For Widdershins:
Because she was right, “Rain Drops on Snowdrops” should certainly be followed by ” And Whiskers On Kittens!”
This Moment: Rain Drops on Snowdrops
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Foraging
The computer is working!
For now…
Having a computer that sort of, kind of, sometimes works is both more useful than one that does nothing at all and infinitely more frustrating.
But, it’s working now and so quick before it crashes I give you….
A duck!
Not just any duck, this little lady came to me all the way from Washington State and will, if all goes well, be the mama to some new fluffy ducklings come spring.
Actual spring that is, not this 60 degree February nonsense that’s been going on the last week.
The ducks (and the geese and the chickens) have all enjoyed getting out and foraging in this ridiculous weather. But despite hearing the siren song of spring myself on these last few warm days, I’m not believing it. I see freezing temperatures in the forecast and no matter how nice that sun feels or how excited I am for fluffy new arrivals – it’s still February.
And there will be no duck babies until real spring arrives!
Computers are great…
… except when they aren’t.
Mine aren’t.
Blogging is difficult without a computer. Some people can blog from their phones but our , (yup our, John and I still share) iPhone 4 (yeah, that’s right, no “S”, Siri and I aren’t even friends) and I are not up to the challenge.
Of course, contrary as I am, this means I have a million things I want to blog about. Sadly they’ll all have to wait until we solve our computer woes.
Until then, know I haven’t abandoned you all, I’m still here, I’ll just be swearing at my computer until further notice.
Good thing that phone and I can still manage Instagram, maybe I’ll see you there!
(Also if you think helping people pick out computers is super fun send me a message- we need help!)
Showers
“When was the last time you showered?”
“You better go take a shower.”
“No, you can’t just put your hair in a pony tail, go wash it.”
“Because you can’t remember the last time!”
“No, you have to.”
“Because you can’t remember the last time, that means it’s been too long!”
…
“AND WASH YOUR HAIR SO WE CAN BRUSH IT!!!”
…
“Did you wash your hair yet?”
“Okay, but don’t come out until you wash and condition it.”
…
“Did you wash it?”
“Go, get back in and wash and condition it!”
“Because we will never be able to get all the snarls out otherwise!”
…
*Thirty Seven hours of brushing and crying and whining later…*
“There, all nice and smooth and shiny!”
Unrelated photo. And yet it seemed appropriate anyway…
*sigh*
When was the last time I showered?
Damn, I can’t remember.
…
*Go to use shampoo and conditioner and find empty bottles.*
*Try to brush hair.*
*Fail due to large snarls.*
*Throw it all in pony tail anyway.*
*sigh*
Planning the Future
I am great at planning for the future.
I have a yearly step by step plan on how I’m going to finally get myself those goats that I’ve always wanted.
I know which trees we should take down for firewood now and which ones I want to take down next year.
I have the order figured out for all the things I would build as we finish the upstairs of the garage.
I know what trees and shrubs I want to plant next year and where I want to plant them.
Put me in front of one of our apple trees and I’ll tell you which branches we are going to prune now, which ones we will prune next year and what branches we are using to eventually replace old limbs.
I even know where we are going on vacation this year and when we are doing it.
What? Tomorrow?
Psh! Tomorrow! That little day doesn’t matter!
…
Which is why “today” always greets me with terrible surprises. Did you know that people, particularly small people, expect to eat three meals a day? I hear that this is easier if you plan ahead and that sometimes people even do this as soon as the day before.
I wouldn’t know.
In other terrible news of “today,” I hear they are going to want to eat three times again tomorrow! But I can’t possibly plan what that might be because I’m far too busy running in circles doing all these things that I planned last week/month/year that for some super strange reason now need to be done today!
It’s shocking.
Every day it’s shocking.
So I make lists.
Sadly, I can’t always read them.
So, it’s still shocking.
But I am great at planning for the future, just ask me about my multi-year landscaping plan…
The Lucky Hat Mine by J.V.L. Bell
“Ahhhhhhh” (That’s the sigh of a contented reader who just found a book that was exactly what she hoped it would be.)
The Lucky Hat Mine is a classic old west tale complete with miners, murder and mail order brides.
But… the mail order bride’s husband-to-be was the murder victim and all the miners are lining up to propose.
Literally.
And repeatedly.
Fortunately, our heroine is made of stern stuff and despite the fact that she spouts off rules of etiquette at every occasion and constantly reminds the men to watch their language, she gets along just fine, and even thrives, in the Colorado mining town she has landed in.
Would I recommend it? There is a goat in this book! A fainting goat. So, clearly, yes. Also there is a great strong female lead, humor, a smidgen of romance, a murder mystery all wrapped up in a western. What’s not to love!?!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book because I’m a proud member of Rosie’s Book Review Team!
Planetary Education
On a beautiful winter evening we were having a campfire in the snow and looking at the stars. I was pointing out constellations to the kids because I have always loved the idea that stories and pictures are painted in the night sky. John, less thrilled with mythology and mere stories, pointed out Venus, because it’s a planet and he’s got this thing about space going on. (Nope Honey, still not going to Mars!)
Talking about Venus drew us all into a technical discussion about how planets worked. John, in what I must say was basically a stroke of brilliance, turned the campfire into the sun, Clara became Mercury, Ivy Venus, John was Earth, Jane his moon and I was Mars. Off we marched around the fire in our own orbits traveling at different speeds just like the planets do. I had a bit of excitement when I traveled through an asteroid belt (brush patch) on my outer orbit and by the time John was done spinning circles while holding Jane as he orbited the sun Ivy was no longer in any doubt what planetary body the moon orbited around. Then we followed John’s directions to line up in the current planetary configuration while he re-pointed out Venus and explained why we couldn’t see Mars (I’m afraid my man knows these things because of his new quest to become an astronaut, it has me worried). It was very educational and the girls were having fun and asking more questions and I was just starting to tell John what a good idea it all was when Jane looked up at the sky and said:
“I think I see Earth!”
It was a brilliant planetary lesson, but maybe next time we need to start out with the basics!
The (Dead) Bee Report
In true procrastinator form, after ignoring the fact that one of my bee hives had died out much earlier this winter, I finally cleaned up the hive and brought it inside.
In extra true procrastinator form I did it today because it was sunny and cold and beautiful outside and I was doing all I could to avoid my inside chores.
#hopeless
I’m sure you will be pleased to know that unlike the mess of a mouse nest I expected to find in a hive that had been left out for part of the winter, (because of course this isn’t the first time I’ve made such a poor decision) it was empty.
All that was inside was a small cluster of dead bees still clinging around hundreds of bee butts sticking out of empty cells. A sad sight.
The cluster was much smaller than I expected which made me wonder if the hive was never as big and strong as I had thought it was. Perhaps that was why it was the target of the robbing behavior last fall and they never would have made it through the winter anyway. Or perhaps the robbing threw them off, destroying so much of their home, hive and brood that it caused them to be low in number going into winter.
Whatever it is, it drives home the fact that the longer I keep bees the more I know how little I really know.
After shaking off what bees we could and cleaning up the hive for transport into the garage for the rest of the winter, Jane and I spent some time poking about in the pile of dead bees. I’m going to fob this behavior off as “investigative research” but I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty fascinating to look through the pile of bees. Frozen and dead they look very much the same as when they were alive and the hairs on their legs will still “grab” onto jacks and gloves and each other. Sifting through the pile I only saw one (dead) mite still clinging to it’s host which I shall take to be a good sign. And after a bit of searching we pulled the queen out of the pile and were able to take her back to the house for a morbid little photo shoot.
Queen bee on top with one of her daughters below to show the size difference.
While we looked through the dead hive evidence of cleansing flights from the live hive was all around us and they appear to be doing fine. I’m crossing my fingers and making a note to check them during the next warm spell, it can be hard to be a hive of bees in the winter that might be counting on a little extra care from an expert procrastinator.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and Book at the Door Winner
And the winner is…
Charlene! (Who, by the by, can be found on her blog The Illusion of Controlled Chaos).
Charlene will get a package in the mail with this month’s book, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, as well as a fine, printed copy of this month’s first line artwork created by Sarah (@thinkbigmuch on Twitter).
Now is where I get to tell you that Rebecca is one of my all time favorite books. If the first line of the first chapter doesn’t draw you in perhaps the next chapters’ will…
Chapter 2: “We can never go back again, that much is certain.”
Chapter 3: “I wonder what my life would be today, if Mrs. Van Hopper had not been a snob.”
Chapter 5: “I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love.”
Chapter 7: “We came to Manderley in early May, arriving, so Maxim said, with the first swallows and the bluebells.”
Would I recommend it? Yes! I have read it many time since I first read it and I still love it. Though it should be noted that I can’t get John to try it, he says it’s “a girl book” I’m not convinced, what do you think?
Book at the Door winner was chosen using a random number generator from http://www.random.org
Artists of all kinds (Yes, you photographers and you who says you can’t draw and you who just wants to practice hand lettering and you who is selling paintings online and…all of you!) if you are interested in providing a small piece of work that includes a first sentence I would love to hear from you!
Authors, have I read your book and tagged it as a recommended read? Would you like to donate a hard copy? Let me know!
Behind the Willows 