Two Little Girls

I came across this picture of my mother, taken in the early Twenties.  The fancy basket makes me think she could be dressed for a May Day celebration or perhaps she's going to be the flower girl in a wedding. 

There are quite a few pictures of her in similar get ups -- the high socks, the short frock, and the exuberant bow. It must have been a fairly common look at that time.

The Oz books were of that time and Dorothy wears a similar outfit.

I grew up reading the Oz books --  borrowing them from friends, the school library, and finally, getting my own -- which I still have.  Ozma of Oz is  probably my favorite of them all -- the sea voyage, Billina the talking hen (with her wonderful common sense,) the trees that grow lunch pails, and the exquisite (though not very nice) Princess Langwidere (languid dear) with her wardrobe of exchangeable heads.

The books are, in my opinion, far better than the famous movie which has always seemed just plain silly to me. (Except for the Witch and her Flying Monkeys!)

Time for some re-reads!

Japanese Irises

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Door to Another World

I always think of books as doors into other worlds -- another time, another place, another person's experience. If the book is well written, I'll expect to absorb the details of that other world, to assimilate them into my own experience.

So I'm sometimes reluctant to begin a book that will drop me into a place I know I wouldn't want to be -- present day Afghanistan, for instance, or Wall Street, or Nazi Germany. So much more pleasant to read about nice people in a charming village in the Cotswolds.

Occasionally though, usually after hearing enough recommendations, I'll brave up. And usually I'm rewarded. For example,I'm glad to have read Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. My fund of experience has been deepened -- and all without the bother and danger of travel to unfriendly places.

My recent visit to Nazi Germany was equally rewarding.

This beautifully imagined tale, fittingly narrated by a compassionate and poetic Death, centers around a young German girl and her foster family  -- and their decision to hide a Jew.  It's a beautiful story of how strangers become a family, how the the most ordinary of people can rise to heroism, and how the written word can change lives.

I'm glad I went through the door.

Signs of the Season

Outbreaks of cows. . .

Hydrangeas beginning to blue. . .

Pears swelling. . .

First cutting of hay. . .

  Pensive Turkey Vulture. . .

New set tobacco. . .

Wild daisies. . .

Bully Pulpit

File this under Things an English major thinks about while watering the garden at dawn.

For years and years, I've heard the term 'bully pulpit' used to mean that a person in high public office uses his power to bully others into doing his/her will. 

And I've said to myself, in my nerd-like English major way, "No! The phrase was first used by President Theodore Roosevelt and back when when he called the White House "a bully pulpit," bully meant excellent. In other words, it's a good place to make your views heard -- but there's no suggestion of force.

So I was thinking about this yesterday while dragging hoses hither and yon, and after watering the garden and taking a few more pictures, I went inside and asked Mr. Google. I mean, I knew I was right but I wanted confirmation.

Of course it doesn't matter. Words and phrases mean what people want them to mean. But as a writer (and an English major and a teacher of writing,) I'm picky about words.

Well. Not only does Wikipedia agree with me but Michael Quinion of World Wide Words has this excellent explanation. 

Who says a liberal arts degree is a waste of time?  It fills your head with bits of trivia that come in very handy while doing routine jobs or stuck in a waiting room. I can always entertain myself  while weeding by reciting the prologue to The Canterbury Tales  in Middle English or  remind myself of the Seven Deadly Sins by way of the memnomic  PEWSLAG. Or try to remember the order of and names of Henry VIII's wives...you get the idea.


I can only imagine the discussions my son the philosophy major has with Marigold when he's milking.

What's HE Doing Here?

On a Hot Day

Get up early while  the mist is rising from the river

and the air is cool and fresh . . .

Watch the dawn nudge the world awake. . .

Have fun watering . . . 

Remember when you were little and playing in the sprinkler was high delight. . .

 Make patterns with the sun and spray. . . have fun . . .

Get wet.

Saturated Rainbow

Just playing with the Special Effects in Picasa.  Above is a picture where I've gone full tilt saturation -- it doesn't look realistic at all but it was the only way I could get the second rainbow to be visible.

The picture below is unretouched.

Over on my monthly newsletter blog,  I'm talking about some of the books I've been reqading recently-- an extremely eclectic mix.