Tuesday, 21 June 2011
What does it mean that the fennel has fallen atop the bee balm—and now the bees are on the fennel blooms and not the bee balm?
This is the third summer for the fennel, which we did not grow in mid-Michigan gardens. Of course, it is only in its third summer because I have not harvested the bulbs.
I’m not used to vegetables that overwinter.
Saturday, 18 June 2011
I know it’s June, but the mayfly hatch must have just happened.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
The driver carefully urged these woolies down the road, then honked and moved left, and they went through the fence into a field, like a dirty-white living waterfall. Then he drove up a few more car lengths and left the van with a crook in his hand.
I wondered if he had an iPod in his pocket that I couldn’t see.
After all, the nice retiree from Columbus Oh Aitch that we met in Ragusa Ibla yesterday was listening to his nano before we started chatting—he’s been living in RI since retiring from the military fifteen years ago.
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Not sure what the deal is, but this camera does not capture purple shades correctly, I’m convinced. This flower (in the lower left) was dark lilac or similar, not, at least to my eye, a shade of blue.
As I look back on today, the energy went two opposite ways. The fun way was a family dinner orchestrated by BRB-n-me. Just terrif, although I neglected to pepper the tuna steaks. Which we managed to enjoy anyway. (Smile.)
Then, after dinner I found out a friend and colleague got trapped in one of those Juarez kidnappings. Now released, whew.
I think I’m just going to go to bed and await a new day. Albeit with a sneaky time change….
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
I don’t know if it’s the angle of the bright sunshine or the statue’s shape—or both—but I find this hare (not rabbit, it appears—look a the ears,* size, and body shape!) rather menacing.
Rabbits, hares, well, the hoppy critters abound in folk tales—ancient and modern.
Of course, the most legendary modern rabbit** I can think of is, hmm, Google tells me the “real” name: The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.
I must admit that it really wasn’t the rabbit that I found most compelling about the Killer Rabbit scene, but the bit about the Holy Hand Grenade.
From the Monty Python and the Holy Grail screenplay, quoted in WikiPee:
And the LORD spake, saying, “First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.”
Glad I spotted this beast in full sunshine…in the dark—whew!
* I’m a poet? (That’s FUUNN-EEEE!)
** Of course, there’s also Bugs Bunny, but he’s a cartoon, and not “real.”
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Kate is rambunctious. She is still a puppy. Kate lives down the street.
Her education goals for this year are to learn not to jump up on people.
Although she may not know this.
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Tucked away on a rock, I found this bronze sculpture over in the ABG. A cloud-layer made the sky dull, so my eyes looked down more than up, or I think I would have walked right by. I’m still not clear if it’s a frog or a toad*.
Some Southerners dodge this problem by calling this type of amphibian a toad-frog. There’s some wisdom to not fussing about taxonomic fine points.
More than anything, I think it resembles a dinosaur!
* Another Spanish lesson: rana o sapo = a frog or a toad.
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Just what do you think the world-wide annual sales are of horsefly earbuds?
Yick.
Oh, wait, “Play. Listen. Love.” is on the lips earbuds package….
And, my dictionary has earbud as a compound word….
BTW, horseflies: family Tabanidae. FYI.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Decorations on somebody’s porch, the other day when it was sunny….
I looked out the window today numerous times at typical piedmont Georgia fall weather—intermittent rain. We had some serious cells, but nothing super-scary. (Yet.)
Speaking of scary, why are spiders and their webs so prominent in today’s Halloween decorations? I don’t remember them from my childhood, except as part of the natural features of a Michigan basement haunted “house” we once did. (I was wrapped with sheeting strips and stood in a dark corner in a quiet pose—a mummy.) So, have they been extrapolated from haunted houses? Or do they symbolize darkness and therefore the unknown and scariness?
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Walking down the sidewalk, lost in thought, all of a sudden I realized that the crunching underfoot did not match acorn crunches. Now, we have big acorns, small acorns, and lots of medium-sized acorns, and I am vaguely familiar with what they feel and sound like underfoot. (I especially worry about the big ones, which can be like striding on ball bearings.)
The crunch I felt and heard today was different, higher in tone, and crunchier. Which may sound silly.
Definitely not acorn sounds.
I looked down. Aha! I looked up. Yup. Beechnuts.
The photo? Well, the Squirrel Clan is the reason I found the beechnuts on the sidewalk, and broken open so they’d be so crunchy under my feet. This specimen, however, is a Park Squirrel—different clan—also open to begging as well as gathering in the usual squirrelly manner.