Mélange

Sometimes The World Seems Out of Focus

2011-07-29T23:19:00.001-04:00

"There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go". ~ Author Unknown

This is a post my head knew I would have to write someday, but my heart hoped that day would never come.
It is hard to say the words, or type the words, or make sense of the words or even really believe the words in that most real sense of believing.
It wasn't supposed to be this way... this cannot be happening.... but, I see the sadness in my Dad's eyes and it is real.
Our mother, Nyssa's grandmother and Dad's beloved wife of 60 years, passed away on Monday, July 18th, 2011.

"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break." ~ William Shakespeare

There was a fall, a small fracture in the hip and a three day stay in the hospital for pain control with plans to move to a rehab facility. But the delicate balance keeping her myriad of health problems in check was overwhelmed and one by one, small problems became bigger problems and interventions simply did not work. Three days turned into four and four to seven. To say the end was "sudden" is a cliche... death is always sudden even when expected. Her final struggle was short and now our struggle to live without her has begun.

"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." ~ Isaiah 35:10

Mom was a woman of faith and that brings great peace, with the promise that we will see and be with her again. Right now, the world seems out of focus, but comfort comes in remembering.... funny stories of events past... first dates and blossoming love.... the kind words of those whose lives she touched...and knowing that her pain is gone, she has been restored to full health and rejoices with the hosts of heaven.

We sang this hymn to close her funeral service of worship and it captures the essence of what I believe.

What a Day That Will Be

There is coming a day,
When no heart aches shall come,
No more clouds in the sky,
No more tears to dim the eye,
All is peace forever more,
On that happy golden shore,
What a day, glorious day that will be.

There'll be no sorrow there,
No more burdens to bear,
No more sickness, no pain,
No more parting over there;
And forever I will be,
With the One who died for me,
What a day, glorious day that will be.

What a day that will be,
When my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand,
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be,

~ Jim Hill, Words and Music

(end of post)

Finding Her Best Light

2011-07-14T23:45:00.003-04:00

Happy 19th Birthday, Miss Chloe!!!!!

"I don't believe in aging. I believe in forever altering ones aspect to the sun." ~ Virginia Woolf

The years pass so quickly and old age sneaks up on all of us; it seems like only yesterday we were starting out in school or our profession or having a child, or seeing a tiny Siamese kitten for the first time. She was the first born of a litter of six and has always played the part well. Miss Clover was "the dark one"; instead of being born white and developing the Siamese mask and tips, she arrived a medium to dark tan and simply grew darker as she aged, with the most marbled deep blue eyes. Clover was always angry at something. Chloe has always been calm and cool and collected, with a passion for grooming and making sure her sitting position is just so... front paws tightly together and tail wrapped neatly around to the front. Nothing bothers her (except for that one time at the vet when Clover threw such a hissy fit, they both got caught up in the drama) and she carries herself with dignity and reserve. This does not mean that she will take any guff off of the other cats. Chloe is now the Grand Dame of the household and commands the respect of ALL the cats... even those bossy ragdolls.

Her sister, Miss Clover, passed away almost three years ago and while Clover was ill and blind, Chloe showed her the way to the food and patiently waited for her to eat first. She groomed and curled up with her, even when Clover was cantankerous and in a foul mood. After Clover's death, Miss Chloe simply returned to the group of cats and her role as eldest diva.

Now, Miss Chloe is 19. She has aged a lot these last three years. Her dark facial mask is fading with rounded circles of light tan above her eyes. She still longs to be perfectly groomed, but does not have the energy for all the effort, nor her sister for cleaning her ears. She battles with kidney failure and refuses to eat the special diet, but she looks forward to her Fancy Feast each day and is holding her own with her weight even though she is very thin. Her eyesight is starting to go, but her hearing is acute. Arthritis has made her gait stiff and her front legs are slightly misshapen by age. She has her favorite bean bag sleeper and still enjoys snuggling with a catnip toy. Most of all, she loves to sleep... or, as here... sit in the sun.

I don't know how many more years.... or months... she has. I'm sure she will continue to live her life with the dignity she has always had and will let me know in her own way, when it is time. Until then, she will soak in all the sun she wants and eat all the Fancy Feast she wants and strike fear into the hearts of all the other cats...
what was that? Did I see a slight twinkle in that eye as she stares down Nicky? I do believe I did!

Happy Birthday Miss Chloe!

(end of post)
Friday's Ark
Weekend Cat Blogging
Camera Critters

First The Storm, Then The Promise, Then The Reward

2011-07-08T15:21:00.000-04:00

The storm clouds roll....

'Til The Storm Passes By
In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face,
While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place.
'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry,
Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more,
Till the clouds roll forever from the sky;
Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand,
Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

~ Mosie Lister, 1958

Then the promise......

"Mild arch of promise! on the evening sky
Thou shinest fair with many a lovely ray,
Each in the other melting."
~ Robert Southey

Then the reward......

"The sunrise is Gods greeting - the sunset, his signature." ~ Unknown

Storms have blossomed each afternoon all week. They appear almost out of nowhere, with wind, flashes of lightening, and booming thunder before the downpours. An inch one day, a tenth the next... nine tenths the next. Slow moving, flash flooding, and still the humidity does not break. A cold front stretches, lazily languishes across the area... asleep. And the storms keep developing. I don't have to water the grass, but the cats hide each day, afraid of the sounds of pounding rain and rolling thunder. Still, after the clouds move on to the ocean... a promise appears in the eastern sky.... a rainbow. Then later, with clouds and storms to the north and south, the setting sun delivers a magnificent masterpiece to the end of the day.

This was July 6th, 2011.

(end of post)
Nature's Notes
Skywatch Friday

Yarrow and Yellow in the Yard

2011-07-06T12:43:00.000-04:00

Yellow rose of Virginia.... sorry Texas.

“'Twas a yellow rose, By that south window of the little house, My cousin Romney gathered with his hand On all my birthdays, for me. save the last; And then I shook the tree too rough, too rough, For roses to stay after.” ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (bk. VI)

In Victorian flower language, a yellow rose meant or was used to convey jealousy. However, in the western U.S., the yellow rose came to symbolize a familiar, native and humble love, including feelings of home and domestic happiness, joy, and friendship.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) in my yard

"Thou pretty herb of Venus’ tree,
Thy true name it is Yarrow;
Now who my bosom friend must be,
Pray tell thou me to-morrow.”
~ Halliwell’s Popular Rhymes

The old Myth concerning the yarrow's name sake, Achilles, states that his Mother made a strong tea of yarrow and, at his birth, dipped him in it, thus making him totally invulnerable except for the heal that she held him by, the Achilles Heal. Another bit of yarrow lore declares that if you sew a bit of yarrow into a flannel pouch, place it under your pillow, and say this poem before going to sleep; you will learn the name of your future bride or groom in your dreams.

Placed in the garden it discourages beetles, ants and flies! If a handful is added to the compost it will speed up the breakdown of the plant material. In the garden it is a very good companion plant improving the health of all plants around it.

(end of post)
ABC Wednesday ~ Letter "Y"

Busy, Buzzing, Bees! Sort Of.

2011-07-03T17:14:00.000-04:00

Mine! All mine!
(Click pictures to enlarge)

"The solitary Bee
Whose buzzing was the only sound of life,
Flew there on restless wing,
Seeking in vain one blossom where to fix."
~ Robert Southey, Thalaba (bk. VI, st. 13)

One "busy" bee.

"How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower.
- Isaac Watts, Against Idleness

Drunk with nectar....languishing in the summer sun.

"Give and Take...
For to the bee a flower is a fountain if life
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love
And to both, bee and flower,
the giving and the receiving is a need and an ecstasy."
~ Kahlil Gibran

"Busy as a bee" and how busy the bees have been this spring. We have all sizes from tiny little yellow fellows, all the way up to these giant bumble bees. They have latched on to the hyssops of blue and apricot (agastache), the lavender, daylilies, milkweed, black-eyed susan, and any other plant with anything that resembles a flower. Of course, the lavender and the bee balm (monarda) are the favorite. In fact, each bloom is often covered with two or three big bees at one time. I noticed that even at dusk when most insects are retreating for the night, these bees almost seemed to be in a bee-drunken stupor; settled down in between the blooms with wings folded, not moving even as the camera came to within inches of their heads. Yes, indeed... these two are drunk with delight. It wouldn't surprise me if they didn't stay on the flowers all night.

We had many bees last summer as well, but it seems as if there are more this year. And yet, the black swallowtail and monarchs are still slow to lay eggs on the abundant milkweed and fennel. Could the bees be part of the reason?

(end of post)
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ Busy (late)
Mellow Yellow Monday

Cycle of Life

2011-07-01T12:06:00.000-04:00

Mr. & Mrs. Bluebird... this couple was obviously young... and disorganized.
(Click pictures to enlarge)

"A bird is three things:
Feathers, flight and song,
And feathers are the least of these."
~ Marjorie Allen Seiffert, "The Shining Bird"

Again this year, the bluebirds showed up. They were on time and a group of four or five birds snacked at the feeders and checked out the house. But, they were young... the male was lazy.. and chickadees built a nest of soft moss in one day and eggs were laid. The chickadees seemed distressed and more vocal than usual and I saw the male bluebird look in the already occupied birdhouse several times. Then the crime. Someone invaded the chickadee nest, took an egg and threw it against the bay window of our house. The dried protein dribbled down the length of the panes and a small shell fragment remained glued to the top. Who could do this? I would like to believe it was a blackbird or crow or one of the birds I really don't care for; so I give the bluebirds the benefit of the doubt and say it really couldn't have been them, their beaks are too small to carry an egg. Whoever the culprit was, it was so sad for the chickadees as they have a short nesting season and will not likely have another round this year.

Mrs. Bluebird was more industrious and practical than her mate.

When it was obvious that no chickadee babies were in the nest, I cleaned out the house... washed it... let it dry... and opened it back up for business. It still took this couple almost a week to decide on the place. I think she expected his help in building the nest, but his lame attempts ended up in pine needles being stuck in at the last moment; therefore, they simply stuck up and out the edge of the opening in a random way -- not tidy -- and were no help at all. No, the male spent most of his time fluttering at the window, pecking at the other male bluebird he saw as competition and peering in at us in the den (wanting mealworms). I think she expected him to either sit on the eggs while she hunted for food or bring her food. He didn't do either. I started in with the mealworms and she quickly learned that she would have to feed herself, he wouldn't do it.

Dinner time.

When the egg/eggs hatched, this young couple had to figure out how to feed the baby/babies. Mr. Bluebird fed himself first, downing four or five mealworms before taking one to the chick. Mrs. Bluebird, with true maternal instincts, fed the baby first and only herself after the chick was taken care of. Unlike last year's group, these did not always finish off the mealworms in record time. Whether it was because they had only one baby, while last year's had at least three or not; the result was that other birds became interested, particularly the brown thrasher. After he devoured the remaining mealworms at one meal, they seemed to become better organized and more purposeful in the feeding and took turns flying back and forth from the birdhouse to the mealworms. This couple added one stage, taking the mealworms to the roof for processing before flying them to the baby.

Feeding time... how could one small baby bird make so much noise.

At feeding time, the noise coming from the birdhouse was amazing and loud; it could be heard all the way to the back door and yet, there seemed to have been only one chick. He poked his head up with mouth wide open to get his food from mom and dad and starred with wide eyes at me. A week ago, I checked the birdhouse and there he was with feathers on his chest and looking like he was almost ready to go. Mrs. Bluebird must have told him to get down in the nest when I went to get my camera, for he was not to be seen when I returned. Sunday morning, the bluebirds had their breakfast of mealworms but by Sunday evening they were gone and though I left mealworms out for three days, no bluebirds. I presume they took their baby into the woods to teach him how to fly and to gather food. The feeder has been busy the last two weeks with all sorts of adult and baby blackbirds, blue jays, even finches; parents showing the babies where the food is and trying to get them to eat from the feeder without having to put it in their mouths. Now, it seems the juveniles have learned and the feeder sessions are more normal.

I waited for almost a week, then opened the house and took out the abandoned nest and washed the house. The very next day... yesterday... I came downstairs to the pecking sound of bluebirds pecking on the window and much agitation. Male and female, flying back and forth from the house to the feeder to the windowsill. I don't think these are the same bluebirds that just vacated the premises with their baby as they are supposed to stay with him in the woods for at least a few weeks. Hopefully, it is a new pair.. more mature (although this head butting against the window behavior does not indicate any maturity to the female who continually chatters at him while he is doing it) and perhaps they will build another nest and raise another family. I hope so. I still have mealworms left.

(end of post)
Friday's Ark
Camera Critters
Nature's Notes

Toe-May-Toe, Toe-Ma-Toe

2011-06-30T16:45:00.000-04:00

Little sweet tomatoes, getting ready to pop them in my mouth! Yum!

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." ~ Lewis Grizzard

Storms broke out dead tree tops and littered the yard with limbs and leaves. Pinecones pelted the metal sunroom roof, sounding more like giant hailstones and the wind caught up anything that was not tied down. The grow box with these tiny tomatoes bowed to the power of the wind and rolled to the edge of the deck, then toppled over and down the steps losing a bit of dirt, several large branches and scattering tiny green tomatoes all over the stone patio. I repaired the damage as best possible: replacing the dirt and the soil cover, tying up the vines and relocating the box to be sheltered from future winds.

These are the survivors -- of the storm and the marauding squirrel bandits -- and they are beginning to ripen. At first, it was slow... one a day for a week.. but now I get a handful a day. Some are red and others orange... but all are tasty and juicy and squirt yummy goodness all in your mouth. I get to eat these at least... Mom has become enamored with the cucumbers and we really need ten vines to keep up with her passion. So far, the birds have left them alone and the squirrels are not brave enough to come directly up to the boxes as they are so close to the door. Now we will simply have to see how long they will produce.

No matter how you say it... tomatoes are one of summer's great joys.
(end of post)

Annuals: To Plant or Not To Plant, That Is The Question

2011-06-27T10:08:00.000-04:00

Lobelia erinus (Blue Cascade) & Calibrachoa hybrid (Yellow)

"To analyze the charms of flowers is like dissecting music; it is one of those things which it is far better to enjoy, than to attempt to fully understand." ~ Henry T. Tuckerman.

I have never been a real fan of annuals; those flowers that do not survive the cooler zones of winter. I've never loved the cycle that the yard guy does in the front beds... spring brings the impatiens or vincas and fall brings the pansies. For one thing, the impatiens don't really love the sun that much and they don't seem to spread well. In Mississippi, our house had quite a few trees which made growing a good lawn a problem (St. Augustine was almost the only grass to grow under those pines), but the impatiens grew and spread, sometimes to three feet tall and a few plants would fill an entire square bed, hiding the boxwoods. Not here. They don't really start filling out -- if they survive the heat and my antipathy towards them -- until September or October when it finally begins to cool off and at their height of blooming, the yard guy comes along and rudely pulls them up. He replaces them with pansies. Now, I love pansies much more than the impatiens; still, while pansies may bloom her in winter, they are wimpy. They really don't like the cold that comes with snow and spend much of the winter looking wilted or frost bit. It really is the spring... usually here this includes late February and March, perhaps into April... where they are at their best. I have managed to nurse a few along in a pot on the deck, but now in June, even these are on their last leg and wobbling. In the front beds, the pansies only start looking really good and trying to spread when March gets here. And again, at the height of their beauty, they are snatched up and replaced in May. The endless cycle. It seems wrong. And so this is why I seldom plant annuals... at least knowingly.

When Stephen was here, he found this hanging basket of bright yellow million bells (I think a petunia relative), blue lobelia and (not pictured) red flowers (the name escapes me.. this happens more and more with each passing year.. though I doubt I ever knew the name of the red flowers). They are all annuals and won't make it until next summer, but I have to admit they are beautiful. Downside... must be watered every day and I mean, everyday. You cannot be two hours late before they start to wilt. It must be something about the planter they are in because I have a homemade basket of million bells and petunias that is not this sensitive.

I love to see the plants and don't mind pruning back or deadheading (except tickweed which is tedious), but I really like to plant only once and then watch as the little shoots and stems poke through the ground in spring again. I tend to look like a giant mudball when planting, not my favorite thing to be. So I tend to plant perennials. However, this year the monarch and black swallowtail have been slower to show up and my fennel is six feet tall, just waiting for some caterpillars and the milkweed overfloweth and the bees of all types are having orgies in the bee balm and lavender and agastache. So where are they? On the annuals. On this plant.

Black Swallowtail with red... verbena?

Perhaps I SHOULD plant a few more annuals... sigh.

(end of post)
Mellow Yellow Monday
Ruby Tuesday

Signs..Signs..Everywhere There's Signs

2011-06-18T22:17:00.002-04:00

Clockwise from top left: Tokyo, Las Vegas, Brooklyn, and Grand Canary Islands.
(Click pictures to enlarge)

“One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.” ~Thomas Sowell (American Writer and Economist, b.1930)

I have a photo of a group of Canada geese standing on the shore of a local lake next to a sign that reads... "NO SWIMMING". It is as if they wonder... "Does this mean me?" These signs are from around the world.. some three dimensional, some profound and some simply different. Since I don't travel much these days, those from overseas were taken by my brother. The first, from Tokyo shows businessmen and women waiting to cross the street, although I must admit that I wondered if they were male models posing... then again... no, no way.. waiting to cross the street. All of them in black suits or skirts, black jackets or dark gray coats and white shirts; uniform in nature... conforming....expected. But the huge red LOVE sign in the background POPS off the page and gives it a strange twist (which is why I wondered if there was a photo shoot going on for a magazine cover or something). The "LOVE" also feeds into the next sign... M&M's. I do so love M&M's, either plain or with almonds (peanuts are ok but almonds are heavenly). The crazy bright colors and the three dimensional look of the lovable and sweet (in more ways than one) characters make me want to walk right into the store and buy all the M&M's my suitcase can hold. This sign would stand out here at home, but in Las Vegas... everything is gaudy and everything is brightly colored and over-the-top. You can see the Coca-Cola store next door with its oversized bottle... anyway... I love M&M's.

The next sign is one of several on the outer walls of the Brooklyn Public Library, profound and true. Even in these days of instant downloads of Kindle books, I still like to walk through the stacked shelves of the library; to smell the pages of the books and see the worn page edges. If I can check it out from the library for free, I won't buy the book to download. In any form, electronic or hardcover... books are definitely the inheritance of generations.

I thought the final sign in this group was cute... it reads "pedestrian zone".. so someone painted pedestrians on the wall behind the sign. In doing so, the artist fulfilled the intent of the sign... now it IS a pedestrian zone!

My brother is the central figure in this opera sign.

Yes, my brother is the large central figure in this opera poster sign... he's the one with the gun pointed at his head. Operas always put these large signs to advertise the coming event or the opera currently playing. Here in the United States, opera isn't that popular and the opera companies are much smaller, as are the productions. In Japan, however, the people are wild about opera to an almost fanatic degree. Stephen has performed several times in Tokyo, in this case the only opera written by Mozart... Fidelio. It is one of those comedy/drama stories... he plays Florestan, a nobleman, who has been kidnapped and imprisoned by an evil governor who spreads the word that Florestan is dead. Leonore, Florestan's wife, suspects he is still alive and she pretends to be a man (Fidelio) and manages to obtain a job as the chief jailer's helper. She smuggles provisions to her husband in the dungeon.

However, the daughter of the chief jailer, falls in love with Fidelio (not knowing that he is really Leonore) and rebuffs another young assistant who is mad for her. The governor tries to get the chief jailor to kill Florestan when he discovers that a high minister in the government is on his way to inspect the prison. The minister, Florestans close friend, will surely find him and the governor will be in real trouble. The chief jailer refuses, so the governor goes to do the murderous deed himself... the minister is within sight on the road. Lenore as Fidelio is in the dungeon with her husband and flings herself between the governor and her bound husband. She reveals herself and the pistol she has smuggled in; but as she prepares to shoot the governor or die trying to save her husband, the trumpet sounds... the minister is here... Florestan is saved! Leonore releases her husband and all is well. Oh... the chief jailer's daughter is a bit rattled that Fidelio was actually Leonore, but she quickly gets over it when the young man who is mad for her again professes his love and she accepts. It's one of those "happily ever after" endings... well, except for the evil governor... one that is not often seen in opera. In fact, this is one of the few parts my brother plays that does NOT die in the end.

While Stephen was still singing as a house tenor in Linz, Austria, they did a production of "Peter Grimes". Opera is sung in the language it is written in and this was written in English. He plays a rustic fisherman and of course, dies in the end. For the pre-opera advertising, they shot photos of him in his costume... a thick sweater, jeans and old fisherman hat.. with thick nets. The ocean was in the background and he was kneeling on the sand. This was the opera poster shot and they made it into a large billboard as well. He told me it was always disconcerting to walk down that street and look up to see a multiple times life size picture of himself. Life-size, he is big and imposing. The billboard.....really scary.

Carmi is collecting "signs" this week... I know he is going to have a lot of great ones. Actually, when I read what he wants over there... it really isn't this. I probably SHOULD have posted the geese with the "no swimming" sign. Oh, well. I am this far into it so I am just going to go with it... just won't link it over there. This is why one should ALWAYS read the instructions AND any fine print. However, the Saturday Photo Hunt, which I missed of course is on "informative". I thought this meant an informative post.. and this is one, in a way. But signs also are very informative.. at least sometimes. So, better late than never... on to the Photo Hunt.

(end of post)
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ "Informative"

Family of Another Nature

2011-06-15T11:51:00.000-04:00

A small family of Canada geese out for a swim. (Virginia Beach)

"Everywhere water is a thing of beauty, gleaming in the dewdrops; singing in the summer rain; shining in the ice-gems till the leaves all seem to turn to living jewels; spreading a golden veil over the setting sun; or a white gauze around the midnight moon." ~ John Ballantine Gough, A Glass of Water

We have a huge population of Canada geese, many of whom refuse to migrate south in the winter or north in the spring. It is often funny to see them in their migration "V" flying northwest in the fall. I often want to yell up at them, "Hey, guys, that is the WRONG WAY!"; but then they glide gracefully in a downward spiraling arch and land in the large pond behind the neighbor's house. Oh... just moving from one pond to another, I see.

I do believe that these (probably considered "native" by now) geese are the first to have families in the spring. Ours have developed a great community plan; the young goslings are shipped off to boarding school, at least for the daytime hours. Approximately ten to sixteen little fluff balls are shepherded by three or four adults and the day is full of lessons to be learned. They are taught to swim... in a long line with one adult at the head and one bringing up the rear and at least one to the side, to catch any strays. More importantly, they are taught to cross the road. I do believe that the first step is... start slowly but resolutely, the cars will stop; though the second must be...don't try this at night. More than once this spring, I had to come to a complete stop as the goose grade school practiced their crossing (as we all know, practice makes perfect). One adult stood on the destination golf course grass gathering the goslings around that had already navigated the street. One waited on the median to make sure everyone was in a line and on the march and a third was the traffic guard, standing right in the middle of the road. The babies hopped (fell) off the curb into the road and started their trek across. One was mesmerized by a rock in the road and stopped to investigate, causing a pile up behind. Adult guard quacked... baby ignored... adult walked over, bent his neck down and honked and nudged the little one along, flapping his wings as he chased the baby to the other side. This seemed to bring all the others back into order and the rest knew better than to cross this crossing guard again. The biggest obstacle is the curb on the far side as, yet unable to fly, they must jump their height to get back up to the grass. Many took several attempts before success. I have always wonder if these "teachers" send their pupils back to their parents at the end of the day.

This family was seen swimming in one of the inlets along the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Beach. It was late May and most of the other resident goslings had almost grown to the size of their parents. Perhaps, this family actually migrated from the south or maybe the later goslings don't get to go to kindergarten and are home schooled instead. I wonder.

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ "family"
World Bird Wednesday

Watery Wednesday

Hot Lips

2011-06-13T21:39:00.000-04:00

Salvia x microphylla 'Hot Lips'... a changeable diva!

"If one consults enough herbals...every sickness known to humanity will be listed as being cured by sage." ~ Varro Taylor, Ph.D. (herb expert)

We already had a large pot with a bush sage planted and growing and showing off the bright red blooms that are so irresistible to hummingbirds; but this little gem was too gorgeous to pass up. I nestled it between the milkweed and the coneflowers and it loves the area. When first planted, the little flowers were totally red; but as the days grew hot, the flowers changed color....

From a deep crimson red all over......

.....to a fabulous stripe of red against a background of pure white... very 'Hot Lips' indeed. According to several sources, the flowers may also be all white -- pure as the winter snow-- if you want to believe such a saucy flower can do so. I am going to try and collect some of the tiny seed and see what I can do with it. For now, the flowers are going strong and the hummingbirds have been dining, as have the bees and a few butterflies.

This is a variety of sage, though not the typical herb used in cooking. Still, when you crush a couple of leaves together or break off a spent flower stem, the aroma of pungent sage is left on your fingers and in the air. Heavenly.

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

Saturday Photo Hunt: The Lighthouse

2011-06-11T10:53:00.061-04:00

Clockwise from top left: The construction of our "lighthouse"...in progression

"You, who wish to study great and wonderful things, who wonder about the movement of the stars, must read these theorems about triangles. Knowing these ideas will open the door to all of astronomy and to certain geometric problems." ~ Regiomontanus, Johann (German mathematician and astronomer. 1436-1476)

I found out that our neighbors have dubbed the sunroom addition as "The Lighthouse"; the shining light through the stained glass at night is probably the reason. My cousin from Illinois designed it and he and his brother did the interior beam and woodworking, as well as the construction of all the furniture inside. All throughout the construction phase I took pictures of the rough wooden beams and the triangles they formed. Inside and out, triangles. The cupola roof fashioned by triangles of copper, the crossbeam supporting the hanging fan and lights, the multicolored panes of stained glass, and even the small decorative touch at the apex of the interior is triangular (a maltese cross centered with a pyramid of four triangles). On a sunny day, rays flow through the windows and cast a rainbow of color on the ceiling and walls; at night the uplighting from the fan glows through to shine in the dark... the lighthouse.

It is, by far, my favorite room in the house.

(end of post)
Photo Hunt ~ "Triangle"

I Spoke Too Soon!

2011-06-08T18:51:00.003-04:00

Unruly Urchin.... makes me utterly upset!!!

"In such a strait the wisest may well be perplexed, and the boldest staggered." ~ Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents

I spoke too soon! This unruly urchin and his union of urban outlaws have gotten the upper hand again. The ultrasonic device I urged folks to use is utterly useless and unproductive in its appointed undertaking. OK. I really cannot think of many more "U" words and it makes my head ache.... my thesaurus is about to go up in smoke. I recommended an ultrasonic squirrel and animal repelling machine by a company called Bird-X. At first, it seemed to be unbelievably (I did it again) effective and thwarted the critters for over a week. But then, I re-filled the bird feeders and they simply came back. Occasionally, I see where they have knocked it over to a face down position and other times, they simply stand in front of it and laugh hysterically at me watching them from the window. But now it is WAR! I caught one on the deck munching on one of my small tomatoes.... I am afraid that my brother is right...these squirrels have to depart, scram, vamoose... one way or the other.

(end of post)
ABC Wednesday ~ "U"

Nature's Notes

My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose

2011-06-07T13:53:00.000-04:00

Mr. Lincoln... hybrid tea rose.

"O, my love is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my Love is like the melody,
That's sweetly played in tune."
~ Robert Burns (1759-1796)

We've had a spring -- a real spring -- with cool temperatures and moderate rain and then the yo-yo factor thrown in. As a ~~reward~~ punishment, we now have summer -- late summer, July and August summer -- with temperatures approaching triple digits, the air heavy with humidity, and no breeze to speak of. Plants are confused and befuddled, as are the butterflies. The black swallowtail have still not bombarded the fennel as last year and I have only six monarch caterpillars chomping away on the milkweed, safe in the sunroom. Each day, I expect the Japanese beetles to show up in the delicate roses (the black spot has already arrived); so I enjoy each small triumph of bloom on the rose as it happens. Mr. Lincoln was planted last year and gave one bloom, a glorious bloom to be sure, but only one. This year, two. Twice as many deep garnet soft petals, captured in digital image but now gone, whisked away by a fleeting gust of wind. Perhaps it will surprise me and produce more; yet, if not, I will be grateful for the rich ruby light it added to our day.

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

A Dirty Dozing Dog and Smudged Soiled Shoe

2011-06-04T12:18:00.001-04:00

A dirty dozing dog and a smudged soiled shoe.

"Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity." ~ Lindley Karstens

I have a pair of old sneakers that are worn through and soil stained with compost and dirt, stiff with repetitive soakings, and ragged with open cracks; yet they are sure and supportive where I need them most and they feel good on my feet. Usually, I pair them with white long pants, white shirt with long sleeves, a garden hat to cover my face and neck, white socks with the ends cut out to cover the hands and wrists before topping off with gloves, and long white tube socks to pull over the bottoms of the pants.

Of course this brings several questions to mind that you might have.... WHY? Why white? Why long sleeves in hot weather? Or WHY on earth would you go out where someone might see you in a giddy-up like that? Or even more likely, WHY haven't you posted a picture of yourself in this outfit? This last question is the easiest to answer... "Because I wouldn't let ANYONE get a picture of me in this outfit, as I know how strange and ridiculous it looks. Only Daisy, my dog would be allowed to take a picture... and since she hasn't a clue about how to work the camera, I am safe.

As to the other questions, I have to go out in this outfit because I MUST dig in the dirt and I MUST garden.. for sanity. Hey! I'm not looking for a knight in shining armor to show up anytime soon, my hair frizzes in the humidity and heat and I get smudges all over my face as well as all over the clothes... so basically, I don't care if I look like a golfer from the 40's. Or you could say, I care more about the flowers for butterflies and caterpillars and the plants for the birds and bees than I care that my neighbors see me as ridiculous. Besides... my garden and beds are way better than theirs are... so ... na-na-na-na-na-na... there! The long sleeves and pants and coverage from head to foot are a bother in hot weather.. but necessary. Since we are at the edge of a wetland forest preserve, we have a major tick population; everything you can do to cover up any entrance point they have is prudent... and this year they seem to be even worse than usual. We have them all.. those with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme's disease and even a new one that carries something they call Tidewater Fever. It isn't as severe a disease but the tick that carries the bug is centered at the Great Dismal Swamp... just five miles or less from us... so.. there you have it. Oh, yes... why WHITE? For a similar reason... since it is a given fact that anytime you work near the preserve, i.e. in the yard or behind the fence, you WILL be exposed to ticks... the white shirts and pants and socks and such are much easier to examine for ticks. The tick shows up against the white background better than dark blue jeans... easier to remove and squash. Of course, with this get-up on, I usually dose my clothes with a thick spray of Deep Woods Off in an effort to limit the number of ticks that take the plunge and hitch a ride on my white shirt. At the end of the day, a close examination gets rid of most of them... then the really, really dirty clothes go in the sink and another search before hitting the washer. Even with all these precautions, you still have to check all the nooks and creases for any strays that might have gotten through the defenses.... they are the most sneaky of bugs. If only there were a bird that consumed them by the millions. (sigh!)

Daisy tries to help garden, she sometimes even digs (until scolded); but she prefers a place to snooze in the shade on the patio or even better, in the air conditioned sunroom. Yes, she gets dirty...her ears hang low and drag in the mulch... and she does rarely get a tick but her Frontline takes care of them. It would be nice if they could formulate a Frontline product for us... once a month application to kill and sterilize those critters; then we could shed those strange togs for more fashionable sleeveless chiffon tops and light weight shorts while gardening... but we would still get "dirty".

(end of post)
Carmi's theme ~ "well-aged" ~ both shoe and dog.
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ "Dirty"

Camera Critters

June 2, 1951 ~ June 2, 2011

2011-06-02T21:57:00.001-04:00

It started with a simple ring, many years ago,
And now you have a treasure chest that’s begun to overflow.
For 25 years of married bliss, much silver did you store,
And then you reached your 40th, with ruby stones galore!
You travelled through life to 50 years of happy wedded bliss
Your treasure grew with golden gifts, to toast your happiness
And now you’ve reached that special day, that’s only seen by few
60 years together, now its diamonds for both of you.
But the treasure that you value most isn’t jewels, silver or gold
But the love you have for each other, that has never grown old!
~ Unknown

June 2, 1951... the beginning.

"The bonds of matrimony are like any other bonds - they mature slowly." ~ Peter De Vries

Sixty years of marriage together... the Diamond Anniversary! Today my parents (Stephen's parents too, although I have been known to question this in the past.) have been married for sixty years. Ten years ago, we threw them a huge party and 225 of their friends attended to show their love and appreciation for their work and their lives through the years. This milestone is celebrated more quietly.

June 2, 2011... 60 years and going strong.

"Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years." ~ Simone Signoret

I was going to put their picture in the paper but six weeks ago, Mom fell on her face... literally. She was bruised from her hairline down her whole left face, chin and neck. Stitches on her chin and lip and the dense hematoma were bad enough, but she also broke her right jaw. Fortunately, no wiring was involved and the bruising is much, much, much better. Still, their picture in the paper might suggest something different than a long-time loving marriage. So I took these to have for their memories. Others remembered as well. The mailman was busy the past few days and bombarded us with cards, especially today. Phone calls have come from around the country and a fruit basket from the General Church of the Nazarene. (Dad was a pastor for many, many years.)

Diamond Anniversary... OK, where's the diamond?

"One of the good things that come of a true marriage is, that there is one face on which changes come without your seeing them; or rather there is one face which you can still see the same, through all the shadows which years have gathered upon it." ~ George MacDonald

Usually they go out alone together for their anniversary dinner, but this year Dad didn't feel up to driving and I went along to chauffeur. Mom ate all the seafood she isn't supposed to as well as bread, potatoes and she-crab soup; but it is such a special and rare anniversary that few people get to celebrate these days. Why not.

Still up for a kiss...after all these years.

"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in his hands Who sayeth 'a whole I planned, Youth shows but half; Trust God; see all nor be afraid." ~ Robert Browning

These two show that while the hearing goes and often time neither knows who is saying what to whom, love goes on and just being two together forever is more than enough.... a well-aged marriage.

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ "well aged", as in a well-aged marriage

Let's Play I Spy

2011-06-02T14:39:00.000-04:00

It's daylily time.

"On the face of it, the easiest of all activities should be seeing what we see. In reality, it's the hardest." ~ Charles Movalli

Have you every played "I Spy" or maybe "Where's Waldo?" I thought we would enjoy a little game today; but first I must digress to another story that has nothing to do with either "I Spy" or "Where's Waldo?" (or maybe it does).

Most of you know I have cats and some of you probably believe I have an excessive number of cats for a "normal" person. However, I have never claimed to be "normal" and my number of cats is dwindling from the unavoidable attrition that comes with increasing age. (I am now only living with four cats.) Once upon a time (every good story begins with this) I lived with another group of cats, all Siamese. Shamroc was the eldest and a seal point, Cassiopeia (Cassi for short), another seal point, and Rami, a blue point. They traveled with us everywhere for many years and it was on one of those excursions to Wichita Falls, that this story takes place.

My ex-mother-in-law (she wasn't and "ex" at that time; but you figured that out didn't you) had just re-done her bedroom with paint and curtains and a new king sized bed and bed linens. She longed for a picture of her new room to show her friends. Some of you, perhaps most of you, no longer remember the days of the Polaroid instant cameras (except for those tiny funky shot things my daughter had as a teenager that made weird instant picture stickers), but this was what I had. This was a time before I could afford a film 35mm camera, so you must be able to imagine what the style was back then... in the late '70's and early 80's. OK, please try not to gag too loud.

Anyway, as a dutiful daughter-in-law I obliged and stood in the dormer window facing the bed and snapped away. As the pictures lay on the bed and the foggy images slowly started to take shape, there was a curious blob centered at the botom of the picture. Milky and murky at first, it began to take shape; something dark and mysterious and at the same time stately and royal. Finally, the bedspread came into focus, as did the headboard and curtains and night stand and the rug... and the blob. IT WAS SHAMROC! I didn't see him through the viewfinder; but he positioned himself at the foot of the bed right in the dead center bottom of the picture, almost as if he were sitting on the edge of the white picture margin frame. AND he was turned just slightly sidways to show off the sloping curve of his back; his paws were placed together and his tail curled around and tucked in just in front of his paws. His head was trained directly on the camera with blue eyes front and center. HE POSED! Shamroc posed for the camera and gave a perfect shot, though no one knew he was there. Then, he WAS a special cat.

So, what does the previous story have to do with a lovely garden scene and gorgeous daylilies and a birdbath that is definitely leaking? Can you not guess? I took this picture from our living room window. It has been sooooo hot and humid that stepping outside into the wet sauna is more than I can take. So I take pictures from my little bench next to the window; pictures of the birds, hummers, and the occasional pastoral scene that invites the feeling of coolness at least. My brother gave me a long lens and I use it for this purpose. So I am at least fifteen to 20 feet away from these shots. As I worked with the pictures on my computer, something caught my eye... similar to the way that black blob showed up in my picture. Now, can you guess... is there anything showing up to you?

Scroll on down and get a closer shot.

I've patched cracks in this birdbath but it still leaks, just not as fast.

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see." ~ Thoreau

Do you see it now? After the first batch appeared and vanished at the end of April, just as they did last year, I have been looking and watching for more...to no avail. But here, it appears in my picture and I wasn't even looking.... have you figured it out yet? OK... a real cropped out close up is below.

A bit fuzzy but a monarch none the less.

"You can observe a lot by just watching." ~ Yogi Berra

Yes. A Monarch caterpillar of full size and it looks as if it has already entered into the wandering phase; as they rarely leave the milkweed until it is time. Of course I looked for him this morning, but alas, he has meandered away and hopefully has found a safe place to rest and form his chrysalis. I checked the milkweed again and still don't seen any eggs or small caterpillars. I guess it is time to break out the incubators and get them set up for the Monarchs and the Black Swallowtails.

So how did you do? Did you find him without my help? Did the story give some hints? Or did you have to scroll to the last picture.. come on.. tell the truth now!

(end of post)
Nature's Notes (a day late)

House of Blues.....And Hands

2011-05-29T16:54:00.000-04:00

Blue hand building... Grand Canary Island

“Architecture is a social act and the material theater of human activity.” ~ Spiro Kostof (Architectural historian, 1936 - 1991)

More pictures of the ~~strange~~ -- "unusual" architecture found on the Grand Canary Island. These were photographed by my brother when he performed in an opera there a couple of years ago. The stunning shades of blue covering the stucco walls are eye-catching on their own; but then you begin to see three dimensional sculptured shapes on the sides -- hands!

(You may click the pictures to get a larger view)

These remind me of words or phrases delivered in sign language, however, my knowledge is limited to the ABC's. Molding surrounds some of the hands like picture frames. Honestly, at first, the sight of hand "gargoyles" protruding from the walls of a building creeped me out a bit; but with time, the beautiful positions with their touch of grace and poise gave a more fluid and soft look to the structure. You could say the hands "speak" to me. Perhaps that was what the architect and designer was going for.

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme: "got the blues".
Blue Monday

Saturday Photo Hunt: Looking Down, Another Perspective

2011-05-28T00:27:00.000-04:00

Fashionable heels and flip-flops..... graduation.

"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." ~ Henry Miller

Footwear for formal occasions found everywhere these days; the entire spectrum from flip-flops to the highest heels (how do they walk in those things), although I don't see any "sensible shoes" among the bunch.

Skywatching from a different perspective.....

"We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." ~ Konrad Adenauer

Reflections of summer trees and fluffy white clouds against the blue of the sky; but wait, is it really the blue of the sky or the blue of the cold water in the still pool? Is this any way to study the sky? Why, of course!

A bee's eye view.....pumpkin flower.

"Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Busy buzzing bee go about your business and pollinate the pumpkins please. And dear fruit flies stir memories of college days and hours (many, many, many hours) of red eyes or white eyes, short wings or long wings, bristled abdomens or smooth; of crossings and larvae and pupae and counting and counting and counting (endless counting), all in the name of Genetics. You are much better suited for this environment.

And the Saturday Photo Hunt theme this week is? "Looking Down"
(end of post)
Saturday Photo Hunt: "Looking Down"

When The Bough Breaks

2011-05-25T12:58:00.001-04:00

We had wind... (click pictures to enlarge)

"But on the twenty-fifth of May, at sunset, a violent wind howled madly,
Battering and rending my plants;
Rain poured down, Pounding the vines and flowers into the earth.
It was so painful
But as the work of the wind, I have to let it be ..."
~ Ryokan (1758 - 1831)

Except for the fact that it was the 24th of May and we actually had no rain... this describes our weather yesterday pretty well. It looks like our yo-yo season has passed and summer is here to stay, even if it is still officially a month away. Two weeks ago we had days in the upper 60's and mid-70's... nice, low humidity, great weather for working outside. This week? We hit 90 for the first time and yesterday it was up to 93 degrees and 80% humidity for a while. In the late afternoon while the tornadoes were gearing up in Oklahoma, a cell developed over western Virginia and sped off to the east... our direction. I came down to let Miss Daisy do some business outside before the rain hit and suddenly the skies darkened and the wind whipped up...no, it didn't "whip" up... it hit like a sledge hammer. The hot tub lid started to levitate so I ran out and grabbed the handle with my left hand and grabbed the only thing tied down with my right... the short garden hose attached to the faucet. I tied the lid down as best I could, but a lot of debris had already gotten in.

Inside the sunroom, I heard pelting pinecones on the copper roof and another thud and started seeing several plastic objects sliding across the deck and the yard. Then broken limb pieces and leaves and what looked to be flying logs at times. The grow box with my lovely little midget tomatoes was blown off the deck and turned over down the stairs. Little lost tomatoes spread across the patio and multiple tomato branches were broken off. I managed to get it back up near the sunroom and out of the main wind... but I saw the huge dead tree top broken off into the yard.

Little lost tomatoes.

It didn't hit anything but really made a mess....that I have to clean up. Two limbs fell behind the fence and I already tossed them back into the preserve. The strangest thing of all was.... while other areas around us were getting torrential downpours at the rate of 3 inches an hour... we got nothing...NOTHING! At most a few sprinkles... but not even enough to wet the sidewalk or deck or patio or even the roof. Just the wind. Now is that fair? If it makes this mess for me to clean up, it should at least water the yard and plants for me.

After the lightening quit, I started the clean up. I salvaged the grow box, put the roller back on, swept up the lost soil and pressed it all back together. I tied up the plants and set it back in place. Limbs and twigs are all over the back yard and I am going to start on that in a bit. The huge tree top is dead wood, not that heavy and I think should be easy picking for the hand saw, although I e-mailed the yard guy and he said he would take care of it. He had the top of a live old oak tree snap off into his property as well.

I noticed a strange splatter pattern on the patio and up the side of one of our planters that stretched from the middle of the rose garden to the edge of the patio... about 12 feet. It was a red sticky material and since pathology is my life work and since I have watched way to many CSI episodes, my first thought was that this was from an unfortunate bird...yes, blood splatter patterns! But, no bird. What is it? Sweet. Ah, ha! The wind was so strong that it blew the nectar out of the hummingbird feeder and sent it flying all across the patio. Don't ask how I know... I won't admit it.

Anyway, another band went through late last night and when the wind kicked up, I thought, "Oh, no. Not again!" So I tied down the hot tub lid and moved the tomatoes and a couple of other pots and then the wind died down. "Right! Now that I prepared, it's not bad." But... it DID rain!

(end of post)

Sensational Sizzle; But, Short Stature

2011-05-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

I had to call these my "munchkin" tulips.

"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size." ~ Gertrude S. Wister

I planted tulips this year...literally, I planted them THIS year... 2011... even though I was supposed to plant them in November 2010. As usual, I have an ~~excuse~~..explanation for my tardiness. For one thing, I tend to be tardy on planting whether it is seed, bulbs or plants. Other life gets in the way, it's too hot, it's raining, my strangely unique anti-tick outfit is in the washer, it's snowing and too cold; these are just some of my rationalizations. This year it was the snowing and cold thing.... but, really, it WAS snowing and TOO cold to plant the bulbs. My bulb bag said that for our area they should be planted the last two weeks of November and I had the bulb planter and food and all the things ready. The second week of November was a typical balmy coastal Virginia late fall week. Then it all came to a screeching halt... it got cold... really cold... cold enough for a two inch snow to stick. And it didn't really warm up... perhaps it got above freezing in the day a bit, but still the north wind blew and at night it was cold. I quickly got reams of bubble wrap and wrapped all the patio plant containers and covered the bottoms and tops of the soil. I moved Japanese maple tree (the one in the pot) and others to the south side of the patio next to the brick wall and the leaves that had blown up on the patio.. I gathered them all around the wrapped pots for an added layer. I grouped all the wrapped pots together in protected corners and even tried to wrap the mock orange bushes ... but knew that at a hardiness level of 20 - 30℉ they would not likely make it and they didn't. Other plants I brought inside.

With all this hustle and bustle at the unexpected cold snap... I forgot about the tulips, but only for four weeks. Yet, alas, it was too late. We had a couple of insignificant... at least insignificant for those in northern states... snows in the weeks before Christmas and much colder temperatures than usual. Here at the coast with the Gulf Stream it is not unheard of to have temperatures in the 50's and 60's at Christmas time. But this year it was COLD! The ground froze... I tried to plant just before Christmas and my bulb planter would not get past the mulch... the ground froze... it really did. We even had that frost heave they speak of where water gets in the soil and freezes, expanding and pushing up little bits of soil. Then it snowed twelve inches on Christmas night and the day after... and January was just as cold as December. So, it was February... the middle part.. before I managed to get them in. The bulbs had started to sprout in the garage, but at least they seemed viable. So I planted them.... 97 around the two trees in the front of the house.

The daffodils come up in March, early... and the tulips just after them. Everyone else had tulips and I finally started seeing the little pointy shaped buds pushing up out of the mulch... then the leaves started to form.... but no flowers. Across the street was a stand of tall shapely tulips... long slender stems and bulbous cup shaped red flowers swaying when the breeze blew. Mine... nothing. Then one day I saw a dash of red on the ground and thought it was a piece of trash blown into the yard. I checked and to my surprise.. it was a tulip! At ground level! No stem to be seen at all! A few days later... another... same size... and another and another. Pretty soon I had a bevy of blooms... sitting right on top of the leaves and less than three inches off the ground. They were supposed to all be red... they weren't... some were pink and some were purple with white stripes. But all of them were munchkin... short... petite.... very strange looking. I'm sure I saw people driving by twice trying to figure out exactly what they were.

I learned one thing... well, maybe two. First, did you know that after you cut a tulip the stem continues to grow for a few days? I didn't. But after the blooms were spent... the stems on my tulips decided to grow... about 8 inches. And again... people would wonder what these things were. The second thing I learned is... no matter how afraid I am that the bulbs will come up too soon in our usually warm winters and then be hit with a late spring freeze... I WILL plant my bulbs this year in the first week of November... NO MATTER HOW HOT OR COLD IT IS!

Oh, yes... I forgot... to get these pictures I had to lay down on the ground with the camera....again, neighbors wondering.......

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

Stuck

2011-05-22T14:13:00.000-04:00

Not a bright squirrel.....

I couldn't believe this squirrel was so stupid and smart at the same time. Smart enough to get into the cage around the bird food and stupid enough to forget how he did it and get stuck. I still don't know how he got in... how do squirrels do anything.... but he definitely couldn't get out. I had to pull the spring pin that was holding the lid down and do it really quick. Really now, I don't have a hankering to be bitten by one of these things. That was no small feat as it is a really tight spring. By the time I found him here, he was already in a squirrely state (pardon the pun), panicked and frantically chewing on the metal wire. It took several tries but finally the spring came loose and he popped out of the top and off to the woods. If only that experience were imprinted on his pea sized brain... no such luck. We move the patio chairs further and further away from the bird feeder and he jumps further and further to get to the feeder.... soon we will have to catch him and sell him to a traveling squirrel circus, along with his five other cohorts.

(end of post)
Shutterday

White In The Shade

2011-05-21T22:09:00.001-04:00

Columbine... double white....the flower of the spring.

"What a desolate place would be a world without flowers. It would be a face without a smile; a feast without a welcome. Are not flowers the stars of the earth? Are not our stars the flowers of heaven?" ~ Clara L. Balfour

It has been a real struggle to write these last few weeks and for several months now. Life gets in the way and with doctor's appointments for two parents and emergencies that seem never ending and balancing diabetic diets and gout diets and even soft diets for the same person and cooking and grocery shopping and a little planting thrown in... well, by night time the thoughts in my head are mostly non-existent. So I take my pictures... those that I have been able to take... and play. There are so many beautiful flowers opening up on a daily basis and many a surprise... (since I didn't map out the flower beds that well last year and have forgotten exactly what was where)... with such beauty you would think I would be inspired. But my muse is buried under mountains of pills for people and pets and organizing trips to the doctor with as little duplication and extra driving as possible.

This was a new addition to my shade garden last summer... a white double columbine. It prefers shade or partial sun but not too much. It will wilt in the heat in Virginia. But the columbine is hardy too... last year I planted a bunch out behind the fence, right next to the large tree that snapped off during a summer storm. After the people came to remove the tree, I noticed they had trampled most of the growing columbine plants and I grieved. But this spring, little sprouts of green began to grow in the most familiar leaf shape...little scalloped leaves... and before you knew it there were columbine.... purple and white, solid purple, burgundy, pink and white and pale yellow. Most often they die back to the ground in late fall, but emerge again in spring... ours have bloomed through April and into May. Now most are topped with the growing seed pods, but this white double is still blooming strong. I plan to collect more seed to add to our population behind the fence.

(end of post)
Today's Flowers

The Passing of Pansies

2011-05-16T11:11:00.000-04:00

Perky pansies.... their last hurrah!

"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember; and there is pansies, that's for thoughts." ~ Shakespeare, Hamlet

Creeping upward, slowly... cool day setbacks... but still warmer, each day a little bit... temperature marches slowly and then more quickly... instep with the humidity. Spring takes its time in getting the motor running but seems to rush headlong into the heat of Summer without a thought for those it leaves behind... the daffodils, tulips, iris and the pansies. Poor pansies... they tried to expand and flourish and flower and brighten up the late fall.. but the cold came too soon this year and they struggled. Spunky pansies.. called a winter flower but who can really like the snow or the cold...they try to look beautiful with wet leaves and flowers and ice and that white stuff, but they struggle. Still, in Spring, pansies perk up and lift their heads to the breezes. They call for the April rains and shine. It is in Spring that they show their stuff.... but Spring is too short and counted not by the days but by the temperatures. While the "time" of Summer does not arrive until June... the "heat" of summer... that which signals the roses and lilies and lantana to bloom... arrives in May. And just when the pansies have overcome the winter hardships and are at their brightest show.... it's over.... too much to bear.. the wilting heat... the flashy colors of summer. Perhaps if the pansy gave nectar to the bees or attracted the increasing number of butterflies... would her delicate petals stay just a little while longer? Poor pansies... already pulled up and replaced with summer annuals in the front beds... already removed from hanging baskets and most deck containers.... but, here... for another week perhaps... in a shaded area.. with slightly cooler temperatures... they can share space with roses and petunias and blanket flowers and growing sage and tomatoes.... just a little longer.

(end of post)
Mellow Yellow Monday

And So It Begins Again....

2011-05-11T18:55:00.000-04:00

Remnants of last season.... beginning again. Black swallowtail butterfly.

"I've watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!---not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!"
~ William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850)

Last October, six black swallowtail caterpillars, the last of the season... wove their chrysalides in the small aquarium sitting in my sunroom. Five days past.. then ten... then a full month... and it became obvious that these six were not going to emerge until spring. Days and weeks and months passed; the sticks with five brown and one green chrysalides simply ..."were". Two attached to the mesh cover and the rest to small twigs. A couple of the twigs had to be taped to larger sticks to fit into the empty flower pot in the aquarium. Those black swallowtail that overwinter usually start emerging in mid to late April, but one adventuresome fellow suddenly emerged in early April... really too soon, especially this year. The day was cold and wet and I kept him inside as long as possible before placing him in the drying mesh lid we used last year. An hour or so later, he was gone... I fear for his survival as there were so few flowers blooming and it was really cold. So, for the other five... I covered the aquarium with a dark towel for a few weeks... the length of the day, the light is the trigger for their emergence not the temperature.

Three more butterflies have successfully emerged, inflated their wings, practiced their wing style and spent time resting in the welcome mesh outpost. They have long since gone... but I did notice the tiny eggs on the fennel and several small caterpillars in various stages already eating the now abundant fine foliage. Sadly, the fifth butterfly was deformed and couldn't inflate the wings..... it died quickly. So now there is one left. It still has several days to emerge and still be within the normal time.... we will see. Soon, we will be breaking out the incubators for both the black swallowtail and the monarchs.

And an update on the monarch caterpillars already on the milkweed.... as last year, the first crop of caterpillars mysteriously disappeared. Only one managed to grow fairly large and I was thinking of bringing it inside for the last couple of days before transformation... but this morning it was dead. I do hope the parasite that invaded them at the end of the season is not still around. As yet, I have not seen any adults.

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Nature's Notes

Lilies for Love on Mother's Day

2011-05-09T11:57:00.000-04:00

“The mother loves her child most divinely, not when she surrounds him with comfort and anticipates her wants, but when she resolutely holds her to the highest standards and is content with nothing less than her best.” ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie (American writer, 1845-1916)

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” ~ Washington Irving (American Writer. 1783-1859)

“Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My mother” ~ Ann Taylor (English Author, 1782-1866)

“The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.” ~ Honore de Balzac quotes (French Novelist. 1799-1850)

"The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven."
~ William Goldsmith Brown

"A mother's treasure is her daughter." ~ Catherine Pulsifer

Could you see, could you guess... lovely lilies from my daughter Nyssa for Mother's Day. Thank you sweet pea... they are lovely.... not as lovely as seeing your face and hearing you call me "Madre"... but beautiful to brighten the day none the less. Thank you!

OH! Yes... I hope ALL the mothers out there had a lovely day... and all you daughters out there.... CALL YOUR MOTHER!!!!

Look Who Already Showed Up On My Milkweed!!!

2011-05-05T12:01:00.000-04:00

Twenty caterpillars, already!!!

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly." ~ Richard Buckminster Fuller

My brother is here... it is a busy and too short time of being together, laughing, working, planting... and yes, buying another Japanese maple tree. Just before he arrived I was looking over the flower beds marveling that just weeks before, except for the parsley and fennel and the evergreens, these beds were simply mulch where plants once grew. And then, remarkably, they began to return.. slowly at first but then almost changing each day. A few will not return and I don't know why... a few, I am still holding out hope for. The milkweed are slow to emerge and then grow more rapidly. I was watching them inch up towards the sky, each day a little more. Then I saw some leaves with holes and ragged edges and I thought... "My, these look really ratty... and still they are so short." A closer look showed why... and when I checked all the milkweed it was the same.... little one-half inch long green, yellow, black and white striped caterpillars. I haven't seen any returning Monarch butterflies, but they have slipped in and laid the eggs and so the cycle of life begins.

By the way, of the six black swallowtail chrysalides that overwintered in the sunroom... one emerged on a cold and rainy day, a little too early.... another emerged on time, dried and flew off. Four have not changed, but still a couple of weeks remain in their time frame. I haven't seen these butterflies around either, but I see that the fennel already has a lot of tiny eggs on it. This year I have planted more fennel behind our fence, near the preserve. I want to have a yard that is awash and a flutter with butterflies so thick you can hardly take a step without seeing one. Sigh. Perhaps.

(end of post)

Nature's Notes

Spring Fireglow

2011-04-26T16:31:00.000-04:00

Early Spring.. emerging embers.

"Tree, gather up my thoughts
like the clouds in your branches.
Draw up my soul
like the waters in your root.

In the arteries of your trunk
bring me together.
Through your leaves
breathe out the sky."
~ J. Daniel Beaudry, Breath

"Fireglow", if ever an appropriate name for a tree... this is. It is probably ten years old with three trunks and survived the move and planting last summer's end. At the nursery and when first planted, the leaves were only tinged with red, mostly green. I babied it, this tree that is my brother's pride and joy... watering carefully... not too little and not too much. How many phone calls to the master gardener at the nursery to see if all things being done were all right.... what about this tiny cut in one of the trunks... does it need anything....when to fertilize... when to cut back on watering... do I prune back those scraggly limbs that lost their leaves in transit? Then fall arrived and with it the flaming red of the leaves... but it was dry and there had been so much heat and stress and still it was hot and the leaves seemed small and curled on edge... will it survive? This tree held on to its leaves well into November, far later than all the other standard maples in the yard. It took in the snow and the winds of winter and I thought it would be late leafing....it was, or at least I thought it was. The standard maple put out its buds and little flowers a full month before any buds were seen on the "Fireglow". But then the standard maple had to form its seeds and these hung around forever... in the meantime, Miss "Fireglow" quietly budded with tiny small red flowers and equally small red seed flyers and then tiny perfectly folded and shaped red leaves began to emerge in quick succession... bypassing the standard maple and.....

April sun....flourishing fiery glow!

....bursting forth in the most deep, garnet red collection of leaves I have ever seen. The leaves larger this year, not shriveled or green... and when the sun shines through the canopy it takes your breath away.... "Fireglow"

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Ruby Tuesday

Have a Seat ~ Please Be Seated ~ Take A Seat...You Pick

2011-04-25T16:01:00.000-04:00

Little garden angel... taking a seat on a tree stump...repurposing. (Jackson's garden, Portsmouth)

"Surely ruminating and lolling, squandering slivers of time as you ponder on this or that plant; perching about the place on seats chosen for their essential and individual quality, are other whole aspects of being a gardener. Why shouldn't we? We sit in other people's gardens, why not in our own." ~ Mirabel Osler, The Garden Bench

Tree stumps make better seats than ladders. There is a story behind that statement, filled with angst and pain and humiliation... a story with a moral as well. I won't bore you with the details except to warn all you klutzy people out there (I include myself in this description and I know my daughter would include me as well.)...if you want to look over into your neighbor's yard because you hear a noise there and there is a six foot wooden fence in your way and a pine tree stump available to stand on.. think twice or thrice. Not minding your own business may end up with a badly sprained ankle as you twist your foot trying to quickly step down....remember we are all klutzes here... and you WILL end up on the ground, crawling on all fours in excruciating pain, back to the patio door and into the house where you will then pull yourself up next to the counter, hop on one foot and pray that your teenage daughter has not emptied the ice maker. You will end up in the orthopedic surgeon's office where you will sit for no less than three hours before they x-ray your ankle and another two hours before they get you fitted with the most ugly and cumbersome black boot to stabilize the ankle. This boot will not fit under your pants; this boot over your pants forces the leg to ride up and bunch unattractively at your knee, so that you look as if you were trying to wear some sort of balloon on that leg. And walking in it.... did I not tell them it was being a klutz that got me into this in the first place? Do they really think a genuine klutz can walk in this... much less drive a car with one on? Oh, I forgot to tell you that it was the right foot, the driving pedal foot, no less. The swelling will go down in two weeks, the bruise that came up will take three and all because I wanted to look over into the neighbor's back yard. And you want to know something really disappointing? There was nothing there. Nope. Nothing to go with that weird screeching sound... nada... no one...no child... no animal... completely empty. The moral is of course... next time, simply use the gate...or better yet, take a seat on that stump and let it go.

Brooklyn Botanical Garden, 2006... a most unusual seat to take... under the spreading...
well, I don't know what kind of tree it was... huge and old and visited by many, many people who left their marks.

The huge "C" shaped trunk made a lovely place for Nyssa to lounge.

Every time I see these pictures it reminds me of the Longfellow poem that starts out... "Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands...."; though I don't think this was a chestnut tree. While the branches were large and draping all the way to the ground and the trunk hidden like a secret garden resting place... it wasn't a weeping willow either. That was one thing about the garden in Brooklyn, the specimens and trees were not always marked will with their names. I thought the view in black and white was remarkable as it brings out all the graffiti and markings people have left through the years. The tree wears its scars proudly and has managed to survive and thrive in spite of humans.

Carmi's theme this week is "take a seat" so I combined it with the "trees" from last week... taking a seat in and on a tree.

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Carmi's theme ~ "take a seat"

A Quarter of a Century... Nyssa Hits the Mark!!!

2011-04-24T17:00:00.000-04:00

"In the great green room there was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of--
The cow jumping over the moon
And there were three little bears, sitting on chairs
And two little kittens and a pair of mittens
And a little toy house and a young mouse
And a comb and a brush and bowl full of mush
And a quiet old lady who was whispering "hush".

"Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon
Goodnight light and the red balloon
Goodnight bears goodnight chairs
Goodnight kittens goodnight mittens
Goodnight clocks and goodnight socks"

"Goodnight little house and goodnight mouse
Goodnight comb and goodnight brush
Goodnight nobody goodnight mush
And goodnight to the old lady whispering "hush"
Goodnight stars, goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere."
~ Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon, 1947

Twenty-five years ago today, a quarter of a century past... a girl child was born. She was loved and cherished and nurtured and taught from the beginning... even before she was born. Goodnight Moon... a simple story with bright primary color illustrations became a nightly ritual... her mom read it before she was born and every night, beginning on her first night home from the hospital. First words... mama... dada.... and "moon". She knew the words to the entire book before she could read and wore out many copies... board book, hardback, paperback... I don't remember how many we finally ended up with. I patched and taped the pages together in this cherished work for many years.

Today, she turns 25... on Easter... her birthday falling on this day for the first and likely the last time in her life. (or at least that is what she tells me). All grown up and too far away to bake a cake for, we simply celebrate over the phone and with cards and as she has also told me... with blog posts. She checked.. it wasn't up... she was disappointed... but I have been behind all my life.. all her life. When I sat down to go through some pictures and think about the past 25 years, my eyes misted.. such a long time it seems and yet it was gone in an instant...those baby smells and sounds of learning to laugh.. those funny things she said as a little toddler...the excitement of going to school and taking her first piano lesson... the joy of watching her help another and realizing that she was learning life lessons.... the harrowing job of teaching her to drive...."watch the mailboxes, watch the mailboxes!!!...the pride at seeing her graduate... from kindergarten, high school, college, master's degree and one more left for the future. All these moments and more contained in 25 years of memories.

I don't like to be in pictures or post pictures that I'm in... but I will make this one exception. Please note and then disregard the amazingly out of date glasses and the frizzed out hair... remember, I had just been through 48 hours of unsuccessful induction of labor and a C-section... so taking that into account, I didn't look half bad. At least both Nyssa and I were asleep... we needed it... we were both exhausted from the process of new life. So, this is what I was doing 25 years ago today at exactly this time of day... 5PM.

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!!!!

(end of post)

Good Friday Reflection

2011-04-22T13:26:00.000-04:00

The dogwood....glorious flowering tree of spring...state flower of Virginia...tree with legends holy.

Legend of the Dogwood

An old and beautiful legend has it that, at the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree and other monarchs of the forest. Because of its firmness and strength it was selected as the timber for the cross, but to be put to such a cruel use greatly distressed the tree. Sensing this, the crucified Jesus in his gentle pity for the sorrow and suffering of all said to it:

"Because of your sorrow and pity for My sufferings, never again will the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross.

Henceforth it will be slender, bent and twisted and its blossoms will be in the form of a cross ~ two long and two short petals. In the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints ~ brown with rust and stained with red ~ and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember."

~ Author Unknown

Pink and red dogwood....

The pink dogwood flower is said to derive its delicate color from its blush of shame for the way the dogwood was used to make the cross for Christ's crucifixion. The red dogwood reminds us of Christ's blood shed for our sin.

But do they grow in Israel?

Isaiah 53: 3-9
3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.

9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave."

~ New Living Translation

No, the dogwood tree does not grow naturally in Israel and the legend is just that. The event of that story is true, foretold by the prophet Isaiah and orchestrated by God Himself and for what reason? So that we might be able to have intimate fellowship with the Holy God. All we have to do is accept and believe... how can I not be grateful?

My prayer is that you remember, reflect and receive.... in this holiest of seasons.

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Recommended Site: A Holy Experience

When Is A Tree Not A Tree?

2011-04-21T08:46:00.000-04:00

When it is nature's arcade with free air conditioning!

"Making the simple complex is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." ~ Charles Mingus

During horrific storms a year ago, several of the old stately pines at the Norfolk Botanical Garden were damaged, a couple broken off... the staff was devastated as these had been here since the garden was first formed. Loblolly pines are the favorite nesting sites of the Bald Eagle mating pair that inhabits the garden. What to do? Recycle... refurbish... reuse... make something magical out of misery. And so they did. You remember the Enchanted Forest series of playhouses that were on display last summer? To go with them, the garden decided to fill the now empty space where the trees were lost, with an outdoor arcade of sort.. the old fashioned kind where grandpas and kids could sit and play checkers as grandpa told stories of his childhood. The large trunks were carved into the table with checkerboard. Other trunks were fashioned into chairs and still others were cut and sanded into the checkers. So the lost trees were not really lost at all.. in fact, their new lives only added to the "enchantment" of the Enchanted Forest.

Does this funny fellow remind anyone else of an Ent?

"Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?" ~ Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982

Lovely people who have been long time friends of my parents live on a section of the bay with boat dock and large rocks at the shore. It is an older section of the area with large shade trees and gorgeous yards. The woman is an avid gardener and has wonderful little treasures hidden all over the place. Nyssa's favorite place was the hammock... shade and the cool breezes off the water. These looked like a variety of holly tree.. some can get quite large. I don't know if they were damaged and she simply couldn't bear to cut them down or if they had been trained and pruned specifically for this purpose, but this fellow can't help but catch your eye. Whimsical, humorous... who could help chuckling as he sticks his tongue out at passersby. But wait... trees with tongues??? Or lips or eyes for that matter.....hmm....

"Of all the wonders of nature, a tree in summer is perhaps the most remarkable; with the possible exception of a moose singing "Embraceable You" in spats." ~ Woody Allen

I remember now... an Ent... the ancient talking trees in Tolkien's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. However, I really don't remember them ever looking this happy or mischievous, do you?

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Carmi's Theme ~ Trees

Trees of the Season

2011-04-18T07:18:00.001-04:00

Spring, daffodils bloom but the trees must wait....

"I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!" ~ John Muir

There is an order to the season... Spring really doesn't "spring" all at once. Each tree, each flower has its time of glory before its Creator. Crocus at the end of winter, then daffodil and weeping willow, the pink helicopter seeds of standard maple and the pale green new leaves of the birch... one after the other. Some with seeds arriving in tow with leaves, some with seeds that have to wait for fall. The last to leaf... usually the oak and crepe myrtle; the oak first pushing off brown dry dead leaves hoarded over winter to let the new green growth out and the crepe myrtle sprouting new growth below dead limb tips that should have been pruned in February. Each having a moment of splendor before shades of green deepen and blend with others in the the woods and forests and swamps.

Ornamental pear, flowers before leaves.. first in line for Spring.

"The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ornamental pear and plum have their finest moment with millions and billions of tiny white flowers that draw the season's first bees and shower the ground around their base with Spring snow.

Showy and loud, stately and proud, the rows of pear line boulevards and medians bring thoughts of white carriages and horses and fair tale princesses in pale blue sparkling dresses, rather than the reality of people in cars on their way to places unknown. Emerson was right.. how can we see the trees and not wonder more?

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Carmi's Theme ~ trees
Mellow Yellow Monday

Lovely Little Ladybug, Coming Soon to a Garden Near You

2011-04-12T11:28:00.000-04:00

Will ladybug season be early or late?

"The ladybug's a beetle.
It's shaped like a pea.
Its color is a bright red
With lots of spots to see.
Although the name is ladybug
Some ladybugs are men.
So why don't we say "gentleman bug"
Every now and then?"
~ Author Unknown

I love ladybugs... so round and bright and spotted.. and wonderful to keep the aphids off the roses. In these parts, the garden centers get their crop of ladybugs around the first of May.. though the aphids show up earlier. They are voraciously hungry and very efficient, as within a day or two they manage to eat all the aphids. Unfortunately, they usually move on, even though we have put out special ladybug food to entice them to stay. I love to see them walking along the rose stems and seeing the tiny aphids scattering as fast as they can. Now, if only someone would find a bug who loved to eat June bugs.... they are more destructive to the roses than the aphids.

One warning about June bugs.... DO NOT use those hanging sac traps.... all they do is attract the June bugs to the trap... AND YOUR YARD! I hung one out last year and in the time it took to go in the house, look them up on the computer and read about the pitfalls... fifteen June bugs had committed suicide by entrapment. But there were even more on the roses. Apparently, the only way to effectively use these (and then only if you really dislike your neighbors) is to give them to neighbors several houses away.... let the beetles be attracted to their yards. This really is not a nice neighborly thing to do. I did read that you could collect them in a jar of dishwashing liquid and water and then blend them up into an emulsion and spray the mixture on the plants. The writers said this would repel the June beetles; I guess no one like to nibble with the scent of one's relatives around.

My shade garden is returning... columbine about to bloom, ferns curling up spirals from the mulch, the astilbe leafing out and even the leaves returning to the hydrangea.... now... hmm... is it purple with acid or basic fertilizer. I did it wrong last year and the flowers were pink... pretty but I wanted purple with green centers. And the irises I planted last year... those I took from our old house... those that I thought would surely perish since I left them in plastic wash pans with no dirt for three years... those that instead multiplied and turned 50 plants into 175....well, it looks like at least some of them will bloom this year. And with my brother coming home in late April... he will get to see them in their glory!

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

Reflections in Time

2011-04-11T15:48:00.000-04:00

Window reflections from Bruton Parish Church. Williamsburg, VA.

"Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." ~ Sydney J. Harris (American Journalist, 1917-1986)

Old window panes, colonial windows, built in 1715, now 296 years old. Windows that have seen the birth of a nation, wars between brothers, celebrations of independence, innumerable weddings and funerals and now, visitor from all the world itself. The windows let the light inside the historic structure and still reflect the life around it... winter trees with gnarled branches and the sky between. Sometimes as you walk the quiet streets you can hear the sounds of ancient hymns from the huge pipe organ within... other times there are the voices of a choir singing praises to God. What secrets have these walls seen and held? If only the bricks could talk to us... what history we could experience then.

Carmi's theme has been "windows" this week. I love the old wavy glass in the historic homes.. rare and irreplaceable these days. And the round windows... Williamsburg has quite a few of these in the old capitol building, the Wren building on the campus of William and Mary and in this old, stately church.

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Carmi's Theme ~ Windows

Christmas In April

2011-04-04T13:20:00.000-04:00

Christmas blooms in April. Yellow Christmas cactus.

"I've always thought my flowers had souls." ~ Myrtle Reed, Lavender and Old Lace

Mom brought this plant home over a year and a half ago, a yellow Christmas cactus. The unusual color with a tinge of peace at the base of each flower is nothing compared to the light that seems to glow from within. It bloomed a bit at Christmas but not with a spectacular number of blossoms. With the help of colder nights in the sunroom and increasing early morning sun from the east, it has been putting out buds and blooms for a month now... and I hope it continues until Easter. As always, that luminescent shine seems to pour forth from within the flower. It is so delicate and powerful at the same time. Where did she get this? At Sam's, along with her orchid... the one that bloomed for nine months straight, stopped for two months then started again and is still full of blooms four months later.

(end of post)
Mellow Yellow Monday

Springtime In Switzerland

2011-04-03T11:22:00.000-04:00

A Spring stroll in the park... Geneva, Switzerland

"It was such a spring day as breathes into a man an ineffable yearning, a painful sweetness, a longing that makes him stand motionless, looking at the leaves or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what." ~ John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga

Springtime in Switzerland, another place I have never been except through the eyes of my brother and his little camera. This shot shows what I love the most about spring... the pale green tiny leaves on the huge trees with dark branching trunks and lacy intertwining limbs. Around here we don't see it so much. There are many maples and these seem to produce their seeds before the leaves come out... they are usually red or orange or even a slight golden color and in some places near our house, the maples all alined almost give the look of fall with their "Spring" colors. The pear and plum trees show up with millions of small white flowers before the leaves and by the time these petals have been blown by the wind into a fine Spring snow on the ground around their feet and covered cars that drive by, the leaves emerge at almost full size. The oaks have yet to push off last years brown dead leaves. No, here we don't have a boulevard to walk under an arch of tiny fresh green leaves.

I remember one tree near the lab where I worked in Mississippi. While I don't know what type of tree it was, it always fascinated me. It was old with a thick dark trunk... almost black, the trunk and limbs. Deep, dark green ivy had spread from the disc around the base, upward, covering the trunk in green year around. In the winter, short as it is there, the black empty limbs gave an architectural look to the corner lot... always with that green ivy showing. But it was most magnificent in Spring, when the light lime green leaves began to emerge. The lime green made the black limbs and branches pop and it blended so finely with the dark green ivy. It was a wonderful collage of greens and black for almost a month, until the leaves were too large and the skeleton of limbs could no longer be seen.. and by then the color of the leaves and the ivy were almost indistinguishable. As summer approached, it was just another tree with its individualistic character now hidden from view until Fall once again came.

Carmi has chosen the theme "land, sea or air" for this week.... whether travel by each or the beauty of each. I chose this for land... spring land... a land I have never walked, but may do so some day. And I thought this was most scenic as well for Scenic Sunday.
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Carmi's Theme ~ Land, Sea or Air
Scenic Sunday

March Madness: In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lion

2011-03-30T23:34:00.000-04:00

March Madness... in so many ways.

"March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice." ~ Hal Borland

Well, March came in like a lion and... looks like it's going out like a lion as well, a Nor'easter setting up and cold, cold, rain coming down. While a few days this month were warmer than usual, most were colder. I laughed at Nyssa just a week ago when we had 76 degree days and she was having snow and 32 degree temperatures. Now the roles are reversed.. Reno has 70 degree days and we had sleet and temperatures consistently in the 40's for almost a week now. That is "madness".

Secondly, one of the black swallowtail butterflies who had been hibernating and transforming in my little aquarium in the sunroom decided it was time to emerge. I believe they do so on basis of the amount of light as in the length of the days, rather than the temperatures. This group of six chrysalides settled down back in early October and have overwintered in warmth and comfort and moderate humidity. They aren't suppose to emerge until mid-April but this one was an early bird... er.. butterfly. He was desperate to leave but we have nothing blooming except pansies and I doubt they have much nectar. Still, I let him go. There is fennel that is already growing well and even though the temperature seems much too cold for them... it could still lay its eggs on the fennel and hopefully find a bit of food somewhere. It was "madness" to emerge that early.

Then there is this picture... I really wasn't going to post this as it is not a great idea to take pictures while driving down the road. But, it was so interesting. I took it this month, on one of our many rainy days and it looks so cold and dreary out and that long stream of car lights. This is Dominion Blvd... the main highway south to North Carolina and Elizabeth City area. It is always congested and lined with traffic after 2PM and when the drawbridge has been open. I never come south on this road after 2PM... though the other drawbridge is no better. But not only was it probably madness to take this photo... my point and shoot does have the screen on the back so it isn't as risky a behavior as having to put your eye to a viewfinder... but, look at the window covered with streaming water droplets.... WHERE ARE MY WINDSHIELD WIPERS? I was startled that there was so much water in the picture! If it was raining this hard, I should have had the wipers on high and I don't remember it being this MUCH rain... and I don't usually escape the black stroke of the wiper blade cutting across the corner of the picture. Please, don't panic... I DID have the wipers on.... didn't I!!!????

(end of post)

PS: Going to take Mom for another attempt at her iron infusion outpatient procedure. I am hoping it will not be entangled as last week's version was but I think it has a 50/50 chance of actually happening, as we still do not have the blood pressure under the best control. My car is draining my battery for some mysterious reason and the battery is sitting there dead as a doornail and we were needing the second car tomorrow... and one of the gas fireplace burners is not working right so I cut off all gas to it... and this portends of another "Alexander" terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.... I certainly hope not. Did I take a wrong turn and step into the Twilight Zone?

Carmi's Theme ~ March Madness

Shadow Cat ~ Wicked Willow

2011-03-28T15:20:00.043-04:00

Shadow cat Willow loves to find the sunbeam.

"Let us be honest; most of us rather like our cats to have a streak of wickedness. I should not feel quite easy in the company of any cat that walked around the house with a saintly expression." ~ Beverly Nichols

Willow loves to find the sunlight in shadows and hide or sit, half in and half out of light. She is a wicked cat... dominant.. bossy.. and yet angelic when she gazes up into your eyes. She barges in on any other cat who is eating or getting a pat on the head. In fact, now that they all love a little wet food in the evening, I sit and guard the old lady, Chloe as she eats. She eats slowly and Willow gulps hers down. Thank goodness I still have the clout as head honcho of their world.. all I have to do is point at Willow as she starts to sneak up on Chloe and she stops, stares and when she realizes that I will not blink.. she backs off. Of course this means I have to spend ten to fifteen minutes in the eating area simply sitting in a chair... alert at all times. It is at this time I am grateful for the Kindle.

In other news, Picasa and the usually simply "Blog This" button to send my pictures to Blogger is somehow broken... defunct... not doing what it says it is doing and generally acting all looney-toon on me. This was supposed to be a post for Shadow Shot Sunday, but the pictures I thought I uploaded simply disappeared. I see that at least two others have posted on the Picasa forum that they have the same problem.. now, if only a Google employee will see the problem and FIX IT!!!!!

It has been a group of "those" days in a row. I took Mom in for an outpatient procedure... an iron infusion, since she seems to be unable to absorb iron. She was in the middle of a flare up of gout that her primary physician didn't catch on her last labs... her uric acid was very elevated and her office did not pass on our call nor did they call back. So her nephrologist reluctantly gave her medication to decrease the uric acid but on Friday her foot was still in the stages of progression with increased swelling, pain, warmth and redness that was branching out across her foot and up her leg. This was very worrisome to me.. so when her blood pressure spiked before the iron infusion and she began having chest pain and they cancelled the procedure and wanted her to go to the ER, I was not too upset... I really wanted them to check that foot. I know her blood pressure does this when she is concerned about IV's and in pain and after I looked at her nitroglycerine pump and saw that it expired in October 2009.. well, the foot was my prime concern. I must say that Chesapeake hospital was very efficient... she didn't have to wait in the lobby when we got to the ER and they did an EKG, drew cardiac enzymes, did a chest x-ray and an ultrasound of the vessels in that leg and foot within a half an hour. There were no clots in that leg... major relief. We spent the rest of the day in the ER and then they kept her in observation overnight. Her cardiologist came to see her in observation and decided not to stress her with the stress test with her gout flared up and such. A bit of morphine IV relieved the pain in her foot and that chronic pain in her back that has been really bad lately and I brought her home on Saturday morning.

So, now I have to somehow balance a gout diet with a diabetic diet and most things are diametrically opposed... low protein, high complex carbs for gout... high protein, low carbs for diabetes. There must be a happy medium in there somewhere. The biggest problem and the biggest asset to help both the diabetes and the gout is good old H2O... water. I got 64 oz down her yesterday... and all the time she complained and fought and said she was nauseated from it and she just couldn't swallow it and... well, the foot is getting better. If anyone has ideas of how to get the required water down her every day without devoting all my time to .... "drink water", "is the glass empty yet", "we haven't gotten the required amount down yet", "do you WANT to go on dialysis?"... well, let me know.

That is why I have been out of pocket.... oh, yes.... and it froze last night... temps down to 28℉. We even got a little sleet when the rain first started and folks just north of us received almost a half an inch of snow. And here I thought spring had sprung. I sure do hope they get the Picasa blog this thing fixed and soon.

(end of post)
Cats on Tuesday

That Moment Before Touchdown

2011-03-22T22:51:00.001-04:00

... and the audience watching with a critical eye. Gulls of Mt. Trashmore.
(Click pictures to enlarge)

"No bird ever flew nonstop from New York to Tokyo, or raced 15 miles high at triple the speed of sound. But birds do something else. They do not conquer the air; they romance it." ~ Peter Garrison

Carmi's theme this week is transition... and today he has two lovely photos of seagulls in flight.. preparing to land... in transition. It jogged a memory of this photo of our Mt. Trashmore seagulls.. though I really don't know if the same seagulls stay at Mt. Trashmore all the time or if groups simply come and go as the food sources do. This fellow was coming in for a landing on a rough hewn fence and he had two spectators in the background, watching his every move. The closest, in particular, seems to be giving him a very critical eye... a teacher or parent perhaps... grading a young fledgling on his landing prowess? Personally, I think landing on a rough wooden fence rail in any way shape or form and doing it without getting a splinter in one of those webbed feet is successful.. do you suppose they ever do get splinters?

Awkward in flight, but smooth in transition. Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

Our Canada geese and mallards have been rotating between the neighborhood ponds more this past week. Late in the day, just about dusk, you can see them make their approach.. a large curved path while loosing altitude and a really strange screaming sound just before touchdown. This is the first time I've heard that sound but I guess some of them are a bit bumbling and have to warn the others to clear out of the way. The smaller mallards are not so graceful in the sky, flapping their wings almost hysterically, as if they would at any instant simply fall to earth if they didn't... no gliding or finding the air currents... the mallards simply fly to get from one body of water to the next... if it isn't close enough to just walk. But... their landings and takeoffs are more smooth and controlled than those lovely geese. I wonder if they know how magical their gift of flight is.

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ Transitions
World Bird Wednesday

Bashful

2011-03-21T15:45:00.000-04:00

Bashful beauty broadcasts, " Surely Spring has sprung!"

"If one daffodil is worth a thousand pleasures, then one is too few." ~ William Wordsworth

I am reading a book... a small book.. actually, I've read it already but thought it good to go back through again. When I have finished a second time, I might post about it.. or I might simply keep it as my small treasure for just a bit to see where the journey goes... no, I won't keep it too close because a wonderful journey is even better when shared... but I did start. For now, this journey, this counting of gratitudes is in its infant stage and so my first ones are simple.. thunderstorms... we had our first today... and just the rumble of thunder said "Spring is here.... and right on cue." The yo-yo effect is slowly but surely ebbing away as the day and night time temperatures edge their way up. I don't think we will have any more freezing night temperatures... neither do the plants. Spring breezes... no longer howling around the roofline or clacking the bare tree limbs together... gentle but firm and warm with a hint of continuing cool around the edges...as I sat waiting for Mom at the doctor's office.. the soft breezes blew small white petals from the three large flowering pear trees and they floated to the ground like the winter snow. It had that "other worldly" effect.. you know, the one you feel and half expect to look up and see a golden carriage drawn by two snow white horses appear through the veil of falling petals...that effect. The tulip magnolias have bloomed and are shedding their pink petals in a carpet around their base...the buds so long in waiting and so short in staying after the opening. The same is so with our daffodils... no new ones planted, just the older bulbs well rested over winter. They opened a bit early as always and then had to brave the cold winds of early March... so this year, they are not pristine, a bit ragged and raw around the edges, but still... daffodils. One bulb managed, probably with inadvertent human help, to escape the flower bed and end up implanted in the yard. I remedied that... managed to extract it with bulb intact and placed it back among its siblings. This small variety, was hiding behind a larger yellow sister who is hogging all the attention with her big saturated golden locks... so I crept around and when she wasn't looking... I snapped the shot. Yes, one daffodil is worth many pleasures and much gratitude as well... this bashful beauty will go on my list.

(end of post)
Mellow Yellow Monday

The Last Remnants of Winter

2011-03-17T12:56:00.000-04:00

Forgotten nest in a naked tree.. the last remnants of winter.

"To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life." ~ John Burroughs

It looks like the last freeze of winter is past... or perhaps I am going out on a limb here to say that. Still we have the yo-yo up and down temperatures between 45 and 80 right now; but the night time temperatures are slowly and steadily creeping up... 39..41...45..48...50..52. The trees are flowering or leafing and the fennel and yarrow are growing. The roses on the east side of the house are leafing out while those on the west and south sides are still canes. I see the small tiny curled fronds of the ferns starting to lift the overlying mulch just a bit and the hydrangea that I thought was horribly mutilated by the freezing cold weather this year is beginning to fill in with leaves. Daffodils are in full bloom, but alas, as yet I haven't seen one of the tulips emerge. I fear I planted too late again. Even the liriope is pushing up out of the ground and will flourish although, of all the plants in the front flowerbed, I dislike the liriope most.

In fact, the oaks and other hardwood trees along with the milkweed and lantana appear to be the late comers and still with bare branches. This long abandoned nest is tucked high in a tree behind the house. This tree is hanging on by a thread, much of the top has died and already broken off in the winds of two years ago. Its lower branches have bravely leafed out each spring and have tried to be robust enough to provide shelter for this nest. All in all, pretty successful, as it was very difficult to even see this nest.. or the birds that lived there last spring. Some day soon I expect to see it fallen to the ground.. perhaps a new nest built. That is a shame. It was a strong nest for a fledgling family and weathered the summer tropical storm winds and the winter nor'easters without becoming dislodged. So, this is its final act... a last remnant of winter for all to admire.

Watch...we will probably have a snow storm for Easter this year... just to prove me wrong!

(end of post)
Nature's Notes

Somewhere Between the Fidelity Investments Commercial and the Wizard of Oz ~ Follow the Yellow Line

2011-03-13T17:22:00.000-04:00

Follow the yellow line.... a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. August 2006.

"The cables that hold up (the Brooklyn Bridge) on big stone piers are beautiful and not hidden. It's metal in your face, taking traditional material and putting it to use in a way that you can see what it can do." ~ Alan Goodheart

I don't know what it is about my mind but sometimes the strangest thoughts break in and simply won't go away. In these pictures I see hot, sweltering, summer days in concrete and asphalt with no rain, no wind and no relief in sight. I see us, Nyssa and I on a great adventure and obviously with no higher order mental faculties functioning as we set out to walk back to Brooklyn from Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge. Never mind the fact that once we made it to the Brooklyn side, it was still a long way to the apartment... and we had no idea as to where the nearest subway stop was.. we still set out. The walkway is down the center, room for walkers and bicycles... places to stop and rest and take in the sights along the way. Down below, the highway or road with yellow taxis and cars too numerous to count.

The Manhattan skyline behind us... we made it!

And what strange things pop into my head with this picture? For one, the green line in the Fidelity Investments commercial.... that keeps you on the straight road ahead.. or so they say. Follow the line.. follow the markings down the walkway... And the Wizard of Oz with the high pitched song of the Munchkins....

Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
Follow, follow, follow, follow,
Follow the Yellow Brick Road.
Follow the Yellow Brick, Follow the Yellow Brick,
Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.
If ever oh ever a Wiz! there was The Wizard of Oz is one because,
Because, because, because, because, because.
Because of the wonderful things he does.
We're off to see the Wizard. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
~ E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen

Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Sto-o-o-o-o-p! Stop the song in my head!!!!! Hmm. Maybe it will now be in your head....share the music, I say. Have a lovely Mellow Yellow Monday!

(end of post)
Mellow Yellow Monday

Daisy Has Taken A Turn For The Worse

2011-03-11T08:47:00.002-05:00

Daisy has taken a sudden turn for the worse in her heart disease... it appears she has decompensated and is having shortness of breath and acute heart failure. She spent much of the night standing until I figured a way she could lean on some pillows and on me and she finally fell asleep around 3 AM. Her breathing is still too fast and I am trying to get her into the cardiologist.... God has his eye on the sparrow so I know He has His eyes on Daisy too.

Update: 4PM... Daisy is spending the night at the emergency vet.. the same vet that took care of Max during his long illness. The veterinary cardiologist was not in today and could not see her until Monday, but the internal medicine doctors at the emergency place could do the echocardiogram and the lab tests needed. Her heart is really large.. but there doesn't seem to be any pneumonia, tumors in the lungs or elsewhere and it doesn't look like a slam dunk on Cushings with a pulmonary thrombosis either. Her oxygen level was really low so they put her in an oxygen crate and this had helped her breathing already, before I left. She has a cardiomyopathy type of heart failure, no tumor in the heart and no pericardial fluid. Her heart muscle looks to still be functioning fairly well and they think that with some Lasix and another drug, similar to digoxin but less toxic, she might make it over this episode. Cockers tend to respond well and have a pretty good prognosis... perhaps even two to three more years of quality. The medication starts to work in thirty minutes after dosage and I will call in later to check on her. Hopefully, she will be improved and able to be out of the oxygen by sometime tomorrow and can come home.

The workers there remember Max... "the cranky, goofy dog with the squeaky ball in his mouth"... and Daisy is so totally opposite of him.... sweet, cooperative, lets them draw blood, hold her for an echo and chest x-ray and generally prod and poke at will. I hope she can rest better tonight, but I know she must wonder where her "people" are and if we are ever coming back... she's been through this trauma before... at the kill shelter in South Carolina.

Thanks for the thoughts.... Daisy has carved out an even bigger place in my heart than Max did and if she left now, so suddenly, the hole would be impossible to fill.

Update #2 Sunday: Daisy responded well to her therapy and was able to go off oxygen at 5AM on Saturday. I picked her up a little after noon. They did an EKG and found that she also has 2nd degree heart block... which means that her heart is only contracting with every other electrical complex. If it progresses it could lead to sudden death but it does not usually progress and in this case it kept her heart rate from being as high as her respiratory rate and probably helped her heart failure stay compensated for as long as it did. They could put a pacemaker in but she is quite old and that would be difficult for her. Medication that would help would hurt her heart failure... so, we will watch. She had more energy than I have seen in her for quite a while and for a time I thought I might have to crate her to keep her from bounding around too much. After she figured out that everything was in place and this was indeed her place and that all her people were here... including her grandma... she settled down and took her usual naps, ate well and after being carried upstairs in a basket... she slept like a log.. happy to be back on her tempurpedic mattress pad. She goes back in one week to check progress and titrate her meds. Now, we have 1 dog, 1 cat, two humans on multiple meds..... hope I can keep them straight.

((end of post)

ABC Wednesday: Heavenly Horticulture

2011-03-09T11:50:00.001-05:00

Purple hyacinths with yellow pansies.

“If, of thy mortal goods, thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one and from the dole,
Buy Hyacinths to feed the soul”
~ Muslih-uddin Sadi

Pink hydrangea.

Hydrangeas
Dragoons, I tell you the white hydrangeas turn rust and go soon.
Already mid September a line of brown runs over them.
One sunset after another tracks the faces, the petals.
Waiting, they look over the fence for what way they go.
~Carl Sandburg

Rose...spicy...Honey Dijon

"They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream."
~ Ernest Dowson, (1867 - 1900)

Purple Heliotrope...the scent of vanilla.

"Perfumes are the feelings of flowers." ~ Heinrich Heine

To honor the coming of Spring and the changing of the hours, I look back at the wonderful flowers of last year with their heavenly fragrances and their handsome blossoms and I hope their beauty will soon honor us with their presence again.

(end of post)
ABC Wednesday ~ Letter "H"
Nature's Notes

It's Spring Somewhere

2011-03-08T14:08:00.000-05:00

I know...real frogs don't have red lips.
(Norfolk Botanical Garden... greenhouse)

"A light exists in Spring
Not present in the year
at any other period
When March is scarcely here."
~ Emily Dickinson

It's an in between day... not really cold enough to huddle under a thick blanket in front of the fire and certainly not like yesterday with its cold northwest wind blowing at a good clip... but, not really warm enough to roll up your sleeves and start digging in the dirt either. No, its an in between day... in between those yo-yo oscillations that are common in March. The swampy preserve is filled with water from our one inch of rain from Sunday and the branches of the still bare trees reflect in the quiet surface of what will certainly soon become the nursery for millions of mosquitoes. Now though, it is home to the mallard pair... quietly paddling around and stopping only occasionally to plunge their heads below that murky mess looking for food. It IS almost that time.. when waterfowl pair up and eggs are deposited and little fuzzy ducklings are spotted marching across the way in long lines with the nursery workers in strategic spots keeping all the new life together.

Anyway... you get the picture... not cold, not hot... still jacket weather... and then... "Grrrooookee...grrroke....grrroke"... that certainly doesn't sound like the high pitched twittering and tweeting (real tweeting) from the birds that have now moved to other yards since I have not cleaned the feeders and put them back in place. (I had to take them down because of the 50 mph winds that came through last week) What could it be... I listened and then.. of course. It's the beginning of frog season. Not quite as low in tone as the bullfrog, but not high like the tiny tree frog either. The sound is coming from the preserve and no, I am not going to put on waders and venture out into the primordial sludge that more than likely holds at least one snake beneath its black surface.. no, I will not risk finding the quicksand that surely must exist there, simply to try and find the singing frog and photograph him. It would be an exercise in futility as he would shut his mouth as soon as my black boots made the first clumping splash in the water. (These are the same oversized boots that became mired down in the muddy swamp that was my rose garden until we had proper drainage put in... and believe me... you must thank your lucky stars that you didn't have that scene burned into your retinas... a mud covered.... mumble year old woman.. stuck in the ground up to her knees...I did get out.. but the boots stayed there until I could find something to grab them and they let go with a wet sucking sound.... anyway, another time, another place.)

It was nice to hear the sounds of life in the swamp... at least, sounds other than those of the birds. Not that I don't love the sounds of the birds, but there is something about that symphony of ribbits and croaks that fill the spring nights, that cannot be explained in words. I distinctly heard a duet.. lower tone and a mid to higher one... the early "first chairs" getting the songs ready for full orchestration.

So, since I am not a swamp creature and the frogs are not beating a path to my back door to have their countenances preserved in pixels for all time... this colorful counterfeit creature will have to do, even though he would never be mistaken for the real thing... real frogs don't have red lips. Everyone knows that! If they did, then they would leave red kiss marks on all those women who kiss frogs attempting to find their prince! And that would simply NOT be right!

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

The Mimic

2011-03-07T11:12:00.000-05:00

"Why does this mimic mock me so?" said the tiny goldfinch to no one in particular.

"The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for faith is necessary to have wings." ~ James M. Barrie

"Why does this mimic mock me so?" said the tiny goldfinch to no one in particular. No one in particular replied, "He does not mock, he envies your wings; for see... he has none. This other bird, this twin, has your shape but no substance. He is simply black all over, no feather, no wings, no piercing eyes or bright colored down to attract others. He is flat, a cut out shape, a silhouette with no heart; stuck here, attached, grounded, bolted to this pole. This "bird" is no bird, just a decoration, but not even that... an emblem, a pale and weak copy of the real thing... of you, little goldfinch. You are the real art, the real decorative piece on this feeder... you have wings and feathers and a voice to sing. You don't have to compete with this fake fellow... just be yourself... sing, fluff up your tail, fly....live."

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ "Doubles"
Mellow Yellow Monday

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

2011-03-04T07:41:00.001-05:00

Chipping sparrows (Spizella passerina).. sharing grains of corn and sunflower seed.

"Two birds disputed about a kernel, when a third swooped down and carried it off." ~ Proverb (Congo)

Winter is hard for the small birds, competing with the crows and starlings for feed at the feeders. This year has been much easier though, the blackbirds were sparse and easily chased away. Even in the snow, the air is filled with the chirping songs of the goldfinch, house finch, warblers, bluebirds, wrens, cardinals and the sparrows. These two are small chipping sparrows at work on some grain they found. We filled the feeders just before the snow started and then added a few handfuls on the top of the snow as it accumulated. These little ones did not seem to be fighting or sparing over the food, but sharing it. Each took a few grains and both were satisfied. Perhaps they have learned the lesson of the above proverb... and both are content.

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ "Doubles"
Nature's Notes

ABC Wednesday: "G": Glowing and Gelid With a Touch of Geography Thrown In

2011-03-02T19:01:00.000-05:00

Gaillardia aristata 'Sunburst Scarlet Halo', Blanketflower.

"Each letter of the alphabet is a steadfast loyal soldier in a great army of words, sentences, paragraphs, and stories. One letter falls, and the entire language falters."
~ Vera Nazarian (The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration)

I can whole heartedly recommend this plant... Gaillardia or blanketflower. It is magnificent. I planted these in late April last year, already having blooms. Through the rest of Spring and Summer and on late into the Fall, they bloomed and bloomed and bloomed. All I had to do was deadhead the spent blossoms and more appeared. They finally faded in mid-November. Eights months of glorious, glowing color. And it will come back again this year, on its own with no additional planting... a true perennial. There are many varieties, most with varying amounts of crimson red and fiery yellow in the petals; but there are also those with flowers a gorgeous shade of garnet. Try them out... you won't be disappointed.

Groovy, garden gnome... with mushrooms!!
Enchanted Forest ~ Norfolk Botanical Gardens)

I wrote about this past Summer's display of wonderful children's playhouses in the Enchanted Forest section of Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Small clearings in the wooded area provided meeting places for the children to have short classes and explore the trees and to build gnome houses... yes, the Enchanted Forest is inhabited by groovy, garden gnomes. Look, under that bush or over there... beside that tree trunk... you never know where they will turn up. This one is adorable, but... what is that vine around him.... groundcover? Oh, I do hope it is Virginia creeper and not that nasty poison ivy stuff.

Green glass water globe.....

I learned a new word today... gelid...and adjective meaning... very cold; icy. Greens and blues are the cold or cool colors.. while reds and yellows are hot and glowing. You see where I was going with this now... right? Anyway, this is one of those contraptions that helps with watering the plants... it is filled with water, inserted in the soil and as the plant needs water it is absorbed and air replaces the water; or at least that is the general gist of it. It works well for the hanging baskets that are difficult to reach.

Gardenia...the flower meaning secret love, purity and joy.

This is my gardenia, variety Chuck Hayes... planted one year ago and bloomed deliciously this past Spring and early Summer. The scent was glorious and filled the yard with sweetness that could be sampled as soon as one walked through the back gate. Gardenias are one of my favorite flowers, in fact, they were the centerpiece of my bridal bouquet back in the dark ages. I love the deep and dark leaves and the pure white blooms and that fragrance... oh, my....indescribable!

A little touch of Geography.... Geneva, Switzerland.

Finally, aren't you glad I'm about to go? Just a little geography lesson... a little bit of the old world.... Geneva... no, not Illinois, Ohio, New York or the other six Geneva's in the United States... this Geneva is in Switzerland and this picture was taken by my globetrotting brother, Stephen Gould. This was a hard one... not the pictures... but the words. OK... I'm gone.

(end of post)
ABC Wednesday ~ The Letter "G"

Letters In Sunshine ~ Letters In Shadow

2011-02-27T15:10:00.000-05:00

Letters in sunshine... letters in shadow.
Max and Erma's Restaurant, Virginia Beach

“My alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz.
It's the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz.
You'll be sort of surprised what there is to be found
once you go beyond 'Z' and start poking around!”
~ Dr. Seuss (1904-1991)

Painted letters on a window... bright sunshine in winter with an angle low in the sky.... wooden window blind slats..... add them together and you get letter shadows. Now, I know you hope I know what they say... you want me to read them backwards..... but I can't. The restaurant is Max & Erma's... we went there once; not because the food was bad, but it is across town near the new Virginia Beach town center and a mall and frankly, we just don't get over that way very often any more. These days we try to group our outings together to get the most done for the gas we have to use. So, doctor's appointments near the beach become trips for necessities... gas at the cheepest station in town, stocking up on canned goods and paper goods from Costco and the very rare trip to a restaurant in this part of town....or rather, to use the Christmas gift card Mom got from Nyssa at Cheesecake Factory. By the way, Nyssa... she picked up one, a red velvet cheesecake.... red velvet cake layers between layers of cheesecake with a cheesecake icing and shreds of white chocolate on top. Just thinking about it puts on five pounds. We are rationing it for her.... it was already cut into slices and these have been individually wrapped and frozen. She gets ¼ slice every couple of weeks... so her HgbA1c doesn't go through the roof. It really IS an unbelievable treat and I don't even love cheesecake.

Oh, look... off subject again. Anyway, I have no idea what these letters say... I know they don't say "Max & Erma's", but haven't been able to decipher the words.. just the letters. The top row seems to be "i,d,e" and the bottom.. well, all I can make out is "ailable"... it could be "available" but why would that be on a window? I will try to remember to look and see, the next time we are over that direction.. the next time we have to make a run to the doctor down by the beach, to Costco and to Cheesecake Factory.

“Most people think that shadows follow, precede or surround beings or objects. The truth is that they also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories.” ~ Elie Wiesel (Romanian born American Writer. Nobel Prize for Peace in 1986. b.1928)

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ Letters
Shadow Shot Sunday

Haunted

2011-02-26T02:02:00.000-05:00

There is more than one way to be "haunted"......

"Sing once again with me our strange duet ...
My power over you grows stronger yet ...
And though you turn from me, to glance behind,
The Phantom of the Opera is there inside your mind ..."
~ Batt, Michael; Hart, C; Stilgoe, R; Lloyd-Webber, Andrew (lyrics)

In 1989 a casting call went out to singers, including classically trained opera singers particularly in Chicago. Andrew Lloyd Webber was casting for the second traveling company of The Phantom of the Opera... the show was to originate and play in Chicago for its first nine months. My brother, Stephen, was doing an apprenticeship at the Lyric Opera in Chicago after completing his Master's at New England Conservatory. He auditioned, was signed and that is how his "haunting" began.

Of course, we thought this was great and over the eight years he traveled with this company, we were able to see the production in many different venues.. The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC and The Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia to name a few. Eight shows a week, 52 weeks a year, for eight years.... you do the math. What happens when you sing and act the same thing over and over and over? Stephen said that some nights he could do the entire show and not really remember the details at all.

What do they do to break up the repetitiveness? Well, for one thing, birthdays. When Stephen turned 30... I planned a surprise. I can't remember if they were in Denver or Chicago, but I got in touch with another cast member and sent a box to them. Inside was a small black coffin shaped box filled with black and white shredded paper and all sorts of "Over the Hill" gifts, coffee mugs and such. In addition, they delivered thirty white carnations that had been tip dyed in black with greenery in a large arrangement and a special ballon... the Grim Reaper holding a cup cake.. it read "I'm just here for the cake." Others had put together some finger foods and a cake and they set all the things up on a large table backstage. I sent a package of stickers as well, that read... "Look Who's Turning 30". The cast passed them out amongst themselves and attached them in various strategic places on their costumes.

The woman who played Carlotta was quite buxom and the neckline of the costume for the Masquerade scene was very, very low... but she had a decorative scarf of some sort as well. So, she attached the sticker, strategically .. well, on her partially exposed bosom and covered it with the scarf. Carlotta had to dance with Stephen when he played the part of Piangi and apparently he had to do so that evening. As they were in the middle of the scene and whirling round and round across stage.. Carlotta (with her back to the audience) would fling up the scarf and show Stephen the sticker.... what a way to break things up! It was a memorable birthday after all.

I was able to see the show ten times and always found it moving. Nyssa was four when it began and seven when we went to Chicago for her first viewing. She was mesmerized... and afterward, when we went backstage, all the cast stopped to talk to her and she saw all the heavy, heavy costumes and the stage props and wigs and even the Phantom's makeup. We thought it amazing and wonderful and never tired of the performances. But, after years of hearing the music night after night... Stephen DID tire of it. He was "haunted" by the Phantom of the Opera sounds wherever he went. Do you know how many fine restaurants have live background piano music playing during lunch or dinner? More than you know. The songs were in their cycles and it never failed that a strain from some part of Phantom would begin as he ate.... he has several times paid a tip to the piano player NOT to play pieces from Phantom until he left the restaurant.

The final touring companies closed last year in November 2010 in Los Angeles. In all there were three different touring companies and at closing, they had played 205 engagements in 98 cities for an unprecedented combined total of 36 years and 14,605 performances. Of those, my brother performed for eight years.

Oh, as for the picture. I was in our local Walmart parking lot and I saw this car with this bumper sticker and just could not resist. I had to use my handy dandy small point and shoot so as not to cause too big of a scene, so it isn't my best picture, a little spooky really ... but, I thought I would post it for Stephen... who will in some ways, forever be "haunted" by the Phantom of the Opera.

(end of post)
Carmi's Weekly Theme ~ "Letters"
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ "Mostly Black"

Computer Maintenance Blocking Left Lane Ahead

2011-02-24T17:25:00.002-05:00

Working on the webpage.......

"If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization." ~ One of Murphy's Laws of Technology

I am taking the plunge, heading into unknown territory, on a mission (hopefully not a five year one) to explore the inner workings of this layout and attempt to change over from the worst commenting system in the universe JS-Kit Echo..... to something manageable without losing all the comments. Cross your fingers, say a prayer and hope.... In the mean time I have to disable commenting for a while... I really don't know how long. I will try and keep it as short as possible... but as you know with computers.....

"The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back." ~ Author Unknown

(Gulp!) OK... Here we go!

(end of post)
Update: Well, I did it and with less than stellar results. Yes, Disqus imported the Blogger comments that were synched up with Echo... But, while Disqus imported the raw files that I had exported from Echo.. Echo and JSKIT (which is the ABSOLUTE WORST!!!!!! commenting system in the universe and who wants you to PAY $120 a year for using the ABSOLUTE WORST!!!! system) for all their self-serving praise, managed to download their comments without identifiers to show which post they belong to. I figure this is because they thought of those of us who used Haloscan and whom they had to bring into the system when they bought and ravaged Haloscan were simply second rate. They did nothing to help us salvage the Haloscan comments if we wanted to move. Their pricing went from "free" if you came over from Haloscan, to $11 a year, to $120 a year within four months. Their service is lousy... two to three weeks to even get an email back when initiating a service problem. They have dismounted their forum where a lot of quick help could be had .... probably because they were getting so much NEGATIVE feedback that it tied up too many employees to delete it from the site.

I found out that there is one redeeming thing about all the old, old spam that showed up in comments. You know.. when you occasionally go to the 2005 posts and find a comment from "Cleaning houses in _________.(insert VA, NV, GA, or whatever).. It seems that the presence of those comments, somehow getting posted by bypassing some form or other... well, they grounded the post... gave it identity and made the other imported Haloscan comments that were legitimate, show up. So, I've lost all the comments on many favorite posts.... sigh. I still have the exported original Haloscan files from the day I was forced to switch to Echo. Perhaps some geeky angel will figure something out.

Until then, I am back and I think this comment system is more user friendly.... at least it has a spot to put in the commenter's website so I can return the visits.

ABC Wednesday: "F" is for Fauna, Flora and a Final Exam

2011-02-22T23:50:00.001-05:00

Yes, this is a quiz...... get your pencils ready!
(Click picture to enlarge)

“Educational television should be absolutely forbidden. It can only lead to unreasonable disappointment when your child discovers that the letters of the alphabet do not leap up out of books and dance around with royal-blue chickens.” ~ Fran Lebowitz (American Writer and Humorist, b.1950)

ABC Wednesday is here again and the letter this week is "F". I figured that a pop quiz is in order, having never posted one before. So, I collected a few of my favorite pictures for you to match with descriptions and the answers will be below. Just fit the descriptions with the letters in the picture mosaic. So, have fun and don't fake it. Enjoy. Ready? Begin!

Foreboding Forest ________
Fragrant Flowers _________
Fuzzy Flyer _____________
Friendly Face ___________
Filigreed Fern___________
Fanciful Fuchsia _________
Fabulous Flutterby _______
Frilly Foliage____________
Fluffy Feline ____________
Feisty Finch _____________

(end of post)
ABC Wednesday Cycle 8 ~ Letter "F"

Answers: 1. f; 2. i; 3. b; 4. j; 5. c; 6. g; 7. a; 8. d; 9. h; 10. e.

The "Yo-Yo" Season

2011-02-22T01:39:00.000-05:00

Male cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) and common finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)... winter bright spots.

"You have to believe in happiness,
Or happiness never comes ...
Ah, that's the reason a bird can sing -
On his darkest day he believes in Spring."
~ Douglas Malloch, You Have To Believe

The weather has evolved into what I call our "YO-YO" season. Finally, the temperatures reached 50℉ for a few days and then it was back into the low 40's for a while with a four inch snow just two weeks ago. Then there was this past Friday... a balmy, sun-drenched but slightly breezy day more reminiscent of late May or early June; temperatures soared to 78℉. I started pruning back the roses and cutting back the remaining winter debris and (drum roll please).. I planted 100 tulips. I know. Late again. But at least this time the bulbs weren't completely mushy and all had started their sprouting process in the garage. We'll see.

Yes, I have once again strayed off subject.. weather. So, Friday was warm enough to get a sunburn... Saturday was still in the 60's but the wind was no longer a breeze but a stiff gale with gusts and blowing in from the north and west. I opened a window to about six inches in Nyssa's room and one in Stephen's room and my room to get a nice cross breeze. With this six inch opening the wind was strong enough to blow papers off a dresser in the room's interior.... I finally put a paper weight on them. So, Saturday felt brrrrrr cold.. simply from the wind chill. Sunday... highs back in the low 40's. Today? The mercury topped out at our house around 76℉. Wind was predicted with this but for most of the day.. it was really calm, cloudy and most pleasant. I worked outside pruning all the potted plants and finishing up the roses.

Around 4PM I was sitting out on the deck and taking photos of the titmouse, nuthatch, chickadee and the downy woodpeckers that decided to visit the feeders and just enjoying nature. The change was dramatic and sudden. From complete calm to a sharp wind from the northwest. From 76℉ and feeling comfortable in a short sleeved summer shirt to feeling a deep and slightly damp chill in the air. The temperature fell almost 20 degrees in just under an hour.. you could sit and watch the temperature sensors number fall like a rock. By 9PM it was 40℉ outside and windy. This wasn't a normal cooling on a clear day when the evening creeps in.. it has been cloudy all day. It was definitely a cold front and a strong one... so far, no rain; but I see on the map that once again places north and east of us, in Delaware and Maryland, there is ice and snow. I have seen fronts come through before, but have never personally experienced such a sudden change in the air temperature and wind speed in such a short time. Fronts come and go.. this one was physically noticeable.

You see the "YO-YO" don't you...78...62...40....75....45....etc. Such is late winter in coastal Virginia. I think these birds, however, will like it just fine... as long as no more snow comes our way.... yo-yos they can handle.

(end of post)
Ruby Tuesday

The Silhouetted Sentinel

2011-02-19T13:03:00.000-05:00

Blackbird poised on the edge of the roof. At least he has the look of a powerful creature....

"In order to see birds it is necessary to become part of the silence" ~ Robert Lynd

When I saw this picture in my camera shots, Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds immediately came to mind. He knew how to make you squirm inside and spend the entire movie tensely wondering what would happen next. But the man did not know how to end a movie, at least he didn't know how to end this one. I always thought I had missed the ending each time I watched it on TV... I would switch to another channel when the characters were getting into that car to get away from the millions of birds... and when I switched back, it was over and the credits were running. So, one time I forced myself to keep focused on that car and to my shock.. it simply drove off. What happened? They simply drove away and it was over. Is that an ending?! No answers to any questions... Why were the lovebirds not effected? What happened to the birds, did they simply stop congregating and go away? Why didn't they attack the car like they had before? Who cleaned up all that bird poop? I have to tell you that that was one of the most disappointing endings to any movie I had ever seen... not satisfying at all.

We occasionally have one of those flocks of blackbirds that cover the back yard looking for food and then with one noise or one movement in the bush, they ascend almost as one into the sky and in a wave, move on to another rooftop and yard. I think this fellow was the sentinel or lookout. You see, we have a hawk... a Cooper's hawk, as best as I can identify from pictures... and he hunts in our yard. Most of the time he seems to catch the hapless mourning doves who are slow to respond to his presence or the finches, whom he confuses and makes to fly toward the house where he can more easily grab them. Several times this winter he has posed on top of the feeder after a satisfying hunt, but not long enough for me to grab the camera. He did capture a red-winged blackbird a year or so ago and sat posing with his prey for quite some time. I appreciated his patience as I snapped off several pictures. I've wondered why the hawk doesn't manage to catch more blackbirds... I would welcome him catching more blackbirds.. at least the common kind. Perhaps having a watch bird staked out at the roofline gives them the upper hand. Hmmm... that's a thought.

Completely off the bird thought. Have you seen the intricate silhouettes in black that were popular in colonial times... most homes had at least one hung on the wall. Some are simply outlines of a loved ones head, while others show complete scenes and have delicate lace-like cuttings with minute details. Before cameras, if you wanted a keepsake or picture of your child or husband or wife, you had to draw one yourself or pay for an artist to do a full painting. Even if you could keep your subject still long enough for the artist to do the painting, the price was usually prohibitive. A silhouette was a quick and inexpensive way to go as you simply needed the paper and a light source to make the shadow.

My mother was a teacher all her life. I remember that for Mother's Day, she often had her children stand in front of a light and she would trace the outline of their shadow and carefully label them. She spent hours at home cutting these out and then helped the children paste them onto a white background... as a present for mom. There must be a box around here with one of Stephen and myself as well... we were always the guinea pigs when she was figuring the distance the light and child had to be from the backboards to get the right size of silhouette. Mothers loved them. It makes me a little sad that I do not have one of Nyssa.. I never thought about it while she was growing up and neither did any of her teachers. OK, Nyssa, if you read this... make me one for Mother's Day... you can find instructions on the internet...

OK, so I rambled today... it is a rambling sort of day... needed every once in a while.

(end of post)
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ Silhouette(s)

ABC Wednesday on Thursday: "E" is for Echinacea

2011-02-17T18:50:00.000-05:00

Echinacea purpurea (Purple coneflowers)... not just purple any longer.

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it is your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe (American Painter, 1887-1986)

Well, this is a day late and a dollar short but the color infusion is a blessing and much needed in February. And days like today with balmy temperatures and that blast of Spring that is in the air.. well, I am looking forward to seeing if these beauties survived the winter and if they are truly able to multiply and grow stronger in their second garden go round.

These are all Echinacea purpurea or purple coneflowers... which is fine, except they are not purple! The purple variety are the native wildflowers that grow in the central plains. They derive their common name from the prickly cone shaped central disk that towers over the daisy like petals. These days an explosion of color has appeared as cultivars that range from bright sunrise yellow through hot orange to tomato soup red. Whites and even lime green varieties along with double rows of petals and fragrant flowers have been added. So the purple coneflower is not your great-great-grandmother's coneflower.

A derivative of the tap root, Echinacea has been touted as an enhancer of the body's immune system... great for colds. It was used by Native Americans for a variety of disorders including toothaches, sore throats and coughs. Some proponents insist that this is great for preventing or shortening colds and other research indicates that it has no effect at all. Ah... the power of placebo suggestion.

So, I don't really know the answer to the "medicinal" uses.. but if you let these gorgeous blooms fade in the garden and leave the central cones to dry and turn brown.. well, yes, it doesn't look that neat and pristine... but the seeds in those cones are simply bliss for the small birds in winter, particularly the finches. I have seen them perch on the sturdy but dead stems and graze to their little hearts content.

So, this (late) ABC Wednesday is the letter "E" and that stands for Echinacea... an efflorescence of exquisite elegance, easy on the eyes as well as an edible entrée that endows essential energy to our fine feathered friends. (Just thinking about next week)

(end of post)
ABC Wednesday Cycle 8 ~ The Letter "E"

Game Play, Shadow Play

2011-02-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

Chess and checkers on a mild spring day. Geneva, Switzerland.

"Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play." ~ Heraclitus

Spring in Geneva, Switzerland and in the park oversized checkers and chess boards are in play. Two teams of two members each are deep in thought about their next move. I can imagine that the air is comfortably warm... a lazy day. This looks like a lot of fun, although if I were in a really lazy mood, I would pick the checkers.. a lot less thinking to do.. Perfect strangers to most... I wonder, did they know each other before beginning the game?

This almost looks like our area today with the warm breezes.. well, more like wind to the tune of traffic restrictions on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, but still unseasonably warm, almost 70℉. Even the shadows cannot hold back the heat as the last of our recent snow slowly melts on the north side of the house. We're back on the roller coaster weather pattern... warm today, cold tomorrow then warm again the next. Geneva, right now? Not game playing or shadow making or bare armed weather right now... 46℉ with drizzle and probable snow flurries overnight. Brrrr.

(end of post)
Carmi's theme ~ "Strangers"

There's Snow Valentine, Like My Valentine

2011-02-13T21:01:00.001-05:00

"The heart must have its time of snow . . . to rest in silence, and then to grow." ~ unknown

Even snowmen have hearts....and need a little Valentine before they melt away.

i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
~ e.e. cummings (American poet 1894-1962)

A funny little snowman wrapped in a warm red muffler, with button eyes and mouth and a long orange carrot nose and green pipe. On his coat we see a row of coal buttons. And there on his chest... a heart... a red heart.. ready for Valentine's Day.

My Valentine is my daughter Nyssa... and the poem is for her... for I truly carry her heart... I carry it in my heart... ALWAYS!

(end of post)

Singularly Mysterious After All These Years

2011-02-09T07:49:00.000-05:00

I see the moon, the moon sees me.......

"There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery." ~ Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim

Would the moon be as mysterious if we had more than one orbiting around the earth? Spectacular moonrises every night, to be sure, but what would the tides do? Would they both be "silvery" or would one be red or amber? Would the two moons be in different orbits or at different stages at different times of the month? Surely, the physics of the whole thing would be vastly different. And that singular thing about the moon that is most precious.... the fact that I can see its face on one side of the continent and know that my lovely daughter can see the same moon, at the same time on the other side of the continent...well, that would probably be lost or more difficult to be sure of with two moons in the night sky. For me, the reflected light of that singular silvery moon embodies more than enough mystery for a lifetime......I say we keep it, as is...

"I see the moon
The moon sees me
Down through the leaves of the old oak tree
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love.

Over the mountains
Over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love."
~ Unknown

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ Singles

ABC Wednesday: "D" is for Dogs and Daughters

2011-02-09T01:10:00.001-05:00

Daughter Nyssa with Dottie....1989

"Those are the moments that I think are precious to a dog - when, with his adoring soul coming through his eyes, he feels that you are really thinking of him." ~ John Galsworthy

"D' is for dogs, among others in our life have been a trio of divas named Dottie, Dixie and Daisy. Two came into our lives over twenty years ago, they stayed through ups and downs and provided times of joy as well as extreme angst.. and then within a span of six weeks, both were gone. Daisy came into our life just over two years ago and though she is more elderly than we thought, she quietly shares our space and lives to be with "her" people. All three were rescued...

Dottie was found while we were looking for a lost dog... another beagle, Barney. He dug out through the thick red clay of our Oklahoma yard and with his nose to the ground.. he ran, right into a car and was found four days later in a deep ditch several houses down from ours. I had plastered his picture all over the place, even at the local SPCA as he lost his collar in the escape. We saw Dottie, a small beagle pup who had been dumped at the side of a road, when we went to pick up Barney's picture at at the SPCA. It was the first of July and a long holiday weekend coming. I learned that the puppy's time was up and she couldn't be held over the weekend so the euthanasia was set for that evening... and I couldn't take that. So, Dottie came home with us. She grew and grew and ate and ate and eventually became one of the fattest beagles I have ever seen.

Dottie was a master at escaping as well but not that great at finding her way home. How many times did we search the neighborhood after the move to Mississippi... until she and her partner in crime.. Dixie.. came running out of the woods.. happy as clams. The end was quick... a tumor in her chest, ascites in her abdomen that made it hard for her to breathe... she only showed signs of her illness for a few days. I remember that she looked serene and grateful as she took her last breaths in my arms and licked my hand. Fifteen years together.

Nyssa and dachshund Dixie...1989

Dixie was Dottie's partner in crime most of the time... if she wasn't trying to start a fight with her. Two females together, even if no hormones were involved.. just caused friction at times. It wasn't always so. But I get ahead of myself. Dixie was wandering the streets of our Oklahoma neighborhood looking for her person, the one who took all her tags off a too small muddy leather collar and left her on her own. She was afraid of men and boys.. always. She would run up to my truck and then see that it wasn't who she was looking for and run away. Finally, the hunger overcame the fear and she came home with us. She became Barney's best bud and the night he was killed, she must have seen it happen. She came back into the yard and I found her sitting at the back door, wailing when I got home from a meeting. After we found his body, she sat on his grave and cried. Then Dottie came and she had a friend again.

Dixie followed Dottie everywhere, even after the day of the "big fight". As with all fights, it was over something small.. getting paw prints in the new concrete dog patio. After that it was a bit touch and go with them... sometimes they would feud for days and make us think they would never be able to live with each other again and while we thought it best to feed them in separate areas from then on, in their air conditioned/heated doghouse... they peacefully got along.

I always thought Dixie would leave us first. She started showing her age and lost her hearing and then her sight started to go. Dottie became her guide. But Dottie died first and Dixie was suddenly lost, frail and blind and unconsolable. She gave up eating and walking and six weeks later, it was hard, but time. Sixteen years together.

Nyssa and Daisy... 2008

Daisy is my current darling doodlebug. After losing another rescue cocker, Max to cancer in 2007, I was never going to have another dog. But partly because I missed having a dog and partly because my mom was thinking about getting a tiny miniature type of dog that I could see being stepped on or tripping her or my dad... well, I started looking. Daisy is my internet dog... rescued from a gassing shelter in South Carolina with only a half hour to spare.. sent north to the B.A.R.K rescue group in Richmond and to a foster home and then posted on the internet. I put in the application and then drove to Richmond to visit with Daisy and another cocker, Simon. Simon was lively and loving and Daisy was quiet. Simon was interested in the other dogs... Daisy only had eyes for the humans. I sat down to visit and she climbed in my lap and put her head on my shoulder.. and as they say "that was that". She chose me. Oh, Simon also got a home that day.

I have discovered that the nestling of the head on the shoulder is her thing with most people she meets. She loves elderly people, sits quietly beside them at the nursing home, patiently waits for pats and offers her paw. She doesn't bark. She can bark, I've heard her on occasion when she chases squirrels, but it has been a year now since her last vocal bark and it would probably scare me to death if she did. She is older than they first thought and her energy is low.. good for a home with two 80+ residents... and she has some heart failure but is perfect for we couch potatoes. She doesn't mind baths, loves the cats (that love is not reciprocated) and isn't bothered by my snoring. I hope several more years together.

As for the daughter, well.. she has grown up. In the pictures above, Nyssa was three and a half (that "half" always seemed so important when we were little didn't it?). She grew up with Dixie and Dottie. Now, she is almost 25 and off on her own. Daisy arrived after Nyssa left for graduate school... she calls the dog "her replacement". And now Nyssa has her own rescued pup... but her name doesn't start with a "D".

So, "D" is for daughters and dogs and for the daily doses of delirious delight and the occasional dastardly distress that come with them. I couldn't live without either.

(end of post)
ABC Wednesday Round 8 ~ "D"

Musical Beds Monday

2011-02-07T11:52:00.000-05:00

One of the beds in transit... bringing to mind the statement yelled out by many a child in the morning...
"MOM! I can't make up my bed... the 'insert one' (cat/dog/grandma) is on it!"

"The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late." ~ Charles Caleb Colton

Just a ~~short~~ (turned out longer than I expected) post on this VERY busy day. Mom and Dad have a queen sized sleep number bed that they have had for several years and they said they 'loved' it. I have questioned this because on top of this sleep number bed they have put a protective mattress pad, a three inch memory foam mattress pad, a pillowtop mattress pad and a heated mattress pad. In fact, the thickness of the mattress pads has almost equaled the thickness of the mattress itself. How they could ever feel if the sleep number bed did them any good or not... well, I don't know. The bed frame was a modified full size headboard and footboard.. dark cherry and antique, or at least antique now. We have two such bed frames in the house, one was my grandmother's. Hers was not modified and is still a full size with the original slats and is currently in Stephen's room. These are four poster beds and normally the bottom of the frame and therefore, box springs sit about 12 inches off the floor; but when you add the "Princess and the Pea" set up of sleep number mattress and the myriad pads and foam and such.. their bed is 34 inches above the floor.. almost 3 ft. As each additional pad was added the pockets of the sheets became thicker and Dad started building small platforms to step up on to get into the bed. Currently it takes two levels.. a five inch and a ten inch for Mom to get in and Dad had to make himself a six inch one. They are both 82. This is the most insane arrangement I have ever seen.

Finally, Mom decided she wanted to try the Tempurpedic Ergo Adjustable bed with the memory foam mattress and they have ordered one. It is to be delivered tomorrow and set up.. and I have been trying to arrange help to play musical beds...move the sleep number (sans at least three of the pads) up to Stephen's room and the bed in Stephen's room taken apart and moved to the storage unit on the outside chance Nyssa wants an antique bed for a guest room that was once her great-grandmother's. So, I thought they would bring the bed and then call to arrange a time to set it up but, they are going to set it up at the time of delivery. I am in full scramble mode to get help to get this done... at least all the moving parts, before the delivery.

Oh... and they have already started with the mattress pad obsession for the new bed... I hope to be able to at least limit them to one or at most two for each side of the split king this time.. new bed height is said to be 25 inches from the floor... no steps required. And the headboard and footboard for the new bed? The company assures me that we can just add this around the outside of the bed later... I certainly hope so..

But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? Oh I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day! *

(end of post)
*Borrowed and rearranged from Gone With The Wind

Red Hot in the Greenhouse

2011-02-03T21:54:00.000-05:00

After blizzards and ice storms, we could all use a little something "red hot".
Norfolk Botanical Garden. (Click picture to enlarge)

"Annette looked at the geraniums, very red against the blue sky.
'No matter how I try, I cannot find any thread of such a red. My bleeding hearts drip stuff muddy in comparison.'" ~ Amy Lowell, “The Basket” in Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds

Gray is the color of the day, the week, the month, the season; everything seems gray outside.. the grass, the trees, even most of the birds. Our snow melted and either ran off the yard or soaked into the dirt/clay mixture we generously call topsoil around these parts. Add to that a couple of inches of rain over two days and then more freezing temperatures before a single solitary balmy day that warmed to 70 degrees before plunging back down into the lower 30's and you have a recipe for frost heaving. Of course, those five crazy squirrels that keep busy digging and burying who knows what might have something to do with it. And it probably didn't help that last summer was horrible with the grass... too dry, too wet, too acidic, too basic, too.. well, just TOO. A layer of compost and heavy reseeding helped a lot, or would have had the monsoons not arrived the day after the seeding. Yes, they came and reseeded again... just before another monsoon session and a short time before that November freeze hit. Now, there are just small little tufts of compost/topsoil scattered around the yard with hibernating (hopefully) grass seed still visible in areas. Before the deep freeze the grass looked nice and green, but now it is spackled with a drab green and dead-gray. It's not dead... it's just resting.. that's my story and I am going to stick with it.

I was going to have tulips this spring.. bright red big glorious tulips. I was going to plant them on time this year... those 100 tulip bulbs.. around the trees and in the flower beds. I was going to get over my fear of planting bulbs here, having them come up too soon with the warm winter weather we usually experience and even risk them getting hit with a freeze just as the buds were beginning to form in the spring. I was going to plant them in November, just as the instructions said.. late November.. not in February or March as I did last year. The operative words are... "I was going to." But...the cold came and multiple small snows and more cold and the ground froze. I tried to plant them, really I did.. but the ground was too hard to dig in.. even the cutting bulb planter wouldn't make it into the ground. So...

I'll plant them late, just like last year and they will come up and make nice foliage and that's it. No blooms. No red. No respite from the gray of winter until the daffodils that have been planted for two years now come up. What to do? The only thing I can do... go to the botanical garden. Even though the butterfly garden is bare and wildflower field cut low and though the azaleas and tulips and daffodils are yet to emerge... they DO have a greenhouse for tropical plants. And though they are not tropical, the geraniums are blooming with the big balls of radiant red blossoms. Next to pastel orchids and bright masses of background greenery, they pop with fire and with the fire, heat. And my goodness, don't we need the heat this winter!?

(end of post)
Theme Thursday ~ "Red"

ABC Wednesday: "C" Is For Camellia ~ Charming and Captivating

2011-02-02T19:58:00.000-05:00

Pink Camellia, formal double bloom. Norfolk Botanical Garden.

"The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size." ~ Gertrude S. Wister

I have officially cracked up, gone crazy, become a real cuckoo.... I thought it was Tuesday, all day until about 5pm. I lived through Tuesday, but it was obviously a day to simply forget. So, now I am a day behind on everything, at least in my mind.

It is ABC Wednesday and today's letter is "C". I bet my faithful friends and readers who know me thought I would post pictures of my cats..... the crew....but I have been saving this picture since last February. Today, "C" is for camellias. Camellias are the winter's color with delicate petals and yet cold hardy. Norfolk Botanical Garden is home to the Hofheimer Camellia Garden contains around 750 different types of camellia bushes and the garden overall, contains more than 1700 individual camellia plantings and is one of the largest collections in the southeast. All shades of pink, coral, red, lavender, white and variegated blooms cover the bushes at this time of year. Nestled beneath the tall pines, they seem to love or at least tolerate the shade. The mass plantings are not far from the garden's Bald Eagle nesting site.

Speaking of the eagles... they have built a new nest and the Eagle Cam is in full swing for 2011. Each year they band all the eaglets and typically attach a small transmitter to one of them. It allows the scientists to follow the wanderings of the young ones until they mature and find a mate, building their own nesting spot. Eaglets with the transmitter are named and it just so happens that last year's is named "Camellia".

ABC Wednesday is brought to you this week by the letter "C". Our camellia will also be seen at Nature's Notes... and don't forget to check out the eagle cam... it is amazing to watch from January to July.

(end of post)

Around the Curve, Beyond the Bend

2011-02-01T23:59:00.001-05:00

What do we find around the bend? Williamsburg area.

Final Curve
When you turn the corner
And you run into yourself
Then you know that you have turned
All the corners that are left
~ Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967)

Do we ever really know what is around the next bend? I know I would love to know what is coming up and sometimes it seems like we are going along on a day to day basis with all the cogs in the wheels just falling into place and then... life throws us a curve. When that curve hits, it seems like the cogs just grind to a halt and anxiety increases as we suddenly realize what we should have known all along... life is a huge curve, we can never know what is around that next bend. It's an adventure and it is probably best that we only see just a little way in front of us... we couldn't handle all the curves if delivered at one time. Personally, I would be inclined to stay in bed with the heated electric blanket pulled up over my head if I could see the future. Instead I rely on Jeremiah 29:11 ~ "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (NLT) This is one of the promises to hang on to tightly when that curve is looming large.

So, how do you handle the curves of life?

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ Curve

How To Make A Memory

2011-02-01T15:52:00.016-05:00

Father and daughter... with a gaggle of geese brandishing bountiful backsides.
(Click picture to enlarge)

"They say that from the instant he lays eyes on her, a father adores his daughter. Whoever she grows up to be, she is always to him that little girl in pigtails. She makes him feel like Christmas. In exchange, he makes a secret promise not to see the awkwardness of her teenage years, the mistakes she makes or the secrets she keeps." ~ Anonymous

On a cool winter's day we find a young daughter and her dad roaming around the park. It is a gathering place for all types of water birds, including a large noisy gaggle of geese. The child is entranced by these fat and fluffy fowl who flirt with shaking stubby tail feathers and honk harmoniously, all the while trying to be the dominate diva of the group. The little girl can't stand it; she has to grab a bunch of those feathers and wrap her arms around at least one of those waddling bodies to feel the softness. Perhaps she has a stuffed duck or goose at home or maybe her dad has read her The Ugly Duckling or the rhyme Old Mother Goose:

Old Mother Goose,
When she wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.

Of course, it is most likely the fact that she is a child.. who is curious and who wants to touch those lovely white feathers. So she takes off and a toddle run with her protective father right behind. The geese do not seem to fear this tiny tot... why should they? She is barely taller than they are and these geese are used to being admired by human children and fed by adults. She has no food, so they simply march away in an unhurried fashion, fanning out and away, keeping just out of reach of her wistful hands.

The child may not remember this day when she grows up... but her father will.

(end of post)
Two 4 Tuesday: Adult ~ Child

Field of Rainbows

2011-01-31T17:33:00.001-05:00

Yearning for summer flowers. Norfolk Botanical Garden.

"Everything is both simpler than we can imagine, and more complicated that we can conceive." ~ Goethe

In the middle of winter with the bones of nature rattling in the preserve, I yearn for the gorgeous flowers of summer. The botanical garden here has a huge field of wildflowers with a white washed rough hewn fence that is beautiful in summer and fall. The colors of the rainbow shine out from the foliage and the mixture of reds and yellows as well as purple and white are just lovely. I know that the red flowers are bee balm or Monarda, but I'm not sure about the yellow or purple. Most of these are either perennials or annuals that reseed themselves and the garden suggests this as a "wild" natural yard alternative. If I had a huge yard with three or four acres of land, I would let one of them become a beautiful and wild, complex and simple field of rainbows like this.

(end of post)

Saturday Photo Hunt: Standing

2011-01-29T14:05:00.000-05:00

Standing art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. NYC. 2006

“What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what kind of a person you are” ~ C.S. Lewis (British Scholar and Novelist. 1898-1963)

I posted this picture from our trip to New York City way back in 2006, but it remains one of my favorites. It was originally posted in color, however I like it just as much in black and white. It was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on one of the hottest days of the year. We escaped there to enjoy both the art and the air conditioning. I had been concentrating on the bronze statue in the forefront that reminded me so much of those in Florence, Italy; when I looked up and saw Nyssa standing there gazing at the picture of a young girl dressed in a regal flowing gown and velvet cloak, but with loosely done hair that could pass for a modern young lady. So I couldn't help but sandwich Nyssa in between two gorgeous works of art... since she is, of course what I consider my greatest work of art, or at least I'd like to think I had a little to do with her inner beauty. Anyway, when I saw that the photo hunter theme was "standing", I couldn't help but gravitate to this picture of three children of three different ages and all standing.

(end of post)
Saturday Photo Hunt ~ "Standing"

ABC Wednesday: "B" Is For Black And Blue

2011-01-26T19:48:00.002-05:00

Blue Anise Sage, Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

"Flowers and plants are silent presences. They nourish every sense except the ear." ~ May Sarton

Summer breezes and sun warmed soil produce these lovely blooms. I have never seen such a rich and dark blue in a flower, nor stems and flower bases so dark... really a black color. Most often the "blue" flowers are really more lavender or purple tinged and any flower labeled "black" turn out to be a very dark burgandy. These flowers and the foliage are both fragrant and hummingbirds are said to love them. I'm not sure the hummers found these last summer; it was the fist planting after all. They did like the other salvia species I planted elsewhere and it was fun to watch them hover over the flowers and gently probe for nectar. The winder has been really cold and the ground feels frozen, but only near the edge of the flowerbed, so I am hoping they will return for a repeat engagement this spring and be more dense and lush as well. What a great welcome mat for the bees and hummingbirds!

So my offering for the letter "B" is "black and blue"; not a bruise... but, a beautiful bloom to begin this cycle of ABC Wednesday. Oops! "Cycle" doesn't begin with a "B" and I am late to post... again... but, better to be a blog behind than blank.

(end of post)

Carmi's Theme ~ "Blue"

ABC Wednesday Round 8: "B"

Singer, Tenor, Brother, Hero

2011-01-24T17:58:00.002-05:00

Valencia, Spain.... sculptures.

"To the outside world we all grow old.
But not to brothers and sisters.
We know each other as we always were.
We know each other's hearts.
We share private family jokes.
We remember family feuds and secrets,
family griefs and joys.
We live outside the touch of time."
~ Clara Ortega

The Tenor....

"Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago - the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider.... It doesn't seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we've traveled." ~ Jane Mersky Leder

Stephen ... My brother... Happy Birthday!

"There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother.
Oh, how I hated that little boy.
And how I love him too."
~ Anna Quindlan

Today is my brother's birthday. We are nine years and nine days apart... not by design.. just happened that way. When I became a teenager, he turned four. When I graduated from high school and left for college, he was eight and in second grade. When I got married, he was twelve and an usher at the wedding. When he graduated from high school, I was in residency. He graduated from college two years before Nyssa was born... I had been married for eleven years. He joined the original traveling company of Phantom of the Opera in Chicago in 1990, when Nyssa was four. And now he is in Europe as a heldon tenor, free lance and all grown up. Now he is my hero, helping Nyssa pay for college when we hit a hard patch, buying this wonderful home for us to live in and generally being an all around nice guy. We miss him a lot and the visits seem too short and too far between. He misses the relaxation of being home and the glamour of world travel has long since worn off.

Of course we had our differences as children who were too far apart in age, but I have it on good authority that these differences would really have not been much different even if we had been four years or less apart. There were the arguments and the pranks he played and all that tattling. But looking back, he was just trying to act older and be with the older kids and teenagers because he wanted to be accepted by his sister and her friends. When I left for college, Stephen sent me cards in the mail. Some days that was the only mail that showed up in my box. He liked to send Peanuts cards, particularly Snoopy and Woodstock ones. He was in second grade and just starting to learn cursive writing so the letters were big and there never was enough room to write everything. But they were wonderful to me... I still have them.... NO, Stephen, I don't know exactly where they are without looking, but I know I still have them... somewhere.

Today we are good friends... the best of friends... there is no finer brother on the face of the earth... and I DO MEAN THAT!

Happy Birthday Stephen!

To go to Stephen's website click here.

(end of post)

Where Did You Get Your Eyes So Blue?

2011-01-24T12:03:00.001-05:00

Swinging the blues.... Mr. Rhett

“Where did you get your eyes so blue? Out of the sky as I came through.” ~ George MacDonald

Dear Mr. Rhett with his blue eyes is the darling of women everywhere. He has had a difficult couple of years here, what with getting out and spending the night under the house during the construction of the sunroom and losing his sister, Scarlett last May. Still he is the most inquisitive cat on the planet and it still gets him into a pickle on occasion. Mr. Rhett is getting old as are we all, but he can still run faster than I can catch him. Hmm. Perhaps that says more about me than him. He has been losing weight for several years, but not so much as in this last year. He had lost two pounds since his last checkup and his fur coat was looking rank and disheveled. I could brush him and get almost as much hair as I do off the Ragdoll cats. But, he ate... he ate like he was starved to death. He would eat his wet food and the leftovers from everyone else in five minutes. So at his checkup this year they drew some blood to check his kidney function, since he is over 15 now and they checked his thyroid function. His T4 level was almost ten times the upper limits of normal, so now he is on a medicine to block the effects of the T4. A liquid, we put it in his food twice a day and he doesn't know the difference, but a difference it has made already. I believe he has gained some weight and his coat is back to being soft and lush. He does not seem as driven to constantly move and search for food.. yet, he still gobbles all he can get as fast as he can. At least he is on the right path.

Here he was swinging in the hammock with Nyssa... his blue eyes complementing the royal blue of the strings. I'm not sure if his expression is one of delight, fear or simply the desire to "be somewhere else".

(end of post)
Carmi's theme ~ "Blue"
Blue Monday

ABC Wednesday: "A" Is For Autumn

2011-01-19T13:36:00.001-05:00

Flying south in autumn's golden light. (Click picture to enlarge)

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." ~ George Eliot

"A" is for Autumn now past and that particular glow of light in the afternoon. It is a light not seen in any other season of the year; warm, glowing and yet, with just a hint of frost and the coming cold. Winter light is more often than not a harsh gray and even when the sun shines brightly in blue winter skies, it doesn't warm the soul. The trees are asleep; the flowers hibernate. In Spring, the light teases the earth and the soil and speaks to the bulbs and seeds below... whispering for them to wake up, wake up. Spring's light feels airy and green.. but pastel in character. The light of Summer is bold and hot and burning... it does not beckon to the plants and trees, it commands them to grow and demands that they stand up straight and bloom. The trees respond and work to form a dense thick canopy for us to hide beneath. Yes, the Summer light is almost too intense... too much heat. But the Autumn light is golden and bronze and amber and perfectly made for the backgrounds of orange, yellow, red and russet leaves of the trees. It reflects off the Canada geese in flight and they become glowing embers in the sky. So.. "A" is for Autumn... always awesome....absolutely alluring....almost perfect.

(end of post)

About As Far From Home As You Can Get

2011-01-18T19:07:00.000-05:00

Am I leaning? Are you leaning? Is that building leaning? Oooooh... dizzy!
Tokyo, Japan (Click picture to enlarge)

"One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." ~ Henry Miller

Nyssa and my brother Stephen are the only family members that really seem to go "far from home" these days, with Nyssa in the western US and Stephen traveling all over the world. So, we have to live the life through their stories and pictures sometimes. Traveling is not what it used to be... perhaps partly due to the changes after 9/11 with help from an economy that tries to cram as many people into one flight as possible; or perhaps it is simply that the thin patina of glamour wears off quickly when one has to live out of a suitcase. Stephen has said that some days he wakes up and not only does it take him a few seconds to remember where he is, but also who he is and what he is doing there. Coffee helps him through this... lots and lots of coffee.

He just finished up a run in Tokyo, performing as Tristan in Wagner's opera, Tristan and Isolda. An opera fan with a cold did not have the common sense or concern to keep from spreading his germs and several of the cast came down with his cold. Add on a two hour bus ride to the airport and a fourteen hour flight to Vienna with the last hour circling over Vienna because of fog... and he was totally upside down. He sounded quite congested when he called on Saturday but said he was much better than he had been... no fever.. finally being able to sleep more than two hours... his biorhythm getting back to normal. Of course, he had to leave the next day for Dresden, Germany.. but at least they are on the same time zone. His traveling schedule makes me dizzy.

That brings me to this picture Stephen took in Tokyo... it makes me dizzy. I have lived in moderate sized cities and smaller towns all my life. Not really a country girl but not a city slicker either. I loved the two weeks I got to live in New York City and ride the subways and shop in small neighborhood grocers and the fact that you can order delivery for almost any type of food you want.. even steak. I loved looking at the architecture of the skyscrapers old and new and the tall apartment buildings in between. But it does give you neck cramps after a while.. all that walking around and looking up. From his pictures, it appears that Tokyo is even worse... with limited land space, the cities have to build "up". And the innovation... makes me dizzy too. This building looks curved. Could it just be the angle of his shot?

No, this building is really curved at the base. It is the Sompo Japan Head Office Building and houses the Seiji Togo Memorial Museum of Art where Van Gogh's famous "Sunflowers" painting is exhibited, although I do think that there are several versions of his "Sunflower" paintings as Van Gogh seemed totally captivated by them for a long while. A similar design in buildings can be found in the Chase Tower in Chicago and in both the Solow Building and W.R. Grace building in Manhattan, NYC. I know.. more information than you ever wanted to know. Just thought I would share the dizziness.

(end of post)
Carmi's theme ~ "Far From Home"

People Who Have The Most Birthdays Live The Longest

2011-01-17T15:57:00.000-05:00

The "??th" anniversary of my 30th birthday.

"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoes and wonder what else you can do while you're down there." ~ George Burns

I was trying to get through the anniversary of my birthday with as little fanfare as possible... then Judy spilled the beans on Facebook and floods of "happy birthdays" flowed in. So.. with much gratitude at such an outpouring of well wishes.. I say "Thank You!" You notice that I don't celebrate my birthday, but rather the anniversary of my birthday... my 30th birthday. I won't reveal what anniversary we are up to now, but let's just say that in a few, a very few years I will have to start celebrating the anniversary of the anniversary of my 30th birthday. Why 30th? Oh, I don't know.. it just seems like a nice round young number.

Laziness was the theme this year. I slept through half of it, but then my cousin David was on Skype the night before and we talked about everything for a very long time and it was almost time to get up before I finally went to bed and at my age, well.. you really need those eight hours of sleep. My brother called from Vienna, jet lagged from a 14 hour flight and with a cold from rabid fans in Japan. When Daisy and I finally dragged our ragged bodies down stairs I found two beautiful arrangements... one from my baby girl, Nyssa and one from my brother. Yellow roses and sunflowers to brighten the day from Stephen and an edible arrangement of the sweetest strawberries you have ever tasted in January, bananas dipped in white and milk chocolate, sweet red grapes and mellon balls. Oh, yes... flower shaped pineapple with melon ball centers as well and in such a cute teal green vase. I took pictures of the fruit and a good thing I did too... I ate them... all of them and they were great! The roses and sunflowers are still brightening the winter days... we had a bit of sun on Saturday but now clouds and rain are on the way for this evening. Still cold.

Mom decided to take Dad and I out to a fancy restaurant, The Vintage Tavern, for our birthday celebrations. You know it is a fancy restaurant when the first thing they do is exchange the perfectly good tan napkins for black napkins because you are wearing dark skirts or pants and you might get fuzz from the napkins on your clothes. It was an amazing meal... the menu is seasonal. So we had oyster stew, salad...watercress greens with fennel, sweet grapefruit centers, blood oranges and goat cheese with a creamy pomegranate dressing..broiled flounder over soft onion spoonbread with capers and cream sauce and sauteed mushrooms. At least, that is what I had. Dad had some of their gourmet mac 'n cheese as well and Mom had scallops, special cooked spinach and her scallops were over grits and with an orange puree that I think had carrot in it. We shared a creme brulee for desert. Mom paid the bill...she said this was Dad's birthday meal too, even though his will not be until February. We left the restaurant in what could only be described as somewhere between a waddle and a roll and I was still not hungry again well into Sunday afternoon.

So, thanks to all who helped make the "??" anniversary of my 30th birthday a raging success. At this age a success means you lived through it. Now, we continue... and another 12 months before we have to face it again.

"We've reached an age that when construction workers stare at us it's because they figure we might be considering a remodeling job." ~ Susan McClellan

(end of post)

Snow Shadows

2011-01-15T16:06:00.003-05:00

One cannot see the shadows without seeing the sunlight.

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” ~ Abraham Lincoln (16th US President, 1809-1865)

All the snow at Christmas afforded beautiful shadows when the sun finally appeared. There is nothing more beautiful that smooth, clean, white snow with sun sparkling through the crystals. It hides the drab green, gray and brown of winter grass and gives a magical fairy land look to the landscape. Our Japanese maple tree finally shed its last leaf and now all that remains is the stark trunk and branches. And yet when the sun came out, they cast a beautiful shadow on the fresh snow; a shadow that would not be so intricate and delicate if the leaves were still present. Even in winter, nature's bones are gorgeous.

Sometimes the shadow of an object is taller and larger than the object itself. Everyone has seen the twisted tree casting a gnarled and frightening shadow on the wall of the scared little boy in his bed as the wind made it move back and forth like a giant monster. Yet in the light of day, the tree is really insignificant. Even men (and women) can sometimes be like this tree.

"When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set." ~ Lin Yutang

Something to think about isn't it?

(end of post)

ABC Wednesday: A Zealous Zebra And Zippy Zinnias

2011-01-12T16:29:00.001-05:00

Needed this winter? A zest of color.
(Click picture to enlarge)

"You'd be so lean, that blast of January
Would blow you through and through. Now, my fair'st friend,
I would I had some flowers o' the spring that might
Become your time of day."
~ William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, Act IV Scene 4.

The clouds have morphed from gray to fluffy cotton ball white and bright blue sky shows through. Sunshine has melted most of the thin ice layer and sublimation has revealed most interesting crystal patterns in that ice which remains. Tiny shards of ice are scattered all over the concrete driveway and on the deck, almost as if miniature icicles were blown apart by the west winds. It is still cold. Again, our forecasters were overly optimistic about that.. it did not reach 40℉... almost, but not quite and here we sit again in the 30's.

Even though the skies are blue and the sun shining yellow.. we could use more color in the flower beds. Right now the bulb and seed and plant catalogues are arriving and I must be content with these.... and the pictures from last summer. So, my submissions for the letter "Z" form a "zest" of color. The "zinnia" pictured were an afterthought. I had tilled up the edge of our no man's land between the fence and the preserve with its creeping rhizomes of wild cane and extra clay mixed with sand and dirt had been dumped there from the excavation of the most recent dry well. Not wanting to deal with the army of ticks that patrol that wilderness, I simply scattered a box of very old wildflower seed along the edge and covered it with a light dusting of leftover compost. The zinnia were the only flowers to germinate and grow, though looking quite scraggly, they grew and bloomed... and bloomed... and bloomed, well into October with bright yellows, deep reds, hot pinks and Tennessee orange petals. They finally succumbed to the cold north wind of November, but it was the first snow of December that finished them off.

The zebra swallowtail visited the zinnia, as well as the other flowers in our garden. Its cousins, the black swallowtail and tiger swallowtail were more commonly sighted; perhaps we can include some of the "zebra's" host plants this year.

"Z" was a hard word... I haven't been to a "zoo" recently to see any "zebra" of the horse family, although sometimes it feels like we have our own "zoo" right here, or perhaps it should be called the "Ziegfeld" follies!

(end of post)

The Holly Bears A Berry...

2011-01-11T15:14:00.010-05:00

Deciduous holly... winterberry, Norfolk Botanical Garden
(Click picture to enlarge)

"The holly and the ivy
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O' the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry harp
Sweet singing of the choir.

The holly bears a berry
As red as any blood,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good.
O' the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry harp
Sweet singing of the choir."
~ Cecil Sharp, The Holly and the Ivy ( 17th Century Christmas Carol)

"It was a grey and dismal day"...as it does seem to be so often in winter and without the clean blanket of white snow to offset the damp and rain. We have entered that time of year when you can "feel the bone structure in the landscape" (Andrew Wyeth) and when the trees clack and crack together as the strong north wind blows. Everything is gray.. the sky, the tree trunks, even the grass that tends to stay a greenish tinge all winter here, seems gray. And yet when you look closely, you can find pops of color here and there.

Now is the glory of the holly. We mostly think of the evergreen holly with the scalloped spiny leaves and red berries often tucked in between the leaves and visible only upon close inspection. But my favorites (besides the soft evergreen varieties) are the deciduous hollies or native winterberries. I have seen these grow into tree forms and in the midst of winter you can see group plantings of them with branches covered by bright red berries. When framed by a gray winter sky, these pop with red fire and warm the space around them. The roses and coneflowers may rule the summer... but these holly are the queens of winter.

(end of post)

Where Is My Weather Expert When I Need Her? Seattle, Of Course!

2011-01-10T14:28:00.000-05:00

Sudden white out..... and I didn't catch it at its worst!

"The trouble with weather forecasting is that it's right too often for us to ignore it and wrong too often for us to rely on it." ~ Patrick Young

Saturday's weather forecast was for temperatures in the low 40's... mostly sunny... no chance of precipitation. It started out that way. The little birds flocked to the recently filled bird feeders and the four resident squirrels that were so small last year and ... well, so squirrelly acting.. have grown and filled out and are now more persistent in their attempts to get up to the feeders; not successful, but persistent. I was anemically trying to get the Christmas decorations down, but my energy was really not into it and I found myself at the computer working on pictures and trying to figure out how to learn Lightroom and Photoshop CS5 that I got for Christmas.

Suddenly... and it really seemed sudden.. the light in the room faded to a dark gray and it wasn't so much this change that made me turn to look out the window, but rather the sound... a howling, swirling wind that whistled around the copper roof and rattled the windows... the north winter winds that often herald a change in weather. This sound of sudden wind made me turn and what I saw was remarkable... a total white out!

A snow burst.. short-lived...

I ran.. OK, I didn't run.. I hobbled.. downstairs and grabbed the camera to shoot these pictures. It was really a white out and the blowing was unbelievable... white snow flakes blowing sideways, plastering up against the northwest sides of the trees and on the fences and sides of the cars. I turned on the weather channel, local on the 8's and expected to see current conditions listed as "snow".. but, instead... "partly sunny". PARTLY SUNNY!? Look out the window! No sun anywhere.

Fifteen minutes worth of snow....

This "burst" continued for fifteen to twenty minutes, leaving the grass covered and the streets wet. The temperature never did reach the low 40's and when the snow started it was 37℉ but quickly fell to 33℉. The skies began to lighten and the snow slowed after that, with flurries for another hour. The wind died down a bit, although it could never be called calm. Another less heavy burst of snow occurred a few hours later... still, no mention of any chance of snow in the forecast.

According to the weather forecast.. this never happened!

The sudden snow was never acknowledged and the sun did eventually come out and it melted off most areas, but pelleted ice was still present on the hot tub lid come Sunday morning and the temperatures have been colder than forecast all weekend.. This burst must have been an anomaly but had it continued for even another hour, we would have had an inch or so of snow. And where was my weather expert when I needed her to check her menagerie of weather charts to help forecast this snow? Clear across the country on her way to Seattle.

Now, this huge snow and ice storm is crossing over the southern states and is into North Carolina already. We have no winter weather advisories or warnings in place. There is a forecast for light wintery mix but no indication of accumulation. Perhaps it won't make it this far... they say our temperatures will be too high for snow.. but then, they said that Saturday too. I think I should go out and get a bit of salt for the driveway and a snow shovel, just to make sure... What can it hurt? I think I should call Nyssa and see what her crystal ball says.

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ wet

Wet And Wild

2011-01-07T14:03:00.001-05:00

Sprucing up or just playing around?

"You don't drown by falling in the water, you drown by staying there." ~ Edwin Cole

I don't know if this goose is just playing around with the water or really taking a bath. But the old saying is true... "like water off of a duck's back"... the water doesn't seem to get them that wet, what with the oily coating on each feather they so carefully preen and distribute to the very tips. It's like a natural wet suit for these water loving creatures.

With the colder weather this fall our full compliment of geese and ducks has returned. Canada geese are here all year and their numbers are multiplying, but others migrate in and out. We live sort of sandwiched in between two golf courses and a preserve and are about five miles from the northeastern edge of the Great Dismal Swamp. Along the main east-west (sort of) road, the golf course has a long and narrow pond. When we have the remnants of tropical storms or nor'easters with ten or twelve inches of rain, this pond overflows and has even flooded the road. Water expands to fill the adjacent sand traps as well. With this fall's cold temperatures after Thanksgiving ice formed around the edges and in the shaded spots.

Here the seagulls, ducks and geese gather, somedays it looks like a huge church congregation. The Canada geese first meet and have breakfast on the golf course.. bits of grass ... or they are across the road at the community college at another restaurant. Usually there is a group of twenty or so smaller ducks, huddled on the sand in long rows two or three deep... they are the choir in practice. A few mallards float on the calm waters... they just keep together in family groups or the never ending pursuit of two males after one female. One or two crane watch the proceedings from a rock at the edge... keeping to themselves. And the seagulls make their dissonant noise... often drowning out the choir. Eventually, the Canada geese gather into one force, waddling across the four lane road and stopping traffic in the process. The group floats quietly on the pond... and the service begins.

As with their human counterparts... the attendance at these services seems greater in the winter... I guess they are all at the beach in the summer. I haven't been back to Mt. Trashmore since we moved to Chesapeake... I wonder how their attendance is going?

(end of post)
Carmi's Theme ~ Wet
See It Sunday ~ Birds

Lighting Our Path

2011-01-06T11:53:00.000-05:00

Lighting the path to the future....

"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own." ~ Ben Sweetland

I remember being in New Year's Eve services where the congregation took small white candles held in crude paper holders to catch the hot wax drippings and formed a large chain around the sanctuary. Near midnight the organ would start to play an old hymn and we would begin to sing while the leaders in front began to light their candles. Each person received the flame and passed it on around until all were basking in the golden light. Voices raised together to ring in the New Year.

I've seen candlelight gatherings in remembrance of loved ones lost, vastly different from the joy of a new year and yet it seems even more appropriate. Sadness can become oppressive and all light seems gone from life..but the lit candle, even if only one or two, brings light back. The light dispels the darkness just enough to let us see and process our memories and remember with joy those that have left us.

This particular gathering is a tradition at William and Mary. The night before graduation the Seniors gather for humorous speeches, serious speeches, songs and a general good time... with snacks of course. They gather in front of the Wren building in cap and gown.... at the very end, the candles carried by each graduate are lit... from one to another.. they are lifted high and in one voice they sing the Alma Mater. These lights are hopeful, lights to show the way to the future as well as to remember their time spent here. I've wondered which tradition my daughter loved best at William and Mary... perhaps she'll tell me sometime. I thought this was lovely and was thrilled to have been there.

(end of post)
Thursday Challenge

Rosemary For Remembrance

2011-01-04T11:58:00.000-05:00

Rosemary and holly...Colonial Williamsburg Christmas spray.

"Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour. " ~ John Boswell

I was strolling through my Christmas pictures from Colonial Williamsburg and down the lane lined with memories associated with each one. This particular arrangement had been passed by and passed over many times without a pause to study or reflect on its beauty. Perhaps it was that this was the first summer past that I had really gardened at our new house or perhaps I simply had not noticed the rosemary before, thinking the greenery, often overlooked, was simply some other form of evergreen... at any rate, the rosemary suddenly lunged out of the screen and grabbed me.

The Colonial Williamsburg wreaths are all made of natural materials that grow in the area... except for the pineapples, I think they ship them in and did so even in Colonial times. I'm used to seeing wreaths of pine and fir and even magnolia leaves but it never occurred to me that rosemary would make such a lovely arrangement. I planted a bush rosemary and an upright rosemary in the flowerbeds and in a patio pot this summer and have discovered that they thrive in the cooler temperatures of fall and even winter. When most of the other plants have lost their color, the rosemary, sage, parsley and even the fennel (minus the black swallowtail caterpillars) has weathered the cold and the snow.

More sturdy than the fine feathery yarrow leaves and yet more delicate than the stiff and sticky fir, the rosemary finds that balance to support the strawflowers, red holly berries, lotus pods, golden yarrow and that one dried artichoke in the center. I think it is a lovely spray and what a heavenly fragrance as well. Rosemary is considered the herb of remembrance; how could I have passed it over so many times?

"As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls, not only because my bees love it but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language." ~ Sir Thomas More

(end of post)