Vicki Lane's Blog, page 560

Shedding Beauty

The crepe myrtles that have bloomed so exuberantly are on the way out, flinging their tiny crinkled petals with wild abandon so that all around, everything is blooming pink . . .
The tiger lily and the liriope are blushing . . .
While pink puddles form on the clouded greenhouse windows. . .  And atop the steps of stone.  Even Eddie is adorned.

Rent House

There are three houses on our farm: the Blue House that was there when we bought the place, our house, which John built, and the Gran House, which John's mother had built so that she could be cared for by family in her latter years. 
We've had a variety of tenants in the two extra houses -- friends and family sometimes, and other times just whoever showed up. Mostly the experiences have been good and the tenants have become friends. Occasionally we've had a surprise, like the charming young...

The Perseids Are Coming!

Here's a heads up: the  Perseids -- probably the best meteor shower for viewing from the USA -- will peak on August 12 -- after 9:30 pm, ET.  The show should get even better in the wee morning  hours of the 13th.

If the weather cooperates, I'll be outside staring at the sky -- for a while at least. At 1 or 2 in the morning, even a shooting star every minute can't keep me awake for long.

Still, it can be a pretty amazing sight. And if you make a wish on each falling star. . .



(These images are...

Moving Forward -- A Writing Question

Q: How do you keep yourself moving AHEAD, rather than "backing and filling" --editing--rather than creating?  
A: I tend to write in a pretty linear fashion -- start at chapter one and keep going. Sometimes I have an inspiration for a scene pretty far ahead -- or even the ending -- and I'll write it down and file it away till time to use it.  

I edit as I go -- reading what I wrote the day before and fixing what needs fixing before beginning the next bit. This has the virtue of getting me...

The Impostor

I was busy in the garden, picking tomatoes, getting in the rest of the corn -- what ears the raccoons had left --  as well as okra and eggplant -- some of which are white and do, indeed, look like eggs --  and picking squash, cucumbers, and beans, when I saw this critter on a bean leaf. 

Ir looked kind of like a bumble bee . . . but then again . . .
Then again . . .  this one below is a bumble bee, this fella on the sunflower.  The one on the bean leaf has club-shaped antennae like a moth...

Early August

Purple coneflowers in crisp, starched perfection. . . Half-hidden amid the glossy leaves,
Pears ripen in luxuriant trusses  . . . Seed heads promise a return next year . . .

And the long evening light lingers in the still air.

 

A Family Story - Sepia Saturday

Tampa, Florida -- the early 1900's. An early autumn afternoon and C.L Knight, the family patriarch, and his sons and grandchildren are taking their ease on the front porch  while the women of the family are inside -- resting after the exertions of Sunday dinner.
The house is located in what is now downtown Tampa and many a fashionable couple is out strolling, parading in their Sunday finery.  The Knights smile and nod and comment privately on their passing neighbors.
A newly-wed couple...

No Sacrifice Needed . . .

Another dog day  Dawned -- air heavy, moisture filled.

Hard to breathe -- until . . . Moisture clutched -- gathered Itself into rain, stringingThe clothesline with pearls. We sat on the porch,Watching rain cloak the mountains,Breathing deep and cool.  The clematis vine'sWiry gilded seed pods shineWith tiny diamonds.

We got almost an inch of rain yesterday afternoon and we didn't have to sacrifice a brown dog. (Whew! says Maggie.)
The video below is just the rain and the sound it makes on a...

Dog Days

 Dog Days -- hot, still, breathless weather -- an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" according to Brady's Clavis Calendarium, 1813.

The Old Farmer's Almanac identifies the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the ancient heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. These are the days of the year when rainfall is at its...

Lammas. . . Lughnasadh . . . Early Harvest

Two of my blogging friends mentioned, in connection with my August 1 post on the threshing machine, that it was just right for Lammas  -- which fell on August 1.
Lammas celebrates the early harvest and the first harvest of wheat -- indeed, the name Lammas derives from words meaning 'loaf mass' and the first grain harvested was ground into flour,  baked into bread, and that loaf was blessed by a priest.
Long before Christianity, the early harvest was celebrated in England as Lughnasadh) and...