Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O well for the fisherman’s boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.
~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson
It is with heavy heart I announce the temporary yet indefinite suspension of my blogging activities. I have come to this decision after long and careful consideration of several factors mostly related to my health. I extend my deepest gratitude to all who have faithfully followed my journey here over the past year. The fact that any of you are interested in what I have to say boggles my mind just a bit.
When will I be back? Honestly, I do not know. This site will not just suddenly disappear. Comments will continue to be moderated by me or by an assistant. You may see some changes happening as some of the tags, categories, pages or posts are retooled, time and health permitting.
As I seek renewed health, peace and direction in my life, I hope you will continue to visit from time to time and explore the archives. Don’t be surprised if, during my hiatus, I make the occasional wordless post showcasing some new photograph of bird, cat, orchid, rose…
I made my way into the basement Friday afternoon to check on my orchids. A bit of motion caught my eye, and upon closer examination, I saw a lightning bug had somehow gotten stranded in a small puddle of water under one of my orchid pots. The poor thing was on his back struggling to get out of his watery hell.
Quickly I grabbed a bit of screen and held it over the sodden creature. He grabbed onto it right away and clambered to safety. I placed him on a piece of paper towel so he could dry off, but already he seemed to be in shock. Using a tiny paintbrush I carefully freed his waterlogged antennae which were stuck to his back. This seemed to help momentarily, but soon he was in the throes of agony once again. His little legs spasmed uncontrollably, and I didn’t know what more I could do. He flipped over onto his back, so using the paintbrush, I righted him onto his legs.
As the evening wore on, hope began to fade. Time after time I turned the poor little guy right side up, but inevitably he would end up on his back all over again. I even whispered encouraging words to him, but in the end, despite all my efforts, he gave up the ghost and died…right there in my basement on a quiet Friday night. _____________________________
Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time. ~ Susan Cheever _____________________________
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it
is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
~ William Arthur Ward
Today turned out to be a very good day for me. I have been facing some rather scary health problems in recent months, and a particularly horrific surgery in the very near future seemed to be my inevitable fate. Today, however, the surgeon told me about a new and minimally invasive procedure he can perform which has a very high success rate for solving my particular problem. I really wanted to hug him, but I didn’t want to traumatize the poor man, so I just beamed from ear to ear and thanked him profusely as tears welled up in my eyes.
I celebrated by doing what I love most — finding beautiful things to photograph, first in the garden and then at the park. Afterward I went out for dinner,
and when I returned home, I examined my photographs to see what I might
be able to share with you here. These are the results of my happy day.
At the park by the river I discovered these trout lilies with rust-red anthers, as a certain someone was watching me once again from up above.
The quality of this image isn’t great, but if you click to enlarge it you will see him staring down at me.
I wasn’t prepared for filming and was caught off-guard when the Red Shouldered Hawk first made its appearance. Prior to stalking the bird for the shot shown above, I managed to catch a few moving frames from a far distance using massive amounts of zoom and no tripod. The clip is shaky, but for any of you who may be interested, here it is, for whatever it is worth. done
Ha ha! No, this is not a foodie blog, but I made brunch today and it was delicious – so delicious that I could not help but wave it under your eyeballs and noses! Mmmmm… herbed spinach, bacon and mushroom quiche with toasted french fried onions on top. Yummy!
“Nonpareils” are a decorative confection of tiny sugar balls, traditionally an opaque white. They are better known as “hundreds and thousands” or “sprinkles” in many Western countries. The French name has been interpreted to mean they were “without equal” ~ excerpts from Wikipedia
Today was a flawless sunny day! The weather was gorgeous! I had to go out and run errands, and as usual, I took my camera with me just in case I saw something worth capturing. I saw this bush at the clinic, and it gave me the idea of making a post about things old and things new — a juxtaposition of the dead remnants of winter with the new arrivals of spring. Quickly I snapped my photos as the post title ‘Nonpareils’ formed in my mind. I was quite pleased with my clever self.
I proceeded to finish my errands, then captured more photos of new growth in the garden before coming inside to prepare myself a light evening meal. I sat down in front of my pc with dinner in hand, anxious to get my latest batch of pictures uploaded onto the hard drive where I could take a closer look. I clicked on my weather page as the photos raced from sd card to hard drive, and I gasped at what appeared before me there…
__________________________
Bah! Humbug! Gone in an instant were my dreams of a fabulous springtime post as the realities of this treacherous place rained down on my pre-Easter parade. All I could think was, “Yeah, it’s a springtime without equal alright!” Grrrr… __________________________
Stay tuned for more pictures from my beautiful day today – sans all the blather over the glorious progression of spring.
What a crazy day it is around here today! Every year this town hosts a special one-day-only event, but the cacophony of automobile horns honking nonstop is deafening on every street, every corner, every lot, every home, every room and every square inch to be found indoors or out anywhere within the city limits. It’s enough to drive a person utterly insane. I can’t even hear myself think. You may be wondering by now exactly what it is about this day which causes such a deafening din of sound pollution to overspread this fair city, and I am prepared to tell you . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . .
The Blind Drive!
…and we all have to honk our horns to keep from getting smashed into!
Today marks yet another year gone by since you left our lives in sudden tragedy. The pain is sharp as ever but tempered also by the time which has now passed since we were torn apart. I think of you every day.
When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park? ~ Ralph Marston
