Nineteen! Monday, Sep 21 2015 

gardening acairfearann 19:39

Amaryllis, that is.  All trundled in to the basement now, hopefully to dry out in a correct fashion and set flower buds. Last year our percentage was so-so. The year before all but one bloomed.  Now, granted, they mostly bloomed in April or May….  We don’t have any that manage Christmas here.  Sometimes a Christmas cactus will be timed correctly, but they too are usually later (January-February).  Or, annoyingly, much earlier.  The cactus are still cooling off outside, hopefully that will trigger some decent flower set at the appropriate time.

Then there are the Jasmine….those plants that require not only cool but dark. We think that we have a section of house that will work for that this year, due to no guests being likely.  Something about a plant that holds one hostage over the light switch and use thereof….

 

Nice of it Saturday, Sep 19 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 21:42

That white Gladiolus, seen in the vegetable garden last year and this year chucked rather quickly into the big garden, has managed to bloom. Despite the late planting in heavy, soggy soil, several of the bulbs have managed to bloom. I didn’t think they would since I planted them in late June; I just hoped that by planting them, I would be able to save them for next year.  So far, a nice yellow and the white. It would be wonderful if the crimson and rose would bloom as well; but the yellows are most probable given last years numbers.  Still, who am I to complain about this!

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Looking towards the fall Thursday, Sep 17 2015 

Uncategorized acairfearann 20:24

The fleeting day and life cries

Turn back, turn back!

And ever onward turns the wheel.

The sinking sun will not, this day,

Rise again

And the words you should not have spoken echo.

Regret shades the night,

And heavy silence lies beneath the singing.

Do you keep it still in your grief

In hopes that tears will turn time around?

I say,

Look to the wild stars of the field.

They are the last

And they will not come again.

You missed the loveliness of the lilies;

But these sharp joyed moments

Are not yet lost.

Would you miss these too?

A fire of promise,

A fire of shame,

Chose on your turn.

 

Cottage Garden Tuesday, Sep 15 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 21:00

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From year to year, and day to day, entirely different. The wild, random nature is part of their nature. It is, perhaps, their charm. The flowers are each, individual, a statement of purpose, a testament to eons of change and evolution, ever sure of their path, blind though it may be. But towards what? That defined purpose simply explodes in a riotous, abandoned display of life by chance. Or not chance? Is that one glorious moment the whole point of the exercise?

I do wonder if that white gladiolus is surviving out in the big garden this year, rather than in the vegetable garden of last year….

 

In the image of Sunday, Sep 13 2015 

Uncategorized acairfearann 17:31

There is an antique store on my way to one of my jobs, where I sometimes kill a few minutes. I doubt I would ever buy something there, the Lord knows I don’t need more antiques! Yet, every time I am there, or at a museum, or wandering about in some old house; I am struck by the creative power of man.  Glassware, furniture, pottery, jewelry, paper, silver, glass, stone, wood, gold, iron.  Music, dance, song.

There is such beauty in what people can create. That common glass is, itself, a miracle is it not? Not an immediate, flash of light, miracle; but a miracle in that we can create whatever comes to mind.  The modern tragedy is that so few of us have an opportunity to create things.  For what makes man, man; but that creative spirit.

 

 

One day late Thursday, Sep 10 2015 

Uncategorized acairfearann 16:59

Mostly because counting to the very second seems a bit something or other….

Vivat Regina Elizabetha!

Two pieces of music that I personally associate with her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3dR7u7TPNo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvouc8Qs_MI

 

Too hot Wednesday, Sep 9 2015 

Uncategorized acairfearann 21:24

for content! And much too dry. (I like to complain about the weather, can you tell?)

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Actually, this picture was taken some time back in the summer; the grass is now solidly brown.

 

Thistles Monday, Sep 7 2015 

gardening and Modern Photos , acairfearann 20:15

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Labor Day Weekend, Connecticut Saturday, Sep 5 2015 

Uncategorized acairfearann 20:33

For supper: Ham, green beans (pole beans mind you!), tomatoes, creamed corn (which is simply corn cut off the cob with butter), parsley for ‘garnish’, and peach pie.

The beans, tomatoes, parsley, and peaches from right here of course; the corn from down the road.

There is a reason to heed at a deep, instinctual level the calendar and the turning seasons; a connection that is re-acknowledged between life in the now and time’s inevitable passage. Food tends to do it remarkably well. Indeed, it would seem almost sacrilegious to have the same menu in April as tonight. Obviously, we bend the rules quite a bit: I have no intention of eating cabbage for five months nor of being so desperate that I will figure out how to cook milkweed in April. But there are certain things that just would not be right, no matter how we might want them, at certain times of the year. Probably these are different things and different times for each person; but breaking the ‘rule’ would cheapen them, permanently.

There is something fundamental to humanity about being able to accept and celebrate the passage of time; I am not sure what exactly, but it seems that it is there. Food apparently is a symbol of it. Odd thoughts!

 

For something totally different Wednesday, Sep 2 2015 

Landscapes and Modern Photos acairfearann 21:49

But nearby….

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The glacier met an immovable object here… Connecticut doesn’t have cliffs really, but it does have odd, surprisingly solid chunks of rock that stick up in the forest. Now quite often, you climb to the top and you still only see trees, though in this case if I turned the other way the view is rather nice, which can be a bit frustrating. But the trees are nice trees

 

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