I love the wrinkles in the petals.
Spring is on its way no matter how it feels in the wind chill!
Snowdrops!
I love the wrinkles in the petals.
I love the wrinkles in the petals.
Puns Like Dan
Chuckles for your day!
Roadtrip Results
I told you the joys of traveling on a short road trip with my photographer husband, Robert M Dutina. At the time I wrote and posted his photos had not been uploaded to computer. Here are a few samples of what he captured. Enjoy!
A Giant Has Fallen!
We have an area in the yard we call “Fern Valley.” Ever since we moved in about 17 years ago we have had a huge dead tree in the green space. This tree has been featured in many photos and we have come to love it. Often have wondered how long it would stay standing.
Well, we are having a wind storm. While we were out shopping today the giant must have fallen! The first clue was broken branches with orange wood showing in the woods. Then yikes! There is something missing from our skyline!
The giant is always to the left in the photos. Now no longer in plain sight ;-(
Good bye dear friend! Many squirrels and countless birds have enjoyed your shelter. Who knows how many when you were alive? Wonder how old you were?
Ireland Birthday
One of my best gifts EVER was when my husband took me to Ireland to celebrate my 60th birthday. We visited Connemara and learned “Connemara is bounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean and encompasses a wide variety of natural and semi-natural habitats. It also has diverse economic resources. Among the more unusual are extensive deposits of soapstone and veins of green marble and vivid white quartz.The marble is a serpentine-rich rock, popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. With its ‘forty shades of green’ and its wild patterns, it represents perfectly the landscapes of the Emerald Isle.”
This morning as I looked at one polished piece of marble from there I was struck by a similar sight off my deck!
Lovely marble indeed. Just one of the many, many shades we saw in the showroom. And then outside my window …
Camera did not quite catch it, but the shades are so alike in my eyes that I was startled. Fond, fond memories from May, 2011!
Married to a Photographer
My husband has decided to take a photo a day for 2019. This had been quite a venture! First it is difficult for him to take just one photo, so he shoots things that interest him or depict the day. Most of them are lovely in my eyes. He deletes and deletes and feels fortunate when he is left with one photo at the end of the cutting session.
Later this year we are planning a month long road trip. We have maps and books and markers to highlight the points of interest and routes. We have ordered triptiks from AAA and planned which route we will take first if winter decides to linger and make our travel miserable. Now if the government shuts down again, that is an entirely different thing. AGGRAVATION! When we visited Yellowstone a few years ago, our trip was cut short by one day when they closed the gates.
Oh my! We took a recent road trip to northern Indiana. It was a gorgeous sunny day. Cold, but lovely. Recently the entire area had drenching rains and then a cold snap. Rivers and creeks rose and ice formed around trees and along the banks. There were even weird shapes on some ponds where the high wind had whipped up the water and it froze in waves. The Wabash river was flooded for miles and miles and miles.
After multiple stops at many places for’ just one more photo,’ my husband realized that at this rate, when we make our long trip we will never make it to St. Louis on the first day! His caveat: “Of course, we have already been to St. Louis.”
I don’t object to all of this unless of course, the car door is left open and it is 20 degrees outside. Solution, turn up the heater and put fan on a higher speed. When we are obstructing the passage of other cars I would prefer a blinker or the flashers be turned on to help them see us as NOT moving. When he got back in the car once and said, “Oops! I left the gear shift in drive.” I almost panicked, but we turned it to gratitude that nothing awful happened and laughed it off. From then on, when he jumped out I checked that gear shift, you betcha!
On the return trip home the next day we got caught in miserable snow squalls. Not many photos. Just glad to get home safely.
Grandgirl #1
On a recent outing Grandgirl #1 was wearing her favorite winter jacket. One button was hanging precariously. I suggested we pocket the button until we could sew it on. She had tied a knot in the thread. She asked if I could fix it for her? I told her certainly! If I had known she needed repairs I would have brought supplies and done it during our meeting.
This is the young lady who can spend hours designing and creating woven bracelets and bookmarks made from multiple strands of embroidery thread.
I had to wonder why she did not sew the button on herself? So the thought crossed my mind that perhaps she just wanted me to feel needed and useful!
After doing the repairs on every dangling button and loose button, I put the dry clean only jacket in the dryer on no heat with a dryer sheet. A friend had told me this method is quite effective for removing dog hair. When I took it out of the dryer there was less hair, but there was one more button that had come off. So I sewed it on. Afterwards I noticed it was right over the area of the upper pocket, where you can put your hands in for a quick warm-up. I did not want not remove it if she never used the pocket.
So I texted her and this is when she cracked me up! ”
Me: Do you use the upper pockets on your jacket or only the lower ones?
G-Girl#1: Where are the upper pockets?
Me: Guess you don’t then, huh? You have 2 sets of pockets on that jacket. You crack me up! The upper ones are fairly tiny.
G-Girl #1: Oh okay
I redid the button so she could actually USE those tiny pockets if she wanted. Then I put a dollar bill in each one and wonder now how long it will take her to find those once her Pop returns the coat tomorrow.
Oh the differences in generations! And the joy Grandgirls bring ;-D
Another Plant I Admire
Did you have a story in elementary school about the pussy willow shrub? I think I must have because it brings a smile to my face each time I see it.
In our old neighborhood I let a friend cut some branches to take home. She told her girls about the bush. Trying to say back the name her youngest exclaimed. “Oh look! Squishy Pillows!”
These shrubs are fun because they shout a promise of spring and they are easy to cultivate. Cut a few branches. Let them root in water. Transplant to a moist place in the yard and let them go! Each spring after the leaves emerge from the buds, my husband cuts them back so that new branches will form for the next spring.
The above website says: “The technique of coppice, severe renewal pruning, is often successfully used as part of pussy willow care too. Branches of the pussy willow are somewhat weak, so yearly pruning when flowers are spent encourages new growth for the next year.
“Cutting branches for indoor display is an excellent use of catkins and flowers when growing a pussy willow tree. Cut branches with buds and place them in a tall vase in bright sunlight. You’ll be rewarded with indoor blooms before the outdoor tree breaks bud, in many cases.”
Ha! I found two older ladies singing the song from elementary school! Guess it was not a story, but a song. Think pussy cat. (Sadly, the word has become vulgar in today’s political society. ) I was impressed that these ladies could do the movement at the end! I found a video of children singing it with movements, but their voices were very faint. Enjoy!
Moss, Beautiful Moss
Quoting from http://www.akron.com/pages.asp?aID=15774
“Moss is an equal opportunity plant that readily grows anywhere it finds favorable conditions. It has a shallow root system and thousands of tiny spores that can be quickly dispersed far and wide by wind and rain. This allows moss to gain a fast foothold and spread easily.
“Moss loves shady conditions with dappled sunlight, moist acidic soil of low fertility and poor drainage and little or no air circulation. Its favorite side of anything is the north side. Heavy clay soil and overgrown shrubs and trees all help to contribute to conditions that are favorable to moss growth. Although the moss may be unsightly, plants and grass are not harmed or killed by moss.”
Moss promises me that even in ugly areas (like clay on parts of our hillside) beauty can be found and spring will return! When we photograph flowers in the Smoky Mountains I love to try to capture close-ups of moss. I can imagine an entire village of tiny creatures and people populating it. Look closely next time you see moss! I once brought in a clump to grow on our window sill. It was very difficult to keep the light and moisture to it’s liking.
Daffodils
Today in 23 degrees with a stiff wind I lost count at 38 clumps of daffodils around our property, not counting the front garden!!
