Every year in February, Cornell Labs hosts the Great Backyard Bird Count. In 2026 the participation dates are February 12-16.
By using the data collected from folks just like you, Cornell Labs is able to understand the migration and population dynamics of birds, like the American Robin shown below.
Be counted! American Robin
Join the Thousands of bird counters counting birds this winter! It’s easy. Just sign into the Great Backyard Bird Count webside (Click on the link and technology will zip you to the website.)
Pronounced EE-molc, Imbolc, which loosely translated means ewe’s milk or in the belly, is the celebration of light and the return of life, representing the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. For those of us following the pagan path, Imbolc is the first day of spring, the day the Celtic goddess Brigid (pronounced Breed) wakes from her winter slumber. For half the year she’s been living in the underworld, perhaps knitting scarves or darning socks, but her return is the transformation from the crone of winter to the maiden of spring, and the beginning of new life. Imbolc is also the time when lambs give birth and their milk starts to flow, which ties in nicely with the whole ewe’s milk translation.
Note: I’ve updated this post many times over the years; this is the latest version.
Imbolc dates back to early 10th century in the British Isles, pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland to be exact.. Back when online shopping wasn’t a thing and gardening catalogues hadn’t happened yet. All the people had to help them mark the seasons were the sun and moon, and lactating ewes.
Christians adopted Imbolc, changed the day by one, called it Candlemas, and bingo, a new saint, St. Brigid, was given to the people of the land as a replacement for the pagan goddess, Brigid. According to author Patti Wigington, “When Ireland converted to Christianity, it was hard to convince people to get rid of their old gods, so the church allowed them to worship the goddess Brigid as a saint – thus the creation of St. Brigid’s Day.” Here’s an interesting tidbit, the perpetual flame burning in most early Christian churches is likened to goddess Brigid’s fire.
As time passed a groundhog found his way in the mix and we got Groundhog Day.
Nope not that one.
Yup, that one.
Today, Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog weather guru, saw his shadow when he was pulled from his warm burrow and placed in the frigid morning air. ‘Six more weeks of winter,’ he snorted! The first official Groundhog Day celebration was held on February 2, 1887, in, you guessed it, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Thus Phil’s name.
You don’t have to be a groundhog to honor Brigid. Light a white candle, dance in the warming rays of the sun, or sip a cup of ginger tea and look at the new plants for 2026.
Another way to celebrate Imbolc is by making an egg and milk-based food. I’m partial to baked custard.
Baked Custard
Ingredients
4 large eggs
3 cup cold evaporated skim milk (or regular whole milk if you’re not counting Calories)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a mixer and beat for about 15 seconds, or until well mixed. Pour mixture into ramekins or custard cups. Place the ramekins into a baking dish, and fill the dish with hot water up to a depth of about ¾”. Bake the custards for one hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Dust with nutmeg before serving.
Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere who follow the Wheel of the Seasons don’t need a groundhog (though they are very cute) to know the sun is returning. A few buds might be seen on the trees and, if there wasn’t a foot of snow on the ground, one might see some crocus flowers. Instead, I’m treated to a hungry American Bald Eagle …
… and the remains of a Canadian Goose.
Remains of a Canadian Goose.
May the seeds of spring grow in your heart and may you have food for your belly and warmth for your home. Blessed Imbolc to you.
A beautiful Maine Coon cat was found on my street, Elsie Avenue. I rescued it and Christine, the Animal Control officer took him to the pound where he would be warm and safe. He didn’t have a chip so we have no way of knowing who owns him.
Kitty
Christine and I posted to Facebook for Billerica about Kitty but nobody has come forward.
I’ll be fostering Kitty for a while although I’m not sure Sam and Oreo are going to welcome him.
Samantha, not looking too happy about our impending guest.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Me? Well, I’m a short, overweight, old Italian woman. Of those things, the only one I can change is being overweight.
I can’t stretch myself to 5’5″ like I was back in my 20s. Presently, I’ve shrunk to 5’3″! At this rate by the time I turn 80 my fingertips will touch the ground. And I won’t be bending over.
Damn vertebral discs.
I can’t magically whisk myself back to 1983. Too bad; 28 was a great age for me. I’d even take the year I ran my first marathon.
Me in 2003. Disney Marathon.
At 48-years-old, I was a lean, mean, fighting machine. Sigh. Oh, and I’m the one on the right in the above picture.
I can’t alter my heritage. Nor would I want to. I like being Italian. Maybe 2026 is the year I’ll learn to speak Italian instead of eating cannolis.
Oh, damn, those look delicious.
Back to my list. So what can I change? Well, I could try and lose the muffin top I’m carrying around.
Sadly, not this kind of muffin top. If you want the recipe, however, go here.
This is my kind of muffin top.
Excess belly fat after the age of 70 is dangerous. It’s linked to all sorts of nasty health issues, like Type 2 Diabetes. And a study published in Aging and Disease supported the idea that abdominal obesity may be linked to Alzheimer’s risk.
Okay, so how does a short, old, Italian woman go about losing her muffin top?
Cut the sugar!!!
Nooooooooooo. Please, anything but that. What will I do without my nightly visits by Ben and Jerry?
Oh, baby, come to mama.
Sigh.
What’s a short, overweight, old Italian lady to do?
I’ll answer that question in another post. Right now I hear the boys knocking at my freezer door.
It’s that surgical procedure I mentioned in my previous post where holes are drilled in the frontal bone so anti-fungal medication can be delivered directly into the dog’s sinus cavity.
Here’s the bottom line: if the fungus destroys the cribriform plate the aspergillosis spores enter the brain and the animal dies.
Not a pretty sight.
Trephination is the best treatment because it allows veterinarians to get the anti-fungal medicine directly onto the infected areas of the sinuses.
According to AI: Canine trephination, specifically Canine Fossa Trephination (CFT), is a veterinary surgical technique where a small hole (trephine) is drilled into the canine’s maxillary sinus (cheekbone area) or frontal sinus to access and treat severe sinus infections like fungal sinusitis (Aspergillosis) or polyps, allowing for debris removal, irrigation, and topical medication delivery, offering a direct path to difficult-to-reach diseased tissue beyond standard endoscopy, though it involves surgical risk like infection or nerve damage if not done precisely.
Bailey and I visited with my local veterinarian on December 23, and discussed how best to treat her #caninefungus from #aspergillosis. Actually, he and I discussed the situation while Bailey sat and listened.
Here’s the scoop: Aspergillosis infection in dogs is common in locales where the weather is warm and moist, such as Florida, and other southern states. New England isn’t know for the flourishing of aspergillosis.
However, with the changes in temperature (can you say climate change?) our neck of the woods is becoming a breeding ground for the fungus, which is found in leaf litter, compost piles, soil, our houses…just about any where fungus can reach out and grab hold!!
Okay, you sigh, so aspergillosis is spreading its little spores everywhere. So what? Well, young or middle-aged, long-nosed breeds such as Greyhounds, Collies, German Shepherds, and Dachshunds are more often affected by nasal aspergillosis.
Labradors too.
No, not racoons; their snouts are short.Bailey, December, 2025.
Couple the above information with Bailey being on apoquel. It’s used to control allergic itching and inflammation from skin allergies, but it also supresses the immune system of the user.
Ta-da, Bailey’s nasal passages held out a welcome mat for the fungus.
Do you think if I ask them to donate to my Go-Fund-Me campaign for Bailey they would say yes? Worth a try, right?
Bottom line, used short-term, apoquel handles itching really well; used long term and your pooch is in for a tough journey.
My veterinarian couldn’t say that apoquel was the reason for Bailey’s fungal infection. Bailey might have a weak immune system to begin with, or the prednisone given to her for the IMPA could have reduced her immune system.
We’ll never know why Bailey’s immune system tanked and opened her up to a plethora of fungii. Remember the ringworm infection? You don’t? Well I do.
ringworm infection
What we do know is that Bailey if not out of the woods yet in her battle with aspergillosis.
Nasal aspergillosis, which we believe is what Bailey is fighting, is a localized infection.
If not cleared by the immune system the spores, called conidia, get into the bloodstream and spread to multiple organs. This is called disseminated aspergillosis and the survival rate is not good,
Dogs with the disseminated form of aspergillosis are often terminally ill and can’t be cured and often show symptoms related to which organs the fungus has attacked. Fever, decreased appetite, weakness and weight loss, spinal pain, lack of coordination and balance, open skin sores, coughing and sneezing, swelling of the eyes, wheezing, and neurologic damage are some of the symptoms.
Sooooo, how does nasal aspergillosis get treated to improve the dog’s health, you ask, while considering donating to #baileysjourney?
Debridement (This is what Bailey had done when she had a rhinoscopy. It’s where the nasal bones are scrapped to remove the fungus.) and then anti-fungal creams are applied directly into the sinuses.
Yours for the low, low price of $5000!!! Add pneumonia for an additional $6000!!!
Other treatments of nasal aspergillosis involve trephination, the surgical practice of drilling a hole into the skull.
Oooooooooooo.
The use of oral anti-fungal medications can be used to treat canine nasal aspergillosis and are often combined with topical treatments. Downside? The dog’s liver suffers.
Okay, so where are we, meaning Bailey and I?
Well, I’m in a financial hole of about $40,000 thus far.
Please refrain from telling me to put my dog down. If you don’t own a dog then you won’t understand the connection as pet can have to one’s soul. It’s magical.
But if you can spare $10, please consider donating to #baileysjourney. Or, share about my fundraising campaign on social media. Bailey and I would be most grateful.
The shortest day of the 2025 is here (unless you live Down Under, then you’re in for long, hot days).
At 10:03 today, December 21, the Winter Solstice, aka Yule, arrived.
Morning Dove sleeping in the winter sunshine.
Yule is one of the oldest winter solstice festivals with its roots in ancient Germanic times. Themes of light, fire, and feasting were common threads within the celebrations. Although its history isn’t linked to catholicism, Yule became a name for Christmas about the 9th century. But those of use who follow the craft, we celebrate Yule without a crèche or baby in a manger. Although I do enjoy John Denver and the Muppets singing Silent Night.
The original Yule log was usually a full tree that was brought into the house and burned from the bottom with the tip of the tree sticking out into the room (a bucket of water must have been kept handy) and burned for 12 days (thus, the 12 Days of Christmas song’s origin).
The tree/log was burned as a tribute to the Sun; a beacon of hope and light when people faced the darkest days of the year. Come spring the ashes were used as fertilizer.
Gathering the Yule Log.
For Wiccans, Yule is the second sabbat of the Wheel of the Year, celebrated with rituals to welcome the return of the light as the length of daylight increases.
Decorating a Yule Log is a popular ritual for many pagans. All one needs are some evergreen sprigs to represent life, winter berries for warmth, and candles for light, and a glue gun, for, well, glue. Oh, and matches. And pinecones if you’d like.
Yule Log Decoration
Since I have cats who chew on anything green, my Yule decorations are the spent flower heads in my gardens, providing seeds for the birds during the harsh winter months.
For those of you in the northern hemisphere, how will you celebrate the shortest day of the year? Here are some traditional activities: share a meal with loved ones, burn candles, sing, dance, scatter birdseed, reflect, write intentions for the coming months, or meditate. If there’s snow on the ground, going for a walk in the woods is always fun. Plus the snow keeps ticks at bay.
Pexels.com
On my best day I never looked as pretty. Damn, why didn’t I own a pink coat?
Whatever you decide to do today, I hope its wonderful.
Sunrise over the Concord River
May the longest night and the shortest day bring rest to your mind & soul.
As the cycle of light slowly increases, embrace the magic that the darkness bears.
May you find peace, and live with ease and comfort.
This is a real fungus that infects insects and turns them into zombie insects. No, it doesn’t infect humans, thus far, but one never knows.
Now, I can hear you shouting; ‘Okay, River Lady, here you go with another outlandish story about living on the Concord River.’
Not so. I’m just starting this post by making a comparison between the real zombie-like fungus the game is based on and the fungus that has infected my dog’s nasal passages. After all, life does imitate art.
No, my dog hasn’t turned into a zombie but, in my humble opinion, the fungus creating crusty layers of plaster-like plaque in her sinuses and nasal passages is as irritating as any zombie infestation could be.
Fungus plaque in a dog’s nasal passageway.
Here’s the story: When Bailey was bitten by two ticks back in summer of 2024 she developed an autoimmune condition called IMPA, which stands for Immune-Mediated Polyarthritis, ‘a painful condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks multiple joints, causing inflammation, swelling, stiffness, lameness, fever, and lethargy.’ (Thank you, AI)
Those tick bites: one shown here on her shoulder…
Bailey’s tick bite.
ultimately resulted in several nights in intensive care (for Bailey, not me) …
Bailey, at the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital, November 2024
a damaged liver (again for Bailey), a shattered molar (yup, Bailey), ring worm (Bailey), (and tons of medication (for both Bailey and me. Anxiety rules).
One of the medications Bailey took copious amounts of was prednisone. Ah, prednisone, so potent and so damaging to the body. Cue liver issues and a shattered molar.
Bailey seemed to heal and I did my due-diligence of making payments on the $32,000 in vet bills. Sigh, no trip to Italy for me.
I type ‘seemed’ to heal because the fungus Aspergillosis had yet to rear its crusty, fungal head.
Until now.
Bailey labored breathing.
When an immune system becomes compromised, this nasty fungus sinks its little fungal spores into the nasal passages of dogs, cats, and humans, too. In dogs it’s called Dog Nose Fungus.
‘Dog nose fungus” usually refers to a serious infection in a dog’s nasal passages, causing yellow and bloody discharge, sneezing, pain, and facial swelling, and deterioration of the delicate bones in the nasal passages, especially in long-nosed breeds.’ (Again, thank you AI)
Hope you haven’t eaten recently.
Long, miserable story later and Bailey ended up at Mass Vet Hospital again for a rhinoscopy. Hey, AI, you’re up: ‘ Rhinoscopy in dogs is a specialized endoscopic procedure using a tiny camera to see inside the nasal passages and sinuses, helping vets find causes for chronic discharge, bleeding, or sneezing by identifying tumors, fungal infections (like aspergillosis), or foreign objects, often combined with CT scans and allowing for guided biopsies for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Performed under general anesthesia, it’s a key tool for diagnosing nasal diseases, removing obstructions, and collecting samples for analysis, with most dogs recovering quickly.’
The procedure went well but the doctor wasn’t hopeful she had gotten all the fungus. Bailey might need one or two more scrapings. Or, as with some dogs, the medical team might have to enter the nasal area via the temporal bone.
Okay, breathe, Cynthia, breathe. The thought of my baby going through that is overwhelming to me. But, we’ll get through it.
So, Bailey is home and on more pills, including antibiotics for pneumonia. Oh, had I failed to mention she developed pneumonia and spent a few nights in intensive care? Well, she did…and did.
Bailey, Sam, and Froggy
Now comes the pitch. Ahem.
This last round of medical work cost over $12,000, bringing my total debt past $40,000. And more procedures loom. Soooooooo, I’m asking you to post this Go-Fund-Me link to your FaceBook page, Instagram page, or any other page, to help me raise the money to cover the costs associated with treating Bailey.
70 years ago a baby was born to Francis and Harry Gonnella, and the world was never the same.
Ha! I challenge you to decide which part of the above statment is false and which is true.
Today IS my birthday, and I’m celebrating it by sitting in the waiting room of the Massachusetts Veterinary Referral Hospital in Woburn.
Guess which dog is the reason for my being here?
Yup, Bailey.
Bailey, checking out the river.
Why not? Last year I sat here for her IMPA affliction and today…well, I have no idea what is wrong with her. She is having trouble breathing, her left nostril and left eye are discharging a yellow goo, and she yelps if anything touches the left side of her face. Also, she can’t open her jaw that well.
I took her to my vet three weeks ago and he couldn’t find anything immediately wrong so we started her on a course of antibiotics, which did nada.
So today she is scheduled for a rhinoscopy, ‘where a veterinarian uses a tiny camera (rhinoscope) to visually examine the inside of the nose and sinuses for issues like chronic discharge, sneezing, bleeding, or foreign objects, allowing for magnified views, fluid flushing, and even biopsies to diagnose infections, tumors, or autoimmune conditions, providing a detailed look beyond X-rays.’ (Thank you, AI)
Poor Bailey. 🤕
And Happy Birthday to me. Stay tuned for a new post about getting old. Sigh.
I think I’ve posted this topic before but I’m old and my mind isn’t as sharp as it was. So, here it is again: I fell down my steps.
Not a ton of steps, just seven. Seven hard steps.
No, I’m not suffering from NPH again. I’m not dizzy. The ground is not tilting.
I’m just…for lack of a better word…stupid.
I have two banisters but do I use them? Nooooooooo. I have to carry a pitcher of water in one hand and a bag of birdseed in the other and step onto the frozen deck like it’s summertime. La-dee-dee.
Oh oh!
It was 6:30 in the morning with a temperature of 22 degrees.I took a hardy step onto the top of the deck and whoops! baboom-baboom-baboom-baboom.
My final destination was the bottom of the steps, drenched in water and spitting out birdseed.
Inventory time as I lay there in a dazed WTF moment.
I hit the back of my head, shoulders, wrist, and that useless bone – the coccyx. Seriously, why do humans need the coccyx?
So, once again I gave myself a mild concussion (ahhh, memories of when I tripped over the retaining block and knocked myself out – sigh).
My neck is fine and the nausea and headaches have passed but I may have broken my coccyx (I repeat, it’s a useless set of bones) and I’ve bruised the heck out of my backside.
concordriverlady.com 
