The Poet's Room

Raptor Rescue at Wings Raptor Center  Last Look -- Farewell Friend By Anthony G. Hendricks              "Do you want to hold a hawk," Roger Kathy's husband asked. By a fence in the back yard distracted searching in leaves for a mouse Roger had caught the Redtail by hand. Kathy slid her hand into the glove, felt the wild beating heart. At that moment she became determined to become a certified raptor  rescuer. Several years of volunteering, training, being mentored, testing, building proper buildings, buying all the equipment necessary to get inspected and approved followed.     Used to hitting goals Kathy's honored in the Hall of Fame for basketball and track in New Jersey. Some of her records set in 1978 still stand. Just this year she became fully certified to rehabilitate raptors.             A friend of Cathy's saw the redtail pictured above beside the road. The hawk fell over as she drove...

         Judith my sister sent this picture of me years ago. I keep it on my desk beside my computer. I've puzzled over it. Wondering how old was I? Based on family stories this may have been my second birthday. Was the hobby horse a gift? Or already in the family? I don't know. I love that I'm laughing in the picture. I have absolutely no remembrance of this event or being this age. I do see that my mother dressed me in pants way to long such that she rolled up the cuffs. But I do remember my first day of kinder garden walking toward the door in a new pair of jeans with cuffs rolled up half way to my knees. "You'll grow into them," mother said. I'm  sure I grew out of them waist wise long before I grew tall enough to unroll the cuffs to my ankles. Again what I love about the picture, I'm laughing with joy being me in that moment on the hobby horse.           Consciousness, awareness grows as we develop, it can be easy to lose ...