AHHHH . . . Snow . . . . . ?

It's been so blinkn' hot here. It's headed for the low 90's tomorrow. However, this morning in the park - it looked as though it'd snowed on a small portion of the box wood plants that ring the rose garden.

But I looked a little closer. There's somebody ready to welcome passersby into his ick-glue world. (Get it? - Ick! Glue! - Igloo? Sorry it's the best I can do in this heat :0)



Anybody know this spider's name. Noooo - I don't mean 'Harry', 'Stu', or 'Bob' or 'Suzie' for that matter. It just occurred to me that maybe male spiders don't need webs because they're not going to reproduce. I mean - no serious physical contribution. I mean - caloric requirements not huge for his purposes. C'mon. You know what I mean.
Gosh. How could I not know this? Maybe I'll knock on Bev's door at Burning Silo and see if she's got an ID and whether or not the guys also build webs.

UPDATE: Thanks, Bev! Read Bev's comment (third down). I knew she'd share some interesting spider facts with us. Don't miss the link about Spider Love. Now that's interesting.

Where Has My Blog Gone

Has the Sun set on my blog? Has it flown the coop?



I can't find my blog. I've tried to access it through the links my fellow-bloggers have created. I'm groping in the dark of cyber-space. Waaahhhhh. Does anybody hear me? I'm panicking for no reason, right? I mean they don't delete two years of sharing and dreaming without a warning - do they?

Update: I panicked for nothing - all is right with the world again. Silly me. I sure would like to know what causes these disappearing acts.

Leaving Again

After thirty years - you'd think you'd get over the ache of departures. But when was it ever human nature not to long for more - more pleasant days of camaraderie and beauty.


But the proverbial sands of time have spilled into breeze and water - the voices and laughter of family have drifted with them out over the sea.



Some of us touched the ocean for the first wonderful time. (My grand niece, sweet Katie, and beloved sister Jen and her precious Laura and Kate)



Some of us remain behind, but love will span the distances. (Our terrific son, Jody)



The fog will grace the shore and harbors.



The tides will leave magic behind for wanderers.



Boats will swing around their moorings to point into the freshening breeze.


Our footprints may vanish. Our smiles remain.



Summer 2007
Chatham, Cape Cod

8 Random Facts

I have been tagged by Nina and Laura to participate in the 8 Random Facts Meme. Patrice, too! (I think maybe Laurie and/or Lynne did too, early on, but Oh! my brain :0) (I'm making up fans as I go, here)

You know it well by now.

We list eight random facts/habits about ourselves which others do not know.

It's so nice to have a command performance forum in which to focus on the most interesting phenomenon in the universe - me.

I'll not tag anyone, but invite all bloggers to participate and then PLEASE drop in to let me know you've done some thinking. It so humanizes these remarkable blogs sifting through the ether.



1.

My goal is to develop a better sense of humor. I'm sixty years old and like all the old fogies you've ever known - I too, just can't believe how fast it went.

2.

Like my blogging buddy Laurie, at DMMGMFM,(Laurie, did I dream this?) I played taps at funerals when I was a kid. I hid, trembling, behind tombstones waiting for Mr. Day's cue. I also played the organ for daily mass. I trembled a lot up in that choir loft, too. Only in a small town with a small talent pool could this happen.

3.

Regrets. I've been thinking a great deal about regrets. I think you do this as you age in an effort to move on. I wish I'd had a closer relationship with my dad. I was one of seven children. He had his own regrets that may have hampered his ability to connect. I knew he loved me.

4.

TV - a love/hate relationship. I don't watch the news. I've never seen American Idol. Antique Roadshow may be my favorite program. I don't own any true antiques (maybe a pot, here - a figurine, there) My hubby dislikes old things. I find them painfully poignant. You know - whose hands have held this item, cherished it?
Maybe that haunting is why he dislikes them.

5.

I hate shopping - for anything. I'm not sure what that is. It just seems there are so many more interesting things I could be doing. Maybe it's that I have to make decisions.

6.

I feed the critters in my back yard in Ohio. It's stupid. It's a compulsion. It's upsetting some of the neighbors. HELP ME!


7.

I've experienced telepathy. Sometimes dramatic - sometimes silly. My grandmother was telepathic. As I age it occurs much less frequently.

8.

I wish people would read poetry aloud to me. It doesn't happen. I don't listen to music. Music by-passes the mind and goes directly to the heart. I think the human voice, speaking the words that carry the experiences of the heart, does for me what others allow music to do for them. Poetry is not as inchoate. It more specifically explains, enlightens, or simply nods assent. Am I weird?

9.

I don't like arbitrary boundaries. Rather than choose to delete one of the above facts in order to share my favorite childhood memory - I push the envelop - the meme mutates:

Early morning. I follow my kid-brother on his bike. I'm helping him with his Sunday paper route. The grass is wet. My sneakers are filled with dew. We do not speak. A gray cat sits on a sunlit windowsill. I feel the warmth on its white paws. . .

_________________________________________________

In the Eye of the Beholder

Bonita, over at Flitzy Phoebie revealed the rich imaginings of her mind and artist's eye when she saw a world map on an old door knob.

I'd just been teasing my kid-sis with a picture I took of a shed's old white-washed window. Inspired by Bonita, I offer you the same challenge I gave my sister. Do you see anything?



NOW ?




Aw, c'mon. She's IS there isn't she? Hope I'm not just projecting a bad attitude :0D


P.S My sis saw people leaning over a bar (upper left), an elephant (upper right) and a man swinging a rat by the tail (lower right). Hmmmmmm.

"Outies"

STELLA!
How's this for an attention grabber? He's one of the local fishermen.





These pictures are just a sampling of the allure of Chatham on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. You want to be part of it - the quaint village, the sea-side beauty,the great surrounding ocean, the fog, the Sun.

We've rented lovely homes here for thirty years. We should have saved our pennies, though, and purchased a place. If you don't own - you're just not an "In-ie".

Sitting on the spacious front lawn of our rental we watched as a large SUV roared up our driveway. A very attractive couple stepped forth and introduced themselves as the new owners of the recently remodeled house down the road. Bona-fide were quickly established. He's an oil executive living in Qatar - they both have families here on the coast. After we disclosed that we were the renters - you could feel the gears shift.

"Come on gorgeous," he called to his svelte younger wife as he scooped her back into their LandRover. "We'll come up your driveway and plan having drinks one of these evenings." I smiled inwardly at how smoothly he ended this dead-end encounter with essentially 'don't call us, we'll call you.'

Two evenings later we heard bag pipe music in the distance. It grew closer. At the foot of our driveway a piper passed in full-regalia as he marched toward the oil executive's new home. Strains of 'Scotland Forever' tingled the spine. Another couple and their little girl followed him at a distance and explained as we joined them that they guessed he was headed for a house-warming and they were just following because their little girl loved the music.

Tagging along we ended up in front of the refurbished house. The music drifted from the backyard where Gorgeous and her husband were entertaining.

I figure the day they'd come up the driveway they'd intended to invite 'the owners' to their house-warming. Hey,I understand. Why the heck would you invite renters - transients ? Still, there is something so inherently icky about this scenario. I mean 'hey'! Aren't we fun? Wouldn't we have contributed an element of serendipity to their party? Riigggght. Trust me. I do get it. But his smooth dismissal - the dramatic slamming of the social register - ick.

Critters Without Backbones

Get on over to Bev's Burning Silo Blog. Today she hosted The Circus of The Spineless. It's ' a monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.' In this spirit I've posted a photo I took back home in Ohio. I think these are Great Spangled Fritillary visiting some sort of thistle.How can you help but feel wonder at the form and function of these lovely butterflies?

I've spent many pleasant moments enjoying Burning Silo's photo galleries and the interesting facts about the creatures that Bev studies. Spiders are one of her favorite. As I've surmounted my perhaps instinctive fear of spiders, I've begun to marvel at their variety of shapes, colors and behavior that I've discovered through Bev's explorations. Check out her fungus gallery, also. Bev turns her lenses toward the mysteries of the plant kingdom, too. (Fungi aren't plants :0)

Even if you don't like invertebrates you'll find Bev's blog compelling. I have. With her wonderful photos and engaging narratives, she's actually turned this insect phobic into an admirer of our fellow insect travelers. She also features other marvelous creatures and the interesting stories surrounding their existence.

If you favor vertebrates of the canine variety scroll around till you find pictures of sweet Sabrina, Bev's beautiful collie. You'll find all sorts of wonderment as you peruse. P.S. That thistle head was as large as a small fist. Anybody know thistles? Addendum:
I think I found the thistle. Maybe. Two of my fellow-bloggers are suggesting Bull Thistle. I also found this plant that looks right. Musk Thistle and of course it's considered invasive and a nuisance. In this link they mention 18 chemicals approved for eradicating it. Sheesh.