Summer Solstice

Posted on by
2
Photo by John Nail on Pexels.com

It’ll stay light here until 8pm tonight, but in the Seattle area where my all my Angels live, it won’t get completely dark until 9:30 or so.

I used to think something significant should occur on these solstices, something to remember or define or to memorialize planetary movements, but usually nothing overt happens, although there’s always the chance that stuff might be fomenting beneath the surface.

So far, this is the only significant event that’s occurred…I’m not exactly sure where, but I lost one of my favorite necklaces, the one I never took off with very tiny diamonds and an impossibly delicate chain. I had it for years and years, just a bit of sparkle that layered well with all my other jewelry. It must have broken and fell off without warning. Since I’m not sure where it happened, it’s even worse because I don’t know where to look. I feel like I somehow neglected caring for it and this is a sign or a message from the universe that I should have been more conscientious and attentive. I hate losing things that I’ve loved and cherished and much like a phantom limb, I can still feel it. During the day, I’ll reach up to touch the spot where the tiny pendant would sit between my collarbones and it’s not there. I don’t often lose things, so this is going to bother me for a while, or at least until I get a replacement, but I’ll always miss what I had before it was gone.

Do you celebrate the summer solstice?

Ebb and Flow

Posted on by
4

It was too hot too early to walk the full six mile round trip to the Pacific Ocean and back, so I settled for a longish trek around the lagoon with detours to observe it from different perspectives.

I ended up walking mostly all the way to the beach anyway and stopped at Rite Aid to buy myself a treat but nothing looked fun or appealing or was small enough to fit in my little backpack, so I continued on my journey.

Looking east from a secret side street overlooking Snug Harbor and the swan boats on Agua Hedionda Lagoon.

View post on imgur.com

It wasn’t even 9am and the little beach was full of families enjoying Father’s Day and paddleboarding and kayaks. Thank goodness there’s no gigantic mall marring the view on the south shore.

View post on imgur.com

Well, well, well, it seems like we have a very low tide, too, combined with our drought situation.

It’s not often that one could literally walk all the way around the lagoon to the beaches on the south side. I was wearing new shoes and didn’t want to ruin them in the muck, but for once it was entirely possible.

View post on imgur.com

Time and Tide

Posted on by
2

“Time and tide wait for no man”

We can’t stop the passage of time nor the movement of the tides, no matter how much we might want to halt the inexorable inevitability.

This proverb appeared about 1395 in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prologue to the Clerk’s Tale but I also found a source that said it was recorded as early as 1225 and is reputedly a quote from Saint Mahrer. However, it’s also believed that the expression time and tide wait for no man might be older than that.

My son sent me this photo while he was at Golden Gardens Park in Ballard, Washington on beautiful Shilshole Bay.

View post on imgur.com

It depicts the lowest tide in decades, four feet lower than average.

We have the same exact phone but he takes better pictures than I do, and of course he likes to send them to me to show me what I’m missing.

It’s so true–time and tide wait for no one.

Glad-iolus to See YOU!

Posted on by
4

This hot spell is a catalyst for all of my blooming bulbs. Here are the first two gladioli who decided to flower together in shades of pink.

View post on imgur.com

All pink, ALWAYS.

View post on imgur.com

Stargazer Lilies

Posted on by
1

A few months ago, I rescued a wilted and sad little Stargazer Lily from the back of a clearance shelf at the nursery. If I remember correctly, I paid a dollar or two for a one gallon plant.

I thought to to myself, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” and brought it home with the hope of bringing it back to life with love and care.

My efforts were rewarded this week with a dozen or more heavenly perfumed pink blooms, perfectly timed for tonight’s full moon.

View post on imgur.com

Stargazer’ lily (Lilium orientalis ‘Stargazer’) was developed in the late 1970s as a cross between Lilium auratum and L. speciosum to intentionally create a flower with upward-facing rather than drooping flowers. The tips of the flowers are “reflexed”—meaning that they curve back toward the stem—and they sport long, showy stamens.

They are among the most fragrant flowers. With a diameter of six inches or more, they have exceedingly showy blossoms—there is nothing subtle about ‘Stargazer’.

FYI…Like all lilies, ‘Stargazer’ is toxic to cats.

View post on imgur.com

Generation to Generation

Posted on by
2

The last time I traveled to visit the Angels, I packed a bag full of gifts but also a little baggie of steel wool pads infused with soap.

From previous visits, I recalled that there were none and nothing works better on pots and pans and glass dishes than a good scrub with steel wool, one of many life hacks I learned from my mom.

A couple of days after I arrived, DIL asked me where I found them, and when I told her they were packed in my bag and I had brought them, she started laughing.

Apparently, HER mom brought a bag of them from England the last time she visited, and showed DIL how they worked and what a valuable little cleaning tool they were.

I learned it from MY mom and DIL’s mom learned it from her mom, too.

It was a funny moment of cleaning secrets passed down from one generation to another; apparently this new gen can still benefit from the teachings of the elders.

After a little elbow grease, this sixty-year-old pan which originally belonged to my mom and now lives with the kids and is still going strong, will sparkle and shine.

SOS and Brillo to the rescue!

Death, be not proud

Posted on by
4

Yesterday in the late afternoon I took a walk around the lagoon.

Although I’m a fast walker and normally gaze straight ahead, at one point I looked down and saw a hawk feather and then another and another and my eyes followed a trail of feathers to the tragic and somber sight of a juvenile hawk that must have had a catastrophic collision with a vehicle.

His poor little mangled body was crushed beyond recognition but I was able to collect a handful of feathers. I thought I’d bring them home and design some kind of creation to honor his short life.

Native Americans believed a hawk’s death is a good omen and it’s symbolic of when their troubles will end and they will receive blessings. The appearance of a dead hawk is an indication of a significant event or could also be suggestive of a needed life transformation.

View post on imgur.com

I immediately thought of the Donne poem, Death, be not proud. I’m not exactly sure that the meaning works in this situation, but since that’s the first thing that came to mind, here it is.

HOLY Sonnet: Death, be not proud

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou’art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy’or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

John Donne – 1571-1631

Johnny WINS! He Told the World and We Believed Him #JusticeforJohnnyDepp

Posted on by
3

Today is June 1, World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day.

This winning verdict for Johnny Depp is a win for those who have truly been abused and for those who have ever been falsely accused.

For the past two months I’ve diligently followed the Johnny Depp trial. In case you don’t know, he sued his former wife (of fifteen months) for defamation regarding false claims of intimate partner violence.

Today’s the day!
The verdict has been read and Johnny Depp was awarded $8,350,000.00.

“No matter what happens, I did get here and I did tell the truth and I have spoken up for what I’ve been carrying on my back, reluctantly, for six years.”

There was never a question in my mind that he was the victim and she was the abuser.

Johnny said it best, “When there is an injustice against you or someone you love or someone you believe in, stand up, don’t sit down on them because they need you. No one should accept anything, but the truth, to express your truth.”

For those people who think the internet turned against #amberturd, this is my opinion. The “internet” didn’t turn on her. Those who have actually suffered intimate partner violence and other REAL abuse from a toxic person recognized the signs of someone who was lying and we took umbrage against someone who falsely accused a man of abuse. We seek JUSTICE for the real victim. In this case, it’s Johnny Depp.

I don’t really like to even say her name. She brought it on herself. She’s made a mockery of domestic abuse survivors as well as our legal system.

Like Johnny said, Never Fear Truth.

Attorneys are meant to be our sword and shield, our gatekeeper and protector, and that’s exactly what we saw from Camille Vasquez to Wayne Dennison to Ben Chew and Johnny’s entire team. Ethical, honest, brilliant lawyering, with respect and love for their client.

#AmberHeardDeservesPrison is trending because she manipulated and abused the #MeToo movement with malice and the sole intention to ruin #JohnnyDepp. Hopefully, she will be convicted of perjury and face a prison sentence.

Finally! #JusticeForJohnnyDepp

Scott’s Oriole

Posted on by
3

My bright and beautiful Scott’s Orioles are back! From bunnies to birds, I don’t have to go anywhere to be entertained.

I can’t say rats are bringers of joy, though, Or the mouse I saw this morning, but thank goodness it was outside so I didn’t have to completely freak out.

I think my little wounded bun is going to be OK. Fur is growing back and he’s still eating the greens I put out for him, which is a whole lot better than enduring the trauma of being captured.

View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com
View post on imgur.com

Backyard Bunny Drama

Posted on by
2

Every spring I see baby bunnies but the core family of about five rabbits stays the same. I can only assume that the babies grow up and move away to other locations.

This year it’s a bit different. For about a week, I’ve noticed a baby bun as small as my hand, hiding under lavender bushes or in the plants around the deck. He was one of the bunnies who was eating an apple that got stolen by that horribly disgusting rat.

A couple days ago I accidentally got him wet as I was watering and he ran right by me so I got a good look. There seemed to be a wound of some sort on top of his head, not actively bleeding, but if I had a guess, it has the appearance of talons or claws. Maybe a hawk or owl grabbed it but for some reason, didn’t fly away with dinner. These wounds weren’t there when I had previously seen him.

I called Project Wildlife to find out if there’s anything I should do or could do for this little guy. They advised me to monitor the bun for a day or so to see if the wound looked better or worse or if the bun seemed less mobile and in distress. If so, they told me to put him in a box and bring to their location.

It makes me very sad to see any injured animal, and I want to do what I can to help. I put a few pieces of garden lettuce in the place I’ve most often seen this bun. A few minutes later, they were gone. I put more out with other veggies like small carrots and red pepper slices, and watched him eat those, too.

I’ve been moving closer and closer. He’s becoming more comfortable with my presence which is great because I want to cause the least amount of trauma if I have to throw a towel over him to put in a box lined with soft t-shirts.

So far, so good. As long as he eats and still runs around, I will continue to monitor him today, and think about bringing him to Project Wildlife tomorrow.

Here’s a photo of the little one with two separate head wounds. Doesn’t it look like he was grabbed by something?

View post on imgur.com