There is nothing that seems more alive than a summery blooming California Poppy, the state flower of California. It’s the best orange EVER!
Photo by Enchanted Seashells
California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) are tough, low-maintenance wildflowers that thrive on neglect. They need at least six hours of direct sun daily, poor-to-average sandy soil that drains very well, and only occasional, sparing water once established. Avoid using any fertilizer, as rich soil or nutrients reduce flower production. It’s the perfect summer flower for a drought landscape!
That’s how casually George Harrison introduced the force of energy and talent that was Leon Russell to the crowd at the Concert for Bangladesh, the first historic benefit shows organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar at Madison Square Garden in New York City on August 1, 1971.
As always, Leon’s arrangements and performances were magical and inspiring. I mean, how in the world did he think of choosing an old song by the Coasters and pair it with Jumpin’ Jack Flash? More genius by the Master of Space and Time… It absolutely didn’t hurt that he was absolutely gorgeous, right?
You can find the whole concert video on Dailymotion. Other performers include Bob Dylan. Leon Russell on guitar and backup singer with Dylan is a bonus.
Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Young Blood:
Cool rehearsal footage of Come On In My Kitchen, and yup, that’s Ringo Starr on drums!
Last night as I was closing the windows, I looked out and up, and witnessed the rising of the moon.
I hadn’t used my real camera in a while, but I knew my phone would never be able to capture the details, so I snapped a few pics with my Canon and this was the best of the bunch…She’s a beauty!
Photo by Enchanted Seashells
Yes, it was really that reddish-orange-gold color, probably from whatever wildfires are raging in the area, and those are the power lines near the lagoon.
Thank you, Mother Moon! Happily, I found a Leon Russell song to accompany a full moon…When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold:
I couldn’t locate a live performance, but it’s still Leon being Leon, Master of Space and TIme.
Sadly, it was a bit cloudy and overcast last night so I couldn’t snap a photo of our full moon, but the energies still shine through it all.
This Full Buck Moon in Aquarius signals a powerful shift toward emotional clarity, collective progress, and spiritual renewal. It hopefully serves as a portal to release outdated beliefs and embrace a higher vision for your evolution.
Purnima is the Hindu term for the full moon day and is a moment of maximum illumination, energy and completion. It’s believed that on a full moon, we acquire clarity in our thoughts and our emotions. It’s also a moment to release and reflect.
Here’s a powerful full moon mantra: “Om Shreem Chandraya Namah,” which translates to “salutations to the divine lunar deity” to invite peace, emotional balance, and clear perspectives into our lives.
Here are some full moon rituals to harness the lunar energy:
🌕 Write down habits or fears you’re ready to release. 🌕 Practice gratitude for recent achievements. 🌕 Meditate under the moonlight. 🌕 Create moon water by leaving a clear glass jar of water outside. 🌕 Charge crystals under the moonlight. 🌕 Cleanse your living space with sage or incense. 🌕 Spend time reflecting about lessons learned from mentors and teachers. 🌕 Set short and long term intentions.
So…I got sick again, this time a really nasty upper respiratory virus with a high fever and a headache that made me want to chop off my head, that’s how bad it hurt. I wasn’t able to read or watch TV or do anything but lay in bed with an icepack on my forehead.
I hadn’t been sick in so long that I had forgotten how miserable it feels. As if shingles wasn’t bad enough, this was the icing on the cake of misery.
Now that I seem to be on the mend after some much-needed antibiotic help since I got a secondary bacterial lung infection, I’m looking at some drafts I started before I wasn’t able to function.
Right after I was almost completely healed from shingles, I took a walk and encountered a beautiful sight — dozens of dragonflies swirling around the front yard of a neighbor’s house.I took a photo but it didn’t capture the incredible vision of loveliness.
I think what I witnessed was a feeding swarm.
I’ve never seen more than one or two dragonflies at a time so I did some research. A group of dragonflies is most commonly called a swarm. Other, less common terms sometimes used include a flight, a cluster, or a dazzle.
Dazzle is funny because it makes me think of jazz hands. “Jazz hands!” IYKYK
Dragonfly swarms generally fall into two categories:
Feeding swarms: Small groups that hover low to the ground to catch smaller flying insects in a specific area. To see a large group of dragonflies means you’ve stumbled upon a massive feeding or migratory swarm. Biologically, it indicates a high abundance of flying prey like mosquitoes, often triggered by humid weather, or a seasonal shift. Symbolically, it represents transformation, adaptability, and positive change. A bunch of dragonflies spiritually amplifies the core symbolism of a single dragonfly: transformation, adaptability, and emotional maturity. Because they gather in groups, a swarm or cluster often represents a major shift in your life, a blessing of prosperity, or the energetic Massive Transformation: Just as a dragonfly goes from living in water to flying in the air, a cluster of them indicates a period of profound personal metamorphosis. It is an encouraging sign to trust the changes you are going through.
Spiritual Messengers: Many mystic and cultural traditions view dragonflies as bridges between the physical and spiritual realms. A gathering is often interpreted as a visual reminder that guardian angels or deceased loved ones are nearby and watching over you.
Abundance and Prosperity: In Chinese and Japanese folklore, dragonflies symbolize good fortune, swift success, and harmony. A bunch of them is a highly positive omen signaling incoming blessings, success, or wealth.
Emotional Clearing: Because of their strong connection to water, seeing them together is often a prompt to dive deep into your own emotions, release past illusions, and embrace new beginnings with a lighter heart.
I’m not sure how that applies to my own personal cluster of feeling like shit, but I’ll ponder on it while I lay here suffering in my woe-is-me state of wretchedness.
Here’s a cool poem about dragonflies by Tennyson, who wrote it in 1833:
The Dragon-Fly Today I saw the dragon-fly Come from the wells where he did lie. An inner impulse rent the veil Of his old husk: from head to tail Came out clear plates of sapphire mail. He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;| Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew A living flash of light he flew.
I’m not referring to myself, haha, not this time, anyway… but I’m so proud that I propagated this rose and cared for it so lovingly until it produced a first bloom!
I feel like I just gave birth to a beautiful rose baby.
Lack of rain and fruit rats are the reason I have had a very sad harvest this year. First of all, they (or squirrels) ate all the baby apples before I could cover the tree in netting, then they ate tomatoes and peas and plums.
I have a little fig tree that produced a few figs and I did use the little mesh bags to encase the fruit to try and save them, but rats ate through the mesh!
THIS was the lone survivor…and it’s a BIG one.
I need to savor every bite because that’s IT until next season. I just don’t understand. Everyone around here suffers from the same rodent issues in their gardens, but I seem to bear the brunt of the destruction, maybe because I adamantly refuse to use poison to get rid of them, mainly because of the secondary damage to other creatures.
At least we’re forecasted to have an El Nino winter which means lots of rain, so I’ll probably plant more veggies (especially lettuce that won’t cause explosive diarrhea) and try, try again, but it’s becoming so frustrating, I’m almost ready to give up.
In the midst of all the horrible stories swirling around this country, the talk of the town is the shiniest ray of light, #Jimothy, Seattle’s latest local legend!
I’ve named him Dr. Jimothy Sprinkles, since UW conferred an honorary Ph.D. on this special little guy.
Credit to creator, found on Twitter
Jimothy is a short-spined raccoon spotted thriving in Ballard, a suburb of Seattle, despite a rare congenital condition. He doesn’t seem to be in pain and it looks like he’s living his best life.
The Ferals (formerly Angel Kids) hope they get a glimpse of him because the sightings have been fairly close to their neighborhood.
Filming the creature with her cellphone Monday night, Kiana Hall was certain of only one thing: The tiny beast skittering out from under a car in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood was definitely not a cat.
“I got very confused at what I was seeing,” Hall said. “I just have never seen any other animal like it.”
She also didn’t know her five-second video clip would turn a teetering trash panda into an overnight internet celebrity.
Hall, 33, and her partner were strolling near the Ballard Goodwill about 8:30 p.m. Monday when she spotted what she thought was a cat under a car. She took out her phone to film the animal, then watched in disbelief as a decidedly different critter crept from the shadows.
Smaller than a house cat and unusually round, the gray-furred creature loped on long legs across a patch of grass and up a nearby staircase before climbing over a fence and out of sight. Hall guessed it was a raccoon based on its masklike facial markings. She also suspected it had short spine syndrome, a rare congenital disorder she had learned about online.
Hall published the video the next day on her Instagram, naming the creature “Jimothy” because, she said, “he looked like a Jimothy.”
Within hours, Hall’s video started going viral, garnering more than 5 million views and thousands of comments by Thursday afternoon. A Ballard resident who saw the video recognized Jimothy as an oddly shaped raccoon their security cameras had captured last month crawling on their patio. The resident posted their footage Wednesday on Reddit, attracting hundreds of awed comments, including ones comparing Jimothy to mythical creatures like cryptids and chupacabras.
And thus, Seattle’s latest local legend — a belovedly bedraggled raccoon — was born.
Seattleites’ adoption of Jimothy as their scrappy hometown hero has brought Hall “a lot of joy,” she said in a Thursday phone call.
“I think times have been hard for everyone, so I’m really happy to have posted something online that reaches so many people and makes them so happy,” Hall said. “I just hope (Jimothy) continues to live his life freely and I hope he can be healthy.”
Jimothy’s prognosis seems positive, despite his unusual appearance, said Marcie Logsdon, an associate professor at Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Logsdon could not diagnose Jimothy based on reviewing the videos of the “kind of crazy little thing.” But she said the raccoon was likely born this year, and that its abnormally shortened neck is likely caused by a congenital deformity of the spine.
Jimothy appears to be functioning well and “very spry,” excellent signs for his survival in the wild, Logsdon said.
“The fact that he’s made it to this age tells me that he’s managing and that he’s adapting,” she said. “I was surprised and honestly a little bit inspired that he’s that resilient.”
Jimothy is likely best off “left to his own devices.” Anyone who spots him and is concerned about his health should call a local wildlife rehabilitator before trying to intervene, she said.
“Raccoons are amazing because they have done an amazing job at adapting to and sharing urban and suburban areas,” she said. “But respectful sharing needs to remain just that.” (Curated from Catalina Gaitán, Seattle Times breaking news reporter.)
This is my personal fave cos Angel Boy (only slightly feral) teaches at UW.
I hope nobody watched or streamed that demented orange POSs speech yesterday. There are other, more pressing matters to occupy ourselves with, like why can't we eat salads or fresh salsa with cilantro? Why is our food contaminated with cyclospora? Why did that POS remove the FDA “Food Traceability Rule” and place us at risk?
ANYWAY, back to my form of reality (and therapy)…
Does anybody even know what “shindig” means?
The word originated in the United States in the mid-19th century. It’s believed to be a playful alteration of the older slang word shindy, which originally referred to a rowdy commotion or a street game similar to field hockey.
In modern, everyday use, it’s synonymous with words like “bash,” “blowout,” or “hoedown”. For example, you might say, “Are you going to the big neighborhood shindig this weekend?”
In the mid-60s, there was a TV show broadcast from Los Angeles called Shindig! It was a musical variety series hosted by DJ Jimmy O’Neill. I never watched it, maybe it wasn’t shown in my area, I dunno.
Most exciting for all of us who love him is that Leon Russell, the house band’s pianist, was often featured in solo performances.
I never get tired of wondering exactly how Leon went from THIS to the uber cool long-haired sunglass-wearing exuberant Master of Space and Time that filled stadiums. The butterfly definitely broke out of the chrysalis!
Photo credit from Pinterest
Check out Leon on the first song with Donna Loren (you can hear him before you see him, it’s unmistakably LEON) and something I’ve never seen before, Leon on organ with Bobby Sherman at 10:02.
Near a local Asian grocery store, I parked my car next to an empty space that should have been filled with some sort of landscaping but it was resolutely devoid of all life.
The skateboard definitely belonged to no one. I thought the shadows and shapes and red wheels were interesting enough to snap a photo of it, like the skateboard was purposely planted there, but for what reason?
Where did it come from? Who left it there? Why was it abandoned? Is it some kind of sign? We can only speculate. Considering the location of the store which is in a sort of sketchy part of town, it’s not unlikely that someone was arrested for shoplifting and had to abandon his board as he was handcuffed and whisked away in the back of a patrol car. At least that’s the story I’m telling myself.
I edited a version in black and white. I can’t decide which one I like better…
Photo by Enchanted Seashells
I felt like I should call the uber cool guy from YouTube, Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t, and ask him to plant something in that dead zone. He’s really good about stuff like that.
Which photo do you like more, color or black and white?
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 