It seems the time to see birds in my backyard is midday on a warmish day after a cold spell. Then they come in groups. All of these photos were taken through a window, so they are a bit fuzzy. The robins were bouncing around from tree to tree a few days ago.
A male cardinal was in the far end of my backyard. The telephoto lens on my camera allowed me to see this little guy.
I don’t often see blue jays in my backyard, but last week a group visited. They had a female and a male cardinal with them, too.
I wasn’t the only one birdwatching; I got a fuzzy photo of the neighbor’s cat, but you’ve all seen a cat before. This one was just lolling about in my garden, watching for possible prey. I bought a bird feeder in a sock at the supermarket (that I haven’t seen touched by bird or squirrel), and I found a window bird feeder online that I will order soon. After I get some work done.
Gary Rosenblatt, Editor of the Jewish Week, spoke in December
The Orthodox Forum of Highland Park/Edison features a variety of speakers; Gary Rosenblatt spoke in December on Responsible Journalism and the Orthodox Jewish Community. On Saturday night January 9th at 8 pm at Congregation Ohr Torah the Orthodox Forum of Highland Park/Edison is presenting Facing up to Abuse in the Orthodox Community: A Victim and a Rabbinic Leader Speak Out, with Mutti Weiss, a victim of child abuse, and Rabbi Yosef Blau, Mashgiach Ruchani at YU and current President of the Religious Zionists of America.
The question and answer section at the end was quite animated at Gary Rosenblatt’s talk. Questions were about his role in breaking the Baruch Lanner case, the pro-Israel stance of his paper and other newspapers, and why did the Jewish Week take so long to arrive in the mailbox after publishing.
There’s a house being built in Highland Park (and even more in Edison, but this one is on my side of the border). I photographed this house last week after a light snow. You can imagine where all the windows and doors will be.
Same house about three weeks ago. Lots of activity, they are building at a fast clip.
For the life of me, I could not remember what was there before. I knew there was a house, but I had no recollection of how it looked. And then my son went on Google Maps and showed me this:
They had torn down a perfectly nice-looking white colonial.
Cardinal Hiding in Burning Bush
I was excited when I spotted a bright red male cardinal in my neighbor’s burning bush (← click and scroll down to see how the bush looked in the fall). I took the shot through the window, so it isn’t all that clear. My family (and their loud voices) came home; when I went outside, the male cardinal along with the female and some beautiful blue jays had disappeared.
Last week I saw this sweet little heart hanging from a tree here in Highland Park.
