LISTENING TO THE RIVER

To Jospeh who asked

2011-06-05T11:32:00.001-04:00

Message to Joseph who asked about the chicken lamp. Several years ago I
bought it at Marshalls in Newington, NH. Hope that helps.

Iguana love

2011-04-04T15:26:00.003-04:00

I've just been out in the cold April rain, running errands. Went to the pet store and one of the young women who works there had a yellow blanket over her blouse, and on the blanket, she was cradling Annie the Iguana (green and yellow). She had Annie's face up against her cheek and then down trailed the long iguana body including a very lengthy tail (that reached beyond the young woman's knees!) The young woman cooed and prattled to the iguana who gave every indication of being in iguana heaven. No camera so maybe I'll try to draw what I can remember. Anyway, after witnessing such earnest iguana-love, the rain really didn't seem to matter.

2011-03-31T10:15:00.001-04:00

Because of the snow prediction, I've uploaded a picture of a quilt I finished recently and sent to my sister for her birthday. For the color. . .for the warmth. . .

2011-03-31T10:14:00.001-04:00

Later today, we're expected to get about 12 inches of slush or snow. Fortunately, all the hopeful flowers have it within their power to withstand this nonsense. If they can, I can. . .

Nearly April

2011-03-28T16:56:00.002-04:00

and we are still ten to fifteen degrees colder than normal for this time of year. Today, low 40s with a fierce cold wind. Students at the university sick of the cold, egging on spring by wearing shorts and tee shirts! Indoor plants have the right idea, too. Full-tilt blooming. So that's what I'm practicing, too.

Cold Mountain Poem

2011-03-18T19:14:00.001-04:00

Cold Mountain Poems
Han Shan

Sometimes from down below
I catch the flash of the stream's flow.
Sometimes I sit like a stone on the cliff.
My heart is like the orphan cloud,
with nothing to lean on,
so far, so far away,
what of the world's could sway it?

translated by J.P.Seaton

2011-03-17T20:04:00.001-04:00

Sixty degrees and sunny today. It's pretty clear how the crocuses feel about the whole situation!

Magician's Dove on My Head

2011-03-17T20:03:00.001-04:00

The Magician's Dove

2011-03-17T13:39:00.003-04:00

I have one white domestic dove, Stella, saved from starvation, probably after being released at a wedding. Domestic doves can't fend for themselves in the wild. It's a much better idea to release white homing pigeons at weddings. . .Anyway, she had a companion dove who died. I went on line and found a dove for adoption at an SPCA who had just been surrendered by a magician! Picture is of the magician's dove I named Clara. She loves to hide in soft white fabrics and sings all night long. Secretly, she is teaching me real magic!

Rain, not snow

2011-03-16T14:38:00.002-04:00

This winter has gone on for one hundred years. Fortunately, there are only three more days to spring. And today's downpour, though heavy, is NOT snow.

And here is a gorgeous poem by Anita Skeen to tide you over until spring does come.

What the Seed Knows

by Anita Skeen

winter plods on like a Russian novel, spring
hints, haiku

tight blouses unbutton, jackets unzip,
skin is not just skin

rich soil proliferates
in the heart, in the hand
that can never let go

rivers flow unseen, underground, unfettered
unfathomable

some dig down, some rise up
some survive

sleep is not dreamless:
how else the orange, the dogwood?
the phalanx of asparagus?

coddled in the pod,
all the seed needs:

darkness, more snug
than light

grit splits the rock, raises
a tiny fist, screams
the world into profusion
of petaled racket

to uncurl and unfurl
to unhusk from the crust

to inhale, exhale
turn toward what's bright.

2010-10-03T14:16:00.000-04:00

Here's a goofy little doodle from a journal page. . .

2010-10-03T13:33:00.002-04:00

Have found, and fallen in love, with a poet new to me -- Shinkichi Takahashi. This poems's from a book called Triumph of the Sparrow/Zen poems.

GODS

Gods are everywhere:
war between Koshi and Izumo
tribes still rages.

The all of All, the One
ends distinctions.

The three thousand worlds
are in that plum blossom.
The smell is God.

Chicken lamp

2010-10-03T13:14:00.003-04:00

Busy, hurry, list it, do it, fast, now and now-er, better, best it. . .seems to be the dominant tape running in my head and no matter how many things I check off the infinite To Do list, dozens of other things boldly add themselves so that the list never shrinks, only grows. This morning, though, I heard a quieter voice, quite funny, actually. It said, "Why don't you just pay some attention to the chicken's tail feathers." Meaning the carving, I guess. So I did. I stopped and meditated briefly on the beauty of the wooden feathers. In the background, the To Do list was ramping itself up with trombones and xylophones,small mortar rounds and the sound of Humpty-Dumpty crashing and climbing, crashing and climbing. But it doesn't make any difference because today, finding my way from beauty to beauty is the doing.

Grateful for rain

2010-10-03T13:12:00.002-04:00

Whole porch full of geraniums burst into very nearly audible hallelujahs
when the rain finally returned.

Spider with Twin

2010-08-07T15:47:00.002-04:00

This spider's been spinning its web from my rocking chair to my front door or weeks which means I can't really use the rocking chair and getting in and out of the house is always a very delicate tai chi sort of event. For me and the spider. Then the rain came
and -- really! -- washed the spider out! One day of sun and she's back. I'm happy to see her. I don't mind about the rocker. Out on the lawn, there's a glider that none of the spiders seem to have discovered yet!

New Heart-Throb

2010-07-15T16:14:00.002-04:00

2010-07-15T16:06:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite poems by e.e. cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

TRUE STORY BUT NO PICTURES FOR OBVIOUS REASONS

2010-07-13T17:39:00.004-04:00

CFW leaves me a phone message: "The Kittery Police called and said that they've received a report of a seagull at Fort Foster using an injury to get the sympathy of people on the beach. If you're able, will you go to Fort Foster to see if the gull needs assistance?" She's laughing. It's illegal for a gull to "use its injury" to garner food or affection from nearby humans? Is the bird letting one wing droop a bit while sighing softly "To fly or not to fly?" Is it throwing up on tots? Is it going into a dead faint right next to the cheese doodles?

I drive up to Fort Foster and ask the man at the gate if he knows anything about a deceitful gull.
"Yes," he says. "We had quite a few reports. A police officer responded to the call. As soon as that gull saw the officer, it flew away. The officer said he thought the gull was frightened off by his
uniform. We figured the gull was just sick or something."

"Maybe ate some bad fish?" I say, getting into the swing of things.

"Yes!" says the man at the gate. "That's just what we thought!"

But I'm left wondering just who calls the cops on a gull? And why does a police officer show up on the beach FOR A SEAGULL????

You figure it out. . .

2010-07-13T17:07:00.002-04:00

After the March 31st release and the sighting of male and female together
I haven't seen the swans on the pond until today. The pictures are of swan
#1 in the clear water, swan #2 in the green water and #3 swans together.
They were clear across the pond so the pictures are blurry and small but
who cares. They are alive and clearly very happy to be together. I couldn't be happier myself.

March 31, 2010 Swan Returns to Pond

2010-07-13T16:59:00.002-04:00

The swan we found on January 13th who had a 6 inch deep wound in her chest recovered, mainly due to the incredibly good care she received at the Center for Wildlife. These are pictures of Lorisa, who should be named Goddess-Savior of Wildlife,
returning the swan to the pond. We'd been told that the swan's mate had been killed. But he showed up the next day. Really a very happy story.

POOTS

2010-07-12T12:34:00.001-04:00

"If we give objects the friendship
they should have, we do not open
a wardrobe without a slight start. Beneath its russet wood, a wardrobe
is a very white almond."
-Gaston Bachelard

MARCEL

2010-07-12T12:17:00.002-04:00

"An immense cosmic house is a potential of every dream of houses. Winds radiate from its center and gulls fly from its windows. A house that is as dynamic
as this allows the poet to inhabit the universe. Or, to
put it differently, the universe comes to inhabit the house."
-Gaston Bachelard

2010-06-18T16:44:00.000-04:00

There's a gannet in the bathtub
(not my bathtub, thank God)

2010-06-18T16:43:00.000-04:00

and a baby possum in my heart

2010-06-18T16:41:00.001-04:00

This is Amy, one of the staff members at the Center for Wildlife, with one of our many new babies.

2010-05-30T16:30:00.001-04:00

2010-05-30T16:28:00.000-04:00

The Great Auk, Extinct

2010-05-29T20:52:00.000-04:00

Relative of Extinct Auk appears in Wells, Maine

2010-05-28T13:28:00.003-04:00

I happened to be working at the Center for Wildlife as a Razor Bill was admitted. Technically, it really should have been swimming off the coast of Newfoundland. So a lot must have gone wrong for this beauty to appear
at a construction site in Wells, Maine.
We all stopped work to marvel. The
Razor Bill's the bird that most resembles the extinct giant Auk.

Razor Bill somewhat off course

2010-05-28T13:16:00.001-04:00

Black and white, interrupted

2010-05-28T13:06:00.003-04:00

The bird appeared to be such a black and white affair that the intake of breath ( from all of us gathered to watch the exam) was audible.
"Mango!" said Amy. And that's exactly the color of the inside of the Razor Bill's mouth. Mango bright and true!

2010-05-28T13:03:00.002-04:00

Slim stem's the thing connecting what we can see with what we can't. Those little hearts? Obvious everyday valentines from each side to the other.

2010-05-21T17:23:00.001-04:00

Am not sure what this is. That's probably why I bought it -- at the grocery store! Clearly, it cannot be edible to anyone or anything on this earth?

OTIS July 1992 - April 2010

2010-05-17T10:19:00.004-04:00

Whose religion centered around tearing off any loose wallpaper; who, over time, turned the banister into splinters as he clawed his way from the first to second floor, never taking stairs when there was an opportunity to shred wood; who could wake from the deepest sleep by the scent of freshly toasted bread, leaping to the table or my lap and tearing off tiny bits of toast, flinging the scraps every which way and only eating the bits that had the most butter; who, spiritually, mentaly and physically
could not abide flowers in vases -- never once failing to swat every flower out of every vase (eating a few, ignoring the rest); whose purr was certain remedy for any sadness, small or large. Apparently no remedy for the sadness that attends his passing.

My new mantra

2010-05-17T10:16:00.001-04:00

If at first an idea does not sound absurd, then there is no hope for it."
--Albert Einstein

poem by Jack Myers

2010-05-17T10:01:00.000-04:00

Desert is the Memory of Water

After I am gone and the ache begins
to cease and the slow erosion I felt,
being older than you, invades you too,
you’ll come to see that an image of the desert
is the memory of water, like remembering

when we were walking in beautiful Barcelona
and you said you thought trees were gods
because they were rooted in earth
and flew in the air and magically made food
out of light and made the air we breathe.

I was stunned how you could open up a God-space
just like that. Like when my 2-year-old dug holes
in the yard and fit his face into each of them to see,
as he explained, if he could find where the darkness
came from. Then you asked me why I never prayed.

I believe whatever disappears or survives
or comes into being is a prayer that’s already
been answered, and that we feel alone
because we won’t let go of what is gone
or changed or hasn’t happened yet.

Waking this morning with my arms around you,
the dogs snoring, and a mourning dove cooing,
I felt I awoke in a peaceable kingdom
where the fear of death turned inside-out
into a love for life. If I prayed, I’d pray for that for you.

-- Jack Myers, from his final collection,
The Memory of Water

2010-03-06T18:22:00.002-05:00

Walked to the graveyard this afternoon. Most of the angels were toppled from last week's crazy windstorm, some gusts up to 91 mph.
Every angel I could find, now restored to his or her proper guard post.

2010-01-24T09:58:00.000-05:00

"All beginnings are small." -Carl Jung

Poem by William Dickey

2010-01-23T19:41:00.002-05:00

Happiness
by William Dickey from
THE RAINBOW GROCERY

I sent you this bluebird of the name of Joe
with "Happiness" tattooed onto his left bicep.
(For a bluebird, he was a damn good size.)
And all you can say is you think your cat got him?

I tell you the messages aren't getting through.
The Golden Gate Bridge is up past its ass in traffic;
tankers colliding, singing telegrams on strike.
The machineries of the world are raised in anger.

So I am sending this snail of the name of Fred
in a small tricolor sash, so the cat will know him.
He will scrawl out "Happiness" in his own slow way.
I won't ever stop until the word gets to you.

2010-01-23T19:26:00.002-05:00

Swan reported lingering in small area of open water near drain pipe on a frozen pond. Normally, at this time of year, the swans would be on the river. I went to investigate and then went back again the next morning. A friend and I pulled the swan to shore. Discovered a wound at least six inches deep in her side. She is now receiving the best of care up at the Center For Wildlife. I think of her every day.

2010-01-18T16:44:00.000-05:00

Crow taking heart from candle flame. . .

Isthmus to Island

2010-01-04T12:30:00.002-05:00

Under almost any other circumstance, there's an isthmus here. This high tide turned the dock to island. If it were my isthmus, I think I might have sequestered myself on the far part of the dock with good footwarmers, a thermos of tea and enjoying temporary island-hood. . .

Very high tide

2010-01-04T12:29:00.002-05:00

Because of the second full moon at the end of December, yesterday's high tide was about as high as I've ever seen. For instance, one should be able to walk to this dock!

PS

2010-01-01T21:04:00.001-05:00

In fact, the bird did fly away. Just resting. . .

Andy's poem for the new year

2010-01-01T14:51:00.002-05:00

This is the poem I just received from my friend, Andrea LeBlanc. Wonderful poem for the new year!

1/1/10

On the first morning of a brand new year
Indeed a new decade
Standing outdoors in slippers and robe
A goldfinch sitting on my hand

Stunned (or content)
Safe from the chill of the snow
Where he fell
Heartbeats throbbing visibly
As minutes passed

Listening to the wingbeats of cardinals
Distinct amidst the flutter
Of birds busy
Before the coming storm

Grateful in the stillness
For the opportunity
To begin the year
With a kindness

LIVE IT UP!

2010-01-01T14:34:00.004-05:00

First day of the new year, seems like a good time to revisit this picture. As a little kid, I was always ready for a racally good time. Starting when I was about four, I used to say to my grandmother, "Live it up, Becky, I do!" A very good motto for the new year.

2009-12-31T18:22:00.000-05:00

Wishing everyone a truly happy new year!

2009-12-31T18:16:00.001-05:00

Light snow in the afternoon. I went walking in the woods and found this heart for Clytie!

2009-12-26T17:25:00.002-05:00

In May of this year, a game warden brought a 4 day old albino porcupine to the Center for Wildlife. Because she was sickly and needed lots of tending, she became quite used to humans and it was decided that she should remain at the Center as an "educational ambassador." This holiday card was done by Jeannie Brett.

I haven't had a Christmas tree for years, mainly because I'm too tired at the end of the semester. But this year, inspired by Edna, I got a beauty! See picture below. It's the kind of tree that e.e. cummings and Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein would have loved. Maybe do love. Look at those ghost lights glowing in the window. . .

2009-12-26T17:24:00.000-05:00

2009-12-26T17:23:00.000-05:00

The ghost of the Christmas tree looking in the window. . .

2009-12-26T17:18:00.001-05:00

Twilight on this part of the river specializes in
blues pulled straight out of deep dream. . .

from The New Yorker July 1, 1939

2009-12-12T18:51:00.002-05:00

I am still cleaning out the room was used to be the guest room and then became the junk room.
Nearly done! And when it's done, its official name will be The Room of the Blue Hedgehog in honor of a picture I found in there of, natch, a blue hedgehog, done by a friend's child when he was in the 4th grade. Yes, it seems to me that everyone needs a hedgehog room (especially if one has so many pets they can't really have a hedgehog. . .)

One of the joys of this clean-up is finding lost treasure. This appeared in the New Yorker in 1939.
I have always loved it. A psychology professor gave this to our class. A mother overheard her young child talking to himself and wrote this down, presumably from behind a door. I don't think the child knew anyone could hear him. Even as irked as he is, he does manage to add some hilarious little touches. He'll remember to put the lid on the garbage can! But even better, the panda, the marble. Oh, yes. And the noonday sun. . .

He will just do nothing at all,
He will just sit there in the noonday sun,
And when they speak to him, he will not answer him,
Because he does not care to.
He will stick them with spears and put them in the garbage.
When they tell him to eat his dinner, he will just laugh at them.
And he will not take his nap, because he does not care to.
He will not talk to them, he will not say nothing,
He will just sit there in the noonday sun.
He will go away and play with the panda.
He will not speak to nobody, because he doesn't have to.
And when they come to look for him, They will not find him,
Because he will not be there.
He will put spikes in their eyes and put them in the garbage,
And put the cover on.
He will not go out in the fresh air or eat his vegetables
Or make wee-wee for them, and he will get thin as a marble.
He will not do nothing at all.
He will just sit there in the noonday sun.

2009-12-12T18:50:00.000-05:00

This is for my Moleskine project. . .

2009-12-12T18:44:00.000-05:00

Snow crystals, fingerprints, kisses, each one different. . .

First snow early December

2009-12-06T18:09:00.001-05:00

These were the last flowers to come from the garden. Just hours before, literally, these flowers were still growing outside. . .

"The wind has. . .

2009-12-03T10:29:00.002-05:00

"The wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away and the trees stand." --e.e.cummings

So now I can see the river again! Fortunately, the river refused to go waltzing off with the crazy, crazy wind. And my beautiful boat is now put away for the winter. I rowed at dusk on Sunday to the launch area, accompanied by a harbor seal -- the water all rosy from the sunset, the temperature 50 degrees. Now I'm going to have to rely on daydream to travel the shining water. Lucky for me -- one of my best talents, daydreaming.

The Angel's New Hat

2009-12-03T10:08:00.001-05:00

2009-11-21T20:42:00.001-05:00

Went out rowing today for two hours. The wind was a bit frisky but the weather was warm -- well, warm for November 21st. About 50 degrees. And the river, gorgeous. The second best surprise was rowing out to the Memorial Bridge and finding it had reopened. The best surprise was playing hide and seek with a harbor seal the whole time I was out on the water.

Cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, nasturtiums, spinach. . .

2009-11-15T11:31:00.002-05:00

November zinnia. . .I've covered the flowers twice when the temps got too close to freezing. Am NOT complaining. Couldn't be happier, actually, that I still have a garden in November.

Plates full of diamonds. Or fortune tellers' globes. . .

2009-11-15T11:28:00.003-05:00

Rained for a solid day and night. I was out at 10 pm bailing the boat. Good thing. She was very nearly full. But look at the plates full of diamonds that I found everywhere this morning!

New pal

2009-11-15T11:27:00.001-05:00

My newest pal. Not clear to me whether the mouse is male or female so for now, it lives in its own glass house. But it likes to sit on my shoulder while I write. Tiny whiskered muse. . .

Mouse with Mouse

2009-11-15T11:26:00.000-05:00

Home

2009-11-08T17:03:00.002-05:00

5:00 pm -- already dark. Just came in from the river and a two hour row in 65 degree weather. I watched the wind pull an oak leaf off a branch and then the leaf drifted peacefully down and floated across the reflection of its own tree. . .

Sad PS

2009-11-07T16:43:00.003-05:00

The possum died, but not before she had a scrumptious full plate of cat food. She had a safe, warm place for her last bit of time on earth. I buried her in the back yard in a nest of golden leaves, in a place where the sun first touches the yard as it rises. Poetic but ridiculous since possums are nocturnal. Oh well.

ONE OF THE MANY REASONS I LOVE WINTER

2009-11-07T16:10:00.003-05:00

The river's always right there, though foliage screens into invisibility late May through early November. My part of Kittery still hasn't had a hard frost so we've held on to flowers and leaves and wits a bit longer this year. Now the trees are starting to think it's time to let go. Late afternoon, I am wonderfully surprised--as I am every year--by sunset light glittering right over the water into my window. Not a great picture but still, you get the idea. One of the many reasons I love winter. It returns to me the river.

2009-11-06T23:16:00.002-05:00

Center for Wildlife today. Got to visit the three squirrels I raised. They were in an outdoor cage, sitting up on high shelves. Their tails fluffed up behind them like autumn clouds. Eating acorns. Three beauties! Soon to be released back into the woods. They started out so scrawny and broken and are now nothing but beautiful. And I did see the release of Great Horned Owl who'd been at the Center since July. Oh, yeah. Amy let go and that owl was off into evening in one big happy hurry!

2009-11-03T22:40:00.001-05:00

This isn't my picture but nevertheless, the bathtub possum could be this possum's sister. . .

Opossum with concussion in my bathtub

2009-11-03T21:49:00.003-05:00

I was walking the dogs this evening when I spotted a confused opossum on the sidewalk ahead of us. Tied the excited dogs to a telephone pole and went to examine the poor juvenile opossum who let me walk right up . . .couldn't see any blood but suspect the critter had just been
grazed by a car. She turned in a little half-hearted spiral then just stopped and looked at me as if to say, "How has my life come to this?" If she'd her wits about her, she would have fled the minute she saw me and/or the dogs. Up to speed, an opossum can go at a fairly decent clip, about 4 miles per hour. Decided I couldn't leave her there. She was at the mercy of humans both in and out of cars. So took off my coat, bundled her up like a baby, held her in one arm, while I untied the dogs, took their leashes in my other hand and set off under the still-mighty-full-moon toward home, hoping that she stayed dazed long enough to forget about trying to bite me. Opossums have lots of sturdy teeth. Now she's in the bathtub with a small dish of wet cat foot and also water. If she survives the night, I'll take her up to the Center for the Wildlife in the morning. A doolally opossum's in the bathtub and all's right with the world.

2009-10-25T17:02:00.002-04:00

Sixty degrees today on the river this afternoon. My new BFF, a young ring-billed gull who kept me company the whole time I was out on the water. I followed this trail of light while rowing and as yet have no plans to return.

2009-10-24T15:27:00.001-04:00

While cleaning an outdoor cage at CFW, got a very bad nail puncture. Went to the Dr. for a tetanus shot but that resulted in a fever? I guess. I went to bed in two pairs of pjs covered with a fleece top, wool socks on my feet, wool socks on my hands (who knows where their gloves are when suddenly the body goes polar and its the middle of the night), a hat, covered by two down puffs and a fat warm bedspread, radiators cranking out 80 degree heat. And I couldn't get warm. (I didn't take this picture. . .) But it gives you a pretty good idea what the inside of me felt like last night.

2009-10-22T11:40:00.001-04:00

Not as easy as you might think to take a picture of yourself very nearly covered with birds. Stella's looking out the window. Perma-dove's picking out his read for the day. I'm working on a poem. All's right with the world, tho possibly I could use one more bird for my right shoulder. . .just to balance things out. . .

2009-10-22T11:38:00.000-04:00

A Happy Birthday
by Ted Kooser

This evening, I sat by an open window
and read till the light was gone and the book
was no more than a part of the darkness.
I could easily have switched on a lamp,
but I wanted to ride this day down into night,
to sit alone and smooth the unreadable page
with the pale gray ghost of my hand.

2009-10-20T22:48:00.002-04:00

Sorry to be repetitious but I am, as they say in Great Britain, gobsmacked. Today my neighbors put up a sign to show the snow where to fall. . .Or perhaps they are planning to sell snow this winter and are pointing to the site of their future snow store. It's hard to tell in cases like this just what's really going on. . .Any ideas?

2009-10-20T22:46:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned lately that I am in love with THIS BOAT?

2009-10-20T17:41:00.002-04:00

65 degrees today. I emptied last weekend's storm out of the boat and went rowing. But not far. The outgoing tide was wickedly strong. So I rowed in sweet circles right by the dock. Is it all right to be in love with a boat? I am in love with my boat. I am deeply, deeply in love with my boat. I don't see this love affair ending anytime soon.

2009-10-18T17:39:00.001-04:00

This is from Caroline Smith & John Astop.
The Elemental Tarot.
And reminds me that while say things, one
to another, other more important messages
are passing between us.

2009-10-14T12:18:00.001-04:00

Last flowers to survive the frost are keeping the camel lamp company. The camel, in turn, guards the desk and desk, now a squirrel and dove playground, inspires fabulous drawings and poems!

2009-10-13T09:45:00.002-04:00

All day cold rain. Frost tonight or tomorrow night. So I'm posting this flower lamp. Because.

2009-10-12T17:54:00.002-04:00

My squirrels are now eating plates of whole wheat bread and formula. They are old enough that they don't want to be hand fed anymore. And they no longer want to play the Mekeel Is A Pine Tree game. A few more days and I will return them to the wildlife center. They'll be released back into the wild very soon. If I'm lucky, I'll have three more babies to raise for release before winter sets in.

2009-10-11T14:28:00.000-04:00

Not always easy for a human to be a tree.

2009-10-10T16:49:00.002-04:00

Not a hat. Not a cloud. Not a bad idea. Just a wonderful new brain, purchased for $3 at a local farm stand.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to install it (and get the cabbage juice out of my hair.)

Getting Ready for Winter

2009-10-05T17:38:00.001-04:00

Weather's still warm, more like spring than summer, or late summer. No frost yet. Every year, the frost comes later and later. Nevertheless, I'm shifting my attention to the clouds because soon that's where the best blooming will be. . .

2009-10-05T17:34:00.002-04:00

Tire cover I saw on an SUV in the school parking lot. She's impressive, if not for her super-powers, then certainly for her dimensions. What a crack up.

Luna Fortuna Secunda Columbidae Fos

2009-10-04T19:56:00.005-04:00

Late summer, early autumn, there's a very rare flower, maybe only three or four of them in a year, in the whole United States. In Latin, the name of this flower is:
luna fortuna secundna columbidae fos
and it means something like
"good luck moon-dove flower."
As you can see, I am one of the lucky ones who found such a flower in my own garden!

I'm just goofing. That's Stella the live dove nesting in flowers I brought inside from the garden!

2009-10-04T15:20:00.004-04:00

The instructions are from a book called Journal Spilling by Diana Trout
1. Work quickly
2. Choose a magazine and rip out 7 - 10 pages
3. Then choose 7 - 10 images, again quickly
4. Without thinking, place the images on the paper, fast.
5. Scribble

I work slowly and I don't scribble so this exercise turned out to be both difficult and then, fun!

2009-10-01T19:45:00.000-04:00

from
FORESTER MOTHS
K.A. Efetor
G.M. Tarmann

2009-10-01T19:43:00.000-04:00

Please Do Not Become A Moth

I’ve caught you beginning to look crepuscular,
soft and lost, your edges singed by simple daylight;
at your sides, arms now part wing – like two flags
of surrender the enemy never bothered to notice.
Loss has shrunk you so much even a sparrow
might devour you. When I see you again, I know
you will look like just a man. But once the buried
secret reveals itself, that darkness only grows. So I’m
making sure the moon knows how much you need
its soft cool glow. And I’m folding tin foil into flowers,
filling them with sugar, tying them to leafless branches,
one way of adding a little bit of summer to what now
can only be winter. To me, you will not be coming home
again ever, though home is still my hope for you.

What Happens To Money In My House

2009-10-01T19:31:00.001-04:00

A wonderful artist friend sent me a check to pay for something that didn't need to be paid for. After the check
had been in my house for a few hours,
it mysteriously transformed into what you now see. Non-negotiable, I'd say.

2009-09-27T18:03:00.000-04:00

Once in awhile, usually on a rainy evening, it becomes visible. . .

2009-09-27T17:48:00.003-04:00

When I was twenty eight, I had a dream about a raven who
came to my door with a ring in its beak. A wishing ring. I
still wear it though your first impulse might be not to believe me.
It is, after all, made of dream-metals and so, invisible. . .

Two Hundred Million Reasons to Love Crows #1.

2009-09-26T17:22:00.002-04:00

There are about two hundred million reasons to love crows. The first one is:
they are more glossy beautiful than Marilyn Monroe or fresh asparagus or opera by Puccini or clouds shaped like the lost hanging gardens of Babylon or. . .

Swept Up Whole/Kay Ryan

2009-09-26T16:30:00.001-04:00

SWEPT UP WHOLE

You aren't swept up whole,
however it feels. You're
atomized. The wind passes.
You recongeal. It's
a surprise.

-Kay Ryan

Belonging

2009-09-26T16:03:00.003-04:00

This is my last sunflower. It opened yesterday and isn't just leaning toward the sun. It flattens itself at noon to be a plate, just in case the sun should decide to fall. This sweetie says,"I'll
catch you!"

Have been watching bees all afternoon. They're taking turns with this sunflower. One after another. And they each rotate around once counter-clock wise, as if to say -- you humans tell time backwards. It's really only a matter of how much pollen you can carry away from each blossom. I agree.

I love how much this bee looks like its flower no matter which flower it's on!

2009-09-26T16:01:00.001-04:00

One of the most beautiful days on earth. Everything in the garden, from dragonflies, to big fat honey bees, to me -- all soaking in the late, warm light.

2009-09-26T16:00:00.001-04:00

Late blossom hoping to become eggplant. I may have to repot the plant and bring it indoors but I'm willing. . .

Marigolds

2009-09-15T14:25:00.003-04:00

Origin of the word marigold:
Middle English from the given name Mary, referring to the Virgin Mary + dialect gold

Used for:
tooth aches
headaches
swellings
strengthening the heart
soups
stews
mashed into oil & put
on wounds
festivals
draws evil humors out of the head
strengthens eye sight
stimulant
remedy for pain and bee sting
marigold water in the eyes helps one to see
spirits
herb of the sun
love charms
causes a witch to lose her will
added to pillows to encourage prophetic or psychic dreams
effective in stopping gossip
good for mixing with chicken feed--turns the eggs
extra yellow and the chickens, too
healing skin lotions

2009-09-15T14:24:00.000-04:00

If I were telling time by the garden, I'd say that summer is finally here.

2009-09-13T18:36:00.000-04:00

Moon Man McBride

2009-09-13T18:28:00.003-04:00

Here lies Moon Man who loved to run on what he called his Millennium Wheel or sometimes, The Eye, I'm on the London Eye! He'd go for 10 mouse-miles then stop to wash his whiskers, ears and rosebud nose. Then snack on a seed or berry or a long dried strand of timothy hay and be on his way again on the yellow wheel. As if this journey were brand new, one of a kind, never to happen again. And slept all day in a tea box house, on a bed of shredded grass and bits of pillow stuffing. And he took sunflower seeds from my hand, never failed to peek out of whatever hiding place he was in when I called his name. One of a kind, bright little zen friend, laid to rest on a bed of zinnias, marigolds and fresh mint. He will be so missed.