Honey Chain

this week, i am grateful for….

my seeds are finally sprouting…

yard sale yarn…
thank you m

and my very good friends barb and karen who are celebrating their 29th anniversary today. woooohoooo!

yesterday, i was sitting in the back yard listening to the birds and whatever when i notice this big beautiful dragon fly like bug sitting on the porch not too far from me. oooh, pretty. then, it flew over and landed on my pants leg. ooohhh, aaaahhh. as i’m admiring it and thinking how cool i am to have a big pretty bug land on me, i notice it’s eating an ant. eewww! nature is not so pleasant when it is happening on your body. i contain myself and let it finish it’s meal (it left the remains of it’s lunch on my leg). i’m admiring it’s wings and it’s vibrant color and it’s giant eyes and the way it clings to my pants so a breeze doesn’t blow it away and a minute passes and now i’m finished with this wild kingdom moment. i’m ready to do something else now. i move my leg a little thinking that will scare it off. no. i make a loud noise. no. i stare at it intently willing it with my mind to fly away. fly away! fly away right now! on the count of three. one. two. three! come on already! fly! a! way! nothing. it didn’t even budge. it acted like it didn’t even care that i was screaming at it in my mind. finally, a bird flew a little too close and the bug hightailed it outta there.

lack of attention span + dislike of nature touching me + crazy = not a biologist

i am grateful for my camera. it has some quirks and it doesn’t always cooperate with me but i’m lucky to have it.  before i got my  camera, i would look at something and think “wow! that would make a great picture” and be on my merry way. now, i can take pictures of everything, EVERYTHING. you are very fortunate i do not share some of these photos with you because how many pictures of a rock can one person look at? really, there are a lot of pictures of rocks and also weeds and the sky and manhole covers and….

{motion}

flora in motion

more motion here

and a tornado.

fortunately for us, the tornado was a little to the south but we had some pretty nasty winds all the same.

it never ceases to amaze me how powerful the wind can be.

i am grateful for…ibuprofen…iced tea…sunglasses…water…popsicles…a cool breeze…shade…sprinklers

today, i dug up some big patches of grass in my backyard and planted some seeds (i have my fingers crossed they will grow) and some plants. blackeyed susans, bee balm and lemon balm if you were wondering.

my house used to be surrounded by yews and part of it still is. the rest of it is surrounded by the dead stumps of yews. today, i was able to dig one of them up all by myself. i’m so proud.

i planned to plant some rudbeckia hirta (aka blackeyed susan) in my yard today. instead, i schlepped around from room to room being cranky and popping ibuprofen. my mouth hurts, again. the abscess is back and it’s taking no prisoners. the pets thought this would be a perfect opportunity to love me back to health, which is why i kept moving from room to room. “get off me”, “stop touching me”, “leave me alone” they heard “i’d love for you to walk right in front of me so i trip over you” and “nothing makes me happier than you shedding all over me” and “if you could just touch me once more with your cold nose i would be healed”

btw the pic above is not rudbeckia. it’s motherwort and cleavers.

every once in a while i’ll leave the house and when i get back; yardwork has been done in my absence. that’s right, i will leave and the lawn will get mowed. it’s only happened like two or three times but it’s always a nice surprise. i know it’s my neighbors (they are also the snowblowing faeries) who are very nice and worry that i don’t have enough help around the house. it’s because there’s no warning and when i get home it’s a ghost town next door that i always think of faeries or gnomes.

yesterday, i was standing in the driveway, explaining to the dogs how we would be spending next week weeding the driveway. today, i got home and the whole driveway is weed free. thank you faerie neighbors!

{architecture}

i’m always in awe of old churches.

check out more architecture here