Sunday, May 31, 2009

FIELD NOTES: My own Flower of the Day...


Last day of May

...a picture-perfect weekend...and I am head over heels for the temperature and sun and breeze and blooms...barely have time to compose the words to express it. Although I always have hopes, I don't quite know what I will get when I plant things, but...if we consider the potential in what we sow and do our best to nurture its growth, we can love whatever comes of it; we can feel joy at its birth and accomplishment at its blooming...or, if it fails, take the opportunity to assess and develop the patience to persevere. Gardens teach us a lot...take care in choosing what you think you will love, know the care you will need to commit to and understand the power of weeds...


Featured flowers: Peony and Edith Wolford iris

Sunday, May 17, 2009

FIELD NOTES: The lilacs are gone but still remain...


...I had a lilac house in the place where I grew up. It was just a row of bushes separating our driveway from the neighbor's backyard, but to me it was another world…the world of my imagination. I wore a path through the shrubs creating an entryway, a kitchen and a rear patio. An old saw horse was the kitchen counter where I made pies and cakes with mud and leaves in my toy aluminum pan. After a good summer rain, I could pretend to take a shower by shaking the branches overhead. Those looking out their windows would see a little girl standing in the bushes, perhaps thinking that I was lonely…or weird…but in my lilac house, I was confident and creative, brave and independent and in control…now isn’t that a wonderful place for a little girl to be?

Find favorite mother-daughter book share: Mud Pies and Other Recipes - A Cookbook for Dolls at Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

JUST HAD TO SAY...

Comment on a post by The Everyday Adventurer
Snake Attack
"In defense of the garter snake, king snakes eat garter snakes as well as rattlesnakes, birds eat them, cats eat them, so one man's snake may be another man's dinner! Having grown up as a nature girl, I guess I learned to accept the indelicate side of the natural world early on, but find the beauties of nature intensified by virtue of this contrast. Respect in the natural world is very important, sometimes for our own safety. As a teacher, I try to challenge myself to bring these two sides together because as the saying goes: "We hate some persons because, we do not know them and we will not know them because we hate them" can go for all creatures (bugs, snakes). Frogs and ladybugs can seem cute so we like them! I wouldn't say I 'like' snakes, but I felt awfully bad when I accidentally ran over one with my lawn mower! That was NOT a pretty story and I will spare you the details! If anyone would like to take the challenge, here's a good site for easing into the world of snakes: Dave's Garden"

Sunday, May 3, 2009

FIELD NOTES: Uncommon scenery....

...I was not looking for on my walk, but this has been hanging on a tree at the back parking area for weeks and, for humor's sake, I finally documented it. I remember going for a walk near our favorite 'swimming hole' with my grandmother. She spied a nice pair of pants lying in the woods and used her walking stick to lift them out of the brush. Her enthusiasm curdled when a swarm of flies was released from what was covered up there. I am sure any of us who walk have encountered strange articles and I always wonder...where do their owners think this stuff is going? My PBS station 'happened' to show Dances With Wolves last night...and I 'happened' to think of the saying below...which 'happens' to be from a Native American chief named Seattle...where my daughter 'happens' to live...connecting lines...

"Leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but memories."
- Seattle, Chief




SPRING BLOOM-ERS?










...............ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACK?



FULL RAINBOW IN FRONT OF GROCERY STORE.............

...........................HILLSIDE FULL OF TRASH BEHIND IT.