Bring poppies for a weary mind That saddens in a senseless din. — William Winter
One of the most fleeting of things… my poppies… and yet, perhaps I love them so much because they are so fleeting.
One thing I hope is not fleeting… our outrage at the gun violence of the last two weeks. May our fervor burn red like my poppies and light a fire under those who think doing nothing is our best choice.
I will be back on Monday with my May word update.
It’s been a quiet couple of weeks around here, at least until we went “Yellow” last Friday.
Yellow for my house looks a lot like Red. Unlike my neighbors, we are not racing out to dine in a restaurant, shop at the mall, or get our hair done. It will be interesting to see in the next few weeks if the cases in the county reflect the colossal stupidity I see happening all around me.
But enough with the rant, how about some distractions!
While I have been gone, I have been doing lots of thinking about this blog and how to make it feel fresh to me. Some ideas are percolating around, but nothing concrete yet. For the time being, I will continue stopping in here at least a couple days a week.
Yesterday, we had a swarm of special visitors (who were welcomed, admired, and applauded). This immense swarm of honey bees is festooning on our trimmed bushes waiting for the Bee Scouts to come back and direct them to the new location of their hive! Somewhere in that swarm is their Queen, who left her previous colony and took about half of her workers and set off to find a new place to live. In a week of absolute shit news, this swarm lifted my spirits. I did not know that swarming is evidence of a healthy bee colony…yep, they don’t swarm if they are sick! I wish you could see the size (and weight!!) of these bees – the size of the swarm is about 15″x10″ in size and they are weighing down the sturdy branches so much that they are resting on my neighbor’s chain link fence!
My iPhone does not quite do justice to the magnificence that these bees are!
As you can see above, sweater knitting is moving right along, I have divided for the sleeves and am now just mindlessly knitting body. I am hopeful to have this done by next Wednesday!
These past couple of weeks I have been mourning the loss of singing – specifically choir singing. The realization that there won’t be any choir, or singing in church (if and when ‘in-person’ worship resumes) makes me very weepy. Who ever thought that singing would spread germs faster…certainly not me. So I spent a good bit of time watching all the “separate but together” choirs on YouTube – and there are lots of them, but this one kind of sums of how I am feeling…
I also have been practicing with “the big camera” this week. However, the weather conditions were either too windy, too sunny, or today – too rainy!
Lamb’s Ear makes me smile
Even in the rain, they don’t let go of each other. There is a lesson here for all of us!
That is all I have for today. I will be back next week to share an update on my word next Tuesday with Honoré! Have a good weekend everyone!
I would love to share a post with all the exciting “Motherly” things I did this weekend, but well… on weekend nine (ten?) of Stay At Home… not much was different. We had snow/rain on Saturday and it was not warm enough to be outdoors on Sunday.
I did have calls with my kids… that was nice, but it would have been so much nicer to physically *be with them* (and honestly, there were tears all around)
Hilariously, PA is “opening Allegheny County” this Friday. However, without mass testing and contact tracing, I am not going to be running out to “re-enter” whatever used to be normal life.
However, I do have a couple of macro photos to share. Despite this miserable freaking weather, my chives have started to bloom! I love these little purple pompoms! They are one of my favorite things of spring!
That is all I have for today, I will be back on Wednesday for some Unraveling to share with you all. (And, for the next couple of weeks, it will only be Wednesday posts. I am taking a bit of a “blog vacation” but!! Wednesday’s will remain “vacation free days!”)
I hope you all had moments this weekend that brought you joy, see you all back here on Wednesday!
A gush of bird-song, a patter of dew, A cloud, and a rainbow’s warning, Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue –– An April day in the morning. — Harriet Prescott Spofford
These words from Harriet Prescott Spofford sum up my April perfectly. We had lots of rain, some incredible blue skies, and a cacophony of bird-song this month. It also felt like it moved by at warp speed – which I hope means that I am getting used to staying home because I think May will be more of the same.
Although there is no photo documenting it, some of my best moments of the month were spent journaling. I started a Pandemic Journal this month and my morning writing helps me to “dump” my worries on a page so I don’t have to carry them with me during the day.
A new 100 Day Project began for me on the seventh and I am trying my hand at crochet. While the motions of crochet are not entirely comfortable, I am enjoying the result! Each circle feels a little bit better than the one before, and I have memorized the pattern, which is helping tremendously! Maybe in a few more weeks I will feel confident enough to try Genevieve’s Poncho again, that is after I watch some more videos on how to change colors efficiently!
Sherman manages to win the prize again this month – if you look at the 14th and 15th you will see his normal routine while we are eating our dinner. He vacillates between intently staring down the dog food containers or staring at us as if to say, “ummm, my Pug-lepathic skills are not working, can you help me out here?!” While he gets no additional food, he does win points for making us laugh!
That was it for a very speedy April! What made you smile last month?
Spring rain wreaks havoc
and lilac confetti falls
among empty walnut shells
And finally, with a nod to my favorite son, May the Fourth be with you! *wink*
Happy Monday everyone!
Over the weekend, I got out the big camera and took a few photos. Okay, I took dozens of photos but only a few “turned out.” And, yes, turned out – as in to (accidentally) happen in a particular way…the effort was there but having not used the big camera for a long time my skills are exceedingly rusty! And the wind on Sunday was not at all beneficial – but the early morning light was perfect. Are the pictures perfect? No, but I love the shadows on these lilac blooms. I love how they open individually – each on its own schedule. And the fragrance. It is heavenly. That wind that played havoc with my picture taking worked diligently to waft the lilac aroma around… and that was most appreciated.
I know some of you had snow last week. But there is a poem for that… and it is simply perfect! (really, go listen!) Today in my gratitude list I am including Maxine Kumin for her beautiful words. Yes, that was a lovely rabbit hole to traverse on a Sunday morning!
There was some mystery knitting (clue two from Larissa Brown is done and clue three from Romi is in progress.) And, I bought a thing! And started!! And struggled! I will share my progress later this week.
In an effort to conserve vermouth (yes, that is absolutely a thing in my house right now) It was a vodka and soda weekend. However, I am happy to report that Trader Joe’s Cranberry-Mandarin Orange sparkling water is the perfect thing for a vodka and soda! No sugar, and the perfect hint of flavor in the soda – not too much and not too little!
Finally, today is my son’s favorite day of the year. I confess, I laughed at some of the suggestions in this Rolling Stones article on how to participate safely from home!
That’s it from me today! I hope you all had a great weekend!
