Thursday, July 10, 2025

It Rained Like One Thing

. . . as Miss Birdie might say. 
Hard rain for about a half an hour. 1.7 inches


We were thrilled, even though our power and internet were knocked out for a while.


This towhee is dealing with wet feathers.




Hard to get things just right.


                                                                            

And more rain later in the day--with a bonus rainbow!





 

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Oh, Deer!


Spotted from our dining room window last night. Such a pretty thing and just the color of Jenny. Eating my daylilies  then moving on to weeds. . .








 

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Thoughts and Prayers


The devastating floods in Texas have spawned so many questions and not many answers. Did DOGE's cuts at the national weather service contribute to the tragedy? Does anyone rational believe Dear Leader's suggestion that somehow this was Biden's fault? What about MTG's belief that nefarious players are controlling the weather?

Something that leaped out at me was those folks who asserted that prayer was responsible for saving the little girls who survived.

What about those who didn't--despite all the hopes and prayers?  What kind of god would play favorites like that? 

Any loss of life is tragic--but the pictures of those little girls--just Josie's age--break my heart. And I think of the grieving parents, wondering why their prayers weren't heard. 



 

Monday, July 7, 2025

It's So Hot . . .


. . .  that the snakes are going nekkid.



Just kidding--this is a usual occurrence. Our little greenhouse is a favorite spot for blacksnakes to shed their skins and I always love seeing them. This one's head was perfect with even the eye scales preserved. About a three footer--still a teenager, I'd say.








 

Saturday, July 5, 2025

The Yarkin Pearl (Repost)

 

The folks at The Orchard told me to pick out a bag of apples to take with me and after browsing through the various varieties -- Jonathan, Stayman, Delicious -- I chose York.

It's a tasty, crisp eating apple and tart enough to be good for cooking too.  But, to tell the truth, I chose it for reasons of nostalgia.

Our first fall in the mountains, Clifford, our neighbor down the hill, gave me an apple to try, saying that it was an old time variety and a good keeping apple.  

I tasted it and was impressed. We were planning to plant apple trees come spring and I already had a tentative list of varieties.

"What's the name of this apple?" I asked, and was told that it was a Yarkin Pearl. 

Interesting, I thought, Yarkin could be the name of the discoverer or breeder of the apple and Pearl could be because it was so good -- or maybe the name of his daughter. Nice.

This was 1975 - pre-Internet -- and I began to hunt through my nursery catalogues and Rodale gardening books for more information on this pearl of a fruit -- but alas! I could find no Yarkin Pearls.

I intensified my search, checking various orchard-related books out of the library and leafing  through back issues of Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening.

1975 was also before I learned the language of my adopted home.

Finally I came across the name York Imperial.
York Imperial . . . Yarkin Pearl.

Yep.

Friday, July 4, 2025

No Celebration


I've been disappointed in my country on numerous occasions -- but the  blatant cruelty and greed of the current regime, not to mention its cynical flaunting of the Stars and Stripes while ignoring the Constitution, has me wondering what those Founding Fathers would make of what their vision has become.

Masked thugs kidnapping people and deporting them or putting them in concentration camps without due process --was this the American Dream? An administration that is for sale to the highest bidder, that selects its officials based on appearance and loyalty, rather than experience and integrity, a president who delights in vulgarity and rudeness -- no, nothing to celebrate today.

Instead I'll remember the quiet Fourths of my childhood--a picnic supper of ham, potato salad, and watermelon under the big oaks in my grandparents' back yard and then, as it began to grow dark, my little brother and I with our sparklers, weaving fiery patterns in the air  . . .

 

Thursday, July 3, 2025

The Blessing of Rain


Ir's such a pleasure to sit on the porch in the evening with an adult beverage and watch the rain sweep toward us. 



 

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

What Are You Doing to my Beloved Country?


I weep for my country. As our president gloats over a quickly built concentration camp in the Everglades while contemplating deporting US citizens whose politics he doesn't like; as spineless congresspeople vote for tax cuts for billionaires and cuts to Medicaid and SNAP; as the GOP noose tightens around every aspect of life, I wonder when those who support this lawless, heartless  regime will realize what they have wrought.

There is so much to deplore and be angry about but just at this moment, I am particularly incensed by every cross-wearing, bible waving, so-called Christian who turns a blind eye to the very real evil that is before them.

There will be a reckoning.


 

Monday, June 30, 2025

Dreaming . . .


              
 Attributed to Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou

Sunday, June 29, 2025

The Oldest Person You Know


Scrolling through Facebook on a hot day, I came across one of those things  "Find Your Stripper/Witch/Drag Queen Name" and foolishly read on.

Your first name is the name of the oldest person you know . . . and that stopped me cold as I realized I know only a handful of  people older than I (82).  And that's only by a few months or a couple of years.

Of course I know of some folks in their nineties and beyond, but suddenly it was borne in on me that among the folks around that I count as friends, I am definitely the older generation. 

It's weird. In my grade at school I was always the youngest (and usually the tallest -- now I've lost a few inches.) 

Ch-ch-ch-change. The wheel turns and I shouldn't be surprised.



 

Friday, June 27, 2025

Still True


 No man is an island, 

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thine own

Or of thine friend's were.

Each man's death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know 

For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.

                     John Donne, 1572-1631

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Chicken Salad Memories



Hot weather like we're having requires cold meals. I've done cold potato soup and gazpacho and last night was chicken salad. (And potato chips--a traditional accompaniment and rare indulgence.)

As we sat on the porch watching veils of rain sweep across the valley and disappear, we remembered another hot summer.  

It was the summer of 1966, the last three months of John's enlistment in the Marines,  and he was stationed at an air base in Beaufort, SC. (That's Byew-fort, not Bow-fort. Bow-fort is in NC.) We were in half of a non-air conditioned duplex and it was godawful hot. 

I evolved a routine of preparing dinner in the early morning before the house heated up, then spending the rest of the day reading in a hammock out under a big oak.

We cycled through chicken salad, tuna salad, and shrimp salad, broken by chicken or hamburgers done outside on a hibachi.

When the heat was unbearable, sometimes we went to a movie (air-conditioned!) The movies changed once a week, but sometimes we saw the same movie twice.

There was a Dairy Queen across the street that we patronized. Our dog Juno , we learned, was also a patron--on the lookout for kids who might drop their ice cream if bumped. And sometimes she bumped them.

On John's days off, we went to a mostly deserted beach and set up camp in the dunes. We could often see porpoises frolicking close to shore. It was pretty idyllic.

By the end of the summer, John had been accepted at University of South Florida and had turned down an offer to re-enlist and go to Officers' Training School. I had my teaching position  (Mistress of English) at Berkeley Prep in Tampa to return to and the future was set--for a few more years, at least.

Old times they are not forgotten.



 

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Greensleeves

                                            

Who Was Greensleeves? An Extraordinary Reconstruction of Her Clothes

I always loved the old tune Greensleeves--in fact I wanted to use it as part of the music at our wedding. The Episcopal church would only allow liturgical music, but as it happened, there was a hymn with the Greensleeves tune. .. . but because the title of the hymn was What Child Is This? I reconsidered.

When my FB friend Mario posted a video that tells the story behind the old song and details the meticulous recreation of the various items the besotted lover gives to the lady, including a sumptuous gown, well, I had to see it.

It's a delightful treat for a hot day. Actually, there are two videos. One, showing the work of the various makers of historically accurate apparel and confectionery; the other a sumptuously mounted, tongue in cheek acting out of the song.  You can find them HERE                                


 

Monday, June 23, 2025

No Nobel for You, Donnie



After a truly unhinged rant bemoaning his lack of a Nobel Peace Prize despite his YUGE successes in diplomacy,  Dear Leader has dropped many YUGE bombs on Iran -- without congressional input and without reliable intelligence concerning Iran's nuclear activities. He was disappointed with his parade so now he flexes his military might.

This is what happens when a man with all the emotional control of a toddler is given power.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Worth a Silver Spoon


A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay.
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly.

I was thrilled when John told me he'd spotted a swarm of honeybees at the edge of one of our fields. We've often seen them browsing on clover but this is the first swarm we've noticed. Thanks to Justin for the pictures! (I have no idea if the video will play.)

The old nursery rhyme is a reminder that the earlier swarms will have more time to establish themselves and make honey to get through the winter.



 

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Dear (Local) Sirs





To the Madison County Board of Commissioners:

I would like to understand why you feel it necessary to take control of the current Board of Health. At present we have a Health Department to be proud of and willing, volunteer board members with medical backgrounds. 

What makes you think you can improve on this? Have you not enough to oversee already? Your stated reasons regarding liability simply do not ring true. 

Yes, this is a very local issue but it seems to me to be part and parcel of GOP overreach and GOP disdain for qualifications other than a fervent worship of their Dear Leader.

Our local Health Department is excellent, receiving high ratings. What is behind this projected power grab? Will a politicized BOH deny vaccines and refuse to treat LGBTQ patients?  What might they change about Family Planning? 

There are petitions to sign and folks are encouraged to make their feeling known to the commissioners. There will be a meeting on July 8 at which the public will have a chance to be heard. 

An excellent article HERE.



 

Friday, June 20, 2025

Summer Solstice

                                                            

     I consider my life well spent, watching the sun in its yearlong creep back and forth across the morning horizon. Today it's at the far northern end of its invisible tether and will begin its stately progress south.

May we all find peace in these troubled times.

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Defending Women

                                                                             


 

Every day brings more outrageous decrees from Dear Leader as the so-called party of small government extends its reach ever farther. The following article is from The Guardian (a quite reliable source.) 


VA hospitals remove politics and marital status from guidelines protecting patients from discrimination

Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’

The Department of Veterans Affairs has imposed new guidelines on VA hospitals nationwide that remove language that explicitly prohibited doctors from discriminating against patients based on their political beliefs or marital status.

The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.

Under federal law, eligible veterans must be given hospital care and services, and the revised VA hospital rules still instruct medical staff that they cannot discriminate against veterans on the basis of race, color, religion and sex. But language within VA hospital bylaws requiring healthcare professionals to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated from these bylaws, raising questions about whether individual workers could now be free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not expressly protected by federal law.

Explicit protections for VA doctors and other medical staff based on their marital status, political party affiliation or union activity have also been removed, documents reviewed by the Guardian show.

The changes also affect chiropractors, certified nurse practitioners, optometrists, podiatrists, licensed clinical social workers and speech therapists.

In making the changes, VA officials cite Donald Trump’s 30 January executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government”. The primary purpose of the executive order was to strip most government protections from transgender people. The VA has since ceased providing most gender-affirming care and forbidden a long list of words, including “gender affirming” and “transgender”, from clinical settings.

Somehow, I don't feel safer . . .