cat art

nuf said

Goodies

Yesterday a package came from California. But the contents were from Australia. Thanks, G. The Tim Tams are open because I sent two of them with B for his lunch. He had a tough day yesterday and will likely have another today. I feel so helpless, unable to take any of the burden from him.

Oh, and that foot in the upper right. It's Bubba. She kept wanted to get in the shot. Just as I would focus, there would be a fuzzy calico in the lens. I'd remove her and realign the shot and then - well, you guessed it. I figured this was as good as it would get.
You can't see it well, but there is a nifty kangaroo pin in the foreground.

May

Yesterday I cleaned the kitchen and the table and put a vintage linen on it. I thought I'd better take a photo, while it was uncluttered, because soon there will be papers, etc. stacking up on it again.

But for now, here it is - a tribute to May. I know, I know, May Day is in the past a bit. But, well, it isn't June yet.

Porch

Another rainy morning, so I thought I'd sit on the porch swing with my tea and camera. Want to join me?

Elder

It is too rainy this morning to work in the garden outdoors. So I have contented myself with sorting bean seeds and deciding to hand wash the old linens Jane gave me. The beans are sorted and I pulled out the linens, but with my usual multi-tasking, I have since had bkfst, made coffee, up potted the succulents that were given me at Biltmore, put them on the front porch, rearranged the plants B put out there before they left, decided the porch needed sweeping, taken a call from M, and gone upstairs to take this pic of the elder blooms from studio/daughter's room window. Never a dull moment. Oh, yeah, fed the cats, chased Kamath back in from the front yard as he slid through the door when my hands were full of plants. (He plots his chances.) And it is not yet 9:30. Of course, I will be sleepy in the afternoon. But in this south, the mornings in summer are the best part of the day. Sleeping in the afternoons is not a bad idea, I think.

I still need to change the litter box and retreive my neighbor's Sunday paper as they are off this holiday weekend to see their daughter.

Just because it is too wet to work in the garden, doesn't mean that there is not work to be done.

It is a very quiet neighborhood this weekend, but a few cars do pass. It is so quiet, that when I am outside I can hear conversations (not words) inside neighboring houses. That is rare here. Usually there is the hum of either heat or air conditioning to block the sound.

elderberry

The elderberry has tons of blooms this year. Only thing, they are up high. So high that I can't get a good photo.

Because of all the rain here it is very green and lush. I feel like I am inside a green womb. A cozy and strange feeling, but comforting nevertheless.

Berries

Soon the berries will be ripe. And I will fight the birds for every one. Oh, you say, put a net over them. But then they, esp robins and thrushes, sneak in from underneath. I level the playing field by picking the berries a bit under ripe and letting them ripen indoors. But it is a draw at best.

Yesterday evening, just after B got home, I looked out the kitchen window and saw our wild brown bunny IN the garden. Um, isn't that is why we put up the fence to keep him out? Didn't she read the memo?! So buddy and I went out and harassed him a bit. Buddy ran around trying to herd Bun from outside the fence. I was hoping I could find the "hole" by seeing where Bun exited. No such luck. She ran and flung herself at the fence on all sides before finally hitting one section hard enough it buckled. This after I opened the gate. Sigh. Buddy and I shall have to be more diligent.

It is a competitive world out there.

today's haul

Mostly for an Thai simmer pot tonight - carrots, beet greens, dandelion leaves, leek. Also lemon balm and mint leaves for pesto.

things that sprout in the night

This morning when B came down he said, "Wow, look at the bean teepees that sprouted in the garden overnight." In the world of reality, I woke at dawn as he was tossing about with pain from the back muscle strain from moving the ficus outdoors yesterday evening and hauled them into place. But they do look as though they bloomed overnight, don't they?

One task for today is to sort through the bean seeds in the friggie and see which ones want to be planted this year.

This morning I also up potted a late crop of tomatoes that sprouted in the biodome bottom just as I was getting it ready to bring in, clean up and put away. They will do well to replace tomato plants that burn out or to fill in any spaces. If there are any spaces. I like a well planted garden.

I also wanted to post a pic of this necklace I designed for P before I mail it off to her. Poor thing, she is struggling with her health and struggling with staying optimistic. Anyway, I found this stone on the top of a mountain and wanted to give it to her. The rock is chalcopyrite, B says. For those who believe such, it helps to remove energy blockages and aids in the movement of chi. The pic is a bit blurry. I don't do close ups well. Besides the stone, there are glass beads, silver wire, and hand spun and dyed churro. P has tests on her heart today.

Strawberry Weekend

We had a quiet but productive weekend.
I cut up Beechwood strawberries and made one batch of jam -



And another.

Day

It is so lovely here today. It feels like the best of California, high mountain or English weather. Clear, clean and crisp. So rare for South Carolina in the middle of May.

I wish I could capture the light and the air in some way, to sniff and see on those heavy muggy July and August days.

In the age of portraits, no one conceived of photographs, much less digital ones. So, in this energy hogging, near bankrupt time, maybe someone will invent something that captures light and breeze and air quality. So we can feel back and remember - oh, that was the day after the front moved through when everything was so fresh, it made you glad to be alive.

Well, hopefully made you glad to be alive.

The Columbine's have almost stopped blooming -




The rose that tries to eat the sidewalk is in full swing -



Hiding behind the rain barrel, the pink foxglove raised from seed purchased a looong time ago at Callaway gardens (it reseeds) is lovely, if secretive -

Mother's Day trip

We went to Little Switzerland area as a Mother's Day overnight treat. Stayed in a really funky, odd hotel built over an old moonshine still cave. Still retains a lot of its original character complete with the possibility of a wandering nighttime ghost. Superb view, we drank mocha beer (actually pretty good) ate spicy wings and watched a storm move away over the mountains with accompanying thunder, lightening, fog clouds drifting up, etc. Lots more interesting parts to the trip, but don't want to bore you. No pictures as the camera is being repaired.

We drove up to the top of Mt. Mitchel where I was able to hike/limp around a bit. While Brian went to the overlook on top, I explored the beginning of the Mountains to Sea Trail and found a heart rock! Well, it could be a butterfly. I am currently experimenting with hand spun and beads, wire to see if I can concoct you a necklace that looks as graceful and elegant, The geologist husband was intrigued, as it was a rather unusual rock. I won't spill the whole beans now, leave you guessing. Never know what rocks you will find in North Carolina. Rather exciting.

I think the knee is getting better slowly. Walking is becoming easier, and less awkward every week and there are fewer incidents of that acute burning pain I experienced. So, I will keep on the same - doing my best to loose weight, trying to gradually increase activity, etc.

Pulled a bunch of churro roving (wonder where that came from) out of various dyepots this morning. The avocados are starting to give nice colors in reds and the tulip petals are still yielding yellowy greens. Amazing amount of color in them. I shall have to start cultivating tulips.

Lots of gardening going on, rabbits hopping about the front and back gardens, exploring fence perimeters, etc. Ants starting to multiply. Everywhere! I've even got a problem on the front porch. Luckily they are sugar ants, not fire ones.

This is the loveliest spring here for many years, probably due to the extra rain.

Buddy says hello, and, oh, yeah, we went to a Powwow, but he Hated the drums, even though a cute Indian toddler exactly the same height shared potato chips with him.

There is Nothing

There is nothing like a thunderstorm. After three years of too few, I no longer take them for granted and celebrate each one that I can.

When the rain is deluging down and hitting the kitchen windows so hard it sounds like hail, when the dog haunts my footsteps because of thunder, then the world condenses. Everything becomes milky green, a washed combination of water and growth. Everything narrows and widens into this one thing, something more than water and wind and receptive soil. Twisting and beating the storm forces barriers to drop and life becomes a roar and a wetness.

There is nothing else.

Then

it passes.

Drops sparkle like original diamonds. A robin shakes herself on the fence. Thunder individuates in the east. Two birds call in stereo, liquid gurgles and splashes from the eves and downspouts. An airplane can be heard, a squirrel investigates a wet bit of pine bark, traffic splashes up and down the street.

Life breathes and resumes.

wild bunny

This morning I held a baby wild brown bunny in my palm. He, yes I checked, was small hardly able to hop through our lawn. Somehow he had gotten out of the nest too early and gotten separated from his mom. Buddy alerted me to him by sitting beside him and guarding him. There was another that was dead.

I didn't know what to do. He was young enough to still need to nurse and it is always dicey taking a wild one and hand rearing it. And what would I do with him afterwards? I have five, count them, five angora bunnies already. One of whom is a female who needs to be breed.

And why did we bother to put the fence around the veggie garden last weekend? It was specifically to keep little brown bunnies from noshing on our peas and beans and lettuce and carrots.

I held him kicking in my palm and looked into his just opened eyes, saw his tiny transparent claws and beginnings of a beautiful coat and I put him into the weeds by the fence with a wish and a hope that whatever should happen would.

But even from that brief contact, I miss him and wish him well in a world where he is Prey to most everyone.