THE DUST WILL WAIT

You know you've been sick when the grandchildren come for the holiday and you don't take one photo. Not one.

Wendishness has asked us to share our thanks for this week's Fun Monday fare.   My contribution is a copy of my daily note of thankfulness to which I committed on Facebook.    11-23-09   So thankful for infrastructure! Every Monday morning our garbage and recyclables are removed from the street by some sanitation workers. And I'm thankful that my recycle grew this year while the garbage decreased. 11-22-09     found it easy to be thankful this morning. ----Yesterday we stood in line at the theater to attend "The Blind Side." I also just read the book "The Glass Castle." Both true stories of children surviving adversity. I'm thankful that I had a childhood. Mine wasn't perfect, but it was blessed. 11-21-09   needs to be thankful for more things. Julie  had a "favorite quote" contest on her blog and one of the winners was: What if God decided to take away the things you forgot to thank him for? I sit here and gaze a...

My fingers are freezing as I type this. I just ran outside and removed as many leaves as I could from the tiny man-made creek that runs into the pond. A few days ago WR stated that he hoped the wind would blow all the leaves off the neighbor’s maple trees - and he got his wish. He even got a better gift with it. Many of those leaves blew over our fence and beyond. However, we still get to keep the ones that hit the water. Every autumn we are surprised. I remember several years ago having our grandkids help us rake leaves when they visited over the Thanksgiving holiday. I remember having a few brave roses thumbing their petals even into December. We always know that eventually winter will arrive, but never how or when we expect it. So is it we are surprised with the insidious creeping of Alzheimer’s in my sister-in-law’s life. This morning I need to wolf down my coffee and cereal and rush out the door. I am supervising the movers who come to haul her furniture and belongings to a...

Ari, from Beyond My Slab , is the hostess of this week's Fun Monday, and has chosen a topic that gives me immense pleasure:  Old Things. Other than dust, I have nothing in my house more weathered and aged than Augusta's photo album.  I wrote about my great grandmother   (Augusta, Grace, Evelyn, Me) this summer. She was born in 1855 and died in 1937.     I can only guess when she acquired it. I like to think that she was a young teen when she chose to include a photo of the late President Lincoln.  Some other printed photos may be of other famous people of that era. My glasses give you an idea of the album's dimensions. The leather binding is embossed.  It is in dire need of gentle repair.  I have no idea how much that will cost. Note the interesting clasp.  The other one is in worse condition. Do you want to see the inside? Below are tin types of Augusta, her fi...

Today, I walk earlier than usual and experience a slight bit of unease. For the first 30 minutes I see only two other people . There have been rare reports of cougar and bear along the creek – the knowledge of which makes me very aware of my isolation. When I turn back, I begin to meet more people, the majority of whom are wearing MP3s and IPods. We smile in greeting and I say “good morning.” Of course they do not hear me. Nor did they hear any of the bears or cougars that snuck up on them from my earlier flight of imagination. Unaware of the obbligato springing forth from the heavy underbrush, they miss the evasive fluttering of a Bewick's Wren. I watch it pause from its busyness and I sigh as it tilts its head back to sing with enthusiasm. How can such a loud trill emanate from so tiny a creature? They do not discern the performance of the wind symphony. Sometimes it plays a legato b...

No...This isn't the nature blog.  However, that being said, the bird watcher in me was so intrigued by my first sighting of an American Dipper, AKA Water Ouzel. Two days in a row I watched this little bird feed, play, and bathe in the creek that flows along the path that I walk.  With some marked felicity, I noted it in my bird diary. (My Canon Power Shot has the capacity for short video recording, albeit not the best quality. And my blogging hasn't been the best lately, either.  Quality or quantity.) Water Ouzel from pamela on Vimeo .

Saturday morning was perfect for a long brisk walk. As we were enjoying the path,  WR pointed out this fuzzy little Wooly Worm toodling across. You are supposed to be able to forecast the extremes of winter by this little fellows coat.  (Or is she a girl?) I was pleased to find these instructions at ehow.com .  (I'm thinking I may not bother to dig into the storage area for my snow tires.) Step 1 Look for wooly worms under rocks and inside hollow logs. Step 2 Examine the wooly worm, paying attention to its bands of colors. The wooly worm will curl into a ball when touched or threatened. When they crawl, they can crawl very quickly! Step 3 Wooly worm forecasters say that the size of the brown band of color will tell you what kind of winter is coming. Legend says that the thinner the brownish red bands, the harsher the winter will be. If the wooly worm is mostly brownish red in the middle, winter will be mild. St...