It Was Time

After a quarter of a century and hard use by multiple dogs (and cats who expressed themselves artistically on the back, the leather sofa and love seat had reached a state that would have suited them for a stage set for some family-down-on-their-luck drama. Rips, mended with duct tape (brown instead of silver--we're not barbarians) and a pervasive ground-in nastiness that we covered inadequately with a denim cloth have been troubling us for some time.

It wasn't just getting new furniture; it was getting rid of the old. The love seat was manageable through the twists and turns of our front door but the sofa had to be brought in by removing some of the basement stairs and shoving it (with the aid of our two sons) up through the opening. 

We didn't want to do that again. So we shopped online for modular furniture in boxes that could be unpacked on the porch and brought in piecemeal through the front door.

What we ended up with suits us fine. The covers are removable and washable. We added a waterproof cover to the sofa as Otter has a bit of an uncertain bladder. And also just to preserve the sofa. We'll pull the cover off and add throw pillows when we have company.

My chair is very imposing. I feel like Captain Kirk on the Enterprise and may begin saying "Make it so" a lot.

The dogs are less pleased. They were all pretty sure that old sofa was theirs. They were watching in horror as Justin sawed it into two pieces (in order to get it out the door) and Otter remained on the cushy back till forcibly removed.

I got Jenny a new bed to try to make up for the loss of her favorite resting place (see below.)

                                                               

I don't think she's convinced.

 

A Menacing Stare

Enough to make a predator think again when the Io (aka Peacock) moth flashes the big "eyes" on its under wings. 

In Greek mythology Io was a nymph loved by Zeus and transformed into a white heifer to hide her from his jealous wife Hera. But Hera found out about the deception and demanded the heifer from Zeus who had no choice but to hand her over. 

Then Hera set Argus, a giant with a hundred eyes, to watch over the heifer and see that there was no hanky-panky. 

But Zeus sent Hermes to the rescue and Hermes decapitated the giant. Hera, as a consolation prize, set the giant's hundred eyes in the tail of the peacock.

After much wandering, Io was returned to human form.  And the peacock eye on the moth inspired someone to name it for this beleaguered nymph. Whew!

I found this critter on the floor of my workroom. In perfect condition but dead, alas. One of the windows has a fan in it but no screen which is likely how it got in. I only hope it had time to breed and/or lay eggs before it came in. 

 

The Vine That Ate the South

My grandfather called it "Cut Sue" and it was just getting started on covering the landscape when he was young. Kudzu is from Japan and was, the story goes, introduced into the US by an enthusiastic lady gardener who loved the fragrant purple flowers. 

Oh, the damage we enthusiastic gardeners can wreak! Kudzu, English ivy, bittersweet, multiflora rose, Japanese spirea,burning bush . . . to name a few, some of which I introduced to our place.

Here's a hint: if it's really cheap at the garden center or in a catalog, then it's super easy to grow and probably invasive, as I now know, to my sorrow.

 

Flowers of August

                         

From a friend's garden a dozen Augusts ago.

Tarzan, a Childhood Hero

Though the Lone Ranger took first place in my childhood pantheon, Tarzan was indubitably a close second.

I think the 1950's comics must have been my introduction to the ape man, but before long I discovered the books. The first was Tarzan of the Apes, his origin story in which his English parents (of the nobility, no less), are killed and he, a helpless infant is adopted by a band of great apes. 

How he learns to read when he grows older, explores his parents'abandoned cabin, and puzzles out the "little bugs" on the pages of the children's book was one of my favorite parts, improbable though it was.

This particular volume in the series, from 1920, deals with WWI and German atrocities in East Africa. Tarzan (now also known as Lord Greystoke) is hunting down the presumed murderers of his wife Lady Jane.

It's fairly sensational writing for the time--a walled city inhabited (mostly) by maniacs, a captive girl, heaving bosoms--altogether a fun read and, for me, a blast from a kinder, gentler past where good prevails.

And though there's nothing quite like enjoying this vintage hero while reading the crumbling pages of a century-old book, all nine volumes are available on Kindle for 99 cents. How can I resist?

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Josie the Water Queen

Josie has maintained a busy schedule this summer--a week at the beach, soccer camp, Grandma's new kitten, music camp, sleepovers, and now arts camp.

This week I take her to camp and then pick her up--some of the days. 

She's always liked helping me water the porch plants.

This time, she watered herself.

She's growing apace, isn't she? Those of you who've followed her progress from the beginning are probably as surprised as I am.

Fourth grade coming up. And next year she'll be in the double digits. 

Hard to believe. And hard to keep up with her.

 

Homegrown Tomatoes

 

This was meant to be Thursday's post, drat it!

Remember this song by Guy Clark?  I was thinking of it yesterday as I made BLTs again, thought not, alas, with homegrown tomatoes.

 

Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes.
Up in the mornin', out in the garden

Get you a ripe one, don't get a hard one.

Plant `em in the spring, eat `em in the summer,
All winter with out `em's a culinary bummer.
I forget all about the sweatin' & diggin'
Everytime I go out & pick me a big one.

Homegrown tomatoes, homegrown tomatoes,
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can't buy:
That's true love & homegrown tomatoes.

You can go out to eat & that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure;
Put `em in a salad, put `em in a stew,
You can make your very own tomato juice.

Eat `em with eggs, eat `em with gravy,
Eat `em with beans, pinto or navy.
Put `em on the side, put `em in the middle,
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle

If I's to change this life I lead,
I'd be Johnny Tomato Seed
`Cause I know what this country needs:
Homegrown tomatoes in every yard you see.

When I die don't bury me
In a box in a cemetery;
Out in the garden would be much better
I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes.


  

Volunteers

We have lots of volunteer plants here--some more welcome than others, some nasty and invasive. But I'm enjoying seeing what springs up in some of the pots on our porch--a little maple tree, an unidentified something that is reaching for the sky. lots of morning glories, a pot of snapdragons that self-seeded last year . . .

And this pot below. It's not pretty but it's a work in progress. The dill that it held earlier has died and dropped seeds, resulting in tiny threads that, with luck, will survive to become more dill. But the pot is directly beneath another that had petunias and verbena and I believe that those green leaves are verbena. In the center is a mystery seedling--sunflower maybe? And at about 1 o'clock, a young cactus--probably an epiphyllium picked up when this pot was in the greenhouse.

I miss having a garden but can still enjoy, on a very small scale, the fun of watching things grow. 

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Dear Sirs

                                                              

 to my senators, Tillis and Budd

I urge you to vote against confirming Blanche, no matter what he signs. He is so totally Trump's creature that, like his boss, he will lie whenever it suits him. The weaponization of the Justice Department is a deplorable fact.

This regime is built on lies--the necessity of a war with Iran, the threat of communism, transgender surgeries in schools, massive voter fraud, vandals destroying the Reflecting Pool, fear of Muslims, fear of immigrants, fear of the other.

Meanwhile, Trump and his wealthy donors grow richer daily, DC is being turned into a gaudy Las Vegas, and social services--anything to help the ordinary guy--are being gutted.

I urge you to vote NO on Blanche and Yes on articles of impeachment.

A Word Nerd's Delight

    

Oxford in the early 1900's, the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, lexicography, women's suffrage, and WWI all come together in this charming re-imagining of the creation of the OED.

It's fiction, with some historical characters, and it's the story of (fictional) Esme who works on the Dictionary, along with some other very real but mostly unheralded women. 

Esme realizes that many words that women use or that pertain to women are not being included in this monumental work and she begins to seek out and document as many of these words as she can find, including those known to the editors of the OED but left out because they are vulgar or obscene (whatever that means.) 

It's a delightful read and full of interesting questions to ponder. No wonder it was a choice of Reese's Book Club.

A Rite of Summer

It's not summer without a good BLT--thick-cut hickory smoked bacon, crunchy lettuce (though due to the recent warnings, I made do with spinach,) and a really excellent tomato. Some folks insist on white bread but I go with the mixed grain we always have. And others feud over mayo choices--Dukes or Hellmans. I've made my own mayo for over fifty years so that's what I prefer.

The Platonic ideal is a homegrown heirloom tomato, just picked and still warm from the sun. But as I no longer make a garden, I was thrilled to find some beautiful locally-grown Cherokee Purples in our grocery store.

A sublime sandwich!

 

Lughnasadh--Rabbit, Rabbit

 

Starshine

                                                             

                                  photo from NASA

The oldest starlight ever detected comes from primordial cosmic structures and individual stars that formed shortly after the Big Bang, dating back nearly 13.8 billion years.

Astronomers tell us that some of the starlight that brightens our skies is from stars  long dead. 

Just so with those  people I have known in this life who, though gone, still endure in sudden flashes that brighten my existence–a bit of music one introduced me to, a wry turn of phrase from another, a recipe, a remembered story . . . and with each of these flashes, their light shines through the years.

                                       ******************


The nearest star system is Alpha Centauri, whose light takes about 4.3 years to reach Earth.


Light from the center of the Milky Way, out Galaxy, takes about 25,800 years to reach Earth.


Light from the Andromeda galaxy, the nearest Galaxy to us, takes about 2.5 million years to reach Earth.


Earendel is the most distant star observed, as of April 2022, and its light takes about 28 billion years to reach Earth.