Posts

Italy Impression I - My Watercolor of Venice

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“This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty - this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism.” I am not sure who wrote it, but I felt the same when I was there. There are some my watercolor paintings to express the beauty of Venice: Here is link for viewing my watercolor gallery:  http://xueling-zou.artistwebsites.com/art/all/watercolors Or join me at: FaceBook Instagram Twitter Pinterest

My Hummingbird Neighbors III - An Awarded Single Mother

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Nature is really full of mysteries. After finding the first abandoned nest, I thought that the mother hummingbird was inexperienced. But who knew this tiny bird could be so smart, to raise babies as a single mother, she started building a second nest nearby. I had no idea how or if this mother hummingbird moved her two coffee bean size eggs to that second home, after she experienced that the first location did not work out for them. I missed the beginning of the eggs being hatched. But now, I could see baby hummingbirds only slept and ate, and grow fast each day. One baby was bigger than the other one, I think it is a male from the eye expression. The other one looked like a girl. The mother hummingbird always fed him first. They had their own priority I believe. The half walnut size nest was getting so crowded, sometimes the two babies laid on top each other. Taking care of two babies as a single mother was not an easy job, I could see the mother hummingbird was getting sli

My Hummingbird Neighbors II - Watching the babies grow

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We moved into our new house in August of 2008. These two plum trees grew so fast I had to ask the gardener to trim them twice a year. I didn't ask for trimming the trees because of the hummingbird this spring, They grew a little wild, and the branches started to reach our house, they made some scraping noises on windy days. So, I reminded the gardener to do his duty for us, since our hummingbird never came back to the nest. Our gardener did a very good job trimming the two trees. These two trees could get most of their sunlight around noon. I still saw a hummingbird came back to the tree area. Some day in middle of May, I was in our garden and saw a hummingbird landed on the second tree (not the tree where I originally spotted the nest). I saw in silhouette what seemed like the mother feeding babies. My heart started pounding, and I ran as fast as I could to our upstairs where one our windows faced the tree. Amazingly, I discovered that there were two big and fat hu