Feather of A What?

I must assume this is a turkey feather.
There are many like this all over our yard,
tho I never see where they "come" from.
Whatever. All feathers are beautiful.

~~~

xoabb

After the Storm

Sky Watch Friday
SWF - The Child of Old Wom Tigley - a most brilliant fellow!

Last week we had a terrific storm here in Connecticut. It's aftermath were many incredible After the Storm skies. Little did I know that as my friend and neighbor, Mental Mama was taking this photo of the sky out her front door for last week's Sky Watch Friday (which she took while pointing directly toward my house), I was taking the above photo of the same sky out my back door!

Serendipity!
Isn't it grand??
Two views of the very same sky!(MPM's home is one street over and to the far far
left of where I aimed the camera for this photo.)

I took this the same day. This shot is pointed directly at MPM's home,
which you could see if the trees were gone.
Glad I'm not able see her home. I'd miss my trees!

Looking straight up into heaven from my back yard.
Yesterday's blue, blue sky. Hmm...
I do believe this particular ~sky blue~ is my very favorite color.
Well, there's also green...and red....and orange...and....o nevermind!

(All 3 photos were taken by me.)

~~~
xoabb

Good Mama

Good Mama
It's a cold rainy morning on the Saugatuck
Mama gathers her babies under her wings
For Mama's warmth and safety

Good Papa, too
Standing guard over his family
On a rainy, cold Saugatuck river
Mama and Papa...protecting their babies

(one day later...)
Good Morning Sunshine!
Weather on the Saugatuck, one day later, is wonderful!
(Mama & Papa still have four babies - look on the left -
baby four is walking behind Mama)

~~~

xoabb

A Spiderweb & A Stella-Dog

~ S ~

Spiderweb on a Missouri Morning.

(credit for the above photo goes to my dad...he's good!)

Sweet Sleeping Stella-dog w/Sweeter Son, Bly.
(Think the love-fest is mutual?)

Stella Stalking. Ultimately Stymied.

(thanks to our electric fence!)

Stella guarding her Stud-Muffin, Trey-You.
(they love each other!)

Stella Sleeping...

~~~

xoabb

A Memorial Day Thank You...

A perfectly manicured lawn

Surrounds a sea of bright white crosses

Standing stoically, silently

In the early morning mist

And as the sultry sun rises

Flowers of freedom bloom

Adorning each grave

A mesmerizing moment of stars and stripes waving

Standing proudly as bustling blowing breezes bellow

Swearing an allegiance to a land that is free

A bugler in the far distance

Plays out Taps

As the sweet and eerie sound

Echoes a song of sacrifice

To God and country

From the countless men and women

Who silently safeguarded the red, white and blue…

~~~

xoabb

P. S. Happy birthday to our baby, Brynn Lee. Our Memorial Day baby...
Love love love you! Kisses & hugs always!
~~~
Poem written by Steven T. Wellman

Sunday Serenity

Thank you...

and you

and you

and you

and you

and you

all of you

always it seems...

Blessings to every single soul serving in our Armed Forces.
You are keeping our country safe. Please know you are
appreciated and loved more than you are ever told.

Thank you!

~~~

xoabb

Buzzing Bumblebee....

Buzzing bumblebee
hope we always see such a
yellow striped bandit

gathering pollen
from all the flowers that be and
spreading goodness on.

~~~

xoabb

Sky Watch Friday

Saugatuck River

Saugatuck River some minutes later

~~~
It was a very good cloud day in Connecticut yesterday.
Go to my friend MentalP's to see her beautiful photo of a rainbow
(directly above my home) that she took from her front porch yesterday.

~~~

xoabb

Deep Roots

When I die, she said, I'm coming back as
a tree with deep roots & I'll wave my leaves
at the children every morning on their way
to school & whisper tree songs at night in their dreams.

Trees with deep roots know about the things children need.

~ Brian Andreas


~~~

xoabb

P.S. - Click on Brian Andreas' name here or above if you'd like to visit his incredible website.

Ripples....Repose

Ripples
~Lake Champlain

Repose
~Lake Champlain

~~~

xoabb

A Visit Between Two Old Friends

Two forever friends...
The roads traveled together...
Strong their friendship stays.

Shared April birthdays...
Memories made together...
Both Brits through & through

All good times must end...
'Bye, She, miss you already...
God speed till next time!

and may it be soon!

~~~

xoabb

P.S. Yes, I was there too, but Mare and She go back way longer than I do with either of them. The three of us had a wonderful, lovely weekend. I treasure both of their friendships - She was our nanny for years so, of course, she is family and very special to us. Mare has been part of our lives and family for about 100 years, so is also very special to us. I'll be sharing pictures and stories of our most excellent Vermont road trip/get-together, (and also stories of other times we three have shared). The two of them? They really are forever friends!

More Prettier in Pink Memories...

An email and photo I just received from my mother

~

Annie,

When you scooped some pips with the helmet, you sent some to your Dad. We have several small plantings of them in various places around the garden. When I was a child, I learned a pretty little song - where I can't remember. That became one of the favorite lullabies I would sing to the three of you. I remember standing by your cribs, swaying back and forth and singing, then putting each of you down for the night. I always wondered why the words said coral bells, as all the lily-of- valley I had ever seen were white. With your discovery of the pink ones, I then knew the author must have also discovered the pink ones. Do you remember the words?

Soft coral bells along a slender stalk
Lilies-of-the-valley deck my garden walk
Oh! Don't you wish that you could hear them ring
That will happen only when the fairies sing

Love, Mom

~~~

xoabb

P.S. Good morning, dear mither of mine - yes I do remember that song and have always wondered why it's always been a favorite of mine. Now I know, and what a sweet lovely reason it is! You are the best! (I do find it quite irritational that every time I think I've taken a really good picture, you go and take a better one - reference above photo, dang it - I am striving to aim and shoot as well as you! It's the wonderful artist in you, mom! ;-)

Love you dearly,

Annly

Sunday Serenity

Zen in Vermont...

The powers that be must be trying to tell me
something I haven't been able to grasp just yet.
Wherever I am, it seems every time
I turn around, I discover another
zen moment....why???
It's good, but I still wonder....

~~~

xoabb

P.S. HAPPY HAPPY birthday my dear and most loved oldest daughter! Love love LOVE you! xoxoxoxoxomommyxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sky Watch Friday...

...a bit late

Lake Champlain Sunset

~~~

xoabb

P. S.  I left CT Thursday for a conference and then drove to VT Friday to visit a dear old friend for the weekend.  Her internet is kaput, kapooy, kwapped-out.  DARN!  Thus, no posts.  You can't possibly imagine how much I've missed visiting my favorite stops on the www - and how much I've missed posting. However, the weekend has been grand and I'll be back in the land of good wireless tonight, so see you then!  xoabb

Forget-Me-Not

Down by the riverbed
Carved on a rock
Are these three words...
Forget-Me-Not!

~~~

"HEY wait!!! What about me????
I'll open, I'll open!! I really really will!
JUST GIVE ME A LITTLE MORE TIME!!!
I'm beautiful...REALLY, I AM!!"*

(*Contrary to popular opinion, I am NOT a sour-puss!)

~~~

P. S. My mother and her sister both had ~autograph books~ that were signed by their friends, family and secret admirers at the end of their school year. I think mom was at the end of her 7th or 8th grade year when the above was written in her autograph book....

~~~

xoabb

Quietude

Quietude

a state or quality of being calm, quiet, silent, or in repose; resting.

tranquility.

~~~

~~~

xoabb

Pretty in Pink Memories

A long long time ago....

Each spring when my pink lily of the valley pips finally grace me with their lovely presence, I'm always transported back in time. Many many moons ago, really too many for me to want to count anymore, my now-grown up son was a little boy who lived and breathed baseball. I cannot tell you the number of games we attended from the time he was in kindergarten and on through college. I also know (knew - it's all fading) more about baseball than I EVER thought possible for my brain to absorb.

What a wonderful time it was to follow this little boy whose life was the baseball field. It was also quite boring at times, especially in those earliest years when cluelessness on the field usually reigned supreme for most of the players. (Do yourself a huge favor and go read Cathy's (creator of Noble Pig) hilarious story of her young son's recent baseball exploits. You'll immediately begin to understand what I mean. Wonderful and boring all rolled up into one. Whoda thunk!)
While I'm willing to bet that GB3's dad (GB) never missed a game his son played in (and was never ever bored) from the very beginning...me...not so much. It wasn't that I didn't want to be there, it was just so hard to be there.
And so, one of those long ago days, I found myself at a new field that was surrounded by woods. My GB3 was on the bench, and of course I was antsy, so I decided to take a walk (no not for exercise, just a hopefully amusing little walk!). There was a path that went into the woods, so I followed it and came upon a large clump of what looked like lily of the valley. The fact that they were not a wild flower and were growing in the middle of nowhere, I had to bend down to get a better look just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating, because they also looked...pink!

They were pink! Pink lily of the valley! I'd never heard of that and I had to have some! (What ballgame??) Went back to the car, got GB3's extra batting helmet and dug a clump out to take home. That was at least 16 years ago and those sweet pink memory-inducing flowers have been blooming here at our home ever since. By the way, GB3 never used that batting helmut again...I wonder why.

~~~

xoabb

Almost forgot to tell you: The first "Do you know me?" flower in yesterday's post was, indeed a carnation as many of you guessed. That second green "Do you know me?" flower was a rose! Just as pink lilies of the valley are unusual, those green roses are too, at least to me!

A Most Excellent Field Trip

Miss LaLa (aka Mental Mama) called me Friday night to tell me she was off to the wholesale flower shop Saturday to get the flowers for her church and she wanted to know if I would like to tag along. Huh??? Are you kidding me??? OF COURSE I wanted to tag along! I've only been to a flower wholesaler once in my life and then I nearly fainted from beauty overload.

Thankfully, this time I remembered my camera. These are just a few shots of the flower glory that was there. The shop itself is quite utilitarian and barren...well, except for all the flowers and the 3 cats that reside there. Actually, when I opened the door to the cooler, I just happened to glance down to see one of the cats looking back at me. His eye language was clearly telling me that he was irritated with me as he had been waiting way too long to get out of the cooler and he also wanted to know just where the hell had I been all this time. I didn't answer him.

Lilacs, my favorite flower (hmm, except for violets and lily of the valley....oh yes, and stock and snow whites and wisteria and....oh never mind!) were there in abundance, in white and every shade of purple, from very light to my very favorite, the dark purple you see above.

Do you know what flower this is?

Or this?

Above is the "untamed beauty" LaLa & her church friend started with...

First, the flowers needed to be tempered so they'd last longer...

Miss LaLa working her floral-arranging magic

Notice the brilliance of her stem placement...

Red ginger shoots in honor of the Pentacost...above, an up-close of the finished arrangement. We ended up adding more ginger shoots - only five simply wasn't enough to make a grand statement for such a grand old church, and the additions certainly put the arrangements over the top!

Lovely, aren't they?

I'll post the rest of the pictures on Flickr

(as soon as I figure that whole thing out!)

Yes, a most excellent field trip!

HEY LALA, what are we doing next weekend?????

~~~

xoabb

Sunday Hearts-Ease

hearts-ease also heart's-ease

Somebody Please Tell My Xmas Cactus...

...it's not Christmas!

~~~

xoabb

Sky Watch Friday

Connecticut Spring Sky

For those of you following my robin's nest devastation, above is a picture of the tulip poplar tree and sky, directly above the nest. I snapped it the day I found the nest empty. It's fairly obvious that a crow flying over could look down and easily spot the brilliant blue of the four eggs. And then have himself a tasty lunch. My theory: When mama robin first laid her eggs, the tree was in full bloom so the nest wasn't visible. As the tree lost it's petals, the nest became more and more visible....and vulnerable.

~

If only mama robin had waited just a week or two....(above taken 5/5/8)

~~~

xoabb