Autumn mandala

It was a rainy day here in the Ozarks, but not particularly cold or windy, so I took Ruby for her walk anyway.   We had a wonderful time.  Of course she found a stick, which I threw numerous times.

We saw large mixed flocks of sparrows and finches, who were enjoying the ripening grass heads in the field.  I saw song sparrows, white crowned sparrows, and white chinned sparrows.   I’m sure there were others out there too.   The gold finches were flying with them.  Around the house we have lots of juncos and chickadees.   This morning I saw a brown thrasher in the stroll garden, which surprised me.   I would have thought they had migrated south by now, but it hasn’t really been all that cold here.   There is no sense of urgency.

The oaks are turning their shades of red and orange, and the japanese maple by my pond is a wonderful scarlet right now.   I felt inspired to make an autumn mandala scan using these items plus some grass that was calling me.

The mood is somber out there, matching mine.   I’ve been thinking very deeply lately, motivated by my sessions with my therapist.  There is a lot to grieve for, and I have been journaling a lot.

My father fails daily, the weight of his years suddenly seems almost too much for him to carry any longer.   The family is gathering this weekend; we are throwing a dinner party for the whole group here since we are going to be gone over Thanksgiving.    I am glad we are going to have this opportunity to be together before we all fly to the four winds once again.

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Photohunt: Cards

I like to make cards.   With the advent of the internet and email, hand made cards sent by snail mail seem to be an anachronism.   Still, I like making them and sending them.   I think people like getting them, too.

 

See other Photohunters here.

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It’s the Ruby and Mallory show. . .

Things are progressing in the Ruby and Mallory relationship.   I have no photographic evidence of this, largely because most of this activity takes place at night in poor light conditions.

But, Ruby has decided the Mallory is a “good thing”, and they have begun playing together in a very charming way.  Ruby has a big orange ball that sort of looks like a tennis ball and has a squeak.   Mallory thinks that ball is just right for wrassling with.   The other night, Ruby was a little jealous because Mallory was getting all this attention, and she brought her ball to us.   So, we were multi-tasking, making the string work for Mallory while throwing the ball for Ruby.

Ruby brought the ball back and dropped it, and Mallory attacked it.   After she kicked it away during one of the wrestling “falls”, Ruby picked it up, and then delicately dropped it again and nudged it with her foot so it rolled over to Mallory.   Pounce!   Mallory was on it again, and Ruby watched benignly at the ball being “killed” until Mallory kicked it away again, towards Ruby.   Ruby pushed it back. . .  They also play chase games, which are very exhilirating for Mallory since there is an element of danger in them.

We have also witnessed Mallory running up to Ruby as she lies with her head on her paws, wrapping her little cat arms around that big head and washing that large expanse of forehead.  Ruby looks slightly confused, and Mallory stops washing after a few licks and sort of makes a “that’s a lot of hair” face.

Meanwhile, the gardens are growing.   We are having to water quite a lot, as it is very hot and dry right now.   Not looking forward to my water bill with much pleasure, I’m afraid.

Managed to bruise my wrist rather badly the other day.  The occasion was a demonstration of how to apply elbow grease to wall washing activities so as to actually remove the dirt from the wall.   Unfortunately, I forgot about the little edge of counter top that was extending onto the wall about halfway up, and came in contact with it in “full elbow grease” mode.

I found time to make an art journal page…

I cropped and posted this picture of spiderwort a few days ago.   This morning as I was examining the image, I realized that in addition to the tachnid fly I was interested in, there was another bit of wildlife occupying the spiderwort.   Check out the little green crab spider that is lurking to the left of the pollinator.

I think it is interesting that I cropped and uploaded that image and never noticed that spider until several days later.    How things can hide in images and your subconscious is fascinating!

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Crescent moon

I guess I’ve been studying Syncopated Eyeball’s work for long enough now.   I was walking the dog at sundown the other night and captured the three day old waxing crescent.   While I was cropping it, I realized that I was tuned in to the textures and forms that I see in her photos and finding them in mine.

The clouds were pretty amazing that afternoon.   A big thunderstorm was just over and the front was blowing through as the sun went down.

One of the things I dislike about my town is its insistence on above ground power poles.   It makes it hard to get any “clean” shots of atmospheric phenomena.

In other news, we have the Iowa Niece living with us now.   We are very much enjoying her presence in our home, she is a lot of help and a willing worker.   Of course, we want her to eventually be able to get a job and pursue her education, but right now I am REALLY happy to have a minion to help me with the garden chores.

The dianthus are going nuts now.

Little robins not fledged yet.

The mother robin was on the nest when I went over there, and I was cussed up one side and down the other while I was getting that shot.

The bees have left the ajuga and have turned their attentions to the Ninebark.

And, I have done a few more journal pages.   These are actually two separate pages, done two days apart.   When I took the protective paper away from the left hand side I found that there were certain congruencies between the two that were interesting.

So, I’m off to the garden to do some pruning and weeding.

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We got our grade!

As I mentioned previously, I have been involved in a fifth grade science project.  It has been quite the experience in many ways.

One of the best results of this endeavor has been an increase in closeness with our neighbors.   We have been “good neighbors” for quite some time.   The husband works at the barrel factory and he often brings home kiln dried oak which was destined for the waste fire.   This is absolutely the best kindling ever.  When I have extra fruit and veggies, I share with them.  But helping the daughter with this project has really cemented good relations.   I am starting to really bond with the mother, who I am sure will start helping Jim and me with our Spanish project.   We feel that since we are destined to travel to Costa Rica fairly often for the foreseeable future, acquiring a certain basic facility in that language is a good idea.

So, great excitement all week as we collaborated on the final product of our little study of cherry seedlings.   I am sorry to report that I neglected to take a picture of the awesome display board that my young neighbor and her older sister produced, complete with home made lettering for the title, which was illuminated with hand produced construction paper cherries.   My role consisted of making sure that the project was more or less grammatically correct with as few mis-spellings as possible.   This was complicated by the young lady’s slight dyslexia, but we worked to minimize that.

I also spent considerable time discussing the results of the experiment with her, helping her interpret the numbers we came up with.   That was one of the learning curves I observed with my young student.   She quickly learned that when you are writing the measurements down, it behooves you to produce something legible enough that you can read it later when you are calculating your averages.   We also ascertained that when you are making calculations, if you leave out decimal points when you do your data entry on the calculator, it can really skew your results.  (!)

Anyway, we got the project done, and done well, and it was turned in ahead of time, which must have shocked the heck out of the teacher given the complete lack of anything at all being done a few short days ago.  And it was obviously her own work (with evident knowledgeable guidance) too.

So yesterday, with great excitement, my young student revealed the grade we received on our project to me.

I feel bad about the reduction in score on the “Procedure” section.   I realize in retrospect that I never really read that section over very closely.   I was a lot more concerned with our conclusions and guiding the thought processes about the numbers.   The young lady is smart as a whip, and I discovered very quickly that with her reading/writing challenge, she has a learning pattern that works best when she “hears” information and then discusses it.

Anyway, I couldn’t be prouder of the results of this activity.   Jim commented to me as we were getting ready for bed last night that I may have created an on-going job for myself.   I told him that I was certainly aware of the risk, and had indicated to the neighbors that I am available any time to be a teaching resource.   I suspect that I may be called on in the future, and I hope so.   I really had quite a lot of fun helping out and exercising my teaching skills.

In other news, there have been developments out in the robin’s nest.

A lot can happen in five days.  Those young-uns will be ready to fledge in a couple of days.

Also, the irises are being spectacular right now.

All I did with the above shot was crop it.  That is the rising sun refracted in that drop, and if I could have just moved one micron to the left that would have been red rather than yellow.

Finally, last but not least, we have been working crazily to get the yard whipped into shape for the upcoming nuptials.   Jim has been working on fixing the privacy fence, which suffered quite a bit from the heavy snows this winter and the strong winds this spring.   I have been working on the flower gardens, which at this point mostly involves weeding and cheerleading the existing beds.

Somehow, the clematis vine on the fence seems to have gotten wind of what is coming up, and has arranged itself appropriate for the occasion.

To my imaginative and romantic eye, this looks like the rough outline of a heart, and I wish I had the bride and groom here so I could pose them in front of it.  Maybe it will still be here in a couple of weeks when they are here.

Actually, my devious little mind has already applied itself to the problem of how to prune, nudge, and encourage this particular shape to develop more fully.

The sun has finally moved around to the north far enough that the dragon on the sauna wall casts a shadow.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this installation as the season progresses.

Now, I really MUST produce something for breakfast before my blood sugar crashes even further.

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