June 30, 2013

getting into your work


I had a vision for a shot and got it with a crop, 
but there I am shooting in the original.  
Really looks like I was holding up the work....
shadows are wonderful!

June 27, 2013

neighbors


Hoping that my new hoppy neighbor is going to be eating 

a few of less favorite neighbors,
the deer flies, mesquitoes and black flies.  


The dragonflies, damsal flies  are also far and away great eaters 
as well as being decorative!

Having bugs is a sign of good eco system here, but----
Good grief we have more bugs than anyone 
and I would be happy to share and to improve the eco systems of others!!!!!


June 25, 2013

sizzling

Lovely word that!
Well June is sizzling, hot, humid and busting out all over!
Garden is in high gear as are the weeds.
Amazing what a little rain and sun can do to goose things.

In my younger days, I could not get enough hot.  Now I am a wee bit smarter.
"Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun."
Dogs and I spend these sweltering (another fine descriptive!) days doing not much.
At dawn I take my coffee, head out to weed and water, then walk the dogs,
Followed by not doing much that requires energy.
I have had to learn this.  
The dogs knew this.  
We should learn from the dogs.

water
rest

and more water



June 21, 2013

cheating?


Took pictures at the bog of the still water and they were nice shots  ---- BUT---- 

when I tossed in a rock and shot  it again 
there was this more wonderful interesting ripple effect!


June 20, 2013

lost art of sitting

Yesterday while picking up a package at the post office I noticed an older couple sitting outside.  
They weren't plugged in, they were sitting in the shade together. 
Just sitting.  My dogs are sitting out on the porch right now.  
Some times they snooze off, but most times there
 are awake and taking in all that is there.  
Occasionally a something gets there attention and they take off into the fields or woods for a moments chase, then return to is quiet contemplation with their heads in the moment -  here,  now. 

In our world of plug-in with computers, phones,
 M3P players we can't seem to sit, walk shop, exercise without some distraction.  If we are doing two things at once, our mind is not totally on either one. 
 Yes we can sit and listen to music,
but we will miss the sound of the plane, dog barking, wind blowing.  Yes we can take our mind off the pain of exercise by listening to an M3P player.  
Will we be aware of our self or our surroundings? Here, now?

When did multi tasking become the norm?  and why? Why are we humans so afraid of silence, slowness, doing one thing at a time being totally here now.

It is an art to do one thing, sit, eat, walk, garden, paint, write
 and to do it fully and well,
 and it seems in this age a disappearing art.



“Do one thing at a Time, 

and while doing it put your whole Soul into it 

the exclusion of all else.”




June 19, 2013

volunteers


Potatoes in my compost.  Just toss veg leftovers in as trash 
and lo and behold new plants.  There are also tomatoes and squash.  
It is not hard to garden if you just let nature have at it.

June 16, 2013

remembrances

Different things bring to mind certain people.  

Making coffee reminds me of Kris.  
Gardening reminds me of my mom. 
 Walking brings to mind my father.  
Dancing reminds me of many people for assorted reasons. 
Singing reminds me of Tammy singing at dawn when her heart was broken.
The Righeous Brothers reminds me of Chas.  
Little stones I have all over the house remind me of Swede, 
a giver of stones.
~


Butterfly Chris loved these rocks.  He collected them over the years.  
These lived in a special place at his home in Windham.  
Months after the house was taken in foreclosure, 
 I took the truck and drove Chris down there to get his rocks.  
I would be heartbroken to lose my rocks and stones.  
It broke my heart that 
Chris' special rocks had been abandoned in the move ~ left behind.
I wanted him to have them to hold on to
 in the rough place 
of all the changes going on in his life.  
It took us a long time to load the truck, rock by rock by rock.
Chris wouldn't take the rocks with him.  He said he had no place for them. 
He wanted them to remain here.  He wanted me to keep them. 
He took an afternoon & made the most lovely display of them, rock by rock.  
In the years since then the weeds and grass have taken over hiding them.  
This morning I was pulling weeds around them.  
They were so hidden that I had to dig them out.  
Next step is to pull out the roots, bring in sand and mulch 
and then try to arrange them with as much love as Chris did.
  
Needless to say 
these rocks are a constant connection to most special Chris.

June 14, 2013

take away the color


Both beautiful.
Such a different feeling without the color.

June 13, 2013

kinda scary

  Do you recognize these two vegetables?

Well the young checkout person at Hannafords was clueless.
He did manage to recognize my tomatoes and bananas. 
The avocado had a sticker or he might not have gotten that.
I offered him a chance to taste each, but he declined.
My checker was in training, but you think Hannafords might give them
at the very least, a crash course in vegetables with pictures and names
 or run them through produce.
I can understand artichokes perhaps, but radishes, snow peas.
Guess McD's and Mom do not serve them.
How incredibly sad not to know, let alone enjoy.



June 11, 2013

paths

Summertime we mow paths through the field so we can walk
 leaving the grasses for the nesting birds.


June 9, 2013

summertime



nature with nature?

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match
 
the beat of the universe, 
to match your nature with nature.
Joseph Campbell

June 8, 2013

daisy like


Loves me, loves me not.....






life and death

This week I heard that a friend has cancer again without a great prognosis --  
a few months.  Another friend went to visit her mom who is old in her late 90's 
and in hospice with renal failure.  
When we are born only one thing is for sure, and that is that we will one day die.  
It is not something we want to, or tend to think about.  
It is so hard losing someone for it leaves a wicked hole.  
Hard to think of celebrating death, 
but really it is what life is about, 
the culmination of each of us, the sum and that should be celebrated.
 Maybe if we considered death more often we might live more fully, enjoy life.  
It is what those that have had near death experiences talk about.  

Training for hospice was the most worthwhile programs I have been privileged to take.  Doctors, nurses, hospice volunteers, chaplains who work with the dying 
spent a great deal of time explaining the process, the stresses, agony, 
the miracle and the beauty of this time of life. 

We all face the end of life differently.   
When my aunt was dying, she brought together her family
 and talked to them of many things
 including her death and their future without her.  
Although it was hard for them, it was lovely that they could share this time.  
They were with her when she drew her last breathe.  What a gift.






There is something lovely and noble in the remains of trees that have died.  









June 4, 2013

can you say green?


june is busting out all over ~











June 3, 2013

numbers

I couldn't wait to be 16.  At 16 I thought 21 ancient.  40 was VERY old and retirement age I couldn't fathom. In a year and a few months I shall be 70. I have an 80+ year old half sister.  Whoa! Did you note those #'s?

Here I am with 80 acres which is a huge number compared to the acreage of the house I grew up in (huge house, small lot) and the acreage most people own.   I am becoming increasing aware that 80 acres is bigger when trying to do the same work I did 10 years ago.

This week I had mild chest pains.  I went to see a professional who told me my weight is good,  I have the blood pressure of a teenager, but she would like me to see a cardiologist.  I saw a cardiologist who said if I were 20 and presented with my symptoms he would send me home, however "at your age we should run some tests"  Tests will be run next week.  

How strange not to be 16, 21, 40 or even 65 anymore.
Today I went out at dawn and weeded for a couple of hours before breakfast getting dirt and wet from the rains all over me and my coffee.  I shall never catch up with the 80 acres.  

Such is life.....