Vicki Lane's Blog, page 565
June 23, 2010
What were YOU Doing in the 80s?
Dig out your neon, your teased dos, your pointy shoes and your vinyl! We're going back to the 80s!
That was on the invitation from Poetikat to do an 80s Retro Blog Post today.
I gotta say -- my 80s weren't like that. We were in full back-to-the-land mode -- milking, gardening, raising a crop of tobacco every year, and making use of child labor. The two young uns below are my son Ethan and my nephew Andrew. They are helping to pull tobacco plants from the seed bed for us to set out in the...
June 22, 2010
Book Club ... with Poultry
These charming folks invited me to their book club last night. I have to say, this is a lovely way to meet with a group (as long as it's of a manageable size.) We ate dinner ( two different lasagnas-- one with zucchini slices instead of pasta -- both delicious, a fancy salad with grapes and sugared nuts, and brownies and a marvelous lemony polenta cake with fruit and whipped cream.)
And while we ate, we talked about Signs in the Blood -- and I told them about the original ending to the...
June 21, 2010
June is Day Lilies . . .
June -- the roadsides and stream banks in our area are ablaze with wild orange day lilies. Hardy, rapid growers, they do well wherever there's a bit of sun and moisture. Each plant produces multiple blooms and each bloom lasts only a day -- hence the name.
But they aren't wild and they aren't lilies. Hemerocallis fulva is an import from China and Japan that naturalized long ago. The unopened buds are good in stir fries and the flowers can be dipped in tempura batter and fried to produce a...
June 20, 2010
Solstice Sequence
Like a celestial locomotive, the rising sun
Careens along the eastern horizon,
Drawing up at the far northern terminal.
Here, shedding sparks and breathing fire,
It stands, surrounded by dark clouds of smoke.
Summer's here!
All aboard for the return trip south--
Passing through Autumn
And straight on to Winter at the other end.
Have your tickets ready, please ...
Full disclosure: the sequence below was taken yesterday morning around 6:30 -- almost solstice. If I get a good sunrise this morning...
June 19, 2010
More Tough Love
The tomatoes above look nice and full and healthy. Too full, however. I spent some time in the garden, removing the lower leaves and the suckers from the tomatoes. They look rather sad and spindly now but they'll be benefitted by increased air around them and perhaps they won't get the dreaded blight for a while.
As I worked, I could hear the bray of the vuvuzelas from the house where the World Cup was on.
and I felt a closeness to the rest of the world as I oonched along on my rear end...
June 18, 2010
The Freedom Rangers Have Arrived! (Probably Not What You Think)
The post office called Friday morning just before seven to say that our chicks were there. John swallowed down his coffee and went to retrieve them.They'd hatched Wednesday and been packed and shipped right away. Baby chicks don't have to eat or drink right away and they are packed in boxes small enough to ensure that they stay warm during their travels but the sooner they can be gotten out of that shipping box, the better.
All twenty-five seemed healthy and lively. Hoorah!
This is...
June 17, 2010
Fighting Pollution One Grocery Bag At A Time
Would you look at these great shopping bags! They were at Tractor Supply (my one stop shopping place for pet food, chicken feed, sunflower seed, and all kinds of nifty farm related stuff.)
These caught my eye because they are really sturdy and were cheap (under two dollars.)
For years, ever since becoming aware of the pollution caused by plastic bags, I've had a motley assortment of canvas bags to put my groceries in -- some bought for the purpose, others souvenirs of various book fairs...
June 16, 2010
Everyday Wonders
Concentric petalsPurple picotee-edged ice Radiating red...
At the kitchen sinkI admire this pungent sight Through a blur of tears.
June 15, 2010
Rainbows Unwoven?
Another rainbow yesterday -- and this time it was double.
Such a spectacular natural phenomenon demands a good story -- whether the Irish tale of a pot of gold at the rainbow's end. . .
Or the biblical story of a sign from God that the Earth will not again perish from flood . . .
Many cultures saw the rainbow as a bridge between this world and another . . .
Or a goddess's necklace, a heavenly snake, the bow of a celestial hunter . . .
Does the scientific explanation of the rainbow as an...
June 14, 2010
Clouds
Temperatures in the nineties today -- hot, hot, hot!
We hoped for rain and gort a magnificent cloud show just at supper time. Not much rain resulted but there was a rainbow!
