A Belated "J"

"J" is for Japanese Maple

I was away from home all week last week and did not post my ABC Wednesday "J" image (nor anything else.) I left home for an unplanned absence on Sunday afternoon after the Stamp Camp was over. At that time, the Japanese Maple tree in my front yard had only leaf buds, and no flowers. I got back home on Friday night, but had so many things to take care of that I didn't look at the tree until Saturday; it was very much as you see it above, fully leafed out and flowering.


I love the Spring and Fall colors of this tree. Spring foliage is rust, tinged with green and maroon. The light in this photo, taken this morning, makes the leaves appear more rust than they actually are. In a few weeks, the leaves will be a uniform green which will last through the Summer months. Cooler weather turns the leaves a deep maroon.


The sun is shining today, after a night of light thunderstorms and rain. During my absence, the rain gauge in my back yard registered 3.5". I emptied it yesterday afternoon and there is another 1/2 inch right now. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow. I won't have to water the flower beds for quite a while.


I'm not only behind with posting, but reading and commenting on my favorite blogs. I shudder to think how many good posts I missed last week. If I've been a regular commentor on your blogs (and if you even noticed that I'd "gone missing,"), I've not abandoned you, it will just be a while before I can catch up.

I hope you're all having a great week!

ABC Wednesday - "I"

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"I" is for Icon

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In 1993, my daughter and her family were living on the island of Crete, Greece. I had the pleasure of spending 4 weeks with them and exploring the island -- and the shops, which offered many opportunities to spend my drachmas. Along with many other things, I bought the icon pictured above. According to the label affixed to the back: "Byzantine Icon This icon is handmade by the priest Refki, who learned the Agiography technik in Athos."

In addition to the Madonna and Child in the center, the icon features the archangel Michael on the left "door" and on the right, the archangel Raphael. (3/19/09 - correction: on the right is the archangel Gabriel. My sharp-eyed reader, rhymeswithplague, correctly interpreted the notation. It was all Greek to me.)

The icon is solid wood and has a stout hook on the top back to allow it to be hung on the wall, but since the base is quite sturdy, it sits on my bedroom dresser, as it has for almost 16 years.

ABC Wednesday was created by Mrs. Nesbitt. Please visit the ABC Wednesday site to view others' interpretations of this week's letter, "I."

Today's Flowers - March 15

Pussy Willow

I've always thought of pussy willow buds as being a sort of luminous gray-white, but a macro lens reveals a lovely variety of colors. I am enchanted by the softs pinks and greens.

Today's Flowers is a weekly Meme created by Luiz Santilli, Jr. and may be found here. Please visit to see others' lovely flower photos. If you have a flower photo of your own to share, please join us.

Bits and Pieces

Caught in the Wind

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It's time for another Stamp Camp. I've been occupied this past week with designing cards and creating samples. This coming week, I'll be cutting card stock, decorative paper and ribbons and otherwise gathering all the materials needed for the participants. It's fun, but time-consuming, so my blogging and blog-reading has been and will be somewhat neglected.

A week ago, I was working in the yard, enjoying the sunshine and balmy weather. We had temps in the low 80's and I thought Spring had arrived. On Wednesday of this week, the icy cold descended upon us again, and temps have not been out of the 40's for the past several days. Thursday brought a bit of icy weather, but it didn't hang around long, but it has not warmed up very much, either. It's good that I have "indoor" sorts of things to keep me occupied.

I was walking my "back forty" a few days ago (before it turned so cold) when my eye caught something hung up on a limb of my fig tree. Closer examination revealed a delicate feather, which had been caught by the not-yet-budded out leaf. How it managed to stay there in the strong wind is a puzzlement.

That's about it for today. I'm off to take precise measurements in preparation for cutting card stock and paper.

ABC Wednesday - "H"

"H" is for Hands

ABC Wednesday was created by Mrs. Nesbitt. Please visit the ABC Wednesday site to view others' interpretations of this week's letter, "H."

Today's Flowers - Tulip Magnolia

Tulip Magnolia
Family: Magnoliaceae
Genus: Magnolia
Species: x soulangeana

The Tulip Magnolia tree in my back garden is is blossom, complementing the brilliant yellows of the daffodils and the hardy Forsythia on the ground below.

Neighborhood squirrels must like the taste of the unopened blossoms. Recently, I have seen squirrels balanced precariously at the budding ends of even the smallest of the limbs and, unfortunately, I found quite a few unopened flower buds lying on the ground beneath the tree, with squirrel-sized bites taken from them. Still, my tree has many beautiful pink-purple blossoms on it, and with those I shall have to be content.

Today's Flowers is a weekly Meme created by Luiz Santilli, Jr. and may be found here. Please visit to see others' lovely flower photos. If you have a flower photo of your own to share, please join us.

Sky Watch - March 5

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This afternoon was balmy, around 75 degrees, with a strong, warm wind from the south. I was engaged in some long-overdue leaf raking when I stopped to catch my breath and wipe my brow. When I looked up, I put down my rake, took off my gloves, went inside to get the camera and take this shot. I love to see the moon in the daytime! Photo was snapped just before 5 p.m.

Sky Watch was created by Dot and expanded upon by our retired friend Tom. This weekly theme post is brought to you by Klaus, Sandy, Fishing Guy, Ivar, Wren, and Louise. Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page anytime after 7:30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Thursdays to see sky photos from around the world. You'll be glad you did.

A Flash of Red

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Just after sundown a few days ago, but while it was not yet quite dark, a flock of fourteen Cardinals descended upon the peach tree in my daughter's back yard. There was no way I could photograph them through the window, nor could I exit the house by the door which opens into the yard; too close -- they would fly away. So I took my camera and went out by a front door and walked around the house and quietly and slowly onto the carport where I hoped I could get a few shots. The photo above, which shows several birds, is as good as I could get in the extant light with my still limited photographic ability. The one below is, I fear, not much of an improvement, but is a better example of the glorious red of the Cardinal's plumage.

Methinks I need to take camera and tripod and just camp out in my daughter's yard for a few hours on a brighter day.

ABC Wednesday - "G"

"G" Is for New Growth

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New growth on the moss at the base of a tree in my back yard.

New growth on the rose bush

New growth on the Peach Tree

New growth on the sweet Pussy Willow

With all this new growth, can Spring be far behind?

ABC Wednesday was created by Mrs. Nesbitt. Please visit the ABC Wednesday site to view others' interpretations of this week's letter, "G."

Today's Flowers

A Day Lily by my back door - Summer, 2008

Other than a few now snow-chilled daffodils (we had a scattering of snow last night), there are no flowers in my garden. So, I share with you the colorful lily which bloomed in a small bed just outside my back door in June of last year.

Today's Flowers is a weekly Meme created by Luiz Santilli, Jr. and may be found here. Please visit to see others' lovely flower photos. If you have a flower photo of your own to share, please join us.

Odds and Ends

I was reading Jinksy's Napple Notes last evening. Jinksy is no mean poet, and I enjoy reading her verse, and her prose. Her most recent post, March 1, titled "Move Over February," contained a lovely poem she has titled "Timing."

Jinksy's poem reminded me of one of my favorite poems, "April Out of Stone" by Laurence Pratt. Many years ago, I copied Pratt's poem into a tiny notebook I carried around with me, which notebook, much the worse for wear, I still have. (I've been known to keep a variety of things far beyond the level of their importance, or usefullness. "Mama Pack-Rat" is my nickname.) Be that as it may, since I knew where the notebook had been deposited (upper left hand junk drawer of my desk) I burrowed through the plethora of odds and ends to find it so I could refresh my memory.

Pratt published "April Out of Stone" around 1939. I am too lazy today to look up the copyright laws which might pertain, but will err on the side of caution by not reproducing his words here except to say that it contains a reference to lichens, thus the photograph above. Suffice it to say, I love this poem, which has now been read, again, several times today, and reinterred in its messy resting place.

The poor little notebook now contains only three wrinkled and yellowed pages, among which I found the following (this is where the pack rat comes in):

Expenditures, June, 1967

Cash on hand $2.86

Coffee, .10

Coffee and cookies, .10

Coke, .10

Dinner, $1.03 (includes .10 tip)

Coffee & cookies, .10

Cashed check, $5.00

Lunch for 2, $2.58 (a splurge, I'm sure)

Coke, .10

Fritos, .10

Parking lot, $6.00 check

Baby sitter, $34.50 check

Kids' Sunday School money, .65

Coke, .10

That's all the entries I made; probably it was too depressing to note how little money I had. At the time, I was a single parent of four children, living with and sharing household expenses with my mother. Daddy had died in 1965. Although I have no absolute recollection, I think the parking lot and baby sitter were weekly expenditures. I do remember how small my monthly income was at the time, and the baby sitter, in particular, took a large percentage of my take home pay.

This page also has been reburied; I just can't bring myself to throw it away. I'll leave that task for my executor.