HELLEBORUS ARGUTIFOLIUS

OLD OAK TREE

On my walks down our road I always pass the same old tree. Half of it's trunk is missing at the ground. It looks like it might have been hit by lightning at one time. You can see the inside of the tree. Half of the trunk is gone on the road side and yet it is still standing and growing. Every year we wait for this old druid to fall. But still it stands in our tenth year of living here. After each storm in winter we expect to find it lying across the road. Other oaks fall; smaller ones, taller ones, younger and stronger trees that seem to give up and surrender to the rain and strong wind. But this one, that looks so fragile and old, remains.
Today I took it's picture. I was careful not to show the missing part of the trunk. I took the shot standing as close as I could to the tree. I had to be careful because it's on a very sharp drop off next to the road and so I leaned on the tree to support myself. I said aloud "Don't let go old lady." I'm not sure whether I was talking to myself or the tree. I looked up into the still dormant branches. The sky was very blue with light wispy clouds in it and I thought that this must be why the old tree was still standing. It was holding onto the sky. Invisible threads of silk (maybe from the oak worms) had attached themselves to the universe and now the old tree was being supported from above, not below. Maybe this is why belief in something beyond this world becomes so important as we get old and maybe if we believe strongly enough magic threads will attach themselves to us and give us support in our old age. We'll , I like to think so, anyway.

SENIOR CITIZEN

OH! CAN YOU INHALE THE FRAGRANCE?

MOSS MAGIC

The Cutting Edge

Happy Happy, Sharp sharp

One thing that makes me crazy is not having a good sharp knife to cut food with. I've never understood why so many people have knives that are dull and useless, sitting around in their drawers, taking up space. Maybe their grandmother gave it to them long ago and they have sentimental attachments to it; or maybe their husbands have used it too many times for "other purposes" out in the garage. Whatever the reason, there are a lot of old dull knives around that should have been thrown out along time ago.

Which brings me to my happy news. I bought a new knife while I was visiting the Bar Area. Don't get TOO excited. I know there are some people out there who will fail to understand why I'm so delighted, but I also know that there is acknowledgement out there in blogland; folks who are nodding there heads and smiling because they know what a sharp knife means in the kitchen.

I don't like to spend a lot of money on things. I'm a real "thrift shop" diva; but some things are sacred and knives are one of them. My oldest son gave me a Gerber classic walnut handled 10" cooks knife about 15 years ago and my obsession was born. He set the standard for me. I have no idea how much it was then, but I have it professionally sharpened every so often and it has become my knife of choice for just about everything. Since I can't afford the Gerbers, the Henckels or the Wusthofs , I'm always looking for the perfect knife that isn't too expensive. Well, I found the bargain of the year at T.J. Maxx. It's a Santoku knife made by Kitchen Aid. No kidding! The knife has a high-carbon, steel 4.5" blade and a black, riveted handle. It's light weight and the balance is wonderful . I don't think I will ever have to sharpen it ...., and are you ready....., it was only $6.00. Yep! Honestly! I'll be slicing those home grown tomatoes in style this summer.

OLD TOWN SACRAMENTO

Revealed bodies and lunch on the river

The prospector(my husband) and I left the foothills and drove down to Sacramento today. It was a beautiful, spring-like day and everything had a green glow. Our brown hills have started to change color.Even our "Happy California Cows" seemed more contented than usual. No poppies yet, but it's only a matter of time.

We had been talking about going to see the controversial Bodies Revealed exhibition and decided that this would be a good day to go because we had heard that the weekends could be very crowded. There was a good share of negative publicity about this exhibition because, after all, these were real bodies that had been preserved using a process called polymer preservation. Well, it was an amazing experience. Seeing these human beings from the skeleton to the outer skin was breathtaking, but also kind of overwhelming.

At first I was fascinated seeing the insides of these bodies; but then the realization hit me that this had been a living being with feelings and emotions. I found myself saying "I'm so sorry" to these whole, very dead and exposed humans. I started thinking about Hannibal Lecter and all the real bad horror movies I had ever seen. You know. The ones where you close your eyes during the scary parts. But I couldn't close my eyes. I started looking at the complexity of these bodies, our bodies, my body.... and I was caught up in the wonder of it all. When you see the whole circulatory system standing on it's own, with this network of blood vessels and the heart making it all work, you think that something is going on that is way bigger than anyone really knows; that this heart, that beats continuously inside of us until we die, is a remarkable thing. I saw how the amazing nervous system works and how connected everything is. To see the brain; the mysterious organ that runs the whole show, and learn that we are the only animals who know we are thinking, is, well... food for thought. The human body works in harmony with itself until we damage it or life wears it out. Seeing this exhibit gave me knowledge, a sense of wonder, and a kind of organic (dust to dust) reality. It was sometimes hard to look at but I'm glad we went.

We drove down to Old Town Sacramento for lunch: Ate good sandwiches at a restaurant on the river and looked through some of the shops just for fun. Bought some toys for my grandson's birthday next month and a caramel apple for dessert. YUM!

Got home in time to feed our spoiled dogs and pick a few weeds that were appearing( way to fast) in the garden. Didn't feel like a big dinner so we grazed our way through the evening and watched four more American Idol contenders bit the dust.

Good to be home.

MOM'S GARDEN: wordless wednesday

MY MOTHER'S HOUSE

Short Trip

I'm going down to the Bay Area to see my Mom for a few days. She's going to be 90 years old this July and has taught me a lot about how to be a brave senior citizen. She has always been my shining example of how to be a really good mother and beautiful human being. I try to go down every month and the time that I spend with her is a gift. I'll take some pictures and post them when I return next Thursday.

There was an eclipse of the moon last night around 7:00 p.m. but we didn't see it because of the clouds. Sacramento did and a lot of the valley towns. We must have been too close to the mountains and too far under the clouds because we missed the whole thing. Darn!

Earthquake centered in Wells, Nevada; 6.3 mag. this morning.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY- Photo Collages

I Remember Long Ago

Had such a great weekend with my sister. We shopped, talked and ate our way through, without any interruptions. My husband was gone . He went to Fresno with friends in his prospector's club. So... sis and I just had a "girlie" weekend. After she left, yesterday, I remembered a poem I wrote and gave her a long time ago. I finally found it this afternoon and decided to post the poem because ,even twenty years later, it still rings true. I was an only child for seven years before my sister was born and I real wanted a sister. I guess my parents thought that it was time for another child to be a part of our family so I wouldn't be the only one. I'm so glad.

Sisterfriend

I remember long ago,
when you were put
into my hands
and life became warmer.

I brought you home,
between mom and dad,
in the old green Pontiac....
and you were mine;
alive and bright eyed,
rubbing your face
with a curled hand.
A brand new
little old person
wrapped up
in all our love.
I remember saying
thank you to them
for this gift;
this two week late
Christmas gift.

You were the finishing touch.
So much has been said
between us since then...
so many differences..., and
so many shared days.
We have grown apart
and back again,
but,I have always
remembered that morning
when I brought you home.
We reached out then,
my only sister friend,
and I will always
see you, in my lap,
looking up at me.
For it was then,
when we were small,
that all the sunrises were new....
and I sang you Christmas carols
all the way home.

WHERE ARE MY PHOTOS?

I spent two hours this evening trying to post my photos from Picasa to my blog site. Nothing works! "Blog this" is not working. I'm tired. One more try and then I'm going to bed.

Sister Friend

I probably won"t write anything tomorrow because my sister is coming for a few days and we get kind of busy. She is seven years younger than me so when we were growing up we didn't do much together. We had different friends and, more or less, separate lives until we were older. Now we are making up for all those years. We travel together and visit each other as much as we can. She lives in the Bay Area and it takes her about three hours to drive up here. It's kind of nice to have a good friend who also happens to be your sister.
Oh!.... She's here. The dogs are barking and are out at the gate already. They are such social animals. They know her and will be so happy to see her. Me too.

OH LOOK? A baby Buckeye is born.

FIRST WILDFLOWER - Common Henbit

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Pecking Order

I've posted a photo of our bantam rooster, Napoleon, to show everyone how beautiful he is. He was a chick when we got him and because we had another rooster Napoleon decided to defer to the huge, full grown head of the coop. Napoleon always stayed with his two bantam hens and the three of them did their best to stay away from the rest of the larger chickens. Napoleon never crowed or made an attempt to take over the hens. He was a mild mannered, shy little rooster and we joked that he probably thought he was just one of the hens.

When the big rooster started getting too aggressive and began to attack the hens ( and sometimes us) we decided to get rid of him. He is at another farm and I hope he's happy. Well...., the position of management fell to Napoleon and he, somewhat reluctantly, accepted the task. He has a much different approach to dealing with the hens. He's the strong silent type and very careful ( after all, most of the hens are twice his size) but determined. He seems to get the job done , even though I wonder what the hens think sometimes. The last photo, inside the hen house, shows Napoleon eating his fill as Rock and Rody look on. I thought the Rock had red eye from the camera flash, but then I remembered that I didn't use the flash on that shot. So...I'm thinking that this big gal is kind of annoyed at Napoleon for taking so long eating his dinner. She is definitely "seeing red". She did wait untill he was done though. She knew her place.The rock is the last of three plymouth rock hens. The other two were not fast enough to escape a very determined young bobcat last summer. I think that she is glad that she's still here, so she puts up with Mr. Chicken Little. He's really quite the gentleman.

Napoleon did start crowing. I didn't think he could crow at all until after the big rooster went on a permanent vacation, then he started practicing and, good grief, he crows all the time now. You know it's a myth that roosters crow only at sunup. They will crow anytime they feel like it. He does crow in the morning, but he also crows his greeting with your arrival at the coop and at any loud noise he hears. We love hearing Napoleon crow in the morning. It's a wonderful way to wake up.

Napoleon

Gourdelicious

Gourdelicious Gourd Artist

Gourds once grew in a garden. I buy them and make them into pieces of art. Before I change them into something lovely and/or useful they are quite awful looking. They need to dry out completely after I remove them from the garden. They get very black with mildew and are not usable for about six months.

When they are dry I begin by cleaning off all the mildew and skin residue etc. that has formed on the outside. This is done by soaking them in warm water(sometimes with a small amount of bleach added) and scrubbing them with a mesh scouring pad(I like the copper ones). This is a lot of hard work and you can get an upper body workout from cleaning these beauties, especially the big ones. Now I let them dry, again, and..... the fun begins.

I make lamps, night lights, ornaments, jewelry, vases, wall hangings, birds, birdhouses and anything that the gourd shape creates in my mind. Usually the gourd dictates what you will do with it, by it's shape or color. The saying in gourd circles is: " The gourd will tell you what it wants to be." , and in a way it's true. Sometimes the "naked" gourd has to sit around in the house for a while before I get an idea about what I will do with it. Then I drill, dye, paint, stain, burn or embellish it until I have created a work of art. It's really a great creative endeavor and so organic. I just started growing them in my garden last summer and the plant is beautiful! The gourds need a lot of support while they are growing. My husband built a strong wood structure with heavy fencing wire stretched over it. It held all the good sized gourds up all summer. They were a lovely sight.

I belong to a gourd group. We meet once a month and share ideas, go on field trips and attend gourd shows. It's fun and I learn a lot from other members. I'll bet most of you didn't know that there is a whole world of gourd lov'in people out there. Now you know.

The four photos above are samples of the work I do. The last photo is a work in progress. It will be a wall hanging when I'm done. I will put a photo of the finished piece in a later post.

Remember to commit a random act of kindness this week. Take care.

Random Acts of Kindness

My calendar says that this is Random Acts of Kindness Week. From Feb. 11 through Feb. 17 we are asked to be aware of what one act of kindness can do. As a whole, we could benefit from more kindness in this country. There seems to be a lot of mean spiritedness and benign rudeness going around these days. I call it "benign" because it's something, really harmful or rude, that is said in a nice soft voice; sometimes with a smile. Maybe folks are too stressed or busy to see the effects ( call it damage ) of what they say or do to others.
So, this week we are being reminded that we could pay someone a compliment, give a hug to anyone who needs one and really listen to the next person who bothers to tell you something about their day. When you ask "How are you?" do you just want to hear "I'm fine", so you can go on to something else. Try a smile! It's amazing what goodwill this small act produces. I think I will write a hand written letter to a friend. A letter that says good things and , hopefully, they will receive the letter, read it and their day will be a bit better because of it....and you know what? We can do these things more often than just this week. We could make a habit out of being nice. This could catch on. It could be a Revolution of Kindness. Wouldn't this be a wonderful change of direction?
One of my sister's favorite quotes is Gandhi's "We must be the change we wish to see in the world". It is a great saying from a great man. I think that most people don't want to change anything, but let's try this week. Smile at someone and say "Hi"....... and see what happens.


So many gods, so many creeds
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.

-ella wheeler wilcox-

This is Moke,