Curtain III

Curtain II

Curtain I

Shadows, Sun, Loretta

Spring: Flowers and Ladder

Mrs. Mil. Long!

Mrs. Mil. Long! Lord, have I not made violent haste; I have asked every living thing I met for you; I have inquired after you, as after a new fashion.

—V. McHugh

Bird Statue

Near my office. I love this!

Clean Bee II

And It's STILL Snowing

I was trying, for the most part unsuccesfully, to capture the fatness of the snowflakes.

Snow Day!

I took these photos about 20 minutes ago; the patio is completely covered now.

Clean Bee

I found this bee floating in my milky coffee on the patio today. I got it out, then dipped it in my water, thinking it might help. Then I put it down on the chaise cushion and watched it clean and dry itself.









It finished up and flew away right after I took the photo below.

For Hugh

Hey!
I pause at every post and tree
and sniff in hopes of news of thee!

I cannot eat my kibble!

—Fred Milton, Beat Poodle
via Lynda Barry

Rock of Love

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

—W. B. Yeats, 1910

Bon Saint Valentin!

I play it cool and dig all jive
That's the reason I stay alive.
My motto, as I live and learn,
is: Dig and be dug in return.

—Langston Hughes

How I Spent My Superbowl Weekend Vacation At the Cabin

1) I knitted this Saints hat for my husband. It is THE WORST hat ever as far as execution goes (it is not supposed to be pointed like an elf hat!), but he loves it, and that's all that matters. Now that I know what not to do, I will make another, better one; but in the meantime, I told him that if he ever wears it outside of the house, he must tell people that he got it at the thrift store, or alternately, that his wife who is insane and lives in an asylum made it for him.


2) I paged book #3 in the Tom Carter series, written by my friend Hank. WARNING: If you know Hank, don't tell him about this, because he won't see it till Wednesday and it is a surprise!


Here's the cover in full. Tom Carter #2, The Key That Opened Everything, is there behind the Auto Caper.


3) I hung out with Spike the cat. She's been pretty poorly this week, but she's happy, and is most content when she is sitting on a person's lap or other body part. When I'm at the computer, she gets on the desk and drapes her little furry body over my left forearm as I type.

4) I cooked a chicken that is now ready, and I'm going to go eat some.

Last Saturday: Just Like Today, but Sunnier

Last Saturday after picking up litter all morning, I laid on the patio in the sunshine until I was driven indoors by the cold and the wind (despite the blanket I was wrapped in and the knitted cap I was wearing). The best spotted dog ever joined me for a while. The little gray cat in my lap is not shown in this photo. It was a stunning day till the clouds rolled in later.

Evening Sky II

Beautiful Evening, Leaving Work

Sunday Shadow

Post-litter pickup

Let He Who is With Sin Among You Throw the First Trash from the Car Window

Or, Litter Pickup: January 2010

This weekend was the bi-monthly litter pickup on my neighborhood's main road. Above is yesterday's haul; those 2 miles of road (times 2—each side of the road) were a mess. We were out there for 2 and a half hours! This morning's 2 x 2 miles were not as bad and took only 2 hours, and maybe only took that long because some of us who'd also been out yesterday were jaded and slower today.

It's funny how the litter varies. Sometimes it's mostly alcohol trash—beer cans & bottles, wine bottles, whiskey bottles, cardboard 12-pack holders. Sometimes it's household & construction items—old rags, dryer sheets, drywall, ziploc bags. Always there are pieces of cars—glass, mirror, fiberglass, bumpers—and always packing peanuts.

This weekend's largest contributor was the fast-food industry. We know whence cameth the red straw above and the torn bag below! I'm featuring these Sonic items in honor of my brother, but I do not mean to single him/them out, as all fast-food groups were equally represented in the array of cups, bags, wrappers, and the like: McDonald's, Wendy's, Popeye's, Whataburger, Jack in the Box, Burger King....I could go on and on. I know that fast food doesn't litter, people litter, but to the dispensers of all food, fast and otherwise, I have this to say:

STYROFOAM CUPS SHOULD BE BANNED FROM THE FACE OF THE PLANET. If every person that ever handed out such a cup had to pick up the approximately 157 pieces that are the remnants of each cup, and had to pick up the remains of approximately 47 cups in two hours, and then realized that they could spend the entire weekend picking them up because there are that many cups out there, perhaps they would reconsider their use. When no one picks them up, those little styro pieces stay there for a long, long time.