Thursday, November 13, 2014

A Small Bundle of Large Enthusiasms and Posts of the Week

It turns out that my blog, among many others, and probably still more to come has reverted back to word verification prompts. I dislike them as much as you do and please know that my settings are such that I do not allow it on my blog. And yet, there it is at the bottom of the comment form for at least some visitors. 

From what I understand, this is yet another attempt at Google forcing Blogger users to sign in with a Google+ account in order to not have to jump through the very annoying hoops of word verification. Google likes to tell us that it's to protect our accounts from anonymous posters but my blog settings also indicate that I don't allow anonymous comments. And folks who are not anonymous and who are signed into their usual Blogger profile are still seeing the WV. So that doesn't jive. 

So it appears that at least for now, many of us will be stuck with having to punch in those ridiculous letters and numbers which are so difficult for so many to see so that Google can continue to "protect" us. I'm sorry that my blog is among those.

Ahhh Google, I used to think you were the best. You've been a major disappointment for the past few years. 

❀    ❀    ❀


Everyone laughs at so small a bundle of large enthusiasms.
~ Aldo Leopold

 


sweet chickadee
We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit.
~ Tom Brown Jr.





chickie2
The chickadee and nuthatch are more inspiring society than statesmen and philosophers, and we shall return to these last as to more vulgar companions.
~ Henry David Thoreau





sweet chickadee3
Then piped a tiny voice hard by,
Gay and polite, a cheeful cry,
"Chick-a-dee-dee!" saucy note
Out of a sound heart and merry throat
As if it said, "Good day, good sir!
Fine afternoon, old passenger!
Happy to meet you in these places
Where January brings few faces.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson





chickadee dee dee
She is only a little chickadee
Not the boldest bird to sing
But she knows that she's most fortunate
there's no one else she'd rather be
She can fly, she can fly
Anywhere she'd care to roam
And call anywhere her home
She is only, a little chickadee.

~The Chenille Sisters





sweet chickadee2
The day was not observed when it first blossomed, nor when it first bore fruit, unless by the chickadee.
~ Henry David Thoreau





chickie
All my life I have tried to learn as the chickadee learns, by listening-profiting by the mistakes of others, that I might help my people.
~ Chief Plenty Coups


❀    ❀    ❀



And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if your blog post is named as a POTW.









***

A GOOD READ

Fixing Charlie Dinner
by Mage
at Postcards


This Time of Year
by Pauline
at Writing Down the Words


 Such Gratefulness
by SerentySeeking
at Ditching the Black Dog

 
I Want to Go to Lunch...
by Chicken
at Chicken's Consigliere


***
JUST PLAIN ALL AROUND GOOD

I Know a Great Place to Ride
by Steve
at Out on the Prairie


The First Cold Weather
by Tabor
at Room Without Walls


What I Learnt From Venice
by Fiona
at Lady Fi

 
***

PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Nuthatch
by Bob
at Birds and Nature in the Forest of Dean


Extremes
by Adrian
at Adrian's Images


Honoring Autumn
by Tammie Lee
at Spirithelpers


Late For a Very Good Reason
by Djan
at Djan-ity


Fall Beauty
by Sharon
at Sharon's Paws Create

***

Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.
 
Thank you

65 comments:

Cloudia said...

This is a wonderful post. Just delightful. Congrats winners-




ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= . <3 . >< } } (°>

Frank Baron said...

Ah, my little bro. ;)

And a quote from Plenty Coups. Nice. :)

Jackie said...

Worth the extra effort to type in a few letters/numbers to let you know how much I enjoy your artistic talent with the camera. Your quotations are always beautifully chosen as well. Hugs to you.....

ADRIAN said...

The Chikadee is a beautiful little bird. We have a similar one we call a Coaltit.
I am amazed I got a post of the week but thank you very much.

Laura~Pretty Pix said...

I love those little chickadees, beautiful captures!
I've noticed WV sneaking in where no one wants it. Grumble-Grumble.
Great POTW's!

Maggie May said...

Beautiful birdie photos. I love them.
Up till now I haven't had a problem with your blog.
I agree with your comments about why the problems are happening.
Its a shame we can't stay how we want to without pressure.
Maggie x

Andy said...

I hope this helps...
People who are logged in to Blogger - and who are visible as logged in - won't even see the new CAPTCHA, even if they want to comment anonymously. Only people who are not logged in (or who are not seen as logged in), and who wish to comment without logging in, will be inconvenienced.
Read about here http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2014/11/the-captcha-for-anonymous-comments-isnt.html

Suldog said...

Just seeing if it asks me to spell anything?

Suldog said...

Nope. Apparently, I'm safe and not a robot.

messymimi said...

Such a pretty bird! We sometimes see a different variety of chickadee, but not often.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

watching (seeing) these cute little birds makes me make little-girl sounds

(says the 6'2", 57yo, 230lb man)

thecrazysheeplady said...

Beautiful photos, as always. I was wondering what was going on with the comments on people's blogs. Argh.

DJan said...

I love the sound that chickadee makes. These quotes you've found (and poems) are just wonderful. And congrats to the POTW winners! :-)

The Furry Gnome said...

Thanks Hilary. Found some great new blogs to follow through your links.

Anonymous said...

Oh, that Word verification is such a pain!

Love the bird photos. And thank you so much for the mention this week.

Kerri Farley said...

LOVE your chickadees!

Sharon Wagner said...

Thanks for including me in your blog list this week! That is so nice. Those colors are long gone now. It is all white and cold out. Brrrrrr. The chickadee is a worthy bird. That is for sure. Great shots and prose.

Tabor said...

I noticed my WV is back as well and I am so memory deficient that I thought perhaps I had put it there!! I hate it as well. I have gotten a bit of spam this week and I also have found my security software has stopped a virus from a dear sweet blogger each time I log on to read her posts. Maybe China and Russia will be next in driving us all back to writing letters!!

A Cuban In London said...

That's funny, because the same happened to me the other day. I got rid of the word verificaiton function but I wasn't logged in to leave a comment. So, I did it from my comments page and there it was, word verification. I wonder if it's something to do with blogger.

Great photos, as usual. You can do anything, little birds, chipmunks, the whole lot. Thanks.

Greetings from London.

Bob Bushell said...

Beautiful Chickadee or Coal Tit as we would call it. Excellent photos Hilary. Thanks for the mention.

William Kendall said...

Quite a cute bird!

I haven't noticed an issue with your blog requiring verification.

Ruth Hiebert said...

I love,love,love the Chickadee. You have lovely pictures of them.

TexWisGirl said...

your title is perfect for these tiny sprites! love them.

and i detest word ver. popping up on my site, too. google is just getting sloppier and sloppier. since blogspot is a free service, i don't think they're giving much time to it. and i don't like google+ either! i have an account, but only use it to +1 a post now and again. i don't post there, refuse to use the g+ follower block and comment form. yucko. :)

okay, off to see some blogs...

TexWisGirl said...

(the link to sharon's paw's create doesn't work, just fyi)

holdingmoments said...

Lovely shots of the Chickadee Hilary.

Sadly Google seem to be going downhill, especially trying to enforce G+ on people.

Tammie Lee said...

how lovely to honor this sweet bird. I hope to learn more about it this winter when most other birds are long gone.

thank you for sharing your blog friends as well as my post. sweet weekend to you Hilary.

Linda said...

You have captured the heart, soul and personality of the chickadee. They are such adorable little birds.

Red said...

I wouldn't know whether my blog had word verification or not. I do not like the Google plus sites.

Red said...

I didn't have to use word verification to make my comment.

L. D. said...

I really like the contrasts of the black, white and gray on this bird. They are fun to watch.

Kerry said...

Chickadees are among my favorite creatures: so plucky and cute.

I didn't know that about word verification cropping up...I wonder if that happens on my blog too. I don't know! I have a google+ acct which I do not understand and never use.

Hey thanks for the list of good reads. Will go look now!

Barb said...

All your critters and birds have such personalities as seen through your lens. I'll have to go check my comment settings again - I've never used the word verification because I don't post comments until I read them first so no spam gets through. I do have trouble sometimes getting the correct verification.

Sara said...

Oh, I loved these pictures. I adore my feisty little groups of Chickadees who visit my feeder. They charge in, even amongst the sometimes aggressive cardinals, and grab a nut. We have houses up and I keep hoping one day, they will pick one to nest in:~)

BTW I have no problem with the verification prompts. I find them like a puzzle challenge and love how they try to get the letters to blur into each other:~)

Oh. I came here from Linda's Roses to Rainbow site. I always enjoy your comments and decided to check out the woman behind the camera.

Jenn Jilks said...

It's just the price we pay for this 'free' service!
Don't you adore chickadees!!!!

stephen Hayes said...

Your photographs make it seem like this cute little bird flew into my study. Thanks.

Country Girl said...

Love your little chickadees, Hilary. They are most excellent!

Gail Dixon said...

Your chickadee images are amazing!! Enjoyed the quotes as well. You always choose the best ones to put with your photos.

Congrats to POTWers! Hope I have time to check them out tomorrow.

I have not had the WV issue wherever I have visited. Wish Blogger would get its act together tho. I have one spammer whom I've marked as such twice, and he's still at it.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

Ohhhh! The chickadees!

sage said...

Several people noted in the past week that their comments to my blog never showed up... I wonder if they are having word verification issues since none of them are with blogger. I am using WordPress for a work blog and am finding it far superior to blogger.

Linette said...

I don't have a problem with Google at all and because I'm connected to them I find their format much easier to work with than Bloggers.

I had problems with trolls in the past but, that was many moons ago, it's nothing for me to just go to their profile to block and report them anyways but, that was many years ago I haven't had the problem since.

Adorable shots of the Black Capped Chickadees.

Optimistic Existentialist said...

I love those chickadee pics!! One of my favorite birds :)

I wish you a wonderful weekend! Hopefully Blogger cleans up its act soon haha

Rob-bear said...

I love the Chickadee pictures. We have several who come to our feeders, and I like just sitting and watching them. They can be comical. And brazen as all get out when I come into the yard, even if just to refill the feeders.

As for word stuff, well, whatever.

Blessings and Bear hugs!

Rob-bear said...

P.S.: I didn't have to go through word verification. I think it may be because I have a g-mail account. Which would be Google. Sigh!

Daryl said...

such a cutie … and terrific POTW choices! Bravo to all

Anonymous said...

That is the reason I went to Wordpress. Though I have to say, it is not easy to learn and difficult to post.

Thanks for the link. xo

Anonymous said...

I'm glad I'm not one of the ones having to try to decipher those tiny letters. I hope my Confessions blog didn't revert. Guess I need to check! Love these precious photos and congrats to the POTW!

Indrani said...

Tiny, yet so cute. You got some wonderful captures. Love the poems included. :)

Betty Manousos said...

hi hilary, thanks so much for posting these babies! they are such beautiful birds.
gorgeous shots, too.
off to check potw out!

thank you for brightening my day.

big hugs!

Magia da Inês said...

✿✿ミ
۵ Olá, amiga!

✿ No meu blog aconteceu a mesma coisa.A verificação de palavras e comentários anônimos também estão desativados.

✿ミ Suas fotografias são límpidas e muito graciosas. Gostei mais dos detalhes, como o brilho do olho do pássaro na terceira imagem.

╭✿╯Bom fim de semana!
╰✿╮Beijinhos

ellen abbott said...

I have a google account but only because I thought I would need it to message my son when he got rid of his iPhone. turns out I just email him which he gets on his phone anyway. blogger automatically logs me in with the gmail address now instead of the one I signed up with. have never used google+ and have no intention to and don't use the gmail address at all, in fact have never once even gone to the inbox. I'd delete but I'm afraid it would mess up my blog or my access to it. great shots of the little chickadees!

Mage said...

First, thank you so much for the big pat on the back. I truly appreciate it.

Now I will go leave you a note and see what happens.

Mage said...

No WV for me. I tried my Geezers blog, and none there either. Then again, you might enjoy his blog this week, he is posting a picture a day on the Queen Mary....today's is a map of the ship during her trooping days.

http://geeeee-zer.blogspot.com/

Rick Watson said...

I drank the koolaid a while back and migrated over to the Google + profile.
It can be a pain, but I've dealt with it.
I love the photos. You are a really good photographer.

Anonymous said...

Hi Hilary, thanks for the shout out. Blogger has it's issues, but I am learning that WordPress does, too. For one thing, blogs keep getting dropped from my reader and I have to constantly add them back in. Probably more google protection. It sort of reminds me of those times when a guy in dark sun glasses shows up in your store and offers to protect your store from robbers for a small sum to be paid weekly. You can decline his services but if you do you'll be robbed on a regular basis until you feel as though you might need the security after all. Shame on google. I erased my account, so I'll be proving I'm not a robot quite a lot.

Unknown said...

So far so good here, Hilary. I enjoyed the photos and agree with you about the discouragement of controls online.

Anvilcloud said...

Chickadees are the best. Blogger never was the best although the most popular and most accessible for that reason.

EG CameraGirl said...

Yes, Google has caused me several problems in the past few weeks. I'm not sure what the problem is but I too am annoyed. Love the quote you included with the photos of one of my favourite birds!

Friko said...

Hateful WV. I have a good mind to go over to another provider.

Lovely little bird; we don’t have chickadees but plenty of other little sweeties to brighten the bird feeders. They’re all back and I spend far too much time at the kitchen window watching them.

Joanna Jenkins said...

I'm kinda stuck with Blogger because I can't imagine making a successful change-- successful being the key work here. I'd be lost.

Lovely, lovely pics, as always. I think you have far more patience that I do to be so quiet as to not scare the little guys away.

xo jj

Linda said...

Word verification drives me crazy! When I use the iPad, I'm disconnected from my Google sign-in until I make the effort to sign in. So if I go to a blog first, I see a Captcha. I try to copy it so I can comment but autocorrect changes what I type so I am unable to submit the correct thing. Sometimes I try five or six times and this keeps happening!

LL Cool Joe said...

Thank you for visiting my blog. I love your wonderful shots of the bird.

Yes I have the feeling my days on blogger may be coming to an end soon, but I don't like the alternatives much either.

Birdman said...

Of course, the chickadee is the Maine state bird, and they have returned to my feeders. Their chirps are so upbeat on cold winter days.

Pauline said...

Thank you again, Hilary! And I can see I'm in for some good reading. I love that you introduce us all to such good writing/photography!

yaya said...

Such sweet pics! The fourth one down should be on a card or a poster..beautiful! To answer your question about my cocoa...it's ghost shaped marshmellows leftover from Halloween! Ha! Hey, when hot chocolate calls for a marshmellow you have to go with what's available in the cupboard!

yaya said...

Such sweet pics! The fourth one down should be on a card or a poster..beautiful! To answer your question about my cocoa...it's ghost shaped marshmellows leftover from Halloween! Ha! Hey, when hot chocolate calls for a marshmellow you have to go with what's available in the cupboard!