a little feeder (should the flowers run dry of nectar), and the bird happily hovered over the crowd all afternoon.

蜂鳥: hachidori (hah-chee-doh-ree)
Hummingbird; literal translation is "bee bird."

And now, back to the show.

I have some beads here, and some thread. Beadweaving ensues. :D

Some really, really old CDS rings that Ku made in, I dunno, maybe middle school. -_-;

While you can find all manner of beadwork tutorials on the internet, I haven't yet come across one for conjoined daisy stitch. Ergo, I'mma make one meself.

The two are only slightly different:

CDS is stronger and more compact than regular daisy stitch because each flower shares its east and west petals with the one next to it.

This allows flowers to overlap:

...or, you can divide individual flowers with pillars of a counter color, たとえば:

In any case, here's how to do it:

All you need are some beads, some string of a gauge small enough to go through those beads, and a thin needle to help you get said string through aforementioned beads. ビーズ、糸、と針しかいらない。簡単でしょう？ ^-^

Prolific!

Remember the little guy from this post?

He's a big brother now. :D

New pattern coming up soon, honest. (I've been on a writing kick lately, and more words = less images.)

We Have a New Birdfeeder

...with anti-squirrel technology.

(Still can't stop the damn raccoon, though.)

New post coming up later. ^_^ 少々お待ち下さい〜

Door Into Summer

It's the first day of summer, so says I. Here's proof:

A baby cardinal, perched on the roof of my (very dirty) car.

As you can tell by the closeup, he didn't even flinch when I put the camera right in his little face. Close inspection revealed that there was no nest in the tree overhead. There were, however, a mated pair of two very noisy adult cardinals perched on the mailbox. I put two and two together and decided this little guy wasn't a gravity case, but rather right in the middle of flight training. It doesn't take more than a couple of hours for most songbirds of this size to test their wings out of the nest, so actually coming across the event is pretty lucky.

Sure enough, as soon as I backed off, the adults give us a low fly-by, and the kid flaps his cute little butt right off the car and 20 feet through the air, into the yard for a 3-point landing.

Welcome to the neighborhood, little guy. Feeder's out back, refill is on Sundays.

Have a good summer!