Day 24 Welcome to Winter

24 December 2025

Good Morning,

Just look!

For those who celebrate Christmas, we hope that you and your family have a wonderful time together, sharing much joy, many good laughs, and making new memories. For those that don’t, we hope that your day is also full of good companionship, a walk in nature, and a hearty laugh about anything. Laughing can truly heal what ails us.

Nellie and Toby have settled into a really nice routine. Nellie sleeps at night and both enjoy their walks with Ellen. I am grateful to the enclosed garden so that both can go out and play in the snow without fearing they will go out and get lost.

In her holiday message, UK ceramic artist, Midori Tanaki, whom I met at the London Ceramics Fair in 2018, writes: “This year I have taken four months off. It has been the longest break since I started doing ceramics. I was worried if I would get bored, but I didn’t. I spent months cooking, preserving the harvest, walking and seeing people. I felt alive and relaxed. I don’t think I have really relaxed since I have started ceramics. I would like to take my life back now before it is too late. I am planning to take a four month break, again, in 2026. It is my way to rebalance my life and work, and to see what will await ahead.”

Tanaki is not the only individual writing about slowing down. Not only have I been bugging all of you to slow down, almost every blog that I have read, written by women, this past six months has talked about this need – to disconnect from social media and to reconnect with people and nature.

Australia was bold in restricting social media to those over 16. While you might think that terribly cruel, my granddaughter reports, as do the Australian papers, that people are actually doing things together. They no longer sit with their heads down at the table or on the beach, but instead spend time with others in good conversation and shared activities. Maybe it is time we all did this! I am so serious.

After having a glowing month, Don’s behaviour deteriorated slightly last week over the course of three days and today, the hallucinations that accompany Lewy body Dementia were very concerning. His medications have been changed. Please join me in hoping that they help calm his mind.

In this spirit of slowing down and feeling the need to spend some time with Don as he adjusts, I am going to take a three-day break from the blog – the 25th thru the 27th. Ellen will not be here to take the dogs for their walk, so it’s up to me to give them the much-needed exercise. It will be good for me, too!

In the meantime, let’s check on the nests with chicks and look in on Gabby and Beau who are next in line for hatch other than nests waiting for their second hatch, according to my calculations.

No pip in the 39 day old second egg at SW Florida. E26 is strong and is eating well.

CE14 is doing well at Captiva. It looks like there could a pip in that second egg.

Two beautiful bobbleheads being fed well at Dade County home to Ron and Rose.

Owlvira and Hoots are live in California. Here is the link to their cam: https://www.youtube.com/live/_ggfjm4ffpI?

Hoots delivering prey.

Thank you for being with us today. I will see you again in a few days. Sending you wishes for a wonderful holiday – no matter which you or celebrating or maybe you aren’t. Take care everyone.

Thank you to the owners of the streaming cams where I took my screen captures and to SK Hideaways for the post about Girri. We are so grateful that you allow us into the lives of these amazing birds.