Faye and I have been on holiday, hence the dearth of posts.
While away we acquired this pile of books. Some we bought on Amazon. Some we bought at Battenkill Books, a delightful independent bookstore in Cambridge New York. http://www.battenkillbooks.com In addition to their brick and mortar store the have an efficient, helpful online store.
Some books my brother Bob gave us. I cannot wait to start devouring tbese books after finishing my current read, Talking God by Tony Hillerman.
It may be difficult to see the Baltimore oriole which visited our oriole feeder. I had heard it quite a few times in the days before this and had spent some extra time on the deck hoping to photograph it to no avail. One day I was out in the yard, turned around, and there he was. Fortunately I had the Playbook with me.
Stella announces her desire to come in with a particular single bark. Open the door and she almost always waits for the release – “Ok!” Then she trots into the laundry room and, again almost always, drops into a sit without being asked. After a little attention she then trots on into the house.
There was a little ground fog, which I thought made for an interesting perspective. Ahead and around, my view was a little obscured. Look up just a little and the view was clear and limitless.
Sometimes in life too, if you look up the view, the way, is clear.
This sunflower plant popped up right next to the base of Norway maple tree we had removed a while ago. We certainly did not plant it there, the seed must have been dropped by a bird that visited our bird feeder. It got such a late start that it may not bear seeds. We have carefully mowed around it and will see what happens.
I came across this leaf laying on our lawn. A harbinger of what is ahead.
I subscribe to A Word A Day. Every weekday email arrives in my inbox describing a word, its pronunciation and etymology, and giving usage examples. I’ve enjoyed receiving these messages for almost ten years now. I encourage you to visit and sign up here. http://wordsmith.org/
It includes an unrelated quote which usually enlightens, amuses, give pause for thought. Todays’ quote reminded me of my trip to Paris France about ten years ago. I came upon this scene near the Louvre and it was so iconic that I was compelled to record it.
Oh, and today’s thought? “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
I mowed the lawn this evening. Mowing the lawn is a little like vacuuming the house. For me, vacuuming (aka Dysoning) is almost a Zen non-activity in the sense of not requiring a great deal of active, interactive thought. Move such floor-based obstacles as dog beds, water bowl, and so forth out of the way and away I go into my own thought-bubble.
Mowing the yard is similar in that sense. Move the lyre on which the hummingbird feeder hangs, the wagon holding the potted pepper plants, disarm canine land mines, and away you go. Since we have a corded electric lawn mower I have to flip, step over, what have you, to keep from running over the cord but that’s almost mental background noise. Away into my thought-bubble. Tonight I though about Creeping Charlie.
Our yard has an enormous amount of Creeping Charlie. For those of you unfamiliar with it here are a few links.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glechoma_hederacea
http://www.ediblewildfood.com/creeping-charlie.aspx
http://www.gardenontario.org/site.php/beller/news/online/2047
The general consensus seems to be that it’s an invasive, undesirable weed. We don’t object to it. Its’ growth habit is low, requiring less mowing to keep down than turfgrass. Other than mowing it’s zero maintenance – no watering, fertilizer, weeding, mowing.
And that’s a thing about turfgrass that seems very silly. In order to have a good looking, well tended turfgrass lawn the custom is to water and fertilize, which promotes growth. Vertical growth. But vertical growth beyond a certain extent – a few inches – is undesirable, perhaps illegal in some communities. So you have to mow it. But then, to keep the turf green and lush, you water it. Fertilize it. (An aside – we have not watered our lawn since the spring of 2010, nor fertilized since summer 2012.) It grows. Vertically. You have to mow it. Repeat throughout the growing season. Frequently, homeowners’ yards are largely, even exclusively, dedicated to this process, requiring inputs of time, money, additives. I wonder what people would conclude if they did a cost analysis of input versus output.
While I do like the look and feel of a well tended turf lawn it seems to be environmentally unfriendly, resource-wasteful. I once heard on CBC a gardener’s opinion that Kentucky bluegrass is an undesirable, invasive species that deserved to be eradicated from Ontario lawns.
I realize that Creeping Charlie is an import and therefore not ideal. Yet it needs no fertilizer, no water, less mowing than turfgrass, it can be consumed by humans, it’s not known to be toxic to dogs or cats though it seems to be so to cattle and horses. I like the look and the feel underfoot, the minimal input required compared to turfgrass. I doubt our neighbours like it.
previouslytexan 