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

Learning Curve

I've spent most of this day learning the technical aspects of setting up a blog. Whew! There really isn't much to say. Just wanted to share photos and videos with friends and rels. Thought this would be an easy way to communicate with many people. Still not sure. Isn't this the information age? Aren't we all over-extended? Will this turn into another "have to"?

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

The Gardenias are in bloom!