Vicki Lane's Blog, page 14

Oh, Deer!

Spotted from our dining room window last night. Such a pretty thing and just the color of Jenny. Eating my daylilies  then moving on to weeds. . .







 

Thoughts and Prayers

The devastating floods in Texas have spawned so many questions and not many answers. Did DOGE's cuts at the national weather service contribute to the tragedy? Does anyone rational believe Dear Leader's suggestion that somehow this was Biden's fault? What about MTG's belief that nefarious players are controlling the weather?

Something that leaped out at me was those folks who asserted that prayer was responsible for saving the little girls who survived.
What about those who didn't--despite all the hopes and prayers?  What kind of god would play favorites like that? 
Any loss of life is tragic--but the pictures of those little girls--just Josie's age--break my heart. And I think of the grieving parents, wondering why their prayers weren't heard. 


 

It's So Hot . . .

. . .  that the snakes are going nekkid.


Just kidding--this is a usual occurrence. Our little greenhouse is a favorite spot for blacksnakes to shed their skins and I always love seeing them. This one's head was perfect with even the eye scales preserved. About a three footer--still a teenager, I'd say.







 

Silent Sunday

        



       
 

The Yarkin Pearl (Repost)

 

The folks at The Orchard told me to pick out a bag of apples to take with me and after browsing through the various varieties -- Jonathan, Stayman, Delicious -- I chose York.

It's a tasty, crisp eating apple and tart enough to be good for cooking too.  But, to tell the truth, I chose it for reasons of nostalgia.

Our first fall in the mountains, Clifford, our neighbor down the hill, gave me an apple to try, saying that it was an old time variety and a good keeping apple.  

I tasted it and was impressed. We were planning to plant apple trees come spring and I already had a tentative list of varieties.

"What's the name of this apple?" I asked, and was told that it was a Yarkin Pearl. 

Interesting, I thought, Yarkin could be the name of the discoverer or breeder of the apple and Pearl could be because it was so good -- or maybe the name of his daughter. Nice.
This was 1975 - pre-Internet -- and I began to hunt through my nursery catalogues and Rodale gardening books for more information on this pearl of a fruit -- but alas! I could find no Yarkin Pearls.
I intensified my search, checking various orchard-related books out of the library and leafing  through back issues of Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening.
1975 was also before I learned the language of my adopted home.
Finally I came across the name York Imperial.York Imperial . . . Yarkin Pearl.
Yep.

No Celebration

I've been disappointed in my country on numerous occasions -- but the  blatant cruelty and greed of the current regime, not to mention its cynical flaunting of the Stars and Stripes while ignoring the Constitution, has me wondering what those Founding Fathers would make of what their vision has become.
Masked thugs kidnapping people and deporting them or putting them in concentration camps without due process --was this the American Dream? An administration that is for sale to the highest bidder, that selects its officials based on appearance and loyalty, rather than experience and integrity, a president who delights in vulgarity and rudeness -- no, nothing to celebrate today.
Instead I'll remember the quiet Fourths of my childhood--a picnic supper of ham, potato salad, and watermelon under the big oaks in my grandparents' back yard and then, as it began to grow dark, my little brother and I with our sparklers, weaving fiery patterns in the air  . . .
 

The Blessing of Rain

Ir's such a pleasure to sit on the porch in the evening with an adult beverage and watch the rain sweep toward us. 



 

What Are You Doing to my Beloved Country?

I weep for my country. As our president gloats over a quickly built concentration camp in the Everglades while contemplating deporting US citizens whose politics he doesn't like; as spineless congresspeople vote for tax cuts for billionaires and cuts to Medicaid and SNAP; as the GOP noose tightens around every aspect of life, I wonder when those who support this lawless, heartless  regime will realize what they have wrought.
There is so much to deplore and be angry about but just at this moment, I am particularly incensed by every cross-wearing, bible waving, so-called Christian who turns a blind eye to the very real evil that is before them.
There will be a reckoning.

 

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbits

 






 

Dreaming . . .

               Attributed to Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou