to summer weary
eyes… only the snow
transforms the dying garden
It’s been a while since I played with the poets at One Deep Breath. For more *beautiful* haiku in response to this week’s prompt, click here.
All posts by laurahinnj
Just another Monday
Beach plums in bloom make me happy, so I’m posting this pic, as unseasonable as it is, in an attempt to temper my crankiness. Other than normal Monday crankiness, this is what had me frazzled today:
*My camera – it’s fine I think, just something wrong with the memory card, but that means spending money on a new one or sorting out what to do with this one and really do I have time for that now?
*Street signs – why don’t towns maintain them for dopey social workers like me who go out without a proper map? And why don’t people put numbers on their damn houses?
*I locked myself out of the house… again. Only the second time in a month, mind you.
*I still haven’t done any Xmas shopping! What the devil is the matter with me!
*It’s a little chilly here and my mother-in-law ran out of oil to heat her house and didn’t mention it to anyone. (I won’t mention the two brothers-in-law that live with her and who also didn’t mention it nor did they mention there was no money to buy more oil.) Hello? Are my relatives particularly nutty or do yours do this type of thing, too?
(And I see the ridiculousness of worrying over xmas gifts when the MIL has no heat.. I do!)
*Speaking of relatives (I should probably just stop before I really get on a roll, but can’t resist just one more tidbit) – digging around in the closet this evening looking for cookie tins, I found Xmas presents from last year for my nephew, all wrapped pretty and waiting for his dad to show up for them. I guess they’ll still be there this Xmas if he ever bothers to let me know if he’s planning to come for dinner!
Hmm.. that’s probably enough. So how was your Monday?
😉
It’ll be better in the morning… I know.
Picless
I had trinkets to share tonight, but my camera isn’t cooperating for some reason. Hopefully it’s just a battery issue and not another electronic gadget gone permanently awry, like the iPod.
At any rate, I should mention that I’m still holding out for more quirky xmas decoration pics as I’ve only received a few. So please send them along, if you’d intended to.
Have a nice Monday!
Seven random things
I’ve been tagged by Endment with a meme to list seven random things. I’ve done some variation on this meme a few times, but they seem well-buried in the archives in case I repeat myself.
Here are the rules:
Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
So here goes:
1. I have a newly-minted relative. Here’s his pic. Can you tell he’s not from my side of the family with that dark hair! His name is Giovanni.
2. The only magazine I subscribe to and read regularly is Vanity Fair. At the moment, I carry three issues to and from work with me every day, but clearly don’t find the time to read them.
3. Speaking of work, my cubicle-buddy Linda came back today after being out on maternity leave since early September. Linda is Dominican and it’s so nice to have someone to share *bochinche* with and chat in Spanish again.
4. I still haven’t really started my Xmas shopping. Can you say denial?
5. My favorite place to bird in Cape May is Hidden Valley Ranch. We never even got there when the flock was here in October, but the habitat is similar to Higbee’s (pictured here on a very birdy morning) except that there’s also a nice bit of wet woods and oftentimes Barred Owls (and horses)!
6. I finally had to buy Luka a new collar because he’s outgrown the old one. Of course he wouldn’t cooperate for his picture and insisted on sitting on me while I tried to take it, but the collar is a pretty shade of blue with neon green alligators on it and reminds me of the preppy ties I like to buy for my brothers from Vineyard Vines.
7. Ever wonder what brings the most visitors to this blog from Google searches? This post and its pic of bunny poop. Go figure!
I’ll tag:
Susan, of course, at Susan Gets Native
Rabbit’s Guy at A Houseful of Rabbits
Dave at Bird TLC and Around Anchorage
Trixie at Trixie’s View
Ruthie J. at Nature Knitter
Jennifer at A Passion for Nature
Larry at The Brownstone Birding Blog
Wildlife tree
Ever thought to decorate a tree for the birds and other wildlife in your garden? As if you need something else to have to decorate?
😉
It might be something as simple as strings of popcorn and peanuts, cranberries and grapes, or something as elaborate (and pretty) as this wildlife tree at Longwood Gardens. The NWF suggests thin apple and orange slices, as well as pinecones coated with a mix of peanut butter and cornmeal then dipped in birdseed. Zick dough might be yummy too, I’d bet. And remember that your discarded xmas tree makes a great sheltering spot for birds and can be used as the base of a brush pile to attact other wildlife.
I took this pic last Christmas at Longwood and swore I’d make it back this past summer – didn’t happen. I wonder if anyone is going this Christmas? Heather in Pa. – is this tree a staple of the display? Do you know if the decorations are handmade?
Something else to add to the holiday to-do list.
On the boards today
Ocean Grove, NJI had the boardwalk to myself this morning and there was no one on the beach, despite the near to 60 degree temps. Just a single line of footprints interlocking with paw prints. It’s back down to near freezing tonight.
*End of weather report*
😉
Nameless things
As children, we were unaware of so many things that we lived in a strange paradise of invented names and things that, in our eyes, were full of mystery. Birds, insects and flowers that had no names other than those we chose to give them. In this way, each of us possessed our own beautiful and magical kingdom made up things as ephemeral as the baptism of a tree, or a creek, or a particular path through the woods. We used to say, “I swam in your creek”; “Look at your birds”; “This is my flower.”
I had a special love for certain animals that in the opinion of many were quite disgusting. I remember a toad. It lived under the rocks near a little creek that was close to where I grew up. I called him Sam the Mindreader, and although I can’t seem to remember why, the reasons behind any of these names for plants and animals were vague and intangible to begin with. And if we loved some of these, we also hated others, such as the thistles, pastel purple flowers born among the weedy fields that signaled the coming end of our summer vacation. When the purple flowers appeared we would squash them furiously with our heels or cut them from their roots.
One day someone killed Sam the Mindreader. I found him squashed and dried up. I stayed there for a long time just looking and listening to the creek running across the rocks. Suddenly I was left with a name in the emptiness, a name I didn’t know what to do with. A strange feeling came over me then. I remember that I went away slowly; it wasn’t sadness that I felt, but the emptiness of something that had fled, like a bird or a memory. I felt this loss to the point that for days I went around repeating to myself now and again “Sam the Mindreader” without understanding it well any longer.
Many times since I have felt the hollowness of a word that, in reality, never existed. But then, for the first time, I became aware of certain words or echoes that leave a hollow in our thoughts that neither hope nor memory can overcome.
Of white elephants and yankee swaps…
or what my favorite sister-in-law likes to call a chinese polyanna – ever done one? With the family or at work? Maybe with all the neighbors? The idea of this gift exchange is that everyone brings a wrapped gift of similar value. It’s all anonymous and everyone who is participating draws a number. The person with #1 selects a gift and opens it so all can see what it is. The person with #2 can either “steal” #1’s gift or choose a wrapped gift from the remainder. The game continues for each subsequent player so that higher numbers are more desirable (because you have more open gifts to steal) – and that’s the fun of the game – the stealing!
I’ve only ever done these where you have to go out and buy a gift to participate, but at our holiday party at work tomorrow we’re doing a white elephant with *unwanted or gently used* items from home. Ought to be interesting, I bet. Of course, I throw anything like that away (can’t stand the clutter!) – so I wrapped up a little box of Godiva chocolates received as a freebie for spending a bit too much there of late.
😉
I’d love to hear of any wacky gifts you may have received (or gotten rid of) in a similar gift exchange. Stories, please!
It’s beginning to look…
… ever so slightly the tiniest bit like Christmas. I wrapped a gift or two and the fingernails are that god-awful shade of red that’s so popular now. I am so not a red person .
Don’t forget those quirky pics to me by this Wednesday, okay?
Flock movements
Okay girls… where are we going next? It’s been a month or so since Susan last tried to tempt us to Ohio and Magee Marsh (which sounds pretty neat), but that second weekend in May is something of a sticking point for any of us in NJ as it’s World Series weekend.
Lynne is still quietly floating the idea of the flock visiting frozen Minnesota and Sax Zim Bog (which sounds really, really neat – Great Grey Owls!), but the frozen part is a little scary.
Mary in North Carolina? Delia in Pa.? Susan at Lake Life in North Carolina or is it Florida now? Pam in New York? Want to tempt us your way? Anyone else have ideas?