Gather 'round…
A spent toad graced the left rut of my driveway this morning, an unfortunate casualty of the early morning commuters. I'll spare you pictures--mostly because the phone was in the house whilst I mounted my morning walk investigation--but this was a large toad when he lived in three dimensions. Now, as most of him--but not... Continue Reading →
It’s 9/11. 20 years later. And somehow we’re living through something even MORE awful. Who could have imagined? That’s all I’m going to say about that. It’s September 11th. Which would indicate that we are fully into fall, and fully past summer, and to that I say, “What? Who punched the FF button on my... Continue Reading →
So we've had these irises for fifteen years. One would think that I'd have taken note before now. But one would be wrong. It is a fact universally acknowledged that plants go through a relatively straight-forward growth cycle: Spring comes and our little friends burst through the earth and shoot skyward.The bud, whether miniscule or... Continue Reading →
I vacuumed under my couch cushions this morning. Da clean couch You see, last weekend one of the adult kiddos was here with a visiting friend. Said friend spent most of the weekend on my couch, relaxing from her hellish semester at college, staring blankly at her phone, and digging her stockinged feet in between... Continue Reading →
The luge track is finding it's groove. And a deep groove it is. There is so much snow out there! We had the most excellent surprise of all our kids coming home this weekend.* Even the Arkansas kid showed up on the doorstep. So now you get to endure the photos of the throwback sledding... Continue Reading →
There are sunflowers out my window. Not because I am a sunflower farmer, but simply because I planted hostas beneath my birdfeeder. You see, the resident chickens really like to scratch there under that feeder in the spring, for no matter how many birds we have, even of the ground-feeding junco variety, the intended beneficiaries... Continue Reading →
Lately I’ve been appalled at the state of the bathroom. There is an over-population here that can only be blamed on the raising of seven children, but now, at the cusp of that number plunging to two, the ammassment of toiletries here is looking more and more extravagant, possibly diagnosable. Let’s just address the lotions... Continue Reading →
I have just been buzzed by a pileated woodpecker. When I say buzzed, what I mean, specifically, is that I felt the push of his enormous wings. Lingering on the flash of memory burned into the back of my brain, I can count the barbs on his feathers. In more concrete terms, that sixteen-inch beast... Continue Reading →
Last summer we had this crazed cardinal. He appeared one day on the back deck, chipping like a wild man. Incessantly. For weeks. Every day he would return, and every day he would march up and down the railing boards, from one end of the deck to the other, pacing, chip, chip, chipping at us... Continue Reading →
I missed it. I feel like Annie Dillard missing the very moment of the happening of spring, despite her diligence. Only I've missed the very moment of the happening of fall. I knew it would happen. That whole abandoning ship at peak thing ensured I'd be derailed. And I was. For months, I've been taking... Continue Reading →
As I've said, I'm scrapbooking again. As I've said. But what I set out to write a few weeks back was not a diatribe on the virtues of skimpy scrapbooking. It was not meant to be only a physical confession of a swept-away hobbyist. It was intended to reflect upon the growing need within to... Continue Reading →
I have been scrapbooking again. It's a bit of a wagon-worthy confession. There is a short and shunted period of my personal history when I was a scrapbooker. I scrapbooked. I sold scrapbooks. Mostly, I spent unholy sums of money on gourmet scrapbooks and all manner of scrapbooking paraphernalia. Markers. Stickers. Cut-outs. Paper; O Lord,... Continue Reading →
