Still life — “My passions”

 

It’s a grey day here at The Havens.   The gold finches are turning yellow, the robins are building nests, the daffodils are in full display and a light mist is drizzling.

As I worked on sewing strips together on the quilt, laying them out on the dining room table, I saw the opportunity to feature two of my passions in life together in one photo.   Fabric and Daffodils.   Is there any better combination?

Okay, maybe coffee and chocolate.

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An example of the magic of the internet.   I was running over to the place where you can purchase terrible things like donuts, which seemed to be the breakfast of choice this morning.   As I went past the freeway interchange, I saw a semi truck pulling onto I-44 heading east.  Emblazoned proudly on both sides, it advertised the San Marcos High School Marching Band from Santa Barbara, California.   Smaller, but no less proud, lettering let you know that this was carrying the equipment for the marching band, flag drill team and percussion performance art department.

My first reaction was, “Wow!   They have a semi truck!”   Our local marching band is the proud possessor of an enclosed utility trailer which can be towed by a large pickup truck.  The high school I attended in Colorado was lucky to have a band at all, let alone a marching band.   I looked at pictures in the yearbook from 1970 and our band had about two dozen members.   Since many of them were also members of the various sporting teams and the Pep club, even a small marching contingent would be hard to gather together.

Anyway, the next thought  that crossed my mind (yes, I admit I was driving distracted, but at least I wasn’t texting) was “What in the world is the San Marcos High School Band of Santa Barbara, California doing in Lebanon, Missouri?”

When I got home I marched straight to the iPad and Googled the San Marcos High School.  There, on their website, under the Performing Arts department, I found the answer.    There, announced prominently, was the news that the Drum Line had earned a place in the WGI World Championships to be held in Dayton, Ohio, and soliciting contributions to get them there.  (I then looked up WGI, which stands for Winter Guard International, a group dedicated to drill teams, flag teams and drum lines.   Who knew.)

I guess they got enough money, because the equipment is quite obviously on its way to Ohio, and I imagine the members of the drum line are not far away.

And so, the magic of the internet answers random questions once again.

 

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Mini ice storm

I’m so glad that the mini ice storm we had yesterday was just that, very mini.   It is so odd to go outside and hear the trees rattling in the breeze.  It all sounds so different, but NOTHING like the last time when we felt like we were listening to the war as the trees cracked and broke and smashed to the ground.

Instead, the string of LED lights we have on the back porch provided us with something stunning to look out in the early morning.

It’s really hard to photograph such bright lights in the dawn’s early light.   But you can see how the little icicles that formed on the string pick up the glow of light from the light they are hanging off.   So very very cool.   I think that this is the effect that the “icicle lights” would like to give and don’t.

By the way, I hasten to explain that these are not Christmas decorations in this application.   Many years ago we discovered that if we strung mini lights up around the back porch they were even more effective than a bug light as a porch light.   Each individual light is small enough that it doesn’t attract swarms of bugs.   They are all away from the door.   So when you go out at night, you get plenty of illumination and you don’t have 900,000 moths and mosquitoes following you in.

I have had a most amusing morning indeed.   My email contained numerous items that made me laugh heartily.   Laughter is always good.   Jim is watching the 49ers game, which he does not know how turns out (although I do)(Tee hee).   I am completing a couple of potholders I created a couple of days ago and then I will address myself to the little quilted piece I made yesterday in my quilting class.  It needs to be backed, quilted and bound.  Later on we will go visit some of our good friends and Jim will learn to smoke cheese and we and the group of people we are spending the afternoon with will have a very good time.

May all your ice storms be small and beautiful, and may your day be amusing and pleasant.

 

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Moon I and Moon II

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There be dragons…

A full post is in progress.   We were off to the big city for a little vacation from the obsessive watering we have had to do here in our drought/heat experience.

Here is a taste of what is coming….

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booming blooming spring

ARGGH!  I just pulled a tick off my thigh that had actually attached.   Little bastards.   I don’t hate much but I DO HATE TICKS.

Ticks and hatred aside, I just have to share a few pictures I took yesterday.

The Stroll Garden has really come into its own.   I just love it this time of year, but it is pretty special in all seasons.   Right now the ajuga in the path is going great guns, and it is fully supplied with a complement of bumblebees and honeybees.

See that little spot of red at the right edge of the picture?   That is a clump of species tulips.   Here’s a better angle on them.

That strawberry bed that we constructed a couple of years ago has really proved its worth.   The raising keeps the strawberries from being too wet.  We have had no botrytis mold since then, last year we harvested 7 gallons of strawberries and are hastening to finish them off before this year’s crop starts booming.   Right now it is just blossoms, but we have put up the bird cage already.

I must remedy a deficiency.   I have no pictures of the bird cage that is over the strawberries, and I must take care of that.   Later.

Meanwhile, the wisteria is absolutely lush this year.   I think it enjoyed the mild winter.

When you go out there at sunset, it absolutely roars with the humming of the carpenter bees, busy enjoying the nectar.

I should do a post specifically on these guys.   They are so interesting.   I love them, and love having them in my yard.

In other news, our bee “hive” swarmed a couple of days ago.   We set up a lovely hive for them, but apparently they have found other digs.   Maybe next year.   I’m glad they are doing well enough that they needed to swarm, and goodness knows we have LOTS of bees around the yard pollinating everything.

We even got plums pollinated!

Good news abounds.

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