My Little Corner of the World

FAIRY HOUSES

2012-01-26T16:05:00.006-05:00

DO YOU HAVE FAIRY HOUSES on your property? I bet you do! Fairy Houses are famous in Maine where they even have special celebrations for them. I was cleaning up out in the yard today - it is 60 degrees!!!! and the last week in January, and I noticed a fairy house over where a mighty maple once stood. It took very little work to enhance the "property." A few pebbles here and there, a little vine hand rail... and a few flowers (bottom 1/3rd, middle) from the rosemary in my herbal windowbox... yes, it is in bloom again! This box sits next to the house under the kitchen window. I have an old piece of plexiglas bent over it to keep the frost off (or snow should we ever have any this year.)

As kids we knew about, and often made, Fairy Houses when I lived on Peaks Island. We would pretend to suddenly find them and show them to tourists. Sometimes we would charge a nickle! LOL! Hey, in those days, you could buy a popsicle for 5 cents! Even today, there are Fairy House tours on some of the islands and even a 3 day festival at Boothbay at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, usually held in early August.

Mackworth Island lies just outside of Portland but feels like it’s miles away from the city. The small island is circled by a lovely coastal walking trail. About halfway around the circuit is a charming woodland fairy house village with views out to Casco Bay. Some of the houses are built against trees and stumps, while others are freestanding upon the thick, soft cushion of pine needles that cover the forest floor.

The Mackworth Island permanent Fairy Houses Village was established by local families in cooperation with the State of Maine Bureau of Parks and Land and the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf.
This superb village has been established for several years and gets more magical all the time! It is in constant use all year round (weather permitting.) We used to make mini-igloos in the winter!
The village is a 10 minute walk from the parking lot around the island to the north side. The island is accessible by road, but parking is limited. Mackworth Island is located in Falmouth, just off route 1 heading north from Portland.
The official Fairy Houses Village sign reads:

“The village provides fairies with cottages during their visits to the island.
We invite you to visit the village and admire the creativity of the builders. If
you are so inclined, you may use your own imagination to expand the village or
provide needed maintenance to the existing cottages. Thank you for treating the
island with care and respect.This helps to keep the fairies coming back!”

Further north is Monhegan Island.

The magic of Monhegan seems to inspire us to acknowledge the fairy realm by
building little houses. In the island’s Cathedral Woods, tall spruces stand
like the pillars of a grand cathedral, drawing our eyes upward. For a
generation, this moss-floored forest has been the site of Maine’s most
well-known and beloved fairy house village. (Note: Due to too many people
building fairy houses there in recent years and damaging plants and mosses
in the process, visitors are now asked not to build any new houses. Just
enjoy seeing any that you may spot on this enchanted island.)

Next warm day when I have a few minutes (like when does that ever happen?) I really must look around the back 40 and build a real nice fairy house. I am sure they will move in right away! Maybe I can get a little neighbor to help me... Hmmmm.

CAMELLIAS- Aunt Alice

2012-01-23T07:37:00.008-05:00

A fellow blogger has a flower on her blog as her ID pic... to me the tiny thumbnail looked like one of my camellias. Bi-color camellias do not have a set pattern, so I knew that would vary. This is Aunt Alice which is in bloom now. Camellias, especially old stock, large bushes, add greatly to a property's value. I have known folks who bought houses and tore them down but kept the camellias on the land... reconfigured their plans for their new house to fit with the existing camellias. Camellias are among the easiest plants to care for. Many of mine are over 10 feet tall now. If you have followed my blog for any time, you will have seen loads of camellias.
There were no camellias - or any other flowers for that matter - on this property when I bought it. Mostly it was covered with huge pine trees that I lost about 10 years ago with an infestation of pine bark beetle. Many of my friends gave me camellias as house warming gifts. What treasures! I brought a few little ones from my previous house, and a couple azaleas. Then, for years, friends gave me bulbs or plants for Xmas or birthdays or just because. Today, many of those friends are no longer here, but their memory lives on as their love blooms in their season. As I walk by, I greet each one by its name and the name of the person who gave it to me and I am reminded of their love. How great is that? I bought Aunt Alice, first because of its beauty, but second because I had an Aunt Alice. I love her dearly. So, how could I resist?
I hope you have enjoyed Aunt Alice with me.
If you have a camellia, never, ever cut it down. Legend is, cutting down a camellia brings bad luck.

FRUSTRATIONS

2012-01-22T10:29:00.006-05:00

FRUSTRATIONS... oh shame on me for being frustrated with this computer. This will not be much of a post, mostly it will be to see if I have loaded my photo programs right... I gave all my discs to the computer dude down the street - he makes his living doing this stuff, drives a new Mercedes to prove it - but things are still never quite right. None of my photo discs got installed, for example, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. So, to see if things were working, I went out and took a picture of the pot of pansies (aren't they beautiful? Especially to those of you buried up to your knees in snow or ice today?) I got from Bobbie yesterday... and a shot thru the door of the greenhouse with its heating system on - the brooder lamp on a bucket of bricks. Hey! It works! The ordinary incandescent bulb heats up the metal and the bricks - the bricks retain the heat... and it keeps the greenhouse in the 40s or 50s depending on how bad it is outside. Here on the shore, lots of folks keep their pumps from freezing in the winter just with one incandescent bulb. So I figure if it will keep a pump from freezing in a pump-house outside that is as big or bigger than my little greenhouse, well, it ought to keep my geraniums toasty and my impatiens from freezing... and my other plants and cuttings, too.
Did you notice the size of the daffodils next to the pansies? They are up about 8 inches. This may be a year when they bloom in mid-February.
But, back to the shame on me part. Living in this country, we tend to moan and groan over the most trivial things. OK, let me rephrase that - I tend to moan and groan over stuff that is merely inconvenient at the moment, and forget how darn lucky I am. Here I am complaining about having to load a couple photo discs so I can download pictures from either of my Nikons, and for the moment not thinking about the millions of people who still live without electricity, let alone computers and cameras. Yes, it is hard to believe that such people exist, but they do. Believe me, they do. We are so spoiled here. Even the poor in this country somehow manage to have cell phones, and other devices even tho they do not have decent food on their tables. So, I am ashamed of myself for grumbling about having to install a bunch of discs myself. But then, I paid someone else to get this computer back to where it was - minus the virus - and, well, it isn't. Hard to believe that the old computer was 8 years old before it had to get wiped clean and this one was but 8 months old. So much for McAfee.
I know I am going to have to change my ISP, and I so dread that... mostly I dread trying to wade thru the crap on the phone with Verizon. You would think the phone company would have an easier system to access. Oh how I long for the old days when there was an office down on the corner where I could go and pay my bill in person, add a phone, a new phone line, change a listing, put a phone in another house 40 miles from here, and get a nice visit with the real person doing all this for me. Often Progress ain't! Yet, there are those who have to travel over 100 miles to get to a phone or to a service if they have a cell phone. So, here I am grumbling again in a house with so many phones I can't count them. There is usually one in reach wherever you are. Spend some time in a wheelchair or being unable to get up and walk and you will understand.
So I guess I need to do a gratitude list... not just that my brain worked well enuf to install the photo programs... not just that I own a computer that is working (more or less) - and a camera or two... but that I do have electricity, heat, a roof over my head, food in my tummy, managed to get myself dressed, fed the cats, and got outside to take these pictures. Then I must add that I have a wonderful friend that gave me these pansies... and I can go on and on.
Like I said, shame on me for complaining.

the LAND OF CAMELLIAS, KITTY CATS, AND POSSUMS

2012-01-11T10:07:00.011-05:00

I started this post several days ago... did not get to finish it as the 'puter was in the 'puter-pital for a few days. Now, so thoroughly cleaned that I have to reload everything (and have lost tons of stuff - sigh) it is back. If you have not heard from me - that is why. I will do better after I retrieve your info and a lot of other things.

From last week: I just had a phone call from someone who was complaining about the fog this morning, the frost, the noise the VDOT men were making out on the road, the cat demanding his breakfast, the dog underfoot needing to go out for a pee… We live within 2 miles of each other so I am sharing the same fog, same frost, and even though I do not have a dog, I do have 2 outside cats I have to go out and feed, so I cannot escape the elements this morning. I headed for the door, can in hand, but, instead, rather than taking out a can of food, I turned around and came back for my camera. The sunrise was beautiful thru the fog. OK, not one of those brilliant bright awesomely colored sunrises but it was not all just a lessening of the gray sky, either. If you are a sunrise watcher, you know how quickly the colors change, and indeed the red brilliance had started to soften when I took the time to come back inside and get the camera. In the space of only a few shots, the red was gone and an orange glow took its place. For a couple seconds I was reminded of a forest fire in the distance. Instead, it was sunrise over the ocean. I stood beside the van on the carport – I was still in my slippers – and took these shots while a little cat wound around my ankles telling me he loved me dearly and especially admired my ability to open cans. Please open one. LOL! The other cat lounged sleepily in the heated box and waited, no beggar he! Soon the camellias will be busy with honeybees… Yes, honey bees love my yard, especially in the winter when it warms up enough for them to fly. There are usually a hundred or more camellias in bloom loaded with pollen, a mile from their bee boxes at my neighbor’s to the east. See the frost on the edge of the leaves? It will not hurt the camellias. The winter camellias can survive even a nice snowfall. They do not like a prolonged period of cold like we have had for the past 2 years. I stood there in the chilly morning air, petting the little cat that had jumped up on a shelf, all the better to be petted, looked at the camellias in January, and thought how lucky I was to live in such a place. Sure, I have a bigger house up in the mountains, beautiful scenery, a river with white water 1000 feet from my house… but no camellias. And there it is seriously cold this morning, and a light snow is falling. I am not into driving on icy mountain roads. Lazy, I guess… no longer adventurous enough. Or, maybe I have that wonderful elusive thing so many folks search their whole lives for, move from pillar to post looking for – contentment… happy to be living in the land of camellias, where kitty cats drink out of the bird bath, and possums hang out on the carport.

The end!

ADVICE FOR THE COMING YEAR

2011-12-29T14:51:00.029-05:00

As this calendar year draws to a close, we put away our holiday things, and we bid farewell to our celebrations, I hope your new year will be free from conflict, filled with Peace and joy. Put aside your delusions of grandeur, be humble, be understanding and patient. Enjoy life no matter what comes, be it a warm sunny day, snow up to your belly, or crunchy leaves to roll in. Take time to watch the birds, enjoy a good meal. Let life be OK whether you sleep on a catnip pillow or a brick.

It is all good. Take time to meditate.

Avoid showing off… Be modest. Avoid being sent to a corner. Be cool. Take life in stride, both the highs and the lows. Hang out with your friends, sleep overs are always good. And don’t forget to let those very best friends know how much you care!With love from Hadji, Rascal, Punkin, and Spook

MY WISH FOR US ALL

2011-12-22T08:28:00.003-05:00

Today is the Solstice. It can be proven by measuring the position of the sun and the length of the day. Many folks celebrate the Solstice, not as a superstition thing (If we don't sacrifice a calf the sun won't come back!) Most of the stories about what the "pagans" did were made up by those who wanted to convert them (add to the collection plate, etc). The actual date of the Solstice varies from year to year by a day or 2 - the earth wobbles a bit - and then there are time zones. Plus, this is the summer solstice in the southern hemisphere. Cool, huh? Or warm in Rio. So, whether you celebrate it or not, I hope your Solstice and the new year (sun-wise) is happy and healthy for you.

Next - December 25th….. Happy Birthday to, um, ah………

Many Christians are unaware that the true spirit of reverence which Muslims display towards Jesus and his mother Mary spring from the fountainhead of their faith as prescribed in the Holy Quran. Most do not know that a Muslim does not take the name of Jesus , without saying Eesa alai-hiss-salaam i.e. (Jesus peace be upon him).

Many Christians do not know that in the Holy Qur'an, Jesus is mentioned by name twenty-five times. For example:

.. We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. .. Quran 2:87

Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! Allah gives thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah. Quran 3:45

.. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) an apostle of Allah .. Quran 4:171

And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him .. Quran 5:46

And Zakariya and John, and Jesus and Elias: all in the ranks of the righteous: Quran 6:85

The Quranic Titles of Jesus
Though Jesus is mentioned by name in twenty-five places in the Holy Quran he is also addressed with respect as: "Ibne Maryam" - son of Mary; as Masi (Heb) Messiah - translated as Christ; "Abd-ullah" servant of Allah; "Rasul -Ullah" - Messenger of Allah.

He is spoken of as "the word of God", as "the spirit of God", as a "Sign of God", and numerous other epithets of honor spread over fifteen different chapters. The Holy Quran honors this great Messenger of God, and over the past fourteen hundred years Muslims continue to hold Jesus as a symbol of truth.

Christmas and 25th of December
Jesus is commonly considered to have been born on the 25th of December. However, it is common knowledge among Christian scholars that he was not born on this day. It is well known that the first Christian churches held their festival in May, April, or January. Scholars of the first two centuries AD even differ in which year he was born, some believing that he was born fully twenty years before the current accepted date. So how was the 25th of December selected as the birthday of Jesus?

Grolier's encyclopedia says: "Christmas is the feast of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated on December 25 ... Despite the beliefs about Christ that the birth stories expressed, the church did not observe a festival for the celebration of the event until the 4th century.... since 274, under the emperor Aurelian, Rome had celebrated the feast of the "Invincible Sun" on December 25. In the Eastern Church, January 6, a day also associated with the winter solstice, was initially preferred. In course of time, however, the West added the Eastern date as the Feast of the Epiphany, and the East added the Western date of Christmas".

So who else celebrated the 25th of December as the birth day of their gods before it was agreed upon as the birth day of Jesus ? Well, there are the people of India who rejoice, decorate their houses with garlands, and give presents to their friends on this day. The people of China also celebrate this day and close their shops. Buddha is believed to have been born on this day. The great savior and god of the Persians, Mithras, is also believed to have been born on the 25th of December long before the coming of Jesus .

The Egyptians celebrated this day as the birth day of their great savior Horus, the Egyptian god of light and the son of the "virgin mother" and "queen of the heavens" Isis. Osiris, god of the dead and the underworld in Egypt, the son of "the holy virgin", again was believed to have been born on the 25th of December.

The Greeks celebrated the 25th of December as the birthday of Hercules, the son of the supreme god of the Greeks, Zeus, through the mortal woman Alcmene Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry among the Romans (known among the Greeks as Dionysus) was also born on this day.

Adonis, revered as a "dying-and-rising god" among the Greeks, miraculously was also born on the 25th of December. His worshipers held him a yearly festival representing his death and resurrection, in midsummer. The ceremonies of his birthday are recorded to have taken place in the same cave in Bethlehem which is claimed to have been the birth place of Jesus .

The Scandinavians celebrated the 25th of December as the birthday of their god Freyr, the son of their supreme god of the heavens, Odin.

The Romans observed this day as the birthday of the god of the sun, Natalis Solis Invicti ("Birthday of Sol the invincible"). There was great rejoicing and all shops were closed. There was illumination and public games. Presents were exchanged, and the slaves were indulged in great liberties. These are the same Romans who would later preside over the council of Nicaea (325 CE) which lead to the official Christian recognition of the "Trinity" as the "true" nature of God, and the "fact" that Jesus was born on the 25th of December too.

In Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says: "The Roman Christians, ignorant of his (Christ's) birth, fixed the solemn festival to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or Winter Solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of Sol " vol. ii, p. 383.

There are several Christian groups who are opposed to Christmas. For example, they take the verse from the Bible in Jeremiah 10:2-4 as an admonition against decorating Christmas trees. The King James Version reads: "Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen.... For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not."

In order to understand this subject, it is helpful to trace some of the history of Christmas avoidance, particularly its roots in Puritanism. The Puritans believed that the first-century church modeled a Christianity that modern Christians should copy. They attempted to base their faith and practice solely on the New Testament, and their position on Christmas reflected their commitment to practice a pure, scriptural form of Christianity. Puritans argued that God reserved to himself the determination of all proper forms of worship, and that he disapproved of any human innovations - even innovations that celebrated the great events of salvation. The name Christmas also alienated many Puritans. Christmas, after all, meant "the mass of Christ." The mass was despised as a Roman Catholic institution that undermined the Protestant concept of Christ, who offered himself once for all. The Puritans' passionate avoidance of any practice that was associated with papal Rome caused them to overlook the fact that in many countries the name for the day had nothing to do with the Catholic mass, but focused instead on Jesus' birth. The mass did not evolve into the form abhorred by Protestants until long after Christmas was widely observed. The two customs had separate, though interconnected, histories.

As ardent Protestants, Puritans identified the embracing of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the early 300s CE as the starting point of the degeneration and corruption of the church. They believed the corruption of the church was brought on by the interweaving of the church with the pagan Roman state. To Puritans, Christmas was impure because it entered the Roman Church sometime in this period. No one knows the exact year or under what circumstances Roman Christians began to celebrate the birth of their Lord, but by the mid-300s CE, the practice was well established.

Islam requires Muslims to respect the faith of others. Regardless of historical facts and theological differences that Christians may have among themselves or theological differences Muslims may have with Christianity we cannot disregard the sentiments of practicing Christians who use this occasion to revere Jesus .

Prophet Muhammad was always very respectful towards the Christians. According to Islamic historians, Ibn e Saad and Ibn e Hisham, once there was a delegation of Byzantine Christians, who were traveling from Yemen to Madinah. The delegation was led by a bishop by the name of Zqyd al-Usquf, who came to discuss a number of issues with Prophet Muhammad. When the time of their prayer came, they asked the Prophet if they could do their worship in the mosque of the Prophet. He answered, "Conduct your service here in the mosque. It is a place dedicated to God."

We should never ridicule the religious beliefs of others, no matter how much we disagree with them. God says in the Quran: "And insult not those whom they worship besides God, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used to do". Quran, 6:108

For whatever you celebrate, I wish you Peace and Love. Isn't that what He tried to teach us? What better way to celebrate than a day of loving each and all.

F1gur471v3ly 5p34k1ng

2011-12-13T08:33:00.001-05:00

F1gur471v3ly 5p34k1ng

Good example of a Brain Study: If you can read this you have a strong flexible mind:
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How did you do?

A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY

2011-12-07T18:58:00.004-05:00

Think you know about Pearl Harbor? May I suggest you do some research - I bet you will be shocked at what the world has not known until recently. Who really started that war? Why did FDR move all the newer and better warships out of the harbor before the attack. Think the powers that be knew we were going to be bombed? You betcha. So the decision was made - which of our boys were going to be sacrificed so the US could go to war? Go ahead, google it.

"Did FDR Provoke Pearl Harbor?" by Patrick J. Buchanan
"On Dec. 8, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt took the rostrum before a joint session of Congress to ask for a declaration of war on Japan. A day earlier, at dawn, carrier-based Japanese aircraft had launched a sneak attack devastating the U.S. battle fleet at Pearl Harbor. Said ex-President Herbert Hoover, Republican statesman of the day, "We have only one job to do now, and that is to defeat Japan." But to friends, "the Chief" sent another message: "You and I know that this continuous putting pins in rattlesnakes finally got this country bit."Today, 70 years after Pearl Harbor, a remarkable secret history, written from 1943 to 1963, has come to light. It is Hoover's explanation of what happened before, during and after the world war that may prove yet the death knell of the West. Edited by historian George Nash, "Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover's History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath" is a searing indictment of FDR and the men around him as politicians who lied prodigiously about their desire to keep America out of war, even as they took one deliberate step after another to take us into war. Yet the book is no polemic. The 50-page run-up to the war in the Pacific uses memoirs and documents from all sides to prove Hoover's indictment. And perhaps the best way to show the power of this book is the way Hoover does it - chronologically, painstakingly, week by week.Consider Japan's situation in the summer of 1941. Bogged down in a four year war in China she could neither win nor end, having moved into French Indochina, Japan saw herself as near the end of her tether. Inside the government was a powerful faction led by Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye that desperately did not want a war with the United States. The "pro-Anglo-Saxon" camp included the navy, whose officers had fought alongside the U.S. and Royal navies in World War I, while the war party was centered on the army, Gen. Hideki Tojo and Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka, a bitter anti-American. On July 18, 1941, Konoye ousted Matsuoka, replacing him with the "pro-Anglo-Saxon" Adm. Teijiro Toyoda.The U.S. response: On July 25, we froze all Japanese assets in the United States, ending all exports and imports, and denying Japan the oil upon which the nation and empire depended. Stunned, Konoye still pursued his peace policy by winning secret support from the navy and army to meet FDR on the U.S. side of the Pacific to hear and respond to U.S. demands. U.S. Ambassador Joseph Grew implored Washington not to ignore Konoye's offer, that the prince had convinced him an agreement could be reached on Japanese withdrawal from Indochina and South and Central China. Out of fear of Mao's armies and Stalin's Russia, Tokyo wanted to hold a buffer in North China.On Aug. 28, Japan's ambassador in Washington presented FDR a personal letter from Konoye imploring him to meet. Tokyo begged us to keep Konoye's offer secret, as the revelation of a Japanese prime minister's offering to cross the Pacific to talk to an American president could imperil his government. On Sept. 3, the Konoye letter was leaked to the Herald-Tribune. On Sept. 6, Konoye met again at a three-hour dinner with Grew to tell him Japan now agreed with the four principles the Americans were demanding as the basis for peace. No response. On Sept. 29, Grew sent what Hoover describes as a "prayer" to the president not to let this chance for peace pass by. On Sept. 30, Grew wrote Washington, "Konoye's warship is ready waiting to take him to Honolulu, Alaska or anyplace designated by the president." No response. On Oct. 16, Konoye's cabinet fell.In November, the U.S. intercepted two new offers from Tokyo: a Plan A for an end to the China war and occupation of Indochina and, if that were rejected, a Plan B, a modus vivendi where neither side would make any new move. When presented, these, too, were rejected out of hand. At a Nov. 25 meeting of FDR's war council, Secretary of War Henry Stimson's notes speak of the prevailing consensus: "The question was how we should maneuver them (the Japanese) into ... firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves." "We can wipe the Japanese off the map in three months," wrote Navy Secretary Frank Knox.As Grew had predicted, Japan, a "hara-kiri nation," proved more likely to fling herself into national suicide for honor than to allow herself to be humiliated. Out of the war that arose from the refusal to meet Prince Konoye came scores of thousands of U.S. dead, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the fall of China to Mao Zedong, U.S. wars in Korea and Vietnam, and the rise of a new arrogant China that shows little respect for the great superpower of yesterday. If you would know the history that made our world, spend a week with Mr. Hoover's book."
- http://www.sott.net/

My heart aches for those who died because politicians decided it was their time.

SANTA TRAIN - 2011

2011-12-04T07:20:00.016-05:00

After hours and hours of preparation, and an hour and a half waiting, the Santa Train rolled into town yesterday. Even tho there were numerous Santa imitators around on Saturday, we had the real deal at our train station! Cookies, popcorn, and hot chocolate were available, free to the public, served graciously by our wonderful volunteers.

This year, our station had a nice clean spot for Santa and Company, a "living room" of sorts, a clean floor to sit on, spare furniture from my barn, a rug from my kitchen, and the tent to mark the space, control the lighting, and a tree and train (of course) under the tree. There is also the required milk and cookies, er, cookie with a bite taken out of it, and a fern hanging to hide the wiring and plugs. Stage Craft 204. Who'd believe that class would still pay off almost 50 years later? At the other stops along the track, Santa greets the kids outside the train, and I hear mob control is difficult. We were very orderly and well mannered here.

Some kids brought a list that took several pages. This one was 4 pages long... These girls were having a Santa Birthday Party . Some admitted that had been mostly kinda good... but, "well, I had a slip or two, Santa."

Some were older, some were very young. All were precious. Santa and Mrs Claus, his helpers, and our motley crew! Happy Holidays from the SPOTS Board of Directors.

A POSSUM FOR THANKSGIVING

2011-11-25T08:40:00.011-05:00

NO, we did not EAT him, he just paid us a visit, much to Punkin's dislike, not that Punkin dislikes possums, but he was not feeling like sharing. Punk went over and took a sniff, turned around and got back on the steps to wait until the slow poke finished and "mommy" brought out fresh food. I did not recognize this possum. I guess he was visiting for Thanksgiving. He sure was a big fella, and hungry. Or maybe he just liked the fixin's here. The big crockery DOG dish is heavy. Raccoons can't steal it, the wind can't blow it away. The plastic keeps the food dry in a windy rain, and keeps leaves out of their food. More camellias are in bloom. I am never sure which is more impressive, the masses of flowers, or the individual ones. Even tho we have had temps below freezing, the camellias are quite happy. If you follow this blog, you might remember pics of snow on the camellias from last winter... one of my favorite sights. They get "burned" when the sun shines on the ice on the petals, so some folks cover their plants. Camellias are hardy, to a point. They will not take repeated freezing temps like in the teens. These leaves are from last week. The wind from Wednesday stripped the bush of all but its berries.
I hope you had a happy Turkey Day. Be safe over the holidays!

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN……..

2011-11-19T07:31:00.001-05:00

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends and family.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenaline flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimulus I can get!

And, sometimes I think I am in Vincible but life shows me I am not!

I have been in Deepshit many times; in fact the older I get, the longer I stay because I feel so much at home there.

SHORE FALL COLORS

2011-11-14T08:41:00.012-05:00

THIS IS an amazingly beautiful time of year. Sure, it has been pretty in New England, yeah, the Poconos were awesome, as usual... and there is nothing as beautiful as the rocky coast of Maine anytime of the year. But, I am getting, OK, make that, I am older... and those beautiful hills and that beautiful but treacherous snow is something I no longer want to deal with on a daily basis. Here on the shore, we have something that we can't find in Maine. Won't happen in the Poconos... but brings beauty to the shore starting in mid-september, blooming often all winter long, into late spring... Camellias.
Some of these camellias are 12 feet or taller! This is Yule Tide by the maple tree. See the power line running thru it?

As you can see, by now, most of my camellias are more like small trees. This last one is Yule Tide again. It is also more than 12 feet across. I know it needs to be cut back, but I so hate doing that. Yule Tide was a gift from my friend Sabra, more than 20 years ago.
Yesterday, I was taking a short walk around the place with my camera noticing all the beautiful color combinations for this time of year. Yes, they will change soon. It is windy this morning and the leaves are falling as I type this. But let me share a bit of My Little Corner of the World with you today.

The berries are plentiful this year. That is supposed to mean another rough winter. We shall see.

And! Look carefully, a baby zucchini! See it?

PRE ELECTION EXAM–what a GOOD idea!

2011-11-13T08:40:00.001-05:00

PRE-ELECTION EXAM: 60 QUESTIONS FOR EVERY CANDIDATE

NO VOTES WILL BE CAST FOR ANY CANDIDATE, FOR ANY OFFICE, WITHOUT COMPLETION OF THIS EXAM. INSTEAD OF PUBLIC DEBATES, WHERE EVERYONE CAN POSTURE AND BELLOW, LET’S HAVE EVERY CANDIDATE PROVIDE WRITTEN ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING 60 QUESTIONS, PUBLISH THE RESULTS (OR READ THEM ON TV AND RADIO), THEN HAVE VOTERS DECIDE.

1. IF JOB CREATION RESTS SO HEAVILY UPON THE PRIVATE SECTOR, WHY ARE CORPORATE PROFITS AT ALL TIME HIGHS BUT JOBS ARE STILL SCARCE?

2. IF REGULATIONS ARE STIFLING THE PRIVATE SECTOR, WHY ARE CORPORATE PROFITS AT ALL TIME HIGHS?

3. WE HAVE A NAVY THAT IS LARGER THAN THE NEXT 13 NAVIES IN THE WORLD, COMBINED, AND 11 OF THOSE ARE OUR ALLIES. WHY DO WE NEED TO KEEP INCREASING THE MILITARY BUDGET?

4. WHY ARE WE STILL ALLOWING MILLION DOLLAR BONUSES FOR WALL STREET EXECUTIVES?

5. WHY ARE WE COMPLAINING ABOUT GAS PRICES WHEN VIRTUALLY EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD IS PAYING TWO TO THREE TIMES AS MUCH AS WE PAY?

6. HAVE YOU EVER READ THE BOOK “THE TYRANNY OF DEAD IDEAS”?

7. WHY DO YOU THINK WE ARE OVER-TAXED WHEN ONLY THREE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD PAY LESS TAXES THAN WE DO IN THE U.S.?

8. WHY, WITH SUPERIOR RECORDS FOR HEALTH CARE (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF BREAST AND PRSOTATE CANCER), ARE ALL THE OTHER DEVELOPED COUNTRIES WRONG TO HAVE COMPULSORY, UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE WHILE WE REJECT THIS?

9. DO YOU THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE ONE-THIRD OF OUR HEALTH CARE DOLLARS GO TO PROFIT-MAKING INSURANCE COMPANIES, INSTEAD OF HEALTH CARE?

10. DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCEPT – OR EVEN KNOW ABOUT – BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S CONCEPT OF SOCIAL BENEVOLENCE?

11. DO YOU APPROVE OF TORTURE?

12. DO YOU THINK IT IS A GOOD THING THAT GENERAL ELECTRIC PAID NO TAXES AT ALL LAST YEAR? WOULD YOU CHANGE THAT? HOW?

13. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT RADICAL MUSLIMS HATE THE U.S. BECAUSE (1) THEY RESENT OUR FREEDOMS, OR (2) BECAUSE WE HAVE MILITARY IN THEIR HOMELANDS?

14. DO YOU BELIEVE THE AMERICAN WORKER HAS THE RIGHT TO BARGAIN COLLECTIVELY?

15. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT AN ASSEMBLY LINE WORKER, OR TEACHER, SHOULD PAY SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES ON 100% OF THEIR EARNINGS WHILE A CORPORATE CEO OR NFL QUARTERBACK SHOULD ONLY PAY SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES ON 1-5% OF THER EARNINGS?

16. IF YOU ANSWERED YES TO THE QUESTION ABOVE, WHY?

17. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERNCE BETWEEN SOCIAL SECURITY AND PERSONAL SECURITY?

18. DO YOU THINK YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING THAN THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES? IF YOU ANSWERED YES, EXPLAIN WHY?

19. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT SEXUAL ORIENTATION IS A SOCIALLY CAUSED PHENOMENON, OR A BIOLOGICALLY CAUSED PHENOMENON? DO YOU HAVE ANY EVIDENCE FOR YOU ANSWER?

20. WHY, IF EVERY STUDY EVER CONDUCTED SHOWS THAT IT IS NOT A DETERENT TO CRIME, SHOULD WE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT?

21. WHAT CHARACTERISTICS MAKES A COUNTRY GREAT?

22. IF THE PENTAGON CLAIMED THAT A MILITARY BASE IN YOUR HOME STATE WAS NO LONGER NECESSARY FOR THE DEFENSE OF THE COUNTRY, WOULD YOU ARGUE TO KEEP IT OPEN? IF YOU ANSWERED YES, EXPLAIN WHY YOU THINK YOU KNOW MORE THAN THE PENTAGON ABOUT NATIONAL DEFENSE.

23. THE DISPARITY IN INCOME IS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH IN THE U.S. HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS? DOES IT CONCERN YOU?

25. ISRAEL BEGAN AS A NATION WHEN IT SEIZED – WITHOUT ANY FORCE OF LAW – LAND FROM 600,000 PALESTINANS. WOULD IT MAKE YOU ANGRY IF SOUTHERN BAPTISTS TOOK FLORIDA FOR THEMSELVES BECAUSE OF SOME RELIGIOUS BELIEF THAT FLORIDA BELONGED TO THEM?

26. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT IF THE U.S. ENTERS INTO ARMED CONFLICT, THERE SHOULD BE A DRAFT? WHATEVER YOUR ANSWER, EXPLAIN IT?

27. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT IF THE U.S. ENTERS INTO ARMED CONFLICT, TAXES SHOULD BE INCREASED TO PAY FOR THAT CONFLICT? WHATEVER YOUR ANSWER, EXPLAIN IT.

28. DO YOU BELIEVE THE U.S. SHOULD TAX CORPORATIONS MORE IF THEY MOVE JOBS OVERSEAS? IF YOU ANSWERED NO, EXPLAIN WHY.

29. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT WE SHOULD HAVE NATIONAL STANDARDS IN TERMS OF EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS?

30. DO YOU BELIEVE THE PATRIOT ACT IS CONSTITUTIONAL?

31. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY, IF CORPORATE PROFITS ARE AT ALL TIME HIGHS, PERSONAL WAGES HAVE DECLINED (WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CEOS)?

32. DO YOU BELIEVE OIL IS AN INFINITE RESOURCE?

33. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT POPULATION GROWTH IS A MAJOR THREAT TO THE SURVIVAL OF THE U.S. AS WELL AS THE REST OF THE WORLD?

34. DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE FREE MARKET?

35. DO YOU BELIEVE WE SHOULD CONTINUE AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES?

36. IF YOUR ANSWERS TO 34 AND 35 WERE DIFFERENT, JUSTIFY THAT.

37. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THOSE WHO LIVE IN FREE SOCIETIES ALSO MUST RISK MORE DANGERS THAN THOSE WHO LIVE IN REPRESSIVE COUNTRIES BUT WHO HAVE MORE SECURITY?

38. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT, WITH REGARD TO POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS, CORPORATIONS ARE THE SAME A “CITIZENS”?

39. THE SECOND AMENDMENT PROTECTS OUR RIGHT TO OWN FIREARMS. HOWEVER, WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OWN MACHINE GUNS, FLAME THROWERS, CANNONS, OR HAND GRENADES. WHY ARE WE ALLOWED TO OWN ASSAULT RIFLES?

40. DO YOU HAVE CONCERN OVER DWIGHT EISENHOWER’S WARNING ABOUT THE “MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX”? DO YOU THINK HE WAS CORRECT?

41. DO YOU BELIEVE IT IS JUSTIFIABLE TO VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL LAW IF THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE U.S. ARE AT STAKE?

42. DO YOU BELIEVE IT IS JUSTIFIABLE FOR THE CITIZEN TO VIOLATE NATIONAL LAWS IF THE ACT IS IN THEIR BEST INTEREST?

43. DO YOU BELIEVE IT IS WRONG FOR THE U.S. TO APOLOGIZE FOR PAST TRANSGRESSIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND/OR SUPPORT OF TYRANTS WHO ABUSED HUMAN RIGHTS?

44. DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE RULE OF THE MAJORITY, OR THE FILIBUSTER? EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER.

45. SHOULD RELIGION PLAY A ROLE IN THE SELECTION OF CANDIDATES? WHY?

46. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ISSUES SUCH AS ABORTION, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, OR CONTRACEPTION SHOULD BE POLITICAL ISSUES? WHY?

47. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE U. S. IS AN EMPIRE?

48. DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE FORCES AND EVENTS THAT LED TO THE DECLINE OF GREAT NATIONS OVER HISTORY? CAN YOU IDENTIFY THEM?

49. WHAT SUGGESTIONS DO YOU HAVE TO ELIMINATE, OR AT LEAST REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF MONEY NECESSARY FOR POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS?

50. CAN YOU RATIONALIZE THE FACT THAT ONE IN SIX AMERICANS IS NOW AT THE POVERTY LEVEL AND THAT WE KEEP REPEATING THAT AMERICA IS THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH?

51. SHOULD A PERSON MAKING $500,000 A YEAR PAY THE SAME TAX RATE AS ONE MAKING $35,000 A YEAR?

52. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS ARE REALLY THE RESULTS OF LEGISLATIVE FAILURE? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWER.

53. SHOULD ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES BE SUBJECT TO THE SAME LAWS/REGULATIONS AS EVERYONE ELSE?

54. HOW WOULD YOU REACT TO A CONGRESSIONAL REGULATION – OR EVEN A LAW - THAT PROHIBITED AMENDMENTS OR RIDERS THAT ARE UNRELATED TO THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE BILL?

55. DO YOU BELIEVE CLASS WARFARE IS A REALITY IN THE U.S.? IF YOUR ANSWER WAS YES, WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT THAT?

56. OF THE LAST 12 PRESIDENTS, CAN YOU NAME THE TWO WHO RAISED THE NATIONAL DEBT THE MOST DURING THEIR TERMS?

57. WHERE DOES EDUCATION RANK IN NATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR YOU? PROVIDE A NUMBER AND IDENTIFY THE PRIORITIES THAT ARE HIGHER THAN EDUCATION.

58. WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE U. S. INVADED IRAQ?

59. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT IS HAPPENING IN VIET NAM TODAY – AN OFFICIAL TRADE PARTNER - THAT WAS WORTH 58,000 AMERICAN LIVES TO PREVENT?

60. WHICH IS MORE VITAL TO AMERICA’S SECURITY, A STRONG MILITARY OR A STRONG EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM? JUSTIFY YOUR ANSWER.

A LOUISIANA GHOST STORY

2011-10-30T08:30:00.001-04:00

Just in time for Halloween

Louisiana Ghost Story
This happened about 6 months ago in Louisiana on Hwy 57, just outside of Dulac, a little town in the bayou country of Louisiana , and while it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it's for real.
An Ohio businessman, Saul Rubins, abandoned his disabled vehicle on the side of the road, and attempted to hitchhike. The night was pitch dark in the middle of a thunderstorm. Time passed slowly and no cars went by. It was raining so hard he could hardly see his hand in front of his face.
Suddenly, through the sheets of rain, he saw a car moving slowly, approaching and appearing ghost-like in the rain. It slowly and silently crept toward him and stopped.
Desperately needing a ride, Saul jumped in the car and closed the door. Only then did he realize that there was no one behind the wheel and no sound of an engine to be heard over the rain.
Again the car crept silently forward and Saul was terrified, but too scared to think of jumping out and running. He saw that the car was approaching a sharp curve and, still too scared to jump out, he started to pray and beg for his life; he was sure the ghost car would go off the road and into the bayou and he would then drown!
But just before the curve, a shadowy hand appeared at the driver's window, reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend.. Then, just as silently, the hand disappeared through the window and Saul was alone again.
Paralyzed with fear, Saul watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally, scared nearly to death, Saul had all he could take, jumped out of the car, and ran to town.
Wet and in shock, he walked into Buster's Coffee Stop. Voice quavering, he ordered a cup of black chicory coffee and then told everybody about his supernatural experience.
The room became silent and everybody got goose bumps when they realized Saul was not just some talkative drunk but was telling the truth about what had happened to him.
About 30 minutes later two Cajuns, dripping wet, walked into Buster's and one says to the other, "Look, Boudreaux, ders dat idiot that jumped in our car when we wuz pushin' it in the rain!"

The FIRST COLD NIGHT

2011-10-23T11:37:00.007-04:00

Last night was pretty chilly. Boy Bobby put a new front porch light out front for me, with a motion detector. I noticed when it came on how spectacular the camellia by the front door looked. It measures 8 feet across at its widest, and is 14 feet tall. Its partner at the other end of the house is not as wide as we have to cut it back every year in order to get down the sidewalk, but it is the same height. I thought the pictures at night showed how full of blooms they were better than daylight shots.

Punkin is grateful for the heating pad in his box. Can't you hear him say, "Oh, that feels good on these old bones!"

Boy, blogger sure does not cooperate in the picture placement department anymore. Sorry, but I don't seem to have anyway to get these pictures where I want them.

BUBBA AND THE JOHN DEERE

2011-10-18T17:25:00.001-04:00

Cletus is passing by Bubba’s hay barn one day when, through a gap
in the door, he sees Bubba doing a slow and sensual striptease in front
of an old green John Deere.
Buttocks clenched, he performs a slow pirouette, and gently slides
off first the right strap of his overalls, followed by the left. He then
hunches his shoulders forward and in a classic striptease move, lets his
overalls fall down to his hips, revealing a torn and frayed plaid shirt.
Then, grabbing both sides of his shirt, he rips it apart to reveal his
stained T-shirt underneath. With a final flourish, he tears the T-shirt from
his body, and hurls his baseball cap onto a pile of hay.
Having seen enough, Cletus rushes in and says, "What the world're ya
doing, Bubba ?"
"Good grief, Cletus, ya scared the bejeebers out of me," says an
obviously embarrassed Bubba .
"But me 'n the wife been havin trouble lately in the bedroom
d'partment, and the therapist suggested I do something sexy to
a tractor."

(Don't make me come splain this to you! Read the last line again, slowly.)

A LITTLE VISITOR

2011-10-15T08:10:00.004-04:00

I HAD A LITTLE VISITOR last week. A friend called, said she needed help with a little problem, and her story included the relocation of a golfball. It was a clue! If you ever raised chickens, you will know sometimes folks put golf balls in the nest to get the hens to figure out that is where they should lay their eggs. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Now if that golfball starts moving around your hen house, you can bet the chickens aren't playing putt putt golf! You probably have a visitor in the night. So, she started visiting the hen house after dark, and what did she see? This little cutie. So, she borrowed a Have a Heart Trap and 2 days later brought this little one over to be released on my property. I kept the "teenage" possum in the barn until just about sunset, then carried the cage to a safe location, opened the door just enough for the little one to get out, and sure enough, in the morning, the food left in the cage was gone, (cat food and a very ripe banana,) and so was the visitor.

In the process of moving the little one from the trap into the safe cage for the day, my friend touched its foot. She said she could not get over how soft that little foot was! They are - just like little baby's hands.

We have not seen the Little One since, and this is good. My cats do not bother possums. They do not see them as a threat. One used to sleep in a nesting box on the carport for a few nights every once in a while, then move on. They are nomadic, one might say. But, no little bodies on the road, and miles of woods and fields to go in the other directions, so hopefully the Little one will find his or her new home near-by.

Sorry, no chicken houses for a couple of miles.

HIGH TIDE

2011-10-13T16:12:00.008-04:00

WE HAVE HAD some really high tides the past couple of days... This is in Onancock, VA, about 2 miles from my house, on Onancock Creek which opens onto the Chesapeake Bay. The usual place for the creek is on the other side of the piling, so what you are looking at is the parking lot! Funny, no one is sitting on the liar's bench today! This last shot is the outdoor dining area at the restaurant on the wharf.

THE BEGINNING OF FALL

2011-10-11T16:55:00.004-04:00

IT IS THAT TIME OF YEAR the mornings are crisp if not almost cold. You can get in a few hours of work outside before the mosquitoes thaw out and become pests. Usually by the time they start to look for a snack, I am exhausted and in the shower anyway. The colors here are subtle. I appreciate that, having lived in New England and the Poconos where autumn sometimes screams at you… Not that I don’t appreciate all those beautiful colors, its just that I guess I like the surprise of a spot of color here and there. No one can say that autumn on the Eastern Shore is ever over-whelming! But this is a place where it is green, well, sort of, all year long. We have lots and lots of evergreens, not just the pines, but magnolias, camellias, bayberry, boxwood, holly, acuba… even the nandina and azaleas stay mostly green with hints of red to brighten them up in the winter. I like understated…

I have had azaleas blooming for over a month, and the camellias started the middle of September. Some of the phlox are still in bloom and the daisies just started on the first of October. The dogwood tree is usually the first to change color and get its bright berries. Then comes the Rose of Sharon (Althea), and then the big deciduous trees around the first of November.

Remember the song about the autumn leaves of red and gold? Well, here we have the autumn azaleas of red and the cat of gold! How’s this for autumn colors? Pumpkin and Spook came to me around this time of year… here’s Spook and Pumpkins and Punkin and potatoes! Yep, I still have potato plants… I will have a second crop of redskins… OK, maybe not too many, but a few meals worth, I am sure! I still have tomatoes. The azalea does well at holding them up.

This is also the end of the mega spider web season which usually starts in September. For about a month, these webs are EVERYWHERE! We learn to walk with our arms stretched out in front of our faces so we don’t wear the webs in our hair all day. I don’t dislike spiders, but I am not fond of webs in my face.

It is the season for apples, especially Macintosh. My dear neighbors brought me apples again this year from Maine. How I love apples and especially fresh home-made apple pie, made with honey and plenty of cinnamon. NO PHONY STUFF! The house smells so good on pie baking day. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmm. Nothing lke a nice warm slice, fresh from the over (not warmed in a microwave – I don’t even own one of them, and a cold glass of real milk on a chilly afternoon. Life is good.

AUTUMN in ONLEY–the EVENT!

2011-10-03T07:54:00.001-04:00

WE FINALLY HAD OUR AUTUMN in Onley mini Country Fair… our testing the waters event, as it were. Everything is a learning experience. Someone has an idea, you don’t know if it will work or not until you have tried it.

Our main purpose is, of course, to save the old building, but that takes a lot of time and money. We were so lucky to have had 2 grants, one from the Town of Onley, one from the Eastern Shore Foundation, that enabled us to get some serious carpentry work done and then a new roof put on. But our other purpose is to share the joy of model railroading with others, and use it as a means of teaching kids – not just how to play with trains, but eventually teaching math, art, history, physics, carpentry, the list can go on and on, by setting up trains and building layouts. They will also learn a lot about patience.

In celebration of the new roof, we held a big Bake Sale, Play with Trains event, and a couple fun things thrown in for the kids. The sheriff’s department came and set up to do Ident-a-Kid – a great program, free to anyone who brings their child.

Friends and neighbors brought all kinds of delicious looking baked goods. What a time to NOT be allowed to eat anything with sugar or white flour. I did manage a half a cookie before someone rescued me. (swiped my bag of cookies right out of my hand, she did!) sigh.

It was a deliciously cool day, too. Most folks had on light jackets except for the tough MEN and teenaged boys in their short sleeves. In spite of the threatening clouds, the rain stayed away and we even had moments of delightful sunshine!

Ed enjoyed helping the kids make scarecrows. That seemed like a lot of fun. The kids also had fun painting pumpkins.

The big hit was, of course, the trains. Niall Finnegan, our president, was more than willing to explain how our unfinished layout was made, from bending, shaping, cutting, and soldering the track, to gluing the foam and shaping it into rocks and hills. The layout is unfinished so kids (of all ages) can see the various steps in making a layout. The scenery is left unfinished, one of the trees still has a paper clip holding a branch section in place for gluing. The plaster base is unpainted, no moss has been attached to make it look like weeds or bushes. The kids were fascinated. So was the sheriff! Our Sheriff, Todd Godwin, dropped by to see how things were going.

After a long day of helping to make scarecrows, member Ed took a well deserved break while waiting for someone to bring him some lunch! The guys at the Fire Station grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for us. If we do this again next year, Ya’all come see us, ya hear?

PS - blogger has decided NOT to let me line the pictures up the way I want them - sorry...

GET READY FOR OCTOBER 1ST!

2011-09-23T09:09:00.001-04:00

Autumn in Onley

at the Train Station in Onley

October 1, from 10-2

Rain Date – Oct 2 from 1-4

Build a Scarecrow – 10 AM

(Bring some old clothes to stuff)

Pumpkin Painting – 11 AM

Pet Parade - Noon

Pumpkin Toss - 1 PM

Tractor (mower) Parade - 1:30

and PLAY with TRAINS!

Shore’s Best Bake Sale

And Cake Raffle

Coffee, iced tea

Bean bag toss

!!! Prizes !!!

Family FUN!

Ident-a-Kid

and PLAY with TRAINS!

SOME NAUGHTY JOKES

2011-09-20T13:27:00.001-04:00

Just thought I would share some not so nice jokes… Shame on me.

A woman asks a man who is traveling with six children,

"Are all these kids yours?"

The man replies, "No, I work in a condom factory and these
are customer complaints".

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

A young boy asks his Dad, "What is the difference between confident and confidential?"

Dad says, "You are my son, I'm confident about that.

Your friend over there, is also my son, that's confidential."

********************* Nominated as the best short joke this year..

A three-year-old boy was examining his testicles while taking a bath.

"Mom" he asked, "are these my brains?"

"Not yet," she replied.

NAME THE FLOWER, BUILD A TREE

2011-09-18T09:02:00.008-04:00

OK, before peeking at the rest of the pictures, do you have any idea what this precious tiny flower is? A BIG clue is the word tiny. So I will skip to building a tree... I am in the process of making trees for our train layout for the Train Station. This first tree is in the very beginning stages. See the green stuff? That is surrounding a "branch" that I hope will stay glued in place to balance the tree. A few real leaves are still attached and will be removed before attaching the foliage from the bag. I have never used ready made stuff before, always made my own back in my model making days. The second tree is more or less finished... I will make a base out of plaster - it is currently sitting in a block of plasticine. These trees will go with a O size train. I hate those bottle brush trees or the plastic snap together trees that all look alike. I like to make my own from real bushes.

So, back to the little flowers... did you guess what they were? These shots are of them in the little herb garden potting tray, next to the sage and thyme. I am sure my plants out in the garden have bloomed before and I just never noticed, but this one is on the patio. I was shocked to see the precious little flowers. Sniff, sniff, can you smell the sage, thyme and the ___________?

SOME THOUGHTS, SOME GRATITUDE

2011-09-11T12:09:00.001-04:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but that is not a complaint… not even really an excuse for not staying in touch, but time has been short for blogging with so many other things to worry about. I have tried to keep up with some of you in private emails as blogger is being uncooperative again. Once again, storms have changed people’s lives. My cousin lost their cabin on the Susquehanna River up near Wilkes Barre, PA. But, that could have been their primary residence, so while a serious loss, they still have their home and all their belongings. And no one lost their lives – most important of all. Check off that little box on your gratitude list!

Normally this is a hectic time of year anyway, tons of things to do as summer winds down, a dozen events going on before it gets too cold, sometimes having to run from one event in the morning to another in the afternoon or evening. I feel like my friend, Ralph, bless his heart, who is running for Senate again and is trying to be in 5 places at once and still maintain a practice at Children’s Hospital. As I listened to his schedule yesterday, I just shook my head wondering how he does it all. But, he is much younger and in better health and has a team making all his arrangements. I am feeling my age! But keeping going keeps me going. Does that make any sense to you? I know if I quit and put my feet up, I won’t be getting back up.

My auntie up in the Wilkes Barre area had to be evacuated. This was not an easy thing to do as she was one of the hard heads who stayed in her house back during Hurricane Agnes (39 years ago) and had folks coming by boat bringing food and water to her thru the 2^nd floor window. But, for some folks, Lee brought more flooding and destruction than Agnes. The river went up to 43 feet. It was a shallow muddy puddle when I crossed it this summer to see her. But, as of last night, she is back in her apartment in her senior apartment building, full of praise for her son and DIL for treating her like royalty (which she is, of course!) My only regret is I was not up there to do anything for her – BUT, my house (up there) is on the other side of 2 rivers with lots of flooding creeks in-between Wilkes Barre and White Haven.

Here on the shore, actually, up in Delaware, one little town received 14 inches of rain in about 6 hours. I have been in the Seaford area when it was under water, drove home from PA in 9 inches of water on Route 13 just before they closed it. Talk about timing! That was June, 2006. We saw cars with water up to their roofs in parking lots, drove past houses with water up to the front doors. So sad!

Anyway, it is very busy here taking care of my own commitments and worrying about family and friends. So, if I neglect you a little bit, forgive me. I will catch up maybe sometime in November!

I hope you have made out all right in the storms!

AFTER THE STORM (HURRICANE IRENE)

2011-08-31T09:59:00.004-04:00

It almost seems dumb to post pictures about Hurricane Irene’s visit to the shore, or at least my little corner of the Shore, in view of what has happened and is still happening in Vermont and is still happening in Paterson, NJ. Who would have thought? Days after Irene rolled thru NY and Vermont, my cousins in NY are still without power, and friends in Vermont are cut off from the rest of the state as roads washed out on either side of their farm. So showing a few leaves and twigs on the yard and sidewalk is almost embarrassing. I lost a 12 foot maple that was growing off the stump of the old maple I lost in Ernesto(?) I think. And a gum tree came down over the road out front across the street from me, but it was small enough the town cop was able to get it off the road and keep the road open. He lost his cell phone in the process. But I helped him find it the next day when we moved the tree again. He said it would dry out! So, there is not much to see. Others lost power for considerable amounts of time. Then, again, how does one show a power outage? It has been so dry here that the 6 ½ inches of rain that fell in my yard was soaked up in a heart beat.

Friends with houses on the water had water in their yards, but almost no one got water in their houses. One friend got 2 inches in the house. Floyd gave them 18 inches, I think she said. So who would have figured NY, NJ, and Vermont would have had all that flooding?

Remember the potting bench I built? I did take the top shelf off when they told us we were to prepare for 100 mph or higher winds… the bottom with its ugly 4x4 legs never moved a centimeter, nor did the trash can filled with potting soil from the potato bags.

As many of you know, earlier in the week, we were being warned of a Cat 3 hurricane, so we almost evacuated to our place in the Poconos… that would have been a disaster. They lost power for a day or more. Roads were washed out, a bridge or two, but nothing like NY and VT. Nothing like the flooding in Paterson, NJ.

But, best of all, dumb as it sounds, the little cats were only mildly inconvenienced during the storm. No cages… no scary ride in the van… no scary new house, new smells, and then no power anyway! True, Punkin was on “guard duty” and probably did not get much sleep, just a cat nap every now and then, but he protected the back door with all his might, bless his heart. Spook hid out under the picnic table in a big waterproof bed out of the wind.

Yes, staying home was the best plan – this time. And there was this little present blooming after the storm… Now we are watching Katia………

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T08:33:00.005-04:00

Just a quickie to let you all know we are riding this one out here in Onley. The rain started during the night - we have had 1 inch so far. The wind has not started, tho there have been gusts over 35 mph recorded at the airport, 5 miles away from here.

As many of you know, I started packing up and putting things away as far back as last Monday. It is amazing how much junk sits out where a wind of 100 mph can pick it up and blow it away, to say nothing of my carport that often acts like a wind tunnel anyway. Even tho it is attached to the house, if you have seen this blog in the winter time, you will know that does not mean things don't get wet. I have posted pictures of the van covered with snow while parked on the carport, so I was not surprised to see the van dripping wet this morning when I got up.

As many of you also know, we were expecting to evacuate - the plan was to leave Friday morning... the cages are in the van, cat food, kitty litter, people food, water, but I have brought my medicine bag (toiletries, Rx, etc) and suitcase back inside. So, we were all set, but Spook had other plans. He did not show up for breakfast, so I could not catch him. And I was not going to leave him behind. Then, too, I did not know what I was going to do with 4 cats up there in a house smaller than what I have here, tho I considered taking 2 of the cats over to my house and separating them that way. Basically, I did not get any sleep Thurs night trying to figure it all out. Having outside cats that HATE being inside a house is a problem. Punkin is elderly, he was not young when he arrived here during Hurricane Isabel with a young 3 or 4 month old Spook by his side. Punk has health issues, so that would have to be addressed. Even bringing him in the house here has been a problem, and I bet if one brought Spook in, he would smash thru the glass windows in an attempt to get back outside. Then there is Hadji - if you read my blog regularly, you know he is diabetic, but currently is maintained without insulin. The stress of an 8 hour trip in the van might set him over the edge. The cats have never been in the van for more than 10-15 minutes, just long enough to get to the vet or home.

Then there is MY personal problem - fear. I hate driving, hate bumper to bumper traffic, am terrified of interstates, and then there is the physical strain of that long drive even without all the evacuation traffic (150,000 tourists from Ocean City, MD, alone!) as all the seaside people are being told to get out. Then there is the physical problem of carrying the cages and cats into a house, especially down the steps into my house if I stashed 2 cats there and kept 2 in my uncle's house. See why I could not get any sleep? Putting up with 24 hours of hurricane seemed easier. I guess we will know in a day or 2 if that was the case.

So, here we are. As I type this, Irene is still south of the Outer Banks of NC. Hatteras has reported winds at 87 mph. We are praying the path jogs a bit more in a easterly direction and takes the eye a bit further off our coast. There has been a mandatory evacuation of our islands and coastal communities, both seaside and bayside. I live on what is called the spine of the peninsula, a half mile east of the RR tracks with an elevation of approximately 35 feet above sea level. we are about 3 miles (as the crow flies) from the ocean and 3 miles from the open Chesapeake Bay... but only 2 miles from the tidewater marsh on seaside and 2 miles from the harbor in Onancock Creek. If you draw a line due west from Richmond, you will find Onley. Irene is currently a Cat 1, not a 3 as she was yesterday, and for that I am ever so grateful.

I do want to thank those of you who have called and emailed to see how we are doing. If we have power tomorrow, I will post again. If not - well, I will when the power does come back and I have the time. Thanks for your prayers.

EARTHQUAKES AND HURRICANES! OH MY!

2011-08-24T06:47:00.003-04:00

BORING IS NICE. I can enjoy a life without adrenalin pumping moments. I really can. Yesterday was a break from the norm, and not enjoyable. Of course, things could always have been worse. As you probably know, I used to live in the Middle East. I have been in serious heavy duty earthquake country. In the spring of my Senior year in high school for example, we had a major quake over in the eastern part of Turkey. We decided to skip our Prom and have a sock hop instead and donate all that money we would have spent on gowns and flowers, tuxedos and such, renting a ballroom, etc. and just play some music in the gym, and send that money to one of the towns devastated by the quake. A group of us bought food and blankets and water containers, a few tents, tools, rope... I don't remember what all we gathered and bought. My dad had a truck and our next door neighbr had a VW bus. We loaded up and headed out to the east, a small motorized caravan that some of us called our senior class trip! The trip took 2 days to get there since there were no paved roads outside the city. The town we took our stuff to was mostly a pile of rubble. It was the first time I had ever seen anything like that. It was heartbreaking. So our little earthquake (5.9) yesterday was interesting but not really scary. I do not want a repeat anytime soon, but we are almost 200 miles from the epicenter that was about 34 miles NW of Richmond. Sadly, my first thought was that someone had bombed Norfolk. Or that a nuclear power plant in NJ had blown up. What sad times we live in.

But, as I said, yesterday was not boring. When the earthquake rumbled thru, I was taking a break from preparing for a hurricane, putting all the birdfeeders away, bungying the adirondacks together, moving all the small objects that tend to migrate to the carport. Hurricanes scare me. We are only 35 feet above sea level, no mountains to protect us... hurricanes are scary. So today will be spent battening down the hatches, rechecking the hurricane food supply, filling the van with gas and a couple cages, just in case... and longing for that boring "nothing ever happens here" mode to return.

A GOOD MAN, SEVERAL GOOD MEN

2011-08-21T11:44:00.011-04:00

Good men are hard to find. Remember hearing that one? (and all the bad jokes, yes, I remember them, too.) I almost never get involved in politics on this blog... unless you know me pretty well, you won't hear much about my political inclinations. I was born into a Republican household, but I was also taught to think for myself somewhere along the line. I can honestly say I am generally above politics - if I like you and what you truly stand for based on what you have done, I will vote for you and support you to the end of the earth. I do think for myself. So, I am going to make my big political statement here... no surprise to some... I am first and foremost against war. I do not believe we have any business being in Iraq or Afghanistan, no business at all. My idea of supporting the troops is to bring them home. Those who love carrying guns, shooting people, hiding behind a uniform or in a tank, we have numerous mercenary groups who are looking for folks like that. With that out of the way, I will not vote for someone who wants to drag us into a war, bomb Iran, or to whom God has supposedly told to get elected and bomb Iraqis, Iranians, or any other group. I am still a Flower Child. That said...

Last week I had an opportunity to meet our former governor and current Senator, Mark Warner. He was Not here campaigning - Senators serve 6 year terms, he has 2 to go. He was just HERE... asking US what was on our minds, what he could do to make life better. It is seldom politicians come to little back water areas like ours even when they are campaiging. Anyway, he was here, there were NO prepared speeches, he read no notes, nothing was written on his hand, nobody stood near-by passing over cheat notes... he just talked WITH us, not TO us. Our Delegate, Lynwood Lewis, introduced him, and turned the floor over to Warner. After a few moments about what was going on in DC and where he stood and a plea for folks to work together, he opened the floor for questions. Folks were civilized (is that a good word? I am beginning to question that term.) and cordial. I jumped in on the No Child Left Behind discussion stating that teachers who read the law knew it was a bad deal from day One... He listened. It was like a conversation with a neighbor, one you like! He was animated, but I think that is just his way of speaking. I wondered how well he could speak if his arms were tied down! He never talked down to us, but then, not to be concieted, the vast majority of the crowd was educated, most with at least a Master's degree.

The Shore has been fortunate. We have had several excellent men representing us, men who cared more about serving the shore than serving their own political interests. One was Republican, and I would vote for him in a heartbeat if he ran again. One is a Democrat, and I will vote for him again in November. Both are men that I cannot find anything to criticize - and trust me, I am good at that! I have known Bob Bloxom most of my life. They don't make them any better than Bob. Actually, Bob was screwed by members of his own party because he voted FOR those of us who voted for him, and not always with his party. Sometimes we get folks in office that are NOT politicians... they are the folks we want who will represent US! Often, the politicians then work to get rid of them.

I had Senator Ralph Northam in school when he was just a little boy - my first year of teaching. He was a sweetheart then and he is the same today (only taller!) Ralph is a neurological pediatric surgeon at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk when he is not in Richmond, and does a lot of work pro bono. I guess the Tea Baggers would call him a socialist (unless it was their child or grandchild he was caring for and they were out of work, had no insurance, no income, etc.) but I just call him one hell of a good man. A man of compassion. An HONEST man - a rare bird in these times. You might think I am dreaming, but I know these men are actually listening to me when I talk to them about something. They don't just say "unh huh," and shake my hand (They are all good huggers!) and not hear a word. They are real people first, politicians last. They are in office to serve those of us who put them there, not the BIG corporations that now own most politicians. They are not there for the money or glory or because they want to bomb somebody or finally make "Poppy" proud.

If you ever have a chance to vote for one of these great men, please do so.

Mark Warner was a good governor and has tried to be as bi-partisan as he could be in DC, working for the good of the People and not for the crippling of the government or the ruin of a president. It takes a lot to impress me... and I am impressed. If the time comes that he chooses to run for a higher office, I certainly would not hesitate to vote for him.

Eggs-actly right!

2011-08-14T09:56:00.001-04:00

JOHN'S EGG BUSINESS

John was in the fertilized egg business.

He had several hundred young layers

(hens), called 'pullets,'

And ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.

He kept records,

And any rooster not performing

Went into the soup pot

And was replaced.

This took a lot of time,

So he bought some tiny bells

And attached them to his roosters.

Each bell had a different tone,

So he could tell from a distance,

Which rooster was performing.

Now, he could sit on the porch

And fill out an efficiency report

By just listening to the bells.

John's favorite rooster, old Butch,

Was a very fine specimen,

But this morning he noticed

Old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all!

When he went to investigate,

He saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets,

Bells-a-ringing, but the pullets,

Hearing the roosters coming,

Could run for cover.

To John's amazement,

Old Butch had his bell in his beak,

So it couldn't ring.

He'd sneak up on a pullet,

Do his job and walk on to the next one.

John was so proud of old Butch,

He entered him in the Renfrew County Fair

And he became an overnight sensation

Among the judges.

The result was the judges

Not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize

But they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making.

Who else but a politician could figure out

How to win two of the most highly coveted awards

On our planet by being the best

At sneaking up on the populace

And screwing them

When they weren't paying attention.

Vote carefully,

The bells are not always audible.

CATCHIN’ UP

2011-08-13T16:17:00.004-04:00

LIFE HAS BEEN BUSY here on Possum Lane. I don’t do well when it is too hot (read humid) to breathe, on those days I would like to curl up next to Hadji and his catnip pillow and take a nap. Move over meeses, make room. But, I have never been able to sleep during the day anyway, so all I would accomplish is several relocated catnip mice and a disgruntled cat. Speaking of cats, as I came home from the store the other day, I noticed my lump of gold (read Punkin) curled up asleep on my potato bags. Remember my great “farming” experiment with potato growing bags? The growing bags were about $11 each and took 2 BIG bags of potting or garden soil mix. I got the seed potatoes from a friend. I doubted it would work, but I followed the directions. After a while, I saw leaves! I was excited. It has been a long hot dry summer so far – we are under an extreme drought designation – so it meant watering faithfully. They looked OK when I went to PA to see my Aunt, but they were dead as anything when I came home. So, I stopped watering them. Did I mention I know NOTHING about growing potatoes? I figured they were dead. $40 out the window, or something like that. Shoot, I could buy a lot of potatoes for $40! So, while Punk found a new bed in the yard, I waited for a cooler day, dragged out my potting soil storage unit ( read trash can) and got the shovel. After a few good scoops of dirt, the shovel hit something! Well, what do you know? I put the shovel aside, having just split what I figured was the only potato in the bag, and scooped with my trusty potting soil scooper (read cool whip container) and what do you know! Or as one of my former students used to say – Viola! Yes, that is what he said – I know what I spelled. As I dug thru the dirt, I found some decent sized redskin potatoes. I also found a bunch of little potatoes starting to sprout… they were too tiny to bother with, so I replanted them, watered them, and have one bag out there to see if I get a second crop. This batch weighed in at 5 lbs, and that is after the dirt was washed off and tiny ones replanted. Punkin is not happy having a soggy bag out in the yard, but that is too bad. He will find another spot. And so I made some potato salad today. Lunch was awesome. My own potato salad, my own tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Does it get better than this? OH, and by the end of next week, my second crop of string beans, yellow wax, and Italian flats will be ready to be picked. Who said I'd never make a good farmer? Oh, right, I did. Who'd a known?

COMPLAINING ABOUT THE ECONOMY? INFLATION? TAXES? THE WAR?

2011-08-11T06:57:00.001-04:00

Charley Reese's final column for the Orlando Sentinel...

He has been a journalist for 49 years.

He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.

Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

545 vs. 300,000,000 People

-By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House now? He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

What you do with this article now that you have read it... is up to you.

This might be funny if it weren't so true.

Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land,

Tax his bed,

Tax the table,

At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,

Tax his mule,

Teach him taxes

Are the rule.

Tax his work,

Tax his pay,

He works for

peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,

Tax his goat,

Tax his pants,

Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,

Tax his shirt,

Tax his work,

Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,

Tax his drink,

Tax him if he

Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,

Tax his beers,

If he cries

Tax his tears.

Tax his car,

Tax his gas,

Find other ways

To tax his ass.

Tax all he has

Then let him know

That you won't be done

Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;

Then tax him some more,

Tax him till

He's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,

Tax his grave,

Tax the sod in

Which he's laid...

Put these words

Upon his tomb,

'Taxes drove me

to my doom...'

When he's gone,

Do not relax,

Its time to apply

The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax

Building Permit Tax

CDL license Tax

Cigarette Tax

Corporate Income Tax

Dog License Tax

Excise Taxes

Federal Income Tax

Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)

Fishing License Tax

Food License Tax

Fuel Permit Tax

Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)

Gross Receipts Tax

Hunting License Tax

Inheritance Tax

Inventory Tax

IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

Liquor Tax

Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Tax

Medicare Tax

Personal Property Tax

Property Tax

Real Estate Tax

Service Charge Tax

Social Security Tax

Road Usage Tax

Recreational Vehicle Tax

Sales Tax

School Tax

State Income Tax

State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)

Telephone Federal Excise Tax

Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax

Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes

Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax

Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax

Telephone State and Local Tax

Telephone Usage Charge Tax

Utility Taxes

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Vehicle Sales Tax

Watercraft Registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world.

We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom, if agreed, stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the heck happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'

HOT ENOUGH FOR YA?

2011-08-07T16:27:00.008-04:00

I WAS JUST looking thru my pictures to find some stuff for a Newsletter........ and I kept passing these shots. ..............sigh.......... It is 94 at this moment. Humidity is probably 250%. It is like breathing soup. Gardening anyone? It is too hot today, but it was buried in snow then. So, I decided to reminisce. We do that as we get older, right? Just thought you might like to think back along with me...

.............................s.................i....................gh..................................

A DOG’S LIFE

2011-07-30T17:33:00.001-04:00

From my vet friend’s wife…

Dog's Purpose? (From a 6-year-old).

Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle. I examined Belker and found that he was dying of cancer. I told the family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home. As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought that it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.

The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker’s family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.

The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ''I know why.''

Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try to live. He said, People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life – like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?'' The six-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long.''

Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog was the teacher, you would learn things like:

When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy.

Take naps.

Stretch before rising.

Run, romp, and play daily.

Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the grass.

On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

When you're happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

Be loyal.

Never pretend to be something you're not.

If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently.

ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY!

A SPECIAL FOR SPORTS FANS

2011-07-26T15:21:00.001-04:00

WHY ATHLETES CAN'T HAVE REGULAR JOBS…

(and some shouldn't have children either)

1. Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model: "I wan' all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I wan' all the kids to copulate me."

2. New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season: "I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."

3. And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the 'Skin's say: "I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl," Matt Millen of the Raiders said: "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."

4. Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings.."

5. Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."

6. Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh : "I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes." (Now that is beautiful)

7. Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: "You guys line up alphabetically by height.." And, "You guys pair up in groups of three, and then line up in a circle."

8. Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson going to prison: "Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton "

9. Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker: "That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."

10. Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning, regardless of what time it is."

11. Chuck Nevitt , North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt." (I wonder if his IQ ever hit room temperature in January)

12. Frank Layden , Utah Jazz president, on a former player: "I told him, 'Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'"

13. Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D: "Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."

14. In the words of NC State great Charles Shackelford I can go to my left or right, I am amphibious.

15. Amarillo High School and Oiler coach Bum Phillips when asked by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips, Phillips responded: "Because she is too damn ugly to kiss good -bye."

TODAY’S GRATITUDE LIST

2011-07-24T15:02:00.001-04:00

Funny how things work… I was near the end of doing today’s gratitude list when the phone rang. It made the list all that more relevant. And then the phone rang again. Every now and again something happens that reminds me of how fortunate I am. Some days I am privy to several events at the same time. The last 2 days have been days of crisis – not for me, but for others around me. In some instances I can be of help, in others the best I can do is just listen. In listening to these folks, I am reminded of how fortunate I am at this time in my life. I have not always been able to see my blessings, and many of these blessings may seem stupid to some, but, just for a moment, imagine life without them. Imagine not being able to see! Not being able to dress yourself.

Another example, owning a cat (or 2) might seem silly, but it has been proven that the companionship of an animal is comforting and can even lower one’s blood pressure. I have cats even though I dearly love dogs, but I know dogs cost more and require more care (Mom! Gotta pee! – at 2 AM, and it is raining, snowing, nor'easter, something, not to mention I don’t walk all that well – and lord help me if I needed to pick an animal up.) I can handle a cat. It would not be fair to own a dog. I am grateful I figured that out before I hurt some poor dog just by owning it and not being able to care for it. That would be selfish.

Anyway, I digress… after the last 2 phone calls, I am grateful that I am clean and sober, that I don’t have to call people up and lie to try to get money out of them, and am actually grateful this person does not need the money because of all the reasons she stated… sigh. All I want to do is run in and grab her kids and give them a good home free of the chaos in their lives. But, I can’t do that either. Sigh.

Anyway, my gratitude list:

July, 2011

1. I was able to get up by myself and walk to the bathroom.

2. I dressed myself.

3. I have clean clothes to wear.

4. I was able to fix my own breakfast.

5. I have enough food to eat.

6. I have food to share.

7. My garden is still producing veggies.

8. I have water (and hoses) to water my garden.

9. It is hot, but my air conditioner is running.

10. I do not have to work out in the heat.

11. I can see.

12. I can hear.

13. I can speak.

14. I have a roof over my head.

15. My house is paid for.

16. I have running water and plumbing.

17. I have electricity.

18. I have a comfortable bed to sleep in.

19. I have a little cat (or 2) to keep me company.

20. I can still afford to feed and medicate my cats.

21. I have a computer that works.

22. I have a vehicle that works.

23. I can read.

24. I am able to help others.

25. I have many friends.

26. I belong to several groups that help others.

27. I have my own property, no one is crowding me. (can’t even see my neighbors!)

28. People depend on me.

29. Although I don’t have much, I am content.

30. I am at peace with myself.

I guess I could add I don’t have to do the things other people do to try to swindle them out of money by lying about my kids not having any food, or the electricity being cut off, or not being able to afford my son’s medicine…

Gratitude List part 2: the negative and the positive list!

1. I don’t have to lie to people to get money (drugs, booze).(hmmmm, or power? Thinking about politicians willing to hurt ordinary Americans for $$ and power.)

2. I may not have much money, but I am comfortable. (so far)

3. My needs are few.

4. I have learned to be content with what I have.

5. I have provided for myself and do not have to depend on someone else’s money. (so far)

6. I have had a good life.

7. I have had a good education.

8. I have studied with the Dalai Lama and have felt his peace and compassion.

9. My pleasures are simple,

a. good music
b. flowers in the garden
c. a cat’s purr
d. tomatoes growing 5 feet from my back door
e. picking enough beans for supper
f. a little cat pestering me to get up on my lap
g. fresh baked berry pie (my own berries)
h. a glass of iced tea
i. watching the sunrise
j. seeing the sunset

10. I have known love.

11. I am able to love, and have many friends.

12. I can laugh and can take being laughed at!

13. I have seen places around the world that no one will ever see again.

a. The capital of Montserrat (now buried in volcanic ash)
b. Much of the island of Montserrat that is now buried.
c. I have climbed Soufriere, now spewing volcanic ash and bits of lava.
d. I have climbed the pyramids in Giza, (now forbidden.)
e. I have walked the streets of old Baghdad (1960s)
f. And Beirut before so much of it got blown up.
g. And a hundred small towns in Turkey before paved roads and Tourism moved in.
h. I have watched from the river bank as a team of camels pulled my car out of the river (now they have bridges… where’s the challenge in that?)
i. I was part of the excitement when the first mound was opened at Gordium. (google it)
j. I have been in a number of tombs in Egypt that are now closed to the public.
k. I was at Aswan before it was cut apart and relocated.

14. I realize the world changes like the river, and I am grateful I have had a chance to see so much of it.

15. I am grateful I have so many Muslim friends and am welcome in their homes.

16. I am grateful I am not filled with blind hate and prejudice.

17. I have never killed anyone and have never been in a place where I might feel that need.

18. I never had to serve in a war. (I would have to be a medic!)

19. I have helped care for a number of wild creatures. They don’t seem to be afraid of me.

a. My house has sheltered owls, possums, a red-tailed hawk, turtles, squirrels…

b. I have fed numerous other critters at the wildlife center.

20. I have looked for parasites in hawk poop (and held the hawk to give it shots!)

21. I got to live on an island in Maine as a kid.

22. I lived in Turkey as a teenager.

23. Today I help Turks new to America learn English.

24. I am most grateful that I have the ability (and the desire) to help others.

25. I am grateful I have learned to ask for help when I need it. (OK, when I desperately need it. Sigh)

26. I am grateful I don’t need a lot of help yet but

27. I am grateful that I realize that I cannot do everything – or solve the world’s problems

28. I am grateful I have a few good people I can depend on

29. And that I understand the value of being dependable.

30. And I think this list is long enough for now, but, I know I could keep on typing… but I do have other things to do.

WHY?

2011-07-24T08:47:00.002-04:00

GOOD QUESTION. Why is Blogger being so ________ whatever the word is - cantankerous comes to mind. I canNOT post any comments - not even on Blogs that normally have no problem accepting a comment with one click.
Troutbirder - no can do...
Sissy - I gave up...
And this morning - the frog and penguinn was not working.

I stopped trying after that.

For most of you, I have your email addresses... and some of you who can no longer post comments either have emailed me. So, what improvement has Blogger made now that has screwed so many of us up?

Maybe after I get my Lesson Plans done today I will crank up the laptop with the REAL OLD version of Blogger and see if that works any better.

ROSIE-DENDRUMS 2011

2011-07-18T08:00:00.026-04:00

OK, WHAT THE HECK are Rosiedendrums? We used to have a neighbor up in PA who had her own words for things... as many other families do, we adopted unusual (read wrong) words and phrases, which included some of her pronounciations, but had to remember NOT to use those words around other folks. Some words were simple, de-TOWER, for detour, for example. Anyway, we made a quick run up to the Poconos last week, stayed in my Uncle Jesse's house to avoid all the stairs at mine, and basically raced from one thing to another, the main purpose in being there was to see my Aunt Kathryn and a couple of my cousins. True, we had a couple other chores to take care of, but little time for just fun stuff. However, the rhododendron were in full bloom, and they were awesome. In many cases, they lined the roads, towered over us and there was no place to pull over to take a picture. Plus, it was actually dark under there! It seemed strange to have the flash pop up when it was a sunny day, so it made for a lot of contrast in the pictures. However, I knew I would not have a chance to get back for a cloudy day shot.
The rhododendron goes all the way up the mountain, as far as you can see. The camera just could not take it all in.So, after the visit with Aunt Kay, I really needed some place soothing for a little moment or two. We went home, packed a sandwich, and headed down to the creek at Rockport. This creek empties in the Lehigh River. In years past we have hiked up (or down) to a waterfall, but, not this year. The old bod just would not do it. So, I took a few shots of my favorite creek and some of the rhododenrdons near it. First, the creek - this year, with little water, and a couple years ago with lots of water. The trickle and the torrent!

Higher up the creek, near the bridge... One of the things I also love to see is how fern and even trees grow out of the rocks. Shoot! I have trouble getting fern to live in pots!
One morning we took a quick run down into Hickory Run. Another quickie on this Total Quickie Trip. sigh. This is in Hickory Run. The water this year was so low, there was NO water to drive thru this year. I have never seen it dry before. It is unusual to see little "islands" in the pools above the falls. But the reflection of the rhododendron was nice even in the shallow water.

And why, you might ask, Why was this trip so fast? Hadji is diabetic, as some of you might remember... and HAS to eat a LOT of certain foods... and does not do well under stress. He lost 8 oz. while we were gone - Monday to Friday. That is a lot for a little cat. I am glad to say, it took only 3 days to put it back on him. He came home and ate and ate and drank and drank! No, it is not a Spoiled thing - it is his LIFE!

This post was originally done on the laptop, since I find it easier to upload my pictures on it and it has the OLD Blogger which allows mw to move pictures around more easily... BUT, even tho I have gone back to re-edit this 7 or 8 times now (but who's counting) even tried to edit it on the new computer, Blogger insists on the big empty space between the old and new pics of the creek coming down the mountain side. Go figure.

FOUND IT!

2011-07-10T08:37:00.001-04:00

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN! Figure out the key words, google them and scroll a little.
The critter is there! Can you find out what it is?

DRAGON-PILLAR

2011-07-09T20:17:00.006-04:00

HOW DO YOU TAME your Dragon when it is less than an inch long??? I am sure I can find this little guy in a book in the back room, but I sure don't have time. KNow what he is?

BLOGGER FRUSTRATIONS–AGAIN!

2011-07-04T08:31:00.001-04:00

OR IS IT, STILL?

This morning I not only have not been able to comment on several blogs (but got thru on others) but then BLOGGER decided to not even let me post on my OWN blog. So, I am going thru the back door by using Live Writer which worked yesterday. SO, if you are a regular reader on my blog, and you know I read yours – I am not ignoring you… BLOGGER is just making it impossible to post a comment. Apparently I am not the only one having this problem, and some bloggers have changed their settings which has made life easier for some of us – but not everyone. so, we shall see if this works.

Meanwhile, if you are having a holiday, be safe. Stay off the road if possible. Relax at home.

THIS IS COOL!

2011-07-03T08:23:00.001-04:00

Got a few minutes to waste? Of course you do, you are reading my blog! DUH! So, since you are wasting this time, play with this a time or two. Remember the old game of 20 questions? Here is a computerized version.

Think of someone who is famous before answering the questions.
http://www.akinator.mobi/

Go ahead, give it a try…

IDIOT SIGHTINGS

2011-06-18T13:45:00.002-04:00

Sometimes my friends send me the most amazing things…

Feel like a valedictorian?

My wife recently called to make an appointment with a new Doctor. She told the woman where she was coming from, and asked her "are you located on the North or South side of the street" to which the women replied, "It all depends on what direction you are coming from".

I handed the teller @ my bank a withdrawal slip for $400.00 I said "May I have large bills, please"

She looked at me and said "I'm sorry sir, all the bills are the same size."

When I got up off the floor I explained it to her....

IDIOT SIGHTING

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to

Pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it.

We went to the service department and found a mechanic working

Feverishly to unlock the driver side door. As I watched from the

Passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered

That it was unlocked. 'Hey,' I announced to the technician, 'it's open!'

His reply: 'I know. I already got that side . '

This was at the Ford dealership in Canton, MS

IDIOT SIGHTING

We had to have the garage door repaired.

The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that

We did not have a 'large' enough motor on the opener.

I thought for a minute, and said that we had the largest one

Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower.

He shook his head and said, 'Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.'

I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4.

He said, 'NO, it's not..' Four is larger than two.'

We haven't used Sears repair since.

IDIOT SIGHTING

My daughter and I went through the McDonald's take-out

Window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill.

Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter.

She said, 'you gave me too much money.'

I said, 'Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a

Dollar bill back. She sighed and went to get the manager,

Who asked me to repeat my request.

I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said

'We're sorry but we could not do that kind of thing.'

The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and 75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD's.

IDIOT SIGHTING

I live in a semi rural area.

We recently had a new neighbor call the local township

Administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING

Sign on our road. The reason: 'Too many deer are being hit by cars out here!

I don't think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore.'

From Kingman, KS

IDIOT SIGHTING IN FOOD SERVICE

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco.

She asked the person behind the counter for 'minimal lettuce.'

He said he was sorry, but they only had iceburg lettuce.

-- From Kansas City

IDIOT SIGHTING

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked,

'Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?'

To which I replied, 'If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?'

He smiled knowingly and nodded, 'That's why we ask.'

Happened in Birmingham , Ala.

IDIOT SIGHTING

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street.

I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine.

She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for.

I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red.

Appalled, she responded, 'What on earth are blind people doing driving?!'

She was a probation officer in Wichita, KS

IDIOT SIGHTING

At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker who was

Leaving the company due to 'downsizing,'

Our manager commented cheerfully, 'This is fun.

We should do this more often.' Not another word was spoken.

We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.

This was a lunch at Texas Instruments.

IDIOT SIGHTING

I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into

Itself and for the sake of her life, couldn't understand why her

System would not turn on.

A deputy with the Dallas County Sheriffs office, no less.

STAY ALERT!

BLOG PROBLEMS

2011-06-16T07:22:00.003-04:00

Don't know what the problem is, but blogger just won't let some comments get published. It asks for the verification word, accepts that, but then asks me to sign in, I do, new word verification, sign in again, new word verification, sign in again... and on it goes. On the other hand, a few blogs are now easier to access. Even with word verification... Very confusing.
And I guess I am lazy, but after the 3rd try, I just quit. So, if you are among those who no longer hear from me... I have probably been there, just can't tell you about it.
Anyone else having problems?

Meanwhile, I have not had the time to try to get the camera to work with this computer. Not sure when I will have that kind of time. Too much to do outside right now. And I am a lot slower this year. sigh. I know some of you understand.

ADULT TRUTHS

2011-06-13T10:23:00.001-04:00

** Adult Truths ***
1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear
your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was
younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty
sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the
person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at
work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything
productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I
don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks
me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report
that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not
to answer when they call.
15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
16. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.
17. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.
18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and
hunger.
19. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just
nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word
they said?
20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team
up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong,
brothers and sisters!
21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get
dirty, and you can wear them forever..
22. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still
not know what time it is.
23. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car
keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail
on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button
from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every
time.
24. People who forward e- mail without deleting the tons of previous
recipients should be shot and then tarred and feathered.
25. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874
and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took
100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important. Ladies quit
Laughing!

I DON'T REMEMBER

2011-06-10T19:07:00.004-04:00

Remember when teachers,

public employees,

Planned Parenthood,

NPR and PBS crashed the stock market,

wiped out half our 401Ks,

took trillions in taxpayer funded bail outs,

spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico,

gave themselves billions in bonuses,

and paid no taxes?

Yeah, me neither.

(Thanks, Mike!)

A NOT QUITE SUMMER MORNING

2011-05-31T07:27:00.002-04:00

The calendar tells me that it will soon officially be summer. The thermometer says it is here and has been for a week. The refreshing chill of the morning is history, it seems. I miss needing long sleeves first thing in the morning. My world, so drab not too long ago, is now a contest of greens – each plant is trying to out-green the other. This is about as green as it gets – the end of May. It does not take long for the heat of the summer to dry things up, coat the leaves with dust and make folks grateful for their air-conditioners. I have a love/hate relationship with my air conditioner. I am grateful for the comfort it brings, but I hate to have to use it. I long for my Pocono summers and dream of the Maine island summers of my youth. I have been so fortunate to have spent my summers sampling the climates of many different areas. How lucky is that?

The desert areas of Turkey are about to go back to being deserts. They have been blooming like crazy this year, so I have been told. It is a long, long time since I lived in Turkey, a long time since I saw the beauty of the desert in the spring. Interestingly, I did not mind the dry heat at all, so different from the stifling humidity here. The normally dead looking brown earth gets covered in blankets of beautiful colors and delicious fragrances. If you have never had a bit of desert experience, you don’t know what you’ve missed. Ok, backing up – I am not talking about what my father called “the serious desert,” the sand deserts, the huge blowing, shifting dunes, but the miles and miles of “scrub or barren” land, land that looks like it would not grow anything most of the year… land with cactus, sage, the tumbling tumbleweed type of landscape. Oh, but that month in the spring, sometimes it lasts a bit longer, but that month of awesome flowering, of color, is a month of pure magic.

Here, far from the desert, the air is heavy in the morning with fragrances from so many sources. A visitor once said it felt like you had to push your way thru the sweetness in the air just to get to the car. We have magnolias in bloom, honeysuckle, and the locust trees are just finishing. Even holly trees are fragrant during most of May as they pollinate and make new holly berries. The air is also heavy with the sounds of birds, baby birds begging to be fed, parents fighting to protect their nests, robber birds like crows scouting around to steal eggs or even unguarded babies. Then there are the grackles, the noisy, noisy grackles squawking at each other in the mulberry trees, bragging about what ever grackles brag about – or perhaps they are complaining. Is that what it is? Their noise sometimes grates on my nerves; I hate to admit it.

The grass is wet with dew; strings of pearls hang from the bushes as the spiders wait for breakfast to blunder by. My shoes get soaked as I wander thru the yard in the morning looking at all the beauty around me… late peonies, irises, roses. Even the honeysuckle, a truly invasive “weed” in most cases, is beautiful in the early morning light. Delicate. Beyond fragrant.

The Mountain Laurel has been blooming. I am always amazed that it has survived another year. Friends laugh as I have brought rocks from PA to put around them to make them feel more at home. (We have NO naturally occurring rocks here on the shore. But you can now buy them at garden centers!)

The garden is coming along. The bees are having a good time with all the flowers on the squash, zucchini and cucumbers. I spotted my first cukes of the year this morning – about the size of a kosher dill. They will be ready to pick later this week. I have my first tiny tomatoes, not much bigger than a pea, but there they are. I can almost taste them. I ate my first homegrown lettuce the other day. Best salad I ever had! And we cooked MY peas for supper. I wonder why that gives me such a high!

I guess it is good that having this garden does give me a high, because the work is almost too much sometimes. But I keep in mind the fun of going out and picking enough beans for dinner. And then picking beans (or cukes, or tomatoes) to share with others. And folks covet my produce. They know I do not use any chemicals – no pesticides, ever!

This morning, when I opened the back door, can of Tuna in my hand for Punkie and Spook, I was hit with the almost over powering scent of almost summer. I had to walk out into the yard and just breathe the smells in. I thought of folks in cities who breathe in the fumes of vehicles, exhaust, garbage, that tarry smell of black top in the sun… I thought about the sounds that they hear as I listened to my birds fussing, begging, or just singing their morning songs. Are they thanking their idea of god for another day? Did someone just say thanks for the drink in the bird bath out in the yard?

Then I heard another noise… a soft leaf rustling sound and the snapping of tiny branches. I quietly walked out a bit further. There was a doe standing on her hind legs pulling a branch down from the mulberry tree, chomping down as many berries as she could while the birds fussed at her for eating all their berries – like there isn’t a whole tree full? Or maybe even several trees? The mulberry trees are so heavy with berries this year, I actually had to cut some branches off where they were hanging down into my garden. I stood there, barely breathing, glad the wind was blowing in my direction watching the doe eat when I noticed movement closer to the ground. She had her fawn with her. At first I thought it was my cat, Punkin … no wait, it WAS Punkin, oh where is my camera when I need it! Punkin sat there and watched the doe eating from the tree, the fawn eating (?) the berries that had fallen to the ground.

The bad news is that this year’s new supply of mosquitoes has arrived. I am SOOOOO allergic to bug bites. I hate using sprays, but I pay a huge price. Yesterday, I tried working out in the yard in long pants and a long sleeved shirt. I didn’t last very long. I had to wait until around 7 to go back and cut grass and finish my chores.

It is hard to believe that there is still over 100 inches of snow on the ground in some mountainous areas out west. From my CoCoRaHS coordinator this morning:

As of a few days ago we still had some CoCoRaHS volunteers with snow
left on the ground. Two of our stations in CA, where snowfall had been
so great that it buried residential power lines, still had over 100" of
snow remaining on the ground earlier this week. Here in Colorado we're
waiting for the warm weather to finally arrive and when it does later
this week -- look out. We have huge amounts of snow left in our
mountains -- from 25 to as much as 90 inches of snow water equivalent
(SWE) still up on the slopes in the northern portion of our state --
much, much more than usual. With the sun nearly overhead and the summer
solstice right around the corner, the snow will be melting fast (1-2" of
SWE per day when it gets warm) and the rivers surging.

Friends out in the Midwest can’t even get into their gardens – the land is just too soggy.

Here on the Shore, we are in a state of moderate drought. We don’t need the floods others have been having, but we sure could use some rain. Go figure. How is your garden growing? Still have snow? Is your garden under water? Or do you have to go out there and water every day?

HORSE’S PATOOTIES AND HISTORY

2011-05-25T08:40:00.002-04:00

Last week, my neighbor and co-author of http://www.thefrogandpenguinn.blogspot.com/, asked if anyone knew why the distance between the rails was whatever it was. He also said possums were not allowed to answer. Sigh. Maybe because this possum told him this bit of “information” some time ago, and he remembered it. Now whether it is right or wrong, or just a bit of truth or absolute fact doesn’t matter in the telling of a good story. What matters is if people REMEMBER it. Right?

The story I passed along to my neighbor was this one:

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an
exceedingly odd number.

Why was that gauge used?

Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US Railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did "they" use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old,
long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The
roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of
destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original
specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. And bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses. Now the twist to the story...

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets
attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. ... and you thought being a HORSE'S ASS wasn't important!

Now there are more facts than this story mentions, and they can get very tedious, so I won’t bore you with them. But I will say this. The first time I heard any explanation about the ruts in old Roman roads was from an archeologist friend, somewhere in Italy, (or was it in Ephesus?) but she gave the credit to a team of oxen pulling carts for the wagon wheel distance – then the Roman chariot wheel spacing followed. Somehow the horse’s ass has a funnier ring than the ass of an ox. Actually, that sounds confusing, but I won’t go there, either.

Then another friend challenged me with the ‘narrow gauge’ tracks used in this country. That answer is simple, too. The smaller carts were used in mining and were pulled by a single animal, usually a mule. If you wade thru some of the histories of the early coal mines in PA, particularly the biography of Josiah White, you can learn a lot of amazing things – like the very first tracks carrying anthracite to the Lehigh River where it was then carried by barge to the southern cities- were made of wood! It took me a whole summer to wade thru that book, but it really had some fascinating information about the very early destruction of the land, as the Europeans “tamed” the wilderness in Pennsylvania, deforested miles and miles of forest, and began mining anthracite along the Lehigh and Susquehanna rivers. Interesting, but not as entertaining. The wooden rails had to be replaced constantly as the weight of the coal quickly shattered even the hardest wood.

COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISORGANIZATION!

2011-05-20T16:48:00.013-04:00

OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT... I have not met too many people who enjoy getting broken in by a new computer. Yeah, I know what I said. The DELL desktop from 2004 finally got to the point it was just not doing what it was supposed to do, and one morning it took an hour and a half to open and respond to one email... Sooooo, I had no choice. TA DA! The new one! Yep, that is a big screen - 23 inches. It is also a touch screen - but I don't know if I will ever get used to that. I tried to remove an ant from the screen and the word yahoo no longer even fit on the screen! It took FOREVER to get the screen back to normal size.

However, a few small(!) problems. It won't accept my camera... it tells me my passwords aren't.... and so I have had to dig out the good old laptop that I hate in order to blog and post any pictures. I had promised a friend some pictures of my irises, but nothing happened... the new one sat blank - almost as bad as the old one that I have had fixed, just have not had the energy to try to hook it up. The new DELL is a 64 bit processor - most old ones are 32 bit. Oh, see the tower? No? That is because it is built in behind the screen. See the wires to the key board (a keyboard is on screen, too) NO? wireless keyboard and mouse. Is a mouse still a mouse if it has no tail? Or is this a hamster?

Anyway, here are a few of this year's irises.

And one more shot - a bad one to be sure, but it is the only one I have been able to get - this little Orchard Oriole does not hold still for long.... (this shot did not make it from one computer to the other. Rats!

OK, now lets see if this will publish!
Answer - it did, BUT, I had to go in on the new computer and respace everything. HUGE empty spaces between pictures. sigh. Nuts, weird spacing keeps coming back! Sorry.

THINKING LIKE A MOUNTAIN

2011-05-18T09:12:00.002-04:00

Aldo Leopold, “Thinking Like a Mountain”

“Thinking Like a Mountain”
By Aldo Leopold
.

"For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth,

but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity."
- William Wordsworth

“A deep chesty bawl echoes from rimrock to rimrock, rolls down the mountain, and fades into the far blackness of the night. It is an outburst of wild defiant sorrow, and of contempt for all the adversities of the world. Every living thing (and perhaps many a dead one as well) pays heed to that call. To the deer it is a reminder of the way of all flesh, to the pine a forecast of midnight scuffles and of blood upon the snow, to the coyote a promise of gleanings to come, to the cowman a threat of red ink at the bank, to the hunter a challenge of fang against bullet. Yet behind these obvious and immediate hopes and fears there lies a deeper meaning, known only to the mountain itself. Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf. Those unable to decipher the hidden meaning know nevertheless that it is there, for it is felt in all wolf country, and distinguishes that country from all other land. It tingles in the spine of all who hear wolves by night, or who scan their tracks by day. Even without sight or sound of wolf, it is implicit in a hundred small events: the midnight whinny of a pack horse, the rattle of rolling rocks, the bound of a fleeing deer, the way shadows lie under the spruces. Only the ineducable tyro can fail to sense the presence or absence of wolves, or the fact that mountains have a secret opinion about them.
My own conviction on this score dates from the day I saw a wolf die. We were eating lunch on a high rimrock, at the foot of which a turbulent river elbowed its way. We saw what we thought was a doe fording the torrent, her breast awash in white water. When she climbed the bank toward us and shook out her tail, we realized our error: it was a wolf. A half-dozen others, evidently grown pups, sprang from the willows and all joined in a welcoming melee of wagging tails and playful maulings. What was literally a pile of wolves writhed and tumbled in the center of an open flat at the foot of our rimrock.
In those days we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf. In a second we were pumping lead into the pack, but with more excitement than accuracy: how to aim a steep downhill shot is always confusing. When our rifles were empty, the old wolf was down, and a pup was dragging a leg into impassable slide-rocks. We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes - something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.
Since then I have lived to see state after state extirpate its wolves. I have watched the face of many a newly wolfless mountain, and seen the south-facing slopes wrinkle with a maze of new deer trails. I have seen every edible bush and seedling browsed, first to anaemic desuetude, and then to death. I have seen every edible tree defoliated to the height of a saddlehorn. Such a mountain looks as if someone had given God a new pruning shears, and forbidden Him all other exercise. In the end the starved bones of the hoped-for deer herd, dead of its own too-much, bleach with the bones of the dead sage, or molder under the high-lined junipers.
I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer. And perhaps with better cause, for while a buck pulled down by wolves can be replaced in two or three years, a range pulled down by too many deer may fail of replacement in as many decades. So also with cows. The cowman who cleans his range of wolves does not realize that he is taking over the wolf's job of trimming the herd to fit the range. He has not learned to think like a mountain. Hence we have dustbowls, and rivers washing the future into the sea.
We all strive for safety, prosperity, comfort, long life, and dullness. The deer strives with his supple legs, the cowman with trap and poison, the statesman with pen, the most of us with machines, votes, and dollars, but it all comes to the same thing: peace in our time. A measure of success in this is all well enough, and perhaps is a requisite to objective thinking, but too much safety seems to yield only danger in the long run. Perhaps this is behind Thoreau's dictum: In wildness is the salvation of the world. Perhaps this is the hidden meaning in the howl of the wolf, long known among mountains, but seldom perceived among men."

MY MEMORIAL GARDEN

2011-05-08T11:53:00.001-04:00

Each season, as I walk around my yard, I look at all the beauty out there... most of my plants came from somebody - well, half of them, anyway. As I look at this or that camellia, clump of daffodils, even some of my trees, I think about the people that gave them to me - most of those folks are gone now - but as the beauty of their loving gift lives on - they live on. I treasure each bloom, and my heart talks to the one who gave it to me. I send them a little prayer of thanks, be they here or moved on, and pray for their peace and comfort, wherever they are, and that they may have beauty in their current or new life.

This morning, my grandfather's favorite peony opened. He died in 1954. At the time, I was his only grandchild. Our house in the Poconos has a tenth of a mile of road frontage, most of it planted in now very old peony bushes, all planted by Grandpop. My dad dug this one (and a few others) and brought them here. It’s like a Memorial garden, my place. Old friends and lovers, relatives and acquaintances, former students, neighbors, are all represented in my yard. Each plant, each bloom, is a token of love.

Just yesterday, an old pick-up pulled in the yard, with a middle aged guy and an elderly woman. I did not know them. The gentleman apologized for bothering me… but explained how his mother always made him slow down when they drove past my place. She sat there and just grinned the biggest grin. “Mama’s eye sight ain’t what it used t’ be,” he said, “But she can still see the bright colors of yer ‘zalyers and camalyers, and, what’s them things?” he said pointing to the peonies just opening. “Funny, ain’t it how the camelyers bloom in the winter time? Mama loves to see the red ones in the snow. Made me drive out in that snow last winter just to see your bushes.” The old lady was nodding her head up and down.

“Well, I prob’ly shun’da stopped an’ bothered ye, but mama seen ya out in the yard and wanted to say Thank ye fer bringing a bit of beauty to her world.” (Ye is not part of a religious group speak – it is just part of the old Eastern Shore dialect spoken by many of the old farmers and watermen.)

“Thank ya!” the old woman said as he backed the truck back out onto the road. She waved a little wave with gnarled, tanned fingers, aged by years of hard work. I could just see those hands plucking chickens, pickin’ crabs, canning tomatoes and preserves. She would have recipes in her head for the best pickled watermelon rind, and know exactly how long to cook soft-shelled crabs. I wondered how many diapers those hands had changed and washed and hung on the line to dry. How many little shoes had she tied? How hard had her life been? But how much joy had been there also? How many children did she have? Had she had to bury any of them? And how lucky she was to have a son to take her out on a nasty winter’s day to see my red camellias in the snow, or pull in my yard to thank me for bringing a bit of beauty to the world. That is love. And that is why I work so hard out there.

But sometimes beauty comes in different packages… not always flowers. Living here in a rural area, I get to see a lot of critters people in cities just never get to see. (Although we DID have a MOOSE walk up the street in front of our house in Portland, Maine!) Some critters are all too obvious, the deer running across the road or nibbling on the shrubbery, the coons getting into the left over cat food… but, some of them are not obvious at all, just a chance sighting every now and then. Possum sightings are few, as are seeing foxes, both gray and red, but they are there. Looking up as a shadow passes over, one might see the local bald eagle or a red-tailed hawk. Looking down, there is a world of little critters, blue tailed skinks being the most obvious, and on to the tiny critters with 6 legs.

As I type this, there is an orchard oriole in the ground level birdbath. But he seems to notice any movement at the window, so the pictures come up empty. They are rare around here. Yet cardinals are common as are the bright, flashy little goldfinches that hangout in my yard. Might it be all the thistle feeders I have? Let it be said, I do not take them for granted. I do ply them with feeders filled of their favorite snacks! Of my 4 pairs of cardinals that have spent the winter here, I have found the nesting places of 3 of the couples and their babies. One family is in the huge Acuba outside the bathroom window, the other 2 families are in camellias. I am not sure about couple #4.

Once in a while, looking straight ahead holds some amazing surprises. I almost leaned my shovel against this tree trunk – caught it just in time – and came inside to grab the camera. This happy couple were fortunately still there resting on the tree trunk. Even driving by on the tractor and loading tons of mulch a couple feet away did not disturb them. But then, they are Luna moths, and they only fly around at night.

If you know me at all, you know how difficult it is to walk and do things, but staying as active as possible helps my serenity. Working out in the yard and having my little veggie garden “does something” for me. There is a sense of peace playing in the dirt, and a sense of comfort from being surrounded by so much beauty and the gifts from those who love and have loved me. And there is always the 4 legged company I have whenever out in the yard, the little yellow cat that rolls over to get his tummy rubbed. He, too, was a gift… a gift that blew in on a hurricane, Hurricane Isabel. I wonder who loved him before I did. This is his home now, and he guards it fiercely. I don’t know for sure what happened to him to make him leave his first home all those years ago, but he, too, has found peace here.

Life is good.

WHAT I WANT IN A MAN

2011-05-06T10:07:00.001-04:00

A FRIEND (A MAN!) sent me this email this morning. He is a dear friend, a neighbor, one of the world’s GOOD GUYS. Fer real! Here is the email he sent… followed by my answer.

What I Want in a Man.......Original List

1. Handsome
2. Charming
3. Financially successful
4. A caring listener
5. Witty
6. In good shape
7. Dresses with style
8. Appreciates finer things
9. Full of thoughtful surprises
10. Loves surprising me on weekends
What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 32)
1. Nice looking
2. Opens car doors, holds chairs
3. Has enough money for a nice dinner
4. Listens more than talks
5. Laughs at my jokes
6. Carries bags of groceries with ease
7. Owns at least one tie
8. Appreciates a good home-cooked meal
9. Remembers birthdays and anniversaries
10. Plans together time on weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 42)
1. Not too ugly
2. Doesn't drive off until I'm in the car
3. Works steady - splurges on dinner out occasionally
4. Nods head when I'm talking
5. Usually remembers punch lines of jokes
6. Is in good enough shape to rearrange the furniture
7. Wears a shirt that covers his stomach
8. Knows not to buy champagne with screw-top lids
9. Remembers to put the toilet seat down
10. Shaves most weekends
What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 52)
1. Keeps hair in nose and ears trimmed
2. Doesn't belch or scratch in public
3. Doesn't borrow money too often
4. Doesn't nod off to sleep when I'm venting
5. Doesn't re-tell the same joke too many times
6. Is in good enough shape to get off the couch on weekends
7. Usually wears matching socks and fresh underwear
8. Appreciates a good TV dinner
9. Remembers your name on occasion
10. Shaves some weekends
What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 62)
1. Doesn't scare small children
2. Remembers where bathroom is
3. Doesn't require much money for upkeep
4. Only snores lightly when asleep
5. Remembers why he's laughing
6. Is in good enough shape to stand up by himself
7. Usually wears some clothes
8. Likes soft foods
9. Remembers where he left his teeth
10. Remembers that it's the weekend
What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 72)
1. Breathing.
2. Doesn't miss the toilet.

WELL, THAT is someone else’s list… here is my response:

AH, yes... I remember these...

But, lets see, what do I want in a man at age 67? Hmmmmmmm

Has his own car. (even better, a pick-up!)
Can still drive after dark (in case he wants me to be somewhere at 8 PM)
Has a weed-whacker that works. (maybe a chain saw)
Can still open the occasional jar.
VOLUNTEERS to do little chores around my yard or to drive me places.
Can carry my old Adirondack chair out to the yard in the spring and back in the fall.
Yells at me when I don't ask him to help. (Imagine!)
All he asks of me is to listen to him, give him a little praise (He IS a GREAT guy), show up to vote, or to take the minutes at the next meeting. (or write a check...) AND THAT IS ALL!
And then he goes home to his wife who has to feed him, do his laundry, and listen to him snore at night.

I have several of these guys.

I have been so blessed!

Life is good.

If you are one of these guys mentioned above - Please know how much you are appreciated!

1885 BRICKS

2011-04-28T09:06:00.001-04:00

PROGRESS! Thanks to the generosity of a couple SPOTS members, we have been able to move forward with a little building repair. The masons came yesterday and started fixing up the brickwork under the building. I was there when one of the men asked if we knew how old these bricks were. I answered – “1885 – 126 years old.” And I must say they are in pretty good shape for antique bricks! The 2 front corners were not looking so great, but the rest of the bricks were pretty good.

At first I thought Daniel was working alone. Then I saw his father, lying down on the job! LOL!

Progress. Now we pray that we get the grant that will allow us to put on a roof.

Coming up next – Finding One’s Purpose.

EVEN THE CATS HAVE TO SNEEZE

2011-04-22T16:46:00.001-04:00

GOT ALLERGIES? The pollen is so thick you can make a path thru it walking down the sidewalk. It does not photograph well, but I thought I would share these shots of the old van. This is one day’s worth of tree pollen. That van is actually teal.

Today the weather has turned cold – well, OK, not really cold, but after a day in the 80s and several in the 70s – um, it is 51 as I type this in the middle of the afternoon. I had dismantled the boys’ warm bed for the summer – got that back out and they gratefully climbed in to toast their little toes. I dare you to use the word spoiled.

Sorry I have not been around much lately, but there is so much to do this time of year – and some of my civic duties are taking up tons of time. I am really tired this time of year, with all the work I have to do, in the house, in the yard, and on the computer. Then there is the issue of breathing all this pollen!

Last night I was exhausted and decided I would go to bed early. Thought I would watch the Big Bang Theory and hit the sack. (Yep, I confess to watching that show, and having a good laugh.) However, some kids from town apparently have gotten hold of some fireworks and have been shooting them off in the field at dusk next to my property. My place, as you have seen, is surrounded by woods… Well, last night they managed to set the woods on fire. My neighbor called the Town cop on duty (they have an emergency number) but apparently he did not have the phone with him and he never did answer the message. Had he responded, it might have prevented 2 fire companies from coming out here and having to put the fire out. No one came out from the sheriff’s department, either. Thank god it was not windy or I might not be sitting here typing these words. So, instead of getting to bed early, I was standing out in the middle of the road talking to the firemen and the kids who claimed it was started by some strange boys in black hoodies that they had never seen before who disappeared into the woods. Right. Yet these were the kids I saw running from the fire, no one else.

The azaleas are so beautiful, even with a dusting of pine pollen. What an amazing time of year.

Next, irises!

COPING…

2011-04-17T11:02:00.001-04:00

Buddha said, All of life is suffering… its just that most of us don’t realize that most of our lives. But as we get older, the moments of suffering seem to get closer together.

There is so much suffering in this world of ours. We rejoice at the moments of calm and peace, for there are those who know so little of it. I know, I seldom let my feelings come out in this blog, but every now and again, I am deeply moved. Often, I write things, then never publish them, trying to keep the blog upbeat and positive, filled with sunshine and flowers. But, every now and then, a cloud passes over the garden and the winds blow cold.

Lately I have been worried about my friend Noriko. If you read my posts, you have read news of her recently. I worry because she has been fighting with cancer for some time, and now Japan is going thru a struggle we here in the states can only just barely comprehend.

But I have also been worried about my cousin, Boo. Revisit Boo at http://possumlane.blogspot.com/2008/06/cousin-boo.html. Boo lives in Alabama, and a ripping storm went thru there this week-end, tornadoes, serious damage… And I have not heard from Boo for a little over a month, so I decided it was time to make a phone call. I got her nephew John Duke. What he told me shocked me to my core. No, they had not had any damage from the storm… the same storm that killed at least 14 people when it hit NC yesterday… They were fine… Boo was not up yet. Duh, I forgot the time change, it was not quite 9 AM there. But the shocker was that if Boo was having a good day, or a good moment, they would call me and put her on the phone. Boo had not answered any emails for a while because her dementia is so bad, she can no longer use the computer. The last I heard from her she was still writing music… but maybe that was only in her memory. She talked about going to church, Linda and Duke coming up from Birmingham to take her to the Dr… her pace maker… and the songs that were left in her that she needed to get on paper and on a disk.

Then a little while ago, John Duke called and put Boo on the phone. We talked a little, she asked me what I was up to… I figured putting in my garden was a safe topic. She asked if Hazel was helping me put the garden in. Hazel has been gone since, um, before 1990. I tend to forget when people die. Block it out, I guess. But, ever the gracious Southern Lady, Boo invited me to come down and see her. Stay at her house, we would have such a wonderful time. I told her I would truly love to. And I would… but……….. well, all I can say is I am so grateful to have had Boo in my life. What a joy to known her, to have experienced the joy that she brought to everyone around her. Even in her slightly scrambled phone call, I could feel her love, even if it was love from 20 years ago at that moment… that love never dies.

Yes, there is suffering – perhaps I am feeling it much more than she is right now, knowing she is not able to be on her own, knowing she will not be writing any music today. But I know the world is better for all the joy she has brought to it and all the music she has written, all the people she and her music has touched.

And even tho Boo will never read these words… Boo, I really love you!

SPRING CHORES

2011-04-16T16:32:00.001-04:00

OK, OK, I HAVE BEEN BUSY. You might have noticed I really haven’t been in touch much this past week or so. Why? Unlike a few friends out west who just got snowed on – again… it has been warm enough here to try to get the yard shaped up a bit and the garden started. The peas are up to the first string (8”) and looking good! The ‘maters are in the raised bed… a few left to go elsewhere. I just haven’t decided where. My usual tomato spot is suddenly buried in irises a friend dug up. I will let them bloom out here and then separate them, replant them, or sell some at our plant sale next month. Have you ever heard of potato growing bags? I hadn’t either, but I am going to give them a try. I’ll try almost anything once. Last year I tried the upside down tomato bags – was not impressed. So, hopefully this will work out better. google potato bags and read about them. Got them started this morning. Mike came by on Tues and carried the OLD Adirondack chair out to the patio for the summer. It is VERY old and actually came from the Adirondacks over 100 years ago. It is also too heavy for me to carry anymore. So, Mike moves it for me every year. I am so blessed to have so many great friends. And I am learning to actually ask for a favor every now and then. That is the hardest part. But the chairs are ready, the stones have had a new layer of sand in the cracks, and the geraniums are out of the greenhouse already in bloom. Now all we need are the visitors, and I have had a few stop by. You are always welcome if you are in the area. The chairs sit up on little blocks to keep the legs from rotting. The boys LOVE sleeping in the old chair. It is their favorite, too. I built the newer one, and the newest is plastic. The kids like that one.

Spring clean up means trimming back the dead branches here and there. The dogwood has just opened – weeks behind my friends in NC.

The cherry tree is in bloom. The birds will love it in a few months.

Know what these are? Need a hint? They will be delicious on my cereal in a month or so. The little St Francis garden is filled with violets right now. The coleus are too small yet, the clematis is climbing up the new red frame. See the new Peace rose beside St Fwankie? I bought it in hopes of some Peace in the world, but… well, I am sure you see the news.

Check out this violet. Recognize the black stuff it appears to be growing in? Well, it is under a thistle seed feeder. It is buried in thistle seed hulls.

I saw this out the window this morning. I have 3 pairs of cardinals that live here. I love the spring when they feed each other. I missed the feeding shot, but got this one.

Most of the camellias are finishing up. The bushes are loaded with blooms. The azaleas are starting. Guess that will be next week’s edition.

Did you know what those little white flowers were? If you guess right, your prize will be a bowl of them whenever you stop by this summer. The late ones are just thinking about blooming right now.

from John Fire Lame Deer

2011-04-14T08:56:00.001-04:00

John (Fire) Lame Deer

"Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn't have any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift.

We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth.

We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another.

We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society."

- John (Fire) Lame Deer

Sioux Lakota - 1903-1976

To answer some questions as they pop into your minds… No, all was not as perfect as that sounds… sure, there were people who were unkind or ‘broke” the rules, who deliberately did wrong. Their punishment was ostracism. They were sent away NEVER to return. In time, bands of these “outlaws” joined together, and some became known as tribes in today’s terminology. Some of those tribes even decided to stop raiding other tribes and settle down and raise families. But even so, the original person who was kicked out, never returned to the home tribe or clan. These groups, or bands, were often used by the colonists to help destroy the people living in the area they wanted to use. They were easily bribed, often by alcohol, which was listed on import logs as “Indian control.”

If you can find some of the books written by native people, not people pretending to be Indians or to have an Indian spirit telling them things, the true histories are amazing.

From a FRIEND about her FRIEND by her FRIEND

2011-04-11T08:38:00.001-04:00

'It will remind you of the laughs ...'

Mar 27, 2011

Written by Brice Stump

It is a bit bigger than a basketball, this weathered, once white and blue wooden ball that was sold to me as a genuine Confederate cannonball.

Several years ago, a vendor at the flea market in Salisbury was offering it for $100. Cheap, he said, for such a rare Civil War artifact.

Well, I never heard of wooden cannonballs. The vendor said it was the material of choice when the Confederates had exhausted their supply of the real-deal solid iron ones.

While I was wrangling with this unlikely story, my friend, Kathy Day, became involved in my transaction. While the vendor insisted it was an authentic artifact of war, I sure had my doubts and Cathy, as surprised as I on hearing that this heavy, really heavy and dense wooden ball was once fired from a cannon, encourage me to buy it.

But $100 for a wooden ball of very doubtful provenance? About a half-hour into the debate, Kathy had me laughing with her suggestions on what to do with it once purchased. By the end of our laughing, I felt like I had gotten $100 worth of good times out of it.

"Buy it and put it in your living room and every time you see it, it will remind you of the laughs we had about it," she said.

So for the discounted price of $90, I was the owner of an expensive piece of woodstove fuel or a neat piece of American history.

The years have passed, and every time I look at that darn heavy ball, I find myself smiling or even laughing.

Over the years, I have bought a number of items from Cathy who dealt in upscale jewelry, silver, jade and interesting antiques. Each purchase took all my energy to negotiate a deal, and sometimes, as the late Salisbury historian Dick Cooper told me, "the juice ain't worth the squeezin'." Yet, buy or not, I did get more than my share of laughter out of witty haggling with the flea market queen.

She was a loyal follower of my work and a regular reader of this column. She was also a real friend. I have known Kathy and her husband, Michael, for years, and both certainly have added color, flair and substance to my life.

And then, just a weekend ago, Michael told me Kathy had died.

Cancer, which had claimed her good, antique-loving friend, Patsy Lowe, a few years ago, also claimed Cathy.

It all happened so fast. A pain in the back was diagnosed as a symptom of cancer, a diagnosis that revealed that she was consumed by it.

In days, she was gone.

To each life, if we are lucky, there comes a Kathy Day. In the heavenly constellations of our lives, there are winking, delicate, stars of wonderful, individual friendships and personalities of people that make life great to live.

Kathy was a champion of life and liberty, supporting civil rights, women's rights, gay rights and freedom. Some may remember her as feisty, a formidable opponent on a variety of hot-button social and political issues, a pit bull without lipstick. She was the kind of person the world always has room for and so desperately needs, the kind of person who wanted all to be equal and live in harmony.

A couple of years ago, a kitten crawled under the body of a truck at the flea market and, as kittens are known to do, was afraid to come down from the undercarriage of the vehicle. There were four of us under the truck -- three men and Cathy. Having the smaller arm, she was able to reach up and over the rear axle and grab the furry, scared animal. That's just the kind of person she was, willing to help, decorum aside.

Someday, we will all disappear from this earth. Some will be gone, gone forever and some will continue to live through the lives of friends and family.

Her passing has once again made me take a closer look at the people who have come into my life and to value them. My friend, Judge Lloyd "Hot Dog" Simpkins, told me that love and laughter are the most important virtues of life. He is, of course, right. I try to surround myself with people who simply love humor and who love to laugh.

Kathy Day was someone who always made me smile and laugh. And she was right, too, that every time I look at the wooden "cannon ball," I would have a great time remembering the fun experience she and I had that went with buying it.

When Michael told my of his loss, our loss, he ended our conversation with, "Think nice things about her."

Not to worry, Michael.

Within her soul were the elements of blue skies, soft snow, thunderstorms, warm rain, butterflies, whispering wind and love.

I will think nice things about her.

I will always think of her kindness, wit, humor, courage and compassion.

bstump@dmg.gannett.com

WHAT’S UP?

2011-03-30T14:46:00.000-04:00

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'
It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ?
Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report ?
We call UP our friends.
And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.
We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary.
In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.
It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .
When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP ....
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP.
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now my time is UP, so...it is time to shut UP! Besides you are probably fed UP with UP by now. Well, I’ve had it UP to here! Wherever that is.

A NOTE TO KATHIE

2011-03-27T16:17:00.001-04:00

After waiting 15 minutes for your blog to let me leave a comment – it still said to wait… so I gave up. Sorry about that… don’t know whats up.

IT ALWAYS SNOWS ON THE DAFFODILS

2011-03-27T15:13:00.001-04:00

I HAVE PROBABLY POSTED THIS TITLE BEFORE – because it always snows on the daffodils, and that makes for some fun pictures. In PA where I went to college, this is called the Onion snow, because onions sets are usually in the ground by now. These are my onions, I put them in last week.

But, here in VA, when it snows in the end of March, it snows on much more than the onions, or daffodils, but the good thing is, the snow does not hang around. Often it barely covers the ground. So, I have learned to grab the camera early because sometimes the snow is gone by the time I hit ‘publish.’ So, I will share a bit of last snow beauty.

It is the time when many of the camellias are in bloom. Pink Perfection is probably my absolute favorite and I don’t remember seeing it in the snow before.

Red Emperor… Pink Precious… One of my own hybrids…

White on white (this is a 12 footer)… Snow on the forsythia… See the peonies coming up? Pansies…

Know what this is? Snow on the PussyWillow, up about 15 feet. The Redbud is starting to bloom, these will be flowers next week. And I love the pattern of snow on these branches.

When we flew our first flights over Libya, I bought a new Peace Rose bush as my prayer for Peace. I hope it does not fall on deaf ears.

The snow filled Buddha’s lap as he sat out back and reminded me to think thoughts of love and compassion, and it fell on St Francis as he watched over Spook taking a drink from the slightly slushy birdbath.

May thoughts of Peace and Compassion fill your heart this spring day. (Guess what? It is all melted – just that fast.)

A HADJI UPDATE

2011-03-25T14:37:00.000-04:00

Sorry to all you who are feeling neglected… life here on Possum Lane has been beyond hectic. I promise to find some time to answer you all if I have to set the alarm and get up at 3 AM.

Meanwhile, I started this a few days ago… I am not taking time to proof read it – so, forgive me (again) for any typos…

Having removed the poisons from Hadji’s system (read carbs) – he is not only his old self – but more to the truth, he is his NEW self. Hadj is more kitten like every day. In the week before I finally got him to the vet and we got a diagnosis, he was not even washing. To see a cat washing – usually a normal thing to see – well, it was a big thrill. He now does the usual cat scrub, scrub, scrub thing, and I must say, his fur is beautiful once again. Shiny blacks, whiter whites and pretty little pink accents.

Stupid me, I really thought he had cancer. He had lost weight (4 1/2 lbs), was not washing, lost his appetite, and, he lost his voice. I just KNEW he had throat cancer. I guess I have been thru so many cancer surgeries with the last 2 cats, I just figured it was THAT disease once again. Anyway, as you know, it was diabetes, and he came home from the vet on 3 units of insulin every morning and every night… 6 units a day – for the rest of his life, the vet said. Few cats live for more than a year with diabetes, another vet said…

Now not only was that a rough sentence for my little cat, it was hard on me… I had to see him suffer… I had to hold him while he got his shot twice a day, and I have trypanophobia. Go ahead, look it up. Just being in the same room with a needle is upsetting to me. So, something had to be done.

As some of you know, I am a perpetual student. I LOVE learning new stuff. And so, having heard from a friend that this disease can be reversed – they cured their cat – I decided that if it could be done – it would be done. I am into research… I am into healing…

Hadji is full of himself these days. He has gained back one pound. I really don’t want him to get as heavy as he was before. Rascal has lost one pound, he has another pound to lose. Hadji’s voice is back, he is clean, and he runs and romps with Rascal everyday, sometimes they play so rough I worry that someone will get hurt. (Dumb human.) He chases his catnip pillow around, throws it in the air, catches it, then takes a little nap on top of it.

He has not had any dry food, not even the prescribed science diet, for over 2 weeks. He eats only food with 5 carbs or less. His snacks are freeze dried chicken snacks. (Halo Liv-a-Littles 100% chicken breast protein treats – you can get them on amazon). Hadji has not had any insulin in 12 days. His Blood glucose stays around 100. Yes, it is expensive, but I now know that the cheaper food and all dry cat food is poison…

He is back to being the Great HD – that stands for Hadji Dude, in case you didn’t know.

SPRING – for NOW

2011-03-19T19:33:00.001-04:00

AND THE YARD WORK STARTS IN ERNEST. They tell me spring is here. Well the daffodils are blooming, that is a serious clue. The buds are popping on the trees, and the birds are getting scrappy as breeding/nesting time draws near. The forsythia is in full glory, the camellias are a sight to behold. Onion sets are already sold out in one local store. I had to drive 40 miles to get some Vidalia onion sets. My peas are ready to go in the ground. It was a temptation to put them in as it was 78 degrees on Friday. However, the morning temp is supposed to be 28 by next Friday, so I guess I will hold out for another week or so.

But, the blueberry bushes have been moved. They got little sun in their old space as the pine trees grew.They were only about a foot tall when the bushes were first planted. But first, this azalea had to be moved – it went in a hole left by a blueberry bush. The fence was taken down, rolled up, the net removed, and the posts pulled up. I did have help moving a couple plants and then putting the posts in the ground. Fortunately I had my own shatters (Eastern Shore for pine straw) to put around the bushes for weed control. This is the old Blueberry garden with the netting covered in snow. Honest! Isn’t that amazing? The center pole kept it from collapsing.

Have you ever seen a Pussy Willow this tall? The tree stump on the left is 4 feet tall.

I love to see the daffodils turn into glowing spots of beauty in the early morning sunlight.

Because of the unusually cold winter, the camellias are blooming out of sync. Red Emperor is blooming early, this hybrid is blooming late. All around the edge of the woods, there are bushes filled with huge blooms.

Aunt Alice is pretty much on schedule. It is one of my favorites.

A friend gave me a present – a reddish violet. No not a house plant or African violet, this is supposed to grow just like the others that grow like weeds in the yard. She has a huge patch of them.

And, Ginnie, this shot is for you.

COBB ISLAND STATION and PURPLE MAGIC

2011-03-14T14:58:00.001-04:00

WELL, OK, NOT YOUR PARLOR TRICKS kind of magic… a much different sort…

We went to a program yesterday down in Northampton County at the World Healing Institute at Cobb Island Station. It was a Native American poetry reading by Ron Welburn and Karenne Wood. I knew both of the authors and thus knew it would be a good reading and discussion afterwards. But, program aside, just being at the Station is a wonderful, almost magical, experience, and I knew I would be with many wonderful people. I have learned in my old age to chose which groups of people to hang out with – some bring a sense of peace and serenity and it is a healing experience being around them. Other groups are filled with what I call ego issues… certain people dominate the groups and push their agendas which are not always for the true benefit of others but are often just extensions of the individual’s agenda. I avoid those groups if possible and knew none of those people would be caught dead in a place like the WHI. It is a place of prayer and meditation, peace and cooperation, but not a place of religion and dogma, or RIGHT and WRONG. There are places that bring a sense of sacredness. Sure, it can be disrupted and damaged. Greedy people on ego trips can do that to anyplace, but I think most sacred places will heal themselves in the long run, regardless of what man does to it.

If you google Cobb Island Station, you will find this:

WHI Cobb Island Station, Eastern Shore Virginia

Cobb Island Station was built on the south end of Cobb’s Island off the Eastern Shore of Virginia in 1936 and served as a Coast Guard Station until the 1960’s. The station was moved by barge (see picture below) to its current site near the village of Oyster, VA in 1998. It was restored by The Nature Conservancy and subsequently acquired by the founder of the World Healing Institute. Overlooking the Barrier Islands, the facility, which includes a large conference room and overnight accommodations, is ideal for educational programs, workshops and retreats.
Virginia’s Eastern Shore is a peninsula embraced by the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. It encompasses a rare coastal wilderness of forests, shallow bays and lagoons, mud flats, beaches and salt marshes. The Nature Conservancy's Virginia Coast Reserve protects 14 barrier islands with nearly 60 miles of Atlantic shoreline. This incomparable landscape is utilized by 380 resident and migratory bird species and myriad fascinating creatures of the land and sea. The peaceful setting provides an ideal backdrop for World Healing Institute’s holistic healing programs. Our facilities include The Nature Conservancy's award-winning restoration of the Cobb Island Coast Guard Station.

I could go on and list the numerous programs that have been held here, but I will leave it up to you to do your own research if you are interested. So today’s program was of special interest to me as I knew I would be seeing some old friends and maybe even relatives from the Monacan tribe from over near Amherst, Virginia; folks I have not seen for about 15 years.

Out of respect, I did not interrupt the reading to take any photos, nor did I take pictures of the crowd. It’s an Indian thing. But what I did take pictures of – a field on the way in and then later in the afternoon on the way home… my brain just will not conjure up the name of this purple “weed” as it is called by many here. But you can see acres of it in these shots. This is why I like to take the old back roads… if you see something like this on the highway, it is difficult to get a shot – sometimes we whiz past things on the other side of an 18 wheeler and don’t even see these magical places and moments.

No, this was NOT color enhanced, photoshopped or any of those tricks most photographers use to make their colors brighter or a slightly different color than mother nature put out there. This is it. In fact, my memory has it even bigger and brighter. But then, I saw ALL of it, not just the amt I could cram in my viewfinder. Is this awesome or what?

This old shot of the Station from long ago, before it was moved, is borrowed, the other shots are mine.

A BABY SHOWER GIFT

2011-03-12T19:06:00.001-05:00

WELL, EXCEPT I HAVE NOT BEEN INVITED TO THE BABY SHOWER, tho I at least have met the mama to be. Am I perhaps over reacting to the news that someone we know is going to be a Grandpa, again? And that it is going to be a little girl? A GIRL! I am trying to remember when I was last able to buy something for a little girl. We have had nothing but boys since… um… 1977???? OMG! NOT ONE GODDAUGHTER, COUSIN BABY GIRL, GRANDCHILD – NOT ONE.

I have considered asking mothers I have seen in the children’s department if I could buy a little dress for their little girl, but no doubt they would have had me arrested for… well, I don’t know, something… it sure would sound creepy to me if the shoe were on the other foot. But 30+ years of buying camouflage shirts, rough and tough jeans, dinosaur shirts and jammies, trucks and race cars, toy chain saws, dinosaurs of every size and description… jackets and shirts in camo or with John Deere printed on them… well… I confess, as much as I have loved all my guys (little or now grown) I have often looked with longing at the little pink ruffled fancy dresses, precious little sun dresses with a border of daisies, Valentine dresses with little hearts and roses, little matching socks with ruffles…. SIGH.

OK, I confess, I find humor in camo boxers and camo sox, even camo onesies, but enough is enough. Briar has John Deere undies, pjs, shirts, jackets and a hat, and any toy that has John Deere on it. (Caleb is the future paleontologist, and can name more creatures from the great age of dinosaurs than I even knew existed!) But I really have had enough of Spiderman sheets and pillows. Do you know what I mean?

So, while munching on a piece of forbidden pumpkin pie at my neighbor and friend’s house yesterday, he announced his daughter had had a sonogram, and his little grandson will have a baby sister this summer. I was excited for him, tho he had no idea how nice those words sounded - “Its a girl!” A girl. wow. So, I controlled my urge to go out and buy little pink dresses – after all, this is not MY grandchild, but still………………….. I white knuckled my grip on the table and stayed in my seat, reminding myself this was not MY daughter’s news.

But, programming is programming, and I have been trained. Besides, I would never be invited to the baby shower – the mother –to -be is 6 states away! (And probably doesn’t even remember meeting me) but that is OK. Maybe just a small gift. One the Grandpa-to-be can appreciate. So, while shopping for bird seed today – I saw this little thing, and I just could not control myself. But programming is programming. I did get the color right.

MORE ON NORIKO

2011-03-12T07:52:00.001-05:00

In response to all the emails about Noriko and the earthquake – I got an email from her this morning. It was a wonderful message, to say the least! I just had to share it with all of you who have been so worried.

Dear Jan,

Thank you very much for your kind mail !

This earthquake didn't attack me. I am all right.

How about you? Are you all right?

Do you enjoy your life?

As for me, though I am sometimes attacked by diseases,

I always won the diseases. So did I try.

With lots of love, Noriko

A SHARING - NORIKO

2011-03-06T10:24:00.001-05:00

In the past I have done posts on people I have known who have been special in some way, or at least very special to me. I guess it is my way of honoring them. As we go thru life, we all get to meet some truly amazing people – but then everyone is pretty amazing in one way or another, wouldn’t you say? Anyway, I want to share a little about my friend, Noriko.

Quite a few years ago, maybe 20(?) the shore had a visiting teacher here from Japan. She was in a teacher exchange program and was sent to a neighboring county to teach Japanese, and be a sort of cultural ambassador. She was quite unappreciated by my neighbors to the south. This is Noriko on Assateague Island, the Atlantic Ocean in the background… maybe 30 miles from here.

I just found myself starting to list how badly she was treated here on the shore, but that would change the point of this post. I will say that those people with whom she taught missed a wonderful opportunity to get to know an amazing person. Their school district was not mature enough to have someone like Noriko working with them.

I met her at a multicultural event held in the other county in her high school. It was one of those celebrate diversity things… (I told an Iroquois story I learned from my uncle as a very little girl about a boy who became a bear.) Noriko and I hit it off somehow, and it was the beginning of a long friendship that has stretched itself over thousands of miles and many years. I took her to a number of Native American events both here on the shore and over in the rest of Virginia. We compared notes on native cultures. As the kids would say, we “hung out,” enjoying our differences, learning from each other, sometimes using other languages as a bridge when English and Japanese just didn’t work. We discovered we had the Turkish language in common! What fun explaining a menu in Turkish when the English did not make sense.

What a privilege to have her as a friend! What a gift!

Too soon the year was over. Nori returned to Japan and to a busy international life. Time marched steadily on… we wrote, not often, but enough to keep in touch. Enough to remember…

Noriko wrote a book about education. She included a story about one of the projects in my class that she had visited where I taught early American Indian pictographs and communication without alphabets. While here, Noriko received a native name, Spring Blossom. She valued that name. It was my honor to get to name her. For those of you who do not know, my name is Many Feathers.

I have gone back in old saved emails… I was late coming to computers, you see, so I have only a few old short letters from Noriko. But I will share a few of them with you. As many of you know, I have written a Sunday newsletter of sorts since 1998 or 99 – it has always gone to Nori, and in the early days, she responded frequently. In the early days, her letters were filled with comments on the perception of the USA in the Japanese world. But as time went on, cancer snuck in and took its toll.

In chronological order:

9-18-01

Many Feathers,

Thank you very much for your mail so soon.

I am proud of that I have an American friend like you.

I mean that you showed me such wide heart and kind

mind for those who are …….. weak and

oppressed people in the world.

I read mails you sent to us all. Sometimes I think to write

to you. But I soon give up writing because it takes me too

much time when I write it in English. Recently I have not

had the time to use English. I am surrounded with Japanese

language every day. I am now an editor on the small magazine.

I check the sentences , correct Japanese and sometimes I

myself write the manuscripts. I have come to forget English

day by day, year by year. In my mind I am thinking of you.

I would like to share your email with others. May I do that?
Sure, please do so. Your friends may be a feather of birds, I believe.

So say hello to your friends!

Love, Noriko Spring Blossoms

nck55 <nck55@*******.jp> wrote: (in January of 2005)

Dear Jan,

A Happy New Year!

So much thank you for your warm mail to me.

Last year, I had had such busy days that I could not write private letters.

I had worked to protect environment of our city from destruction.

I had worked to protect children from evil situations.

And had checked the ill political movements, ill usage of tax by governments

and had checked ill movements by police. Moreover I have my program on the radio.

On the program I have spoken about American Life I had in Eastern Shore.

So, every day I was captured by the schedule.

This year still everything above will continue with me. But I know that I need

to change my way of life.. I want to change it. I will try to do so.

Thank you again for your care. Even though I don't write any words, don't worry.

I have read your mails so far. Just I am too busy to write.

With lots of love, Noriko

__________________________________________________________

From: renmk5*******.jp
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:11:48 +0900

Dear Jan,

Thank you very much for sending your mail again.

This time every word goes well. I can read them though it takes time.

Words are very interesting. Words has meaning for them who can read and

understand them. But words become just a kind of picture for the people who

can not understand them.

Now let me try to write Japanese. So guess what they are!

再度メールを送ってくださいまして、有難うございます。今度は、文章を読むことが

出来ます。ただ、時間はかかりますけれど・・・ね。

言語って、面白いですね。読める者には意味が存在するけれど、読めない者に取っては

ただの絵ですね。

Thank you very much!

Spring Blossom

____________________________________________________________________

From: jan jan

To: ikuta noriko

Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 9:29 PM

私の親愛なる友人、私は非常に幸運ずっと会うためにである! あなたの友情は大きいギフトである! 多くの羽

Many Feathers ___________________________________________________________

4-29-08

Dear Many Feathers,

I wonder how you wrote the following Japanese letters.

You may have magic box !

And also I am surprised to know you are going to get to study with the Dalai Lama for a week this summer. How did you get such a wonderful chance?

I am also interested in Dalai Lama, but I can't move freely because of my cancer disease. Recently I can move around my house and can meet friends but I' m sorry that I can't go on a journey even inside Japan.

After studying, please tell me your feeling and opinion.

With lots of Love,

Spring Blossom

___________________________________________________

Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:15:21 +0900

Dear Jan,

Thank you very much I got your mail.

Today I want ask a question.

Please tell me the meaning of Bensam Chose Sabiorum,

I am not sure the spelling is right or not.

The other day, suddenly I remembered the sound of those words.

Spring Blossom.

To: ikuta noriko

Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 3:56 AM

Subject: RE: 8-24-08 H

Ben Seni Choke Seviyorum!!!!!! I Love You Very Much!!!!!! (in Turkish)

Many Feathers __________________________________________________________

Dear Jan,

So much thank you for your quick response for my question.

I also "Ben Seni Choke Seviyorum", Jan.

Recently I am writing a book concerning my whole life.

I will write about you who gave me lots of what is life of not only human beings but also all living things on this earth.

"Thank you" in Japanese is Arigatou(ありがとう。in Chinese character,有難う)

So, thank you, arigatou, Ben Seni Choke Seviyorum,

With lots of love, Spring Blossom

___________________________________________________________

May 11, 2009

Dear Manyfeathers,

So much thank you for your swift return mail. It is so fun to think or to have an imagination about you in the morning of the USA.

I am going to sleep before long. It is 9:30 o'clock in Japan. I live in Kamakura (This place is very famous historical place in Japan.)

I love you ! Good night!

With love, Spring blossom

______________________________________________________________________

Feb, 2010

Dear Jan,

I'm sorry I have been sick for long. I have pain on my body here and there. I have cancer in my body.

I can't write any more, sorry. Noriko

____________________________________________________________

Nov 18, 2010

So much thank you for your kind mails so far.

I have been sick for a long time. I had to stay in the hospital for a long time.

Though I could come home, I have still sickness. I have to stay calmly.

So, I can't write to you often. I am sorry !

With love , Noriko

____________________________________________________________

Dec 22, 2010

For a long time, I have sick in bed. But I am still alive, though I can
not run and jump.
Sometimes, I have felt that I could not walk and write any more, But God
gave me chance to write again. Though this is very short, this is my love letter to you,
Jan.! Thank you!
I hope you may have good days!
Spring Blossom

______________________________________________________________

Feb. 28^th, 2010…

Dear Jan,

Thank you very much for your kind mail. I 'm sorry I am not fine.

I often think whether I can live more?

Almost everyday, I have to go to hospital . I have pain in everywhere in my body.

I never forget you. Thank you ! Noriko

It is with heavy heart that I read those words. How I wish I could share with you all what a brilliant, kind soul Noriko is. I ask for your prayers. I would ask you to send her an email but she feels duty bound to answer them, and I think that might be too much to answer. Maybe just a comment on this post – and I can share that with her.

As we go thru life, we get to meet some extraordinary people. Sometimes we are aware, often we are not. I know I was blessed to have met Noriko, and I am so glad I made the effort to get to know her.

I DECLARE, IT DO BE SPRING!

2011-02-26T10:23:00.001-05:00

“LAWDY, LAWDY,” Miss Eva used to say, “I declare, it do be spring! I seed a crocus this mawning!” And sho’ nuff, I would go out in the yard to the “first crocus” spot, and there would be a spot of sunshine smilin’ up at me.

The daffodils are up and budding, if the weather holds, they will be showing color next week.

Normally we have camellias in bloom all winter, but this year it has been a bit slow. These camellias are usually finished by now.

The mice are out and about… and Spook caught himself some fast food. Or maybe it was not fast enough food. Obviously not fast enough…

The pansies have enjoyed a nice rain followed by some nice sunshine.