Good Day Folks!
I love ravens. 
I was looking through my pictures from our December trip to Arizona to spend Christmas with Grandma and Grumpa. We went through many states and had a ball at our stops on the way. It actually took us five days to get to Arizona since we stopped in New Mexico to visit our fabulous relatives and had fun. Then we went to 4 corners stood in four states. Met Grandma and Grumpa at the Grand Canyon for two days then G&G took us on a scenic route to there winter home in Arizona. It was a super special holiday adventure.
Along the way every day I noticed a Raven would stop in and say hi to me. I only was able to capture two pictures. One is at a rest area in NM 
and the other in the tree was outside our room at the Grand Canyon. Both chatted me up. I knew the trip was going to be fabulous after seeing my first Raven at a rest area in Indiana. The raven in Indiana showed me the tree with the skull on the tree. 
Pretty cool. Ravens are on my mind today. I see them often during my walks at home talking to me. And I always smile and say hello thanks for stopping by. They are an important creature in my novel I am working on called the New Moon Brethren and book 6 of my children’s series Magic Carousel.
My first encounter and where I started paying attention to Ravens occurred while we were living in Iceland. Our first flat in the morning and other times during the day. I would look out my kitchen window above the sink. There would be this raven sitting on the railing on the outside deck. We had this wonderful large deck off our flat it wrapped around, east,west and south of our flat along the living room/dining area and to the right outside my kitchen. This raven would greet me every morning and ca ca and I would smile, say good morning and listen. I think he was a male he was pretty big and and colors would reflect on his shiny black feathers. I told my friend Rannveig during coffee snack time one day that this raven visits me nearly every morning and sometimes other times during the day and chats out my kitchen window. Her eyes lit up and she told me I was lucky. He is sharing the latest gossip. Never heard anyone tell me Raven’s were good luck before. After she left I did some research on them. I found out many cultures believe they do show up to let folks know what is going whether it is good or tragic news. They know things.
Well my son was finishing up 1st grade and was speaking Icelandic well enough and would not need special classes to assist with Icelandic anymore so he would have to go to the school near our flat or we would have to find a flat to rent near the school he was attending down by the harbor. In Akureryri , Iceland one school in the city teaches foreign children Icelandic. Once they become fluent enough then they go to their neighborhood school. James did not want to switch schools. So we started looking for a flat near the school. Akureyri does not list rentals like we do in the U.S and realtors don’t have that information either. So, it was becoming a challenge. Our lease was expiring so we had to decide to sign for another year or move James to the school up the street. We really wanted to find a flat near the school he was at. He had made many friends and already adjusted to our move to Iceland and was speaking and reading in Icelandic.
So, one day I look out my window there is my raven friend. He is going on and on. I look at him and ask him how can I find a rental down by the harbor. He chats and flies away. I get dressed and get ready to go out to the store. I hear the raven. He is on the deck talking and excited. I get in the car and he takes off. I follow him. He is flying down towards the harbor. Leads me to a big yellow house, he lands on a red railed deck facing the school across the street that James attended and the fjord that leads to the harbor. He ca’s and flies off towards the fjord. 
I told a friend about it . She informed me,the people who own the top flat are looking for someone to lease it they are moving to Sweden for a job. She contacted the family and the next day we went to look at it. It was a bigger and a beautiful flat. You come in at the bottom with large place to hang many coats, shelf for hats, gloves, and shoe racks. Then walk a few feet to the stairs. The entire upstairs was a huge flat. Perfect for us. James was so happy he just had to walk across the street to school. My twins, soon to be three year old loved the playground. My husband would just grab the bus up to the University for his job. I enrolled the girls at preschool down a couple blocks. I started writing my magical tales at this home. We were closer to everything, we walked everywhere. Had many gatherings at this home as well. We could see the fishing ships and cruise ships come down the harbor. We would walk down to take a look. The best part the raven often stopped to visit me on the red railing of the deck at this flat too. I thanked him and fell in love with these wonderful creatures.
Hope you enjoyed my raven adventure.
Thanks for dropping in
Enjoy the adventure every day brings you, WB 
Wendy Nystrom 