Gardening + Nature

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Holy cats!

Pictured at top has got to be among the top five best bathroom wall decorations of all time (though it is much brighter in person). If you do not know where it is, I am not going to tell you (save in North Portland), not because I am one to keep secrets like that, but because my delight upon first laying eyes on it was so spectacular and mirthful that I would rather you not expect it in hopes that you experience the same moment of wonder.

And Paris, bundled tightly post bath. My little sausage. “Let me out!”

Out snapping the peonies. Sadly, the season is winding down. And how about that last shot? Some sort of bee-mimic. We shared a magical, I see you, moment, inches apart and eye to eye. Wish I could have captured that one!

Mock orange: this tiny sprig scents the entire bathroom.

Out under the clerodendrum, eyes skyward and fingers plunged and twining the grass.

A sunset walk, eager for more of these, that soft hour of quiet, the revealing of different mysteries.

Happy Memorial Day, grateful for this great land that is America!

Have a listen to how I am feeling…

This scene, Oak Island on Sauvie Island and not an island at all, just the grandest stand of ancient oaks surrounded by a waist high carpet of green, sent my heart agallop. This neck of the woods always borders on the sublime, immense and filled with every possible wonder. A leafy raw azure, the rustle of brush, and my hand skimming the grass.

Out with my friend Laura and her dog Chipper. No pet of my acquaintance more thoroughly lives up to his name. Smiling, leaping, bounding, tongue lolling, and tail wagging, I felt constantly buoyed by his lively presence. Not that I needed it! At every turn, I filled with such delight at my place on this patch of damp earth. Bird song and Laura who knew every single call! Oriole! Spotted Towhee! Savannah Sparrow! Bewick’s Wren! Black Headed Grosbeak!

All was lovely, bright and happy as new pennies and this fairy house. Momentarily empty, her occupants surely observing us from the brush.

One stupendous view after another, Sturgeon Lake and Mount Saint Helens.

And this pastoral scene, repeated again and again, a myriad of cows moseying and baying and regarding us with equal curiosity. A fine morning it was. Thank you Laura and Chipper for inviting me along!

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515141 515143 515144Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Robert F. Kennedy

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I am eating a bowl of spicy roasted red pepper and tomato soup, home made lickety split quick in the Vitamix. I love that machine. For some reason I’ve been craving tomato soup for days. Then, we visited our neighbors yesterday, and they gave me a packet of saltines from Hawaii. Saltines! How could I not make soup to go with them? Aside from slathering them with yellow mustard and topping with a sardine, this is their purpose in life according to Colleen Sohn. It is a fine one, I might add, almost holy.

Out in the side yard, this is happening. Verbascum (or mullein) in bloom! It looks so pretty. It’s also earlier than I remember, which is a sweet surprise.

There are a multitude of mushrooms all over the place!

I sure do love the dappled shade of the side yard, run riot with blooming wild strawberries. Here’s hoping we get a good crop this year.

Though there will likely be competition with the squirrels, possum, birds, and this cute bunny to eat them! I don’t know if she (or he, I have no idea) belongs to anyone, having spied her in the street near our house a few times over as many months. She raised one ear while I was talking to her, then approached to sniff my hand. We’ll just have to see if the friendship blossoms. Maybe if I give her a carrot?

It’s amazing how much a person can see when really looking. I wonder how much I miss on a daily basis, how much I don’t spy with my little eye: drops of water, chimes on high, giggle worthy stickers, and creepy looking heads; all fun, all magic, that quotidian spark.

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