The World War II Memorial in Washington DC

Jan and I were privileged to go to Washington DC recently (me for work, Jan for a much needed vacation), and we toured the various monuments and memorials around the White House and the Capitol.

My dad had served in the Navy during World War II, and I was especially anxious to see and photograph the WWII Memorial while we were there.

The memorial was spectacular, and I tried several series of photos to make a panorama of it. This one was the best attempt. You can see the Lincoln Memorial in the center distance.

I hope you like this. There are more photos, which I'll be sharing soon, but I am very proud of this one, so it comes first.

More later,

Mike Z

Cat Stuck in the Tree



Jan was washing the car this afternoon, and I was raking leaves. We kept hearing a very sad cat crying, but neither of us could locate it. I was looking in the bushes beside our house when Jan said, "Look! It's stuck in the tree!"

Sure enough, there was the cat in the very tallest branches of the oak tree.

We called her and called her, and she tried to get down, but just couldn't work up the courage.

As I write this, it is about midnight. I checked on her just a few minutes ago and she is still up there. I hope she gets hungry enough to overcome her fear, because it is pretty chilly out there tonight.

Monday Morning: Well, I couldn't stand it. Woke up early and put on a robe (it's nippy out today!) and rushed out to see if the tree-climbing kitty was still up there. Good news! Her hunger and cold overcame her fear of climbing down and she was no longer there. I hope she doesn't try that again!

All the best to you (and the cat),

Mike Z

Captured a Bird on our walk around Town and Country

Jan and I took a walk around the neighborhood, and along the hike/bike trail in Town and Country Sports Center, where I was certain I would find some birds to photograph. I brought the small camera, a Nikon P90, so I could take some quick shots if anything showed up. We saw some crows, and I was beginning to feel like that might be all I would see. Suddenly a large shape flew out of the tree over my head, and this bird landed in a tree across the waterway. I ran the zoom on the P90 out all the way and took about 5 shots. These two looked the best.

I believe this nest was where the bird flew from

I am very much a novice birdwatcher, but I had not seen this kind of bird in the area before (that I can remember). He (or she) looked around for a couple of minutes then flew on.

I looked the bird up in my Pocket Naturalist Guide, and the closest I can come to is, this might be an Osprey. I did not get a good look at the breast, so that didn't help. Also the Osprey has a dark stripe across the eyes. If anyone out there knows what this bird is, please leave me a note. I will continue to look it up on the 'web and if I find out, I'll post a PS.

Looking back at my previous post, Birdwatching the Day after Christmas, I can see some similarities between that bird and this one. Same yellow nostrils, same curved beak, stripe on tail feathers. But I think the head is lighter colored than the "Christmas" bird.

I will look at the crow and mockingbird photos, and post them on another note if they're ok.

Till next time,

Mike Z

Nakia - An Austin Original with UPDATE

Nakia at South by Southwest sings One More Try

Nakia is one of my favorite Austin singers. He gave a concert at the Open Ears Concert at our church recently and though the audience was way too small just sang his heart out the entire evening.

I think he is going to get a lot more "famous" with folks outside Austin now that he is going to be on the new TV show "The Voice." I can't wait to see how he does.

He deserves lots of ears to hear him sing and play.

Till next time, all the best,

Mike Z


PS: The Voice was on last night, but Nakia wasn't on this week. I'll watch next week and let you all know.
UPDATE: Saw Nakia on the show, he picked Cee Lo Green as his coach. Good choice since he sang one of Cee Lo's songs! I hope he does well. We'll see.