to my dear friend on the loss of her son

a mother's grief



close the eyes that no longer see.

cover the face that will never smile back at me.

wrap the body.

take it away.

but he will stay with me.

i will draw him back into myself, a swelling burden

that will press upon my flesh and bone and make me cry.

cry with a pain that won't be eased after hours of labor,

but by years of caring for the living.

-----genevieve smith whitford

tiny garden visitor

Have had an interesting visitor in the flower garden.

What I thought was a baby hummingbird is actually a hummingbird clearwing moth.

They act just like hummers, hovering to sip nectar from the flowers, never stopping.

The 3 hummingbirds that hang out in the garden don't seem to mind sharing the bounty

with the little guy.

"priorities"

i would never spend $15 on a bottle of shampoo for myself.

but when it comes to meeting the grooming needs of this guy, brodie, with his sensitive westie skin, i'd spend my last nickel.

"uses time wisely" *: made a new friend yesterday

"uses time wisely" *: made a new friend yesterday

made a new friend yesterday

ok. this isn't actually her but of course i didn't have the camera so here's her internet twin.

coming home yesterday and there's a poor painted turtle jaywalking across hall ave., heading south.

"she'll never make it! let's go back!"

so a quick loop around the block and i hop out of the car, ready to rescue. and then i'm scuttling along the curb after the turtle, she running for her life, me making girly attempts to pick her up.
finally wrestled her into the car and headed for the river.

she's terrified, flailing around in a panic as i hold her by the shell over my lap. i'm sure she could sense that i wasn't a trained turtle handler, that i was also a little terrified.

but at least i didn't PEE MY PANTS like she did. i almost made it to the river without getting wet!

"puppies and turtles, ev. they love your lap!" he laughed.

i sent her down the hill to the river, then went home and washed my clothes and hands.

we have another thing to laugh about now.

thank you, incontinent turtle.....!!

the power of clothing

why is it that some days i don an outfit and feel less graceful than the lady on the left, but on another day can put on the same getup and feel like the black swan, or at the very least like the creature on the right?

which is truly remarkable because i have legs that are nowhere near the length of hers.
the thighs are spot on, though...

another thin place experience

alone, traveling home close to midnight, off the beaten path, no moon.

driving on auto-pilot while meditating on those i love. praying, in other words.

suddenly a flash of white caught in the high beams as a barn owl, on its own solitary

night journey, swooped over the dark road ahead.

its heart-shaped face turned toward me for just an instant, and in that moment i felt that

intense flood of peace that comes from being in a thin place, where heaven and earth

are experienced at the same time.

there is no drug, legal or otherwise, that can safely mimic that feeling.

whatever physiologic changes it causes cannot be replicated in a lab, distillery, or back field.

there is such a thing as a natural high.

and angels do have wings....

touch of class

princess kate's bouquet will be returned to the abbey and left as a tribute at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

it's a touching tradition that dates back to the great war.

the simple bouquet of myrtle, lily of the valley, hyacinth, and sweet william, translated into the language of flowers, speaks of happiness and constancy.

Someone much smarter than I said that those who don't learn something from history are likely to repeat it.

Today's the anniversary of the historic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City.

what? snowbound by tomorrow morning?? *#&%{+, etc....

i just don't know if i can heave another shovelful.

i can no longer see any beauty in it.

i saw my first robin today and heard a red-winged blackbird.

my ears yearn for a nice thunderstorm.

so will pout and listen to "appalachian spring" in protest.

march-- the month of snirt and snain

Brother Larry used to refer to the sick stuff pictured above as "snirt".

snow + dirt = snirt

He lives in Florida. Go figure.

I refer to today's weather as a day of intermittent "snain".

snow + rain = snain

Happy first day of Spring.

sugar time

my favorite march sight. the earth is waking up. and so am i.



Evening In A Sugar Orchard

From where I lingered in a lull in March outside the sugar-house one night for choice,
I called the fireman with a careful voice
And bade him leave the pan and stoke the arch:
"O fireman, give the fire another stoke,
And send more sparks up chimney with the smoke."

I thought a few might tangle, as they did,
Among bare maple boughs,

and in the rare Hill atmosphere not cease to glow,
And so be added to the moon up there.

The moon, though slight, was moon enough to show
On every tree a bucket with a lid,
And on black ground a bear-skin rug of snow.

The sparks made no attempt to be the moon.
They were content to figure in the trees
As Leo, Orion, and the Pleiades.

And that was what the boughs were full of soon.
---Robert Frost
__________________

all ours at last

campfire, anyone?

we're planning to burn the mortgage when we can have all the kids here to help light the matches.

it's our very own thin place, a place where heaven and earth come together.

coming soon to a backyard very near me

ordinances be damned. overrated, outdated, and uneducated.

these are aracauna chickens. their eggs are shades of pale blue and green.

my dad told me once that i should have been a farmer.

cabin fever claims 2 more victims

it's an epidemic.

will spring ever come??

"as wisconsin goes, so goes the nation"

ON WISCONSIN

...thank god for the people who take the time to educate themselves on the issues and do some fact checking before they let their mouths loose to make fools of themselves...

birthdays come but once a year

we love you

happy birthday emilie claire

his first grammy

about time.

have always loved the quality of his voice.

male cardinals singing today!

february 7th----the earliest date that i've heard the male cardinals start to sing in the treetops in early morning, letting everyone know that their birdie testosterone levels are responding to the lengthening days. what a sweet sound, full of blind faith that spring will be coming.

we are forever students

things i'm studying up on this week:

keeping chickens--in my ongoing efforts to control what's going in my mouth and the little pests in my gardens (no, not brodie and dorie)

wabi-sabi--to my great joy this philosophy has helped me understand my attraction to the simple, the old, the imperfect things in my world

when i go for my walk i have a new little side trip to take off riverside, down the new pedestrian path along the tracks.

i take this little detour to pay a visit to the blue spruce that got too big for the front yard.

our amazing city forester offered to find it a new home where it could grow freely, not bound by a picket fence.

so now it's happy in a little stretch of urban woods not far away from the river.

i missed not being able to put my big old-school colored lights on it at christmas, though...

looking for spring?

not really.

they're just looking for squirrels.

again.

oh to have their diligence and persistence.

for them the experience never gets old.

dumb dogs.

they teach me something every day.

in a dream

in a dream we walk together on the shore.

the sand at the water's edge is punctured by our footprints, my gait happily shortened to match yours.

i feel the warmth of your chubby hand in mine.

i hear all that is good in your laughter.

i taste the salty sun on your cheek.

i see god in your eyes.

snow bunting sightings today!!

saw 2 huge flocks of these beautiful little birds while traveling today.

they're wintering here in the "south"---as in south of their usual arctic range.

come april they'll be back up there, pairing up and raising a family.

a flock in motion over a snowy field looks like some kind of a crazy gravity defying snowstorm off in the distance. so cool.

"it's 10am. do you know where your dogs are?"

obviously, i didn't.
while i was off in the kitchen, dorie was in the laundry room.
picked out my newest, most expensive unmentionables and chewed all the plastic clasps off.
my first reaction was anger towards her.
but then i remembered who it was who chose to start another pot of coffee and put on some music before picking the delicates up off the floor and putting them in the washer.
that would be me.
goodbye to the most comfortable undies i ever had the pleasure to wear, if only for a month......

Presto, Change-o

This is what happens when you take a bunch of flowers from Aldi's, put on your favorite music, and start sticking them randomly into a vase filled with a chunk of soggy oasis foam.











Magic!!
They turn into an understated but definitely Packer-themed Sunday floral arrangement for church.

Dexter's Sunday Nite Replacement

With this season of Dexter over, Sunday night was music and a book nite until the premier of this new PBS series last Sunday. It's addictive for anyone like me who enjoys historical British drama on the order of Gosford Park and The Remains of the Day. Love it! Something special to look forward to on a wintry Sunday nite.

$eeing red over $ale of Green I$land

For over a week I've been steaming over reports of the proposed sale and development of Green Island, an 80 acre island located 5 miles out in the Bay.

It's a beautiful, wild, undeveloped island that served for years as the site of a manned lighthouse until automation set in.

It's a historic site that unfortunately is privately owned.

A group of out of town investors wants to buy it and turn it into an upscale retreat of private homes, condos, a marina, etc.

They want to call it Anna's Vineyard. How original.

What it will be in truth is a stepping stone to Door County but only for those who can afford it.

The developers are calling it a boon to our local economy. In terms of jobs, it may provide some short-term construction jobs (for whomever is lucky enough to get the bid), and then some seasonal jobs at minimal wage or less if you're a food service worker. And some tax revenue.

I call it a sad commentary on our lack of respect for the importance of preserving the natural world.

Long Time No See

Oh, yes, this is the spot where I used to do a fair amount of blah-blah-blahgging...

As far as I can see, it looks pretty much the same...a little dusty...a few cobwebs...

I'll have to get busy and come up with some bloggable ideas....Come back soon and check things

out.