La Moreneta behind the altar at Montserrat Monastery near Barcelona. It is thought to have been carved in the 12th century and is one of only a few Black Madonnas in Europe.

A Bullock Oriole, taken yesterday in my backyard...inbetween the pouring rain....

We had rain yesterday, too.

From the San Francisco zoo last May, I enjoyed watching this peacock display--he turned 360 degrees (and then it was liking he was mooning us!).
Marcia

A snowy egret in Costa Rica

This past weekend my wife and I went to Connecticut for the funeral service of a friend who had lost her lengthy battle with leukemia. After the funeral mass there was a brief graveside ceremony. As people were starting to disperse, an egret, like the one above, flew low over the cemetery, and landed in a tree over the gravesite, and then a few seconds later flew off.

It seemed as if an angel had come to guide her away. I think she would have liked that.