Uncategorized poetry 12:14
Is A: doggerel, B: little to do with New England
The dry wind in the manes of lions
Brings the mind back
To hot summer nights
When silent lightening snapped
Beyond the walls of the world
And eternity stretched
In the moment
Before the great gold cat
Came to kill
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Uncategorized birding 12:10
I like crows sometimes, watching them (rooks and jackdaws actually) playing on the wind off the Salisbury Crags above Edinburgh gave me many hours of pleasure. And I was glad when they returned here after being nearly wiped out by West Nile Virus.
The operative term there is ‘was’. I could do without the daily conversation that occurs each nice morning as the sun begins to rise. They talk for hours. And for whatever reason they don’t do it while in one place. The preferred method is one group in the big tulip tree, one in the hemlock, and one in the ashes by the barn. It is nicely amplified by the corner of the house….where my room is. On the other hand, they are effective at cleaning up the bugs in the barnyard and the lawn, and they don’t seem interested in the garden.
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Historical Events 09:58
From a letter by Julie to Morris, written in 1846 when she had returned to Brockport and he was in NYC:
“While you have been wandering and toiling in search of pleasure, I have found it in study and occupation and I have been happy. Time has trodden softly, so softly that I have scarcely heard his footfalls; and did not the lengthening shadows and whispering leaves whisper to me that summer was leaving hence her treasures? I could scarcely believe that her gentle mission was accomplished. But so indeed it is, and soon we mortals must look for cold and storms to take the place of soft sunshine and calm twilight. But first shall come glorious Autumn with his gorgeous coloring and rich fruits, we will rejoice in the good and forget the evil.”
gardening cooking, gardening, photography 14:36
A A photo from last year, though much to my surprise I have been canning some tomatoes today, only three and half quarts so far, but something!
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I think it is a good thing….I have discovered a box of letters. (I know, not exactly a new item in this house) If the inventory list that Eileen created for it is correct, and I have zero reason to doubt it, it adds a nice little bit. They appear to be letters between Oliver Ellsworth and Caroline Smith primarily (so early 1800’s), with a number of others. Also another box of letters by William Webster Ellsworth and Helen to various friends. The Oliver Ellsworth ones are all in a painfully ornate copperplate style, on tiny sheets, and slightly moused. Naturally.
and someone said once that most of the family letters no longer existed..
Modern Photos gardening, photography 07:57
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Esperanza 11:15
While this house is rather large and rather spread out, it is also remarkably easy to hear things in it… from certain places. Upstairs, sound does not travel in between the north end and the center (never mind the south end) despite the short distance: this makes sense given the bent hallways and multiple walls. It makes even more sense when one remembers that one of the walls in question was formerly an exterior wall containing a staircase. On the other hand, in my room at the extreme north end on the second floor, I can hear the fire alarm above the washing machine located in the extreme south end in the basement. Which doesn’t make sense right?
Well, except that the basement going north is basically a long narrow box made of stone. When it hits the north end it jogs around the old foundation wall (the same wall which is a former exterior wall on the second story), which would stop the sound, except… The old hot air ducts for the forced air coal furnace are still in place, but open at the bottom. The sound is neatly funnelled into those and bounces on up to the second story quite neatly.
Now I suppose, that same alarm might not be audible in the center and south sections, despite being closer, since the hot air ducts are not in those areas. I ought to experiment.
Useful to know the fire alarm will wake one up though. Granted it took awhile since it was just a flat battery and not the full-on shriek.
(well as much as I ever rant) Those who know me, know I hate summer. As far as I am concerned, northern Scotland is my ideal climate: never above seventy and usually dark with a constant wind.*
This summer has been especially un-endearing, what with the heatwave and the lovely combination of drought and high humidity (how, the H— does it manage that?). Needless to say the tomatoes and peaches, both of which had such glorious promise, have succeeded in rotting on the vine/tree…while green. So much for canning tomatoes, which I was rather counting on doing. Gah.
Then there is the house….waterfalls of condensation on the windows and everything that might conceivably have to do with plumbing has a certain morbid entertainment level. But I could do without the humour. And the spiders…usually I get rid of the cobwebs but don’t enthusiastically chase the spiders when I clean…not this year.*
*I’ll spare you the physical details, suffice it that those thousands of British colonials who died lingering deaths from complications of skin ailments in the tropics or quick deaths of heatstroke? I’d be one.
*I’m neither the world’s worst nor best housekeeper.
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Usually August would include Oriental lilies, daylilies, and hostas but this year those went racing past in July. The current colour scheme is heavily weighted towards ‘hot’ lots of yellow, hot pink, red, white. There is some blue, and some of the dusky fall colours: ivory, old gold, rose, dusky blue, mauve are starting up.
Hydrangea: the big Pee-Gee, also known as grave-yard hydrangea, is just spectacular this year: a waterfall of ivory shading to rose almost fifteen feet tall and completely hiding a staircase. The Endless Summer blue and the Twist-n-shout blue/pink are less happy this year, I think the wonky spring didn’t help, but they are usually a clear blue cloud in the orange/pink/white of the garden.
Garden Phlox: mostly the reverted wild pink, but the white ‘David’, along with ‘Bright Eyes’; it is everywhere here.
Shasta Daisies
Joe-Pye weed
Early goldenrod
Ligularia
Red and blue cardinal flower
Sunflowers
Echinacea
Globe thistles
Yarrow: generally rose/gold shades and a fair amount of wild white
Morning Glories: ‘Grandfather Ott’ purple
Black/Brown eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta)
Wild thyme
Wild greek oregano
White wood aster (very early for this)
Bergamot: hot pinks/reds
Petunias
Verbana
Cosmos
California Poppies
Jerusalem artichokes
Queen Anne’s Lace
Chicory
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Modern Photos photography 13:47
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Acair Fearann 