One of my favorite motivational quotes comes from Neal Donald Walsh: "Yet here is a secret of all Masters: keep choosing the same thing....over and over until your will is made manifest in your reality." And when the going gets tough, which is sometimes the moment before reaching the finish line, I recite this encouragement in my mind..."just keep chosing the same thing". And whatever project or activity I'm struggling with seems to finish itself!I also recently came across a fun way to think of these goals. Artist Karen Winters refers to them as "the things I'm looking forward to in 2009"on her blog The Creative Journey. And since I began both my blog and a facebook page in 2008, I will celebrate the launching of these two activities and the coming year by posting a few of the things I'm looking forward to in 2009.
--sending out query letters to find an agent for my novel
--finishing the last few pages of a whooping crane coloring book project and zipping it off to my layout partner in this endeavor
--spending a week of watercolor practice with Ann K. Lindsay and art friends in New York
--visiting Cape May and enjoying nature in a few other new places
--spending more time painting watercolor landscapes and the birds I've photographed
--developing a notecard series (or two) of backyard birds
--spending more time in the outdoors, hiking, sketching, photographing, kayaking
--creating a handmade moleskin sketchbook and filling it with a year's observations, stories and sketches
--creating new ways to display and market my art!
Okay, that's enough for now. I noticed there is a lot of playing on my list. Welcome 2009!Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year with many things to look forward to!
Photo: Greater sandhill cranes flying to roost at the Hiwassee Island, Dayton, TN.
Art: "The Return", original watercolor by Vickie Henderson.
I looked at the sharp beak, the heavy streaking and the wing stripes and went through all the finch-like birds in my field guides before landing on pine siskin, a bird that winters in TN, but that is unfamiliar to me.
I would have missed this new visitor altogether, had I not been sitting in the chair that looks out on the 
When I hung up the phone, I picked up the camera and shot these images through the glass knowing that if I opened the door the opportunity would be lost. As it was, he only lingered a few minutes longer.
I would have never seen the bit of yellow on his wing without the photos, nor had the opportunity to really look at his unique beak which is so sharply pointed.
I laughed when I saw this photo. Is this attitude or what? A puff-ball with a scowl! This was one of a pair of
And did I mention sweet? Isn't the image below one of the sweetest?! 
Doesn't this tufted titmous get the "what are you looking at" award?!
For the past three days we've been deluged with rain, soaking rain. But on this overcast day the wind took center stage, ebbing and flowing, sometimes whispering for an instant, then roaring through the tree limbs like an ocean tide. You can feel the air changing. We have colder temps promised and snow in the forecast, so I went out to get some bird feeding supplies. More on that later.
It was also a perfect morning to play with paints. Over the past week, I have sketched the 
I used my sketchbook to get an idea of the values and colors I wanted to use, to see where I want to place the darks and lights. I tried different mixes of colors, too, so that when I begin on my watercolor paper, I'm warmed up and have a better idea of where I'm going. 
This is a second sketch of the kinglet on watercolor paper taped to a backboard and ready to paint.
3) I learned to 
4) I hate to shop. It doesn’t matter what kind of shopping. Either 
6) A 
Just last month I saw my first ruby-crowned 
When I do this, I'm never disappointed. And this cutie was on the move! I could hear her "see-see" call but it took some concentrated effort to locate her. Even when I knew where she was, much of the time she was obscured by pine needles.
I love that bright yellow crown!
I assume this is a female unless their plumage changes in the winter. Anyone with more knowledge of this species, feel free to chime in.
Richard van heuvelen describes the reaction of the juvenile cranes in his lead pilot's 
The situation gave me pause. I had a five hour drive ahead of me but could I pass up this opportunity to at least see if I could find him? I put everything on hold, retrieved my camera from the car and began scanning the nearby hardwoods. And my efforts were rewarded.
Aided by his calls and movement, I located him on a long horizontal limb, well out of range of my 300 mm lens, but not so far that I can't give you some soft images of this beautiful bird, the largest of our local 
I could see wood chips flying as I watched through the lens, but this was not so easy to capture. His movements were not the lingering, steady pounding of the 
According to 
As I stood photographing him, I heard an exchange of calls and when he took flight, another pileated woodpecker followed him. It was a treat to see his wing span, the white feathers beneath his wings and his long slender neck as he held his head upright in flight. 
Whether this was our resident male and his mate, I can only speculate. Pileated woodpeckers maintain a strong pair bond and live on territory in TN year-round. But we also have many visitors that winter over or pass through and residents are said to tolerate the presence of a few visitors in their territory during wintering months.
In the photo above taken Sunday morning before I departed again for east TN, Richard van heuvelen tests the lower wind levels while the other three trikes, visible to viewers at points in the distance, test the level of wind disturbance at other elevations. It was decidedly a "no-go" as the winds were gusty and too strong, even though they were coming from the right direction.
As Richard flew over the viewers, his trike's passenger pod rocked in the wind beneath the wing which makes for a very rough ride and impossible conditions for flying with birds.
Above you can see the 
