Vicki Lane's Blog, page 562

An Excuse

No Nature Girl

A few years ago, in one of my monthly newsletters (now morphed into The Goodweather Report blog,) I posted a closeup picture of a rather attractive fuzzy caterpillar, calling particular attention to his cute little pink feet.
As always, I had some email comments on my newsletter and there was a memorable one from my agent who took exception to my calling the caterpillar feet (or, indeed, the caterpillar) adorable.
In fact,  my agent's response was so  amazing that I  copied it to a file where...

Web World

Morning mist reveals a multitude of expectant spiderwebs strung between outstretched twigs and awaiting the catch of the day.
Tidy, regular reasoned constructions, spun to an age old pattern., each web is a little principality -- a kingdom (queendom?) of one.
But in the midst of all these classic spider webs is this odd, somewhat random effort -- the palace of some mad arachnid with dreams of grandeur? 
Or merely the work of a common funnel web spider, tired of dwelling in the grass and...

Hummingbird Spinoffs?

Our summer visitors -- the hummingbirds -- are busier that ever at the feeders, draining them by early afternoon. I suspect that their first hatchlings are now a-wing, thus the increased demand.
Hummers are noisy,  contentious little critters, especially the males who spend at least three-quarters of their energy running others off. It's hard to watch their buzzing, swooping air battles without being reminded of the tie fighters in Star Wars. Were the creators of these highly maneuverable...

In Praise of the Resourceful Morning Glory

Morning glories are some of my favorite volunteers, climbing up the side of the house to peek in at my coral cupboard and spreading their vines everywhere. 

They are descended from seeds I planted long ago and sometimes I have to be ruthless if I don't want them overwhelming everything else in a deep blue and green tide.

But in many places, they are welcome invaders.

Bold adventurer!Spreading your blue parasolsStep by stealthy step...
 Black-eyed Susans shineBright yellow-rayed suns circlingA...

Coral Cupboard

Some time back -- ten, maybe fifteen years ago -- I decided it would be nice to paint the inside of my kitchen cabinets red -- or rather, a coral-ish red. Just a nice surprising pop of color when I opened a cabinet, I thought,  would be refreshing.
And I thought and thought about it and now and then brought home paint chips of the sort of color I envisioned but it remained a 'someday' project -- hardly necessary but fun.
Then, finally, last year, when I had turned in the manuscript for The...

Nunsuch

Saturday night we had dinner with old friends and we were talking about high school days back in Tampa. My husband and Shelia and I all went to H.B. Plant High (class of '60) whereas Shelia's sister-in-law Angela attended the Academy of the Holy Names.

I shuddered when she mentioned this.
The Academy was the stick my mother shook at me to bend me into compliance with her idea of what I should be doing.

"If you don't (insert demand here,) I'll send you to the Academy as a boarder."

That...

Birthday Memories ~ (Sorta) Sepia Saturday

Since my older son's birthday is today, it seems appropriate to commemorate the occasion with this blast from 1979. I think it was '79 -- and Ethan was seven.
The blow-up light saber was a hit. The rocking horse (named Philly) was a survival from my childhood. Thirty one years ago --and several of these little children round the table have children of their own. Sadly, three of those grown ups in the picture below are gone -- my neighbor Betty, Vicky Owen, my friend from college, and my...

I Wonder. . .

Why is a winding road more romantic than a straight one?
Why has this hydrangea, which had chartreuse blooms when I bought it last year, produced white flowers this year?
Why do male turkeys (these are young ones called 'jakes') have those weird 'beards' sprouting from their chests? And why do hunters (usually male, not always young) keep those 'beards' as trophies?

What gave Sir Edwin Lutyens the idea for such an amazing bench? Was he on psychedelics?
If someone dug up the pot of gold on my...

The Secret Garden?

"It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of climbing roses which were so thick that they were matted together. Mary Lennox knew they were roses because she had seen a great many roses in India. All the ground was covered with grass of a wintry brown and out of it grew clumps of bushes which were surely rosebushes if they were alive. There were numbers of standard roses which had so spread t...