Francesca Forrest's Blog, page 28

always desirable

A very charismatic ghost sign:

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And some carousel ponies. Two different moods?





I have all kinds of things I want to post about, but it all takes time, so I offer these as placeholders in the meantime. Which mood of carousel horse are you these days? And what, besides (apparently!) Ceresota Flour, is always desirable?

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🎶Whenever, Wherever

You've heard of USPS Forever stamps, but how about Wherever stamps?



I got a letter from my friend C, who was in Barcelona recently.

"Oooh, a letter from C from overseas!" I thought. Then I looked at the stamp and saw it was a US international stamp. I know these well, as we have family in the UK and Japan, so I buy them often.

"Hmmm, so, she must have sent this letter when she got home," I thought. "But in that case, why did she use an international stamp? ... And why is the cancellation in Spanish...

romance in a meadow, chicha update

There's a meadow near me that I love, especially in May and June. Yesterday I was driving home, and there was a couple standing in the pink mist of ragged robin, her looking like she had stepped out of a fantasy story, him looking enchanted. I turned the car around, pulled over, jumped out, and went plowing through the long grass toward them like some kind of zombie on the attack.

"You guys look so romantic, standing here in the long grass!" I said. They both looked understandably flustered, me ...

beaver pond

Perhaps you're in the mood for a change of pace?

We went for a walk through a landscape transformed by beavers. It's always been marshy; they have turned it into their own habitat. There are frogs in here, and red-winged blackbirds flying over the reedy parts, and redstarts singing in the skunk-cabbage parts.





We saw a great tree, SO TALL, that will soon be down:



Evidence (pond-facing side):



Some extra gnawing (trail-facing side):



Again, that tree is TALL:



So think of beavers. There was no pond before...

the home-invading do-gooder

I've been searching around for short films (10 minutes or under) on Youtube that I can watch with my tutee and then we can talk about--English practice! And if there's dialogue, listening comprehension practice! This one doesn't really have dialogue, but it has plenty to talk about.

Briefly, a woman has a drab, routine life (her closet has only gray clothes in it! The plant on her windowsill is dead!)--but that world map on her wall (only spot of color) lets you know that maybe she's open to more...

weight, decay

Across the sky, wispy white vertebrae from some decomposing heavenly beast.


photo by Flickr user Jen Scheer; cirrus vertebratus is an actual cloud type, apparently

"Sky creatures never stink when they decay," granddad says, "because they're half made of light. Down here we're made of heavy stuff and we stink when we decay. But the sky creatures have no sweet fragrances or intoxicating aromas, either. All the tantalizing scents we love come from the fact that earthly flesh is rich and heavy.



comme...

Tramps and Vagabonds

A new Aster Glenn Gray novel is out today, Tramps and Vagabonds, and people, this one holds a special place in my heart. I beta read it, for one thing, but it's not just that. It's a very tender story, right in that place where friendship bleeds into romantic love and sexual attraction, and the characters are so, so finely drawn. And on top of that, it's a wonderful window onto a time and place that's fascinating: the world of young people on the road during the Great Depression. Aster Glenn Gra...

Mother's Day icon-card

When started my Livejournal in 2006, I asked the ninja girl--at that time 16 years old--to make me an icon. "Draw me as a wanderer with a little gray in her hair," I said. She created this picture:



Not only have I used that as my default icon for 16 years now, but I've used it on other sites, too--so much so that I really think of it as me.

Today I received this mother's day portrait from Little Springtime--who is currently 29 (she was 13 back in 2006). She did it on a form they had at the local c...

drawing of the dream tree; a few other random things

So here is what the tree in my dream looked like: like bamboo, but with leaves like a locust... except in this drawing, the joint-rings aren't raised enough-looking, hence the second, eye-searingly colored (expertly! with a mouse!) diagram/digital doodle to show you how the rings fit round the trunk and boughs.






Also...

Heard the first wood thrush of the season today. I was wondering how far south they go for winter--do they make it all the way to Colombia? ... Google says no; they winter in Centra...

May Day in the marsh

This is a secret world



Where you can find marsh marigolds, tussock sedge, and skunk cabbage







I went for a brief walk here with Wakanomori. Birds came and talked to us at eye level, little frogs jumped into the water. It was lovely.

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In other news, I dreamed of a tree with a growth habit and leaves like a black locust, but a trunk and branches that were segmented like bamboo, and smooth green like bamboo, only the joints, instead of being flush with the surface and pale colored, were BLACK and ...