Ollie

"Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow."

William Blake - born this day 1757

Chicago Trip - 10/12/07 - Seems like ages ago!

No frost yet but Ruby is still cold!

Autumn Morning

"Forget the epic, the masterwork.....you only have time to explode."

Nathanaell West, born this day 1904

Reed, Candles, Kitchen Table

"I think there is a kind of desperate hope built into poetry.....One is trying to say everything that can be said for the things that one loves while there's still time."

W.S. Merwin - born this day in 1927

Mr. Arlo

"The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's" - Mark Twain

Ollie and Grandpa

What a pair!!

Muscadine Time

'Tis the Season for the official grape of the South! In spite of an early summer drought, these Muscadines(Vitis rotundifolia) are incredible. Our friends, Vicki and Johnny, have a luscious vineyard which they allow us to pilfer. The most fun (as Vicki says) is to eat as you pick until your mouth hurts. The greenish or bronze variety are called Scuppernongs(be careful of how you pronounce it -- you could be a Yankee!)
Had to add this photo of our "new" kitchen table courtesy of V&J. (another pilfering incident) I love it. Reed and I feel that we are sitting at the "children's" table - keeps us acting young.

Reroofing the Kiln

Jim, Jeffrey, Carl and Sam Dillon brought the manpower and energy on Saturday to install new nursery grade plastic on the solar kiln. Reed assisted while I photographed, mowed the lawn and caught up on all the latest movie reviews from Jeff. (BTW Jeff, we watched "Hot Fuzz" Saturday night and enjoyed it. The first half made Reed a little nervous as it reminded him of where he once worked in Sheboygan.) We ended the evening with a fantastic fire - provided by all of Jeff and Carl's hard work. Thanks!

Pogo, Roo and New Flower Bed

My friend, Vicki, sent these shots of her dogs, Pogo and Roo. Gotta love 'em! When temperatures in Georgia drop below 100 degrees, the humanoid inhabitants take up the projects that were delayed during August - e.g. adding a brick entry and a new flower bed. Dogs, however still believe that it is truly hot; that the cool earth was exposed for their pleasure and that the word "bed" is to be taken literally.

Laila - Well House Cat Addendum

I left out the punch line on the Laila story from yesterday. We found this screaming mite of a kitten in an old box in our well house. As I wrote the words "well house" in my diary, I had an "aha! moment" and thus the name of my first candle company was born.
Mother is safely home from her adventure in the hospital. She and Donna are both tired but happy with the outcome.
Geoff had 1/3 of an unrepairable cartilage removed in his knee. The prognosis is good. He was even walking on it last night. Way to go, Geoff!!

Well House Cat and Other Fighters

Here's the Well House Cat -- Laila! Named after Laila Ali - the fighter. Our Laila was as "big as your thumb" when we found her screaming her lungs out. Her litter mates were dead. We fed her, tried to keep her warm and she grew. She's not very big now even as an adult. She never says a word -- just squeaks and she never seems to be warm enough but she's a fighter and we have learned much from her. Speaking of fighters and lesson givers, Mother will be released from the hospital today. Looks like she may have had a nasty virus. Otherwise, she's in pretty good health. Way to fight back, Mom!
And then there's Geoff. Geoff goes in for knee surgery today. He faces recovery, rehab and hard work to reach his goals. I am confident that with the love of his family, the support of his friends and most importantly, Geoff's own inner strength he will succeed.

I am very fortunate indeed to be surrounded by so many inspirational fighters.

Mother

Mother is in the hospital --our hearts are with her.

Sunset

Took these at sunset last night. We had a gorgeous evening followed by an incredible full moon. Now that the oppressive heat has lifted my senses can open to the beauty around us again. It feels good to breathe.

Karla and Laila

Goethe said, "One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words."

Or if it's the "cat days" of August - you could just sleep.

Anne Lamott Quote

Anne Lamott credits a priest friend, Tom with saying:

"...you can safely asume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

Enough said!

August Roses & Robert Herrick

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying."






Poem by Robert Herrick born this day 1591.

You Might Be A Redneck If.........

this is what you do when your dryer drum belt breaks.

Lucky (I guess) for us the very hot dry days make for instant solar drying. So far nothing has fused onto the fence posts but there have been a few errant bugs looking for refuge in the underwear. HD and Lowes laughed when I asked for dryer belts but a small hardware/auto parts store off of the square in Monticello had what we needed in stock. Now to figure out how to put it on. The guy at the store said that it came with directions and gave us a sly smile. He's bettin' on us calling him in a few days -- he's an appliance repairman too.

Vegetables

The garden is beginning to whelm me! The tomatoes and peppers continue to ripen and the heat continues to rise and the rain remains illusive. As we face yet another day of 103 degrees, I'm leaning towards no more hand watering. It's time to let the summer vegetables go and think about fall and winter. We have all feasted heartedly (including the bugs) on tomatoes, melon, cucumbers, basil and peppers. Now begins the process of pulling the plants and feeding the compost. Must work only in the morning before the temperatures rise, so it will take several days to rid the small area of the old plants. Then Eve will be allowed in to eat the grasses that have grown in the pathway.

Oliver

Love this shot!! Pretty typical of a 4 month old.

Locusts

Music: "Bug Song" by Johnny Roquemore

In celebration of the 17 year locust. A small number of photos from our June trip to Chicago to visit friends and family. The 17 year locusts were doing their thing on the North Shore. Jim and Ann-Marie's dog, Maverick, loved to eat them! Some pics of a football scrimmage with Geoff (it was chilly that day). Very few photos of a fun party at Jim and Mary's. Mostly locusts. Background music by our friend and musician, Johnny Roquemore. Check out more of his music www.myspace.com/apostlesofbluegrass.

Alex Spreads Light!

While in Chicago we visited Andrea and Ben. Loved playing with darling 9 month old, Alex. What a charmer!

"This Little Light Of Mine" by Fred Holstein (the late great)

Two Horses Eating

I opened the Dooryard Garden gate so the horses could trim the grass. I forgot that Patty doesn't like long grass (bugs)! So Eve did the trimming and Patty stayed in the yard.

Shaker Toad

Mom's 80th Birthday Party 6/24/07

Sunflower Festival - New Candles

Friday Night Party! (Has music - press play)

Graeme - Beta Trip to Oxford, Ohio

Bee and Rose

"Bees perform a valuable service for the flowers from which they steal."

Opinions are Overrated

Writing in "The Week" magazine, Bill Falk reminisced about how earlier in his career he churned out three opinion columns a week for newspapers. It was tough. "The truth is," he said, "there were many weeks in which I didn't have three fresh opinions of any value."
These days, he added he couldn't handle a gig like that. As he has matured, he has become suspicious of his own certainties. "Opinions are highly overrated," he concludes. "Most concern passing phenomena that, six months or six years from now, will become utterly irrelevant."

Thunder Storm

Hand Dipping Bee's Wax Candles