Come Into my Parlour

Since I already have the parlour pretty much the way I want it, I like to do small things to make me happy; such as tie a burlap string around a stack of books. I'm easy!
This tea arrangement makes me happy, too. The books I tied up are under the teacart.



I bought two of these needlepoint pheasant pillows on e-bay.

I've posted this photo before but haven't shown it hanging on the wall. It's one of my favorites taken in Stratford-on-Avon. I made it into a black and white photo and then hand-colored it using transparent oil paints. Pretty cool, huh? Excuse the reflections of the curtains in the glass.
A bevy of family portraits on an end table. I threw in the turquoise frame to shake things up a little.
I have matches in this box which hangs to the left of the fireplace. There's a story that goes with this box.
I think I was college age and our family was at this bluegrass/craft festival up in the Smoky Mountains. I saw this box and really liked it. Daddy, being the sweetie he is, said, "I'll buy it for you." I only ever remember him buying two things for me; this box and a Sarah Coventry bracelet that I still wear forty years later. And he's taken my brother and me to the country store for many ice cream cones.
I remember one time he was taking us fishing, and we stopped at this same store for lunch supplies. As a special treat for dessert, he got little cups of pudding but failed to buy any spoons. Of course we didn't discover this until it was time to eat. We didn't know what we were going to do short of sticking our fingers into the pudding, but Daddy being ever resourceful, looked around and saw some reeds on the river bank. Walking over to them, he cut a long one. As he walked back to us he cut it into three pieces, each piece about the length of a straw, and handed one to me and then one to my younger brother.
We looked at each other and then over at Daddy who had stuck his reed into the pudding and was drinking it like a milkshake. We thought he was a genius for being so innovative. He was and is a genius still. He's one of the smartest men I know. And one of the kindest. I love my daddy!

Around the Breakfast Table

One of the highlights of visiting my parents is the country breakfast Mama always cooks; sawmill gravy and biscuits, bacon, sausage, milk, and homemade jams and jellies.
This is us gathered around the table. I had my camera on a tripod with a four second timer. I had to push the button and run sit down before the shutter clicked. Mama leaned back too far, so I didn't get much of her.
We're heading up there tomorrow for one more weekend of rafting. All Darcie's schoolbooks are ordered, so I'm taking a long weekend to relax before school starts. I'll work on scheduling as we drive up. I've also got an Anita Shreve book to finish. I use the five hour trip to read, plan, and sleep.
So, until next week...have a good weekend.

Fire in the woods

British Soldiers (Cladonia cristatella), my favorite lichen.

Two very small salamanders. Either Southern Red-backed (Plethodon serratus), Southern Zigzag (Plethodon ventralis), or Webster’s (Plethodon websteri).
According to Salamanders in Alabama, they're "easily confused".

These tiny... things... were growing on a limb rotting on the ground. I can't even tell if they are a type of mushroom, slime mold, lichen, or what. Possibly an immature version of Peniophora rufa...?
The whole line there was about the width of a blade of grass. I could definitely use a macro lens. And of course that portable DNA analyzer that they are being so slow to invent.

An easy one, finally: Truckus plasticus.
And there's always this:
The muscovy duck who thinks he's my boyfriend.

He follows me into the woods, if I'm moving slowly enough.
I'll be hunkered down, minding my own business, trying to take a photo of something low to the ground, when I hear a coarse hissing from behind.
That's my cue to stand up fast, unless I'm in the mood to be nibbled, stabbed, and pinched by a duck.
I'm not sure how he carries bread crumbs, but he's always there waiting when we get back home.

Love After Love by Derek Walcott

A lovely woman shared this beautiful poem with
me. It brought tears to my eyes. Now I want to share it with you, my friends
and followers... enjoy!




Love After Love



The
time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.
~ Derek Walcott ~

Natural Antibiotics

Adventures in Agriculture

Okay, y'all! I'm teaching the Introduction to Sustainable Agriculture program in the spring so I'd love a full class. If you are interested, more information is on my website.

McClellan Butte ..

Yet another time on McClellan Butte, and another time not making the summit. The first time I had been there, Jennifer and I hiked up the first summer we were in Seattle. In the last 500' or so before the summit it was snowing. When we arrived at the final summit scramble, it was too wet and slick for us to attempt.
This time the goal was to do the North Gully or North Couloir route. Avy conditions had been low and Steve, Julie and I were going to give it a try before more snow fell. However, we were thwarted by another individual that was in our vicinity. We were heading up the correct gully, and saw him heading farther west. Since none of us knew the route, we started heading west. After wandering around, we came back east, and eventually climbed the north west gully.
The climb was enjoyable, and had a very different flavor than what I would expect a spring ascent to have. From the parking area, the snow was bulletproof. No need to snow shoes. Almost a need for crampons. We hiked up the trail and veered off around 2800' heading directly toward the couloir. We found the abandoned road and continued up in the snow field below the gully. (Later, on descent, we would notice that we could have taken the trail all the way to the clearings below the gully.)
This is where we saw some woods above us. According to our pictures, the gully should be continuous, and this is also when we witnessed the lone individual heading farther west. We started going into the next gully, and then the next after that. We realized we were too far west, and headed back one gully and started up. This wasted some time, and it was around 11am when we stopped part way up the gully to have lunch. (There was a reasonably flat area, which we weren't sure we'd see too much more of.) With crampons and ax, we all soloed up to the top of the gully where the angle reached about 45° or more.
Steve then led out belayed up a short 3rd class rock step and more gentle snow. Things still looked promising for us to be summiting. Although where we were didn't look exactly like pictures we had. We took our crampons off and Steve led a belayed rock climb through snow and 5th class rock to a sub-summit of McClellan Butte. We could see the true summit and the correct gully. Which is much steeper for the last 200' or so. (Perhaps 60°) After Julie and I arrived on top it was close to 2pm, and we needed to get down. There were flurries in the air, and we weren't sure about the best way down. After a bit of down climbing on the hard steep snow, we rappelled a rope length, and more down climbing got us back into the gully we ascended. From there it was a slow climb down the gully, and a moderate hike out on the trail. We left the crampons on all the way to the car.
The correct gully
Overall, it was a fun time. I don't feel I climbed all that well, but I have been getting sick as Jennifer was sick most of the week. I haven't felt particularly strong because of it. Also, I was still recovering from last week's blisters. (I did a lot of work to the right foot, but none to the left foot before the climb. The left foot wound hurts more than it did this morning, while the right foot does not.) Also the McClellan Butte trail has some of the largest Douglas Firs I've seen in the I90 corridor. We saw some mountain lion tracks in the snow on the way down as well.
My pics are here.
Julie's pics are here.