Helen Mathey-Horn's Blog, page 11

Robins! And Signs of Spring

The migration north is on! Seems like every yard we go past has a dozen to two dozen robins. As we drive they are flitting past the cars like kamikaze pilots. They have denuded my holly tree out front of its berries. I’m glad I can provide ‘fuel’ for their journey north. And speaking of Journey North, if you would like to be a citizen scientist and provide data on migrations such as that of robins (and other migratory species of North American) you can log into Welcome to Journey North and click on ‘Sightings’. You’ll be able to add data and view data on other North American migratory species. If you live along coasts this also includes marine mammals! (That makes me jealous.)

Robins are always a sign of spring to my family, although the robins won’t get to Illinois for a while.

Other signs of spring…the forsythia and flowering quince are budding and showing a touch of color. The hellebore have flowers tucked under lush green leaves. But to keep me from jumping the gun on spring we had a dusting of snow yesterday. And there have been years with snow here in February, so we aren’t out of the ‘woods’ yet for winter. But signs of spring always give me a mood lift.

What are your favorite signs of spring?

Feel the Bern

I’m certain I’m not the only one scrolling through all the Bernie Sanders memes on Facebook over the last few days. And I’ve been pondering the ‘why’, ‘why Bernie’? And I think I have a reason.

We’ve just ended a period with a toxic/negative person and are starting a fresh period with good people and somewhere between the ‘villian’ and the new ‘ruler’ lies the ‘jester’.

I don’t mean to say that Bernie should betaken in real life as a joke. He has seriously stood for his principles for years and has the street cred to back them up, but at the same time that seriousness can lend some levity to the current situation. After all it was the ‘jester’ in medieval courts who had the impunity to tell the ruler to his face (if slightly clothed in humor) unpleasant truths without fear of reprisal. And that is what I think has sprung up on Facebook.

Bernie is in every conceivable situation with that picture of the ‘cold winter day inauguration’. So if he will permit us to laugh at the situations perhaps we can shed some of the bile from the previous administration with a few good belly laughs.

Just a few.

You go Bernie!

Yes it is almost mid-January

Sorry I fell off the ‘radar’. I think I had COVID, or a bad flu…either way it kept me in bed for a while and now I’m finally realizing I need to post here.

So what looks good in my world? These!

My mother had the attitude that houseplants from a store were just to be considered in the same category as cut flowers…they were not going to make it so don’t get too invested in keeping them alive.

I really have come to love orchids, but have always considered them in the cut flower category. I was unlikely to keep them alive, let alone get them to rebloom. Well, I seem to be having decent ‘luck’. I’ve got four of them reblooming and that is just sooooo cooool.

Maybe one of these years I’ll set up more of a greenhouse environment for them. Right now they have a ‘drip pan’ under their stand and if extra water drains it can sit there and evaporate. They probably need more humidity than that provides, but as my brother would say, ‘It is what it is.’

When spring finally arrives I’ll hang most of them out under my rose arbor and set the rest on the east end of the porch. It seems to give them rain and dappled sunlight.

Hope you have something in your life to make you smile.

December 16 – Here Be Snow Dragons!

I think making a snow man or snow sculpture is an inexpensive way to do sculpture. My high school art teacher must have thought so also. One of the things he had us plan in the fall was a sculpture that we would make if we got snow…the right kind of snow.

It has to be packable, damp/wet. Too dry and it won’t stick. So we made plans, but they were all dependent on the weather, and that year it didn’t work out. Yes, we had snow, but it was on a weekend and not good on Monday, or with an ice crust, or too powdery…fine for skiers…or just no snow. So it was never carried out.

Not that I’ve not made snow men and sculptures before and after that. In Pisa, Italy we had snow in January one year. It was bizarre and we did get school off. It wasn’t much snow but my son and I made a snowman using almost every bit of snow we could and it was about 2 1/2- 3 foot high. It didn’t last long.

My dad commented once on a huge snow man built on a road in my uncle’s woods in Wisconsin. I’m not sure who was responsible for building it. The men were out there hunting and staying at a hunting shack. I am assuming alcohol may have been involved.

So young or old, building something out of snow is a natural.

Then as we were driving in Tulsa this week we saw this.

Note the head is turned toward you with branches as fire out the mouth. And yes, this is as big as you think it is. I’m impressed!

December 15 – WHITE

So last post was about the signs of red I was seeing in the area. This week it is WHITE. The snow may not last too long but it covers a multitude of what can be ugly.

Most of that on the trees and road is already gone. As anyone from a TRULY northern state knows, shovel/plow the sidewalks and driveways as soon as you can.

The temperatures climbed today and there was melting. I even shoveled a path across the front lawn (on the other side of the bushes you see outside the window above, because it is the path the mailman takes from our house to the neighbor on the west.

Everything has an icy crust to it tonight. There might be more snow Wednesday. It is definitely December and with snow it feels more like Christmas, not that I like having to negotiate snow. One of my ‘broken bones’ was walking through fresh slush on a Japanese street on what should have been a trip into Tokyo. Another story for another day. I have firewood for the fireplace if I want and a warm house with all the food we could possibly want at this point for animals and people, so…

It is so nice to enjoy a snow day without worrying about getting out in it or making up a day of missed school.

Only thing I miss about snowfall here is hearing the snowplow going down the road in the middle of the night with their yellow lights flashing from Illinois childhood or early morning in Germany (they don’t bother with the city/’county’ roads between midnight and 6 am – if you are out during that time period it’s on you…why are you out?)

But that fresh snow black and white clarity sure is pretty if you don’t have to be anywhere.

8 December – RED

I don’t remember the Japanese maples being so RED other years. And not just the two I have in my backyard. Every one I see is screaming scarlet and still in possession of all its leaves.

Are they not Christmas red? I don’t suppose they will keep their leaves all the way to Christmas, but I am enjoying them while I can. And with color like that who needs to decorate the yard much?

December!

Join the IWSG monthly blog hop here: http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

Time for another blog hop among the Insecure Writers Support Group. Purpose of the IWSG: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! The awesome co-hosts for the December 2 posting of the IWSG are Pat Garcia, Sylvia Ney, Liesbet @ Roaming About Cathrina Constantine, and Natalie Aguirre! Be sure to check out their fine blogs!

December 2 question – Are there months or times of the year that you are more productive with your writing than other months, and why?

It used to be summers (when I was teaching) because…well, summer break and all that time to spend without worrying about teaching or getting ready for teaching.

One summer I had a great routine, which I’ve probably written about a few years ago. I was home at my parents’ for the summer (visiting because I could) and my son was with his father. Both my parents worked, but my mom was days and my dad was nights. So I would get up and see my mom off about 8, then use her computer until my dad got up about 11. I’d bum along with him to visit his friends, then we would come home about noonish to have lunch with mom, (she literally worked across the street, well road). Then I would go back to writing while my dad did what ever he had planned. I’d take a break around 3 as he got ready to go to work, then when he left the house I’d go back to writing. Mom came home at five and we would find something for supper and then I’d go back to writing until about nine o’clock. Next day, repeat.

I keep trying to find a similar routine again, but it just hasn’t happened. Hit or miss, mostly miss.

Wishing you Happy Healthy Holidays.

Thanksgiving

OMG It was just Veteran’s Day…where does the time go when you are doing basically NOTHING?

I’ve got the makings of a small Thanksgiving Dinner for Don and I; ham and acorn squash with a pecan pie for dessert. I did not make the pie. The ham just needs to be heated. The squash will be done my family’s favorite way which is very easy. So no monstrous pre-planning, getting up at O’Dark-Thirty to start a big turkey which my mother always did.

She had an electric roaster, which I think might have been a wedding present. It could take a 20+ pound bird and could be set up anywhere there was an electric outlet, so that freed up the oven for cooking other things, but with a bird that big she often started cooking it at 5 in the morning so it would be ready for around 1 o’clock.

We had all our standard trimmings…stuffing (bread not cornbread), acorn squash, potatoes (mashed), gravy, green beans (without the onion things), cranberries (two kinds, jelly and sauce not cooked but homemade with orange and nuts in it), and olives, dates (stuffed) and tons of other stuff, mostly small (olives, pickles), oh and yes, cut-glass jello salad (my aunt).

My mother usually had the Thanksgiving meal and my grandmother held a Christmas dinner or my aunt later. So much food!

Later leftovers were packed into a refrigerator in the kitchen, or one in the basement and as this was Illinois and it was usually cold enough for snow and the front porch was not heated…the enclosed front porch. Trust me there was no danger of the temperature out there getting above freezing or at least not much above. It was on the northside of the house so no sunlight to heat it up and no insulation. It might be a couple of degrees above the outdoor temperature but not much. And no danger of some critter deciding the food was for them. I sometimes wish for such a useful space…not often, but sometimes.

As for other Thanksgiving memories. I don’t remember watching any parades, but that might be because I was in the kitchen helping. And as for football, the only time I remember my father having an interest in football games was the Super Bowl because he was in a ‘pool’ at work. Mostly we sat a while, cleared the tables (the card tables were out for extra seating) and played a few hands of cards, before the second go around of food.

Weather was variable…cold yes, snow maybe, ice often.

Then help everyone skate out to their cars in the driveway, and wave from the warm house.

And then a ton of dishes to wash…the good ones with my mom’s crystal and silver. Put everything away until Christmas or the next year.

So our dinner is going to be a snap.

Veterans Day

To the Veterans…thank you for your service.

Picture from a few years back, courtesy of my niece.

Then a generation skipped, and my son did a stint in the Air Force.

Indian Summer

That brief time in the fall, when the leaves are colorful, but still on the trees and the temperatures are wonderful with cool nights and warm days.

It always feels like the ‘calm before the storm’. One storm over (voting) and winter and COVID still ahead.

Hubby and I have a wanderlust to go on a road trip, but realistically it’s not a good idea.

So enjoying the color in our trees and the trees around town. It was incredible this morning when we were out. Any where you looked it was layers of trees in various colors from still green(but yellowish) to yellows to oranges to deep reds.

When I walk the dog this time of year I collect leaves that I find pretty and when I get home I put them on a glass shelf in the window lites beside our front door. I keep adding to the collection as long as I find leaves I like. Then when it is time to decorate for Christmas the leaves get tossed.

Inexpensive (free) fall decoration.

This one is usually redder/oranger than this.