This spoke to me today...

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
~Martin Luther King

What we do shows who we are. Our character is magnified, perhaps most visible when viewed during challenging times and situations.

Summer heat

It's going to be a great week for the Northwest Washington Fair this coming week, it's gonna be really warm, supposed to hit 90! I'm predicting lots of sunburns.

It's getting a little warm for me when the house doesn't cool off to less than 75 degrees overnight! I don't mind 80-90 degree days, as long as it cools off so I can sleep!

Best $20 spent this week? A box fan!

It was a wonderfully pleasant evening on the deck tonight. While trying to snap a couple of photos of the Gold Finch bathing in the fountain, I took a few of the flowers around the deck.

The top spout is the favored bathing spot for all the birds.

Acidanthera. Related to Gladiolus. Wonderfully fragrant!

 

The pink flower in the fuzzy foreground is a Lupine seedling transplanted out from under the giant yellow Lupine in the front yard

I'm so pleased the rhubarb has survived it's traumatic transplant.

See the string trellis beyond the arbor? It's often full of birds awaiting their turn in the fountain.

What you can't see in this picture is the pumpkins, zuchinni, and yellow crook-necked summer squash vines climbing the trellis.

I never did get a picture of the Gold Finches enjoying the fountain, maybe another time. Stay tuned!

Like Father, Like Son

Just a random photo today....

It's not a good photo because of the relections through the car window but Mom and I had a giggle over the fact that the are sleeping in identical poses! And we weren't in the store but for a few short minutes!

Happy Birthday, 'Manda, my sister, my friend!

My first memory of you? I remember playing on the swing set in the backyard of the brick house we lived in. I was holding a new baby doll, given to me by my godmother, Auntie Marion. She gave me the doll as a ‘don’t want you to feel forgotten’ gift while the new baby was getting all the attention. (I can still remember how the doll smelled, it evokes that memory everytime I hang a new vinyl shower curtain. Her skin was labeled 100% virgin vinyl). I remember swinging and looking down at the baby doll in my arms comparing her to the real baby in the house and saying, “I can’t wait till this baby grows up so I can play with her!” I remember being excited about you, not just as a baby to adore, to gaze at while holding, but being excited about the prospect of having a sister, a built in friend, to play with!


I still look forward to playing with you! Only now, we have to coordinate our schedules to carve out Creative Memory weekends or walks through plant nurseries whenever we can!

When I was seven years old, I thanked God for the baby sister, today I thank God for the wonderful friend she has become! You are one of the blessings of my life and one I hold deep in my heart.

In past, an anniversary of a life begun; Today, an entire life to celebrate.

To celebrate my Mama's birthday, I have posted to my website devoted to her rememberance.

I share this link with you today. Roxanna Remembered.

The Magic of Clouds

There is something very magical about flying through clouds.

These photo were snapped during the second leg of my trip home from Huntsville, Alabama, aloft between Dallas Fortworth and SeaTac.

These photos don't do the real thing justice. As I looked out the window at the clouds, they were so multi-dimensional that it looked as if I could just step off the wing onto a fluffy bed and bounce my way from cloud to cloud!

What I found most interesting is how the different layers of clouds move independently of each other. While watching a slow moving, solid, very white curvaceous cloud formation, a wispy layer of clouds would zip by above or below it.

I found it quite entrancing and very peaceful. A nice escape from the reality of a cramped economy seat on a full flight.

This woud be a true joy of traveling by air.

What to my wondering eyes should appear....

I woke this morning before 7:30, as I lay there trying to decide if I wanted to be awake, I could hear the birds calling. If I listened carefully, I could hear the tinkling of the new backyard fountain through my open bedroom window even though the blinds were down. Then I heard something like a cough come through the window. That was a bit unnerving and it woke me completely out of my drowsy state. As I lay there trying to decide if I had really heard something or if I had dozed into a dream, I heard rustling noises. Okay, that was real, like someone was rifling through the empty pots in my potting area at the end of the shed.

I got out of bed and snuck into the bathroom to peek out of the open window and this is what greeted me...

Six, count 'em, six skunk kits romping in the morning air. Baby animals have a cuteness factor of 1000, especially when the are playing! I watched them charge at each other, stomping with the front feet and skittering sideways as if they were getting ready to spray. I was enchanted by their little personalities! After a while they scooted around the corner out of sight.

Soon Mama Skunk appeared. I watched her use her powerful front paws to tear up the grass by the roots, pulling a pile of thatch against her chest. When a clump wouldn't come up with a tug or two, she used her teeth to yank it out of the ground. She kept scooping it towards her as she backed into the hole under the shed.

Apparently, Saturday mornings are for housekeeping, even when you live under a shed.

I watched her emerge from the shed several times to take armfuls of grass back under the shed. At one point, an assembly line happened, with Mama at the front digging, she would pass the bundle down one side of herself without looking back. Then the kit pushed it back to the next, who backed up under the shed with it and disappeared.

So, DearHusband wants to know what we are going to do about it. I said, "Nothing. She's lived under the shed for at least 5 years that we've noticed." Other than having to use the shovel to scoop up the large-dog sized 'dog-logs' she pushes out from under the shed at the corner, and to pitch them into the empty lot behind the shed, she's a good neighbor, no bother at all. She's tidy, sightings are rare, strong smells have only occurred once this spring, and since she's moved in, I've seen no evidence of rats in the shed! She's earning her keep, as far as I am concerned.

I just always announce my arrival in the backyard by clanging something together or stomping my feet on the deck, so we don't startle each other with an unexpected appearance!

My only concern will be early next spring when we want to completely fence the back yard. How do we get her safely out from under the shed so she doesn't get fenced in. Hmmm, any ideas? Anyone?