…..do not mix well.
So instead, may I offer you the 2017 Purple Crocus Kickline:
Archive for the ‘Elsinore’ Category
Cat barf and art supplies
Posted in Elsinore, Gardening, My brain, Nature, tactless observations, tagged boom!, crocus, purple on 28 March, 2017| 1 Comment »
The Carol of the Ember
Posted in cats, Elsinore, Filking, Food, into the woods, kittens, Nature, tagged caroling, carols, Christmas, Ember, feasting, John Rutter, Mom and Other Mom, music, not the Cambridge Singers, tortiseshell on 30 December, 2016| Leave a Comment »
(Dulce, with some apologies to John Rutter)
There has been cleaning and packing and painting
Dust and fur tumbleweeds vacuumed away
Momma has wrestled a piece of the forest
Into the parlor and now decorates.
Gloria! Gloria!
Who is this person?
Gloria! Gloria!
What’s with this tree?
Gloria! Gloria!
This is quite confusing
There’s all this fuss, but it’s not about me.
I like the smell of this piece of the forest
I like the taste of the fruitcake and cheese
I like the people who offer to scritch me
They all seem tame and seem eager to please.
Gloria! Gloria!
Why inflate this mattress?
Gloria! Gloria!
It’s in my way!
Gloria! Gloria!
Out of Momma’s office!
Go sing more songs about babies in hay.
After the fussing, the feasting, and singing
After the guests have fin’lly gone away
Momma and Other Mom sit sipping eggnog
Smiling at sparklies and watching me play.
Gloria! Gloria!
Eggnog and day old!
Maybe that isn’t quite
What all they say?
Gloria! Gloria!
Someone was born!
Gloria! Gloria!
I can sleep near Momma
The house is quiet
And Momma is warm.
Double, Double, Buckeye, Buckeye
Posted in autumn, Elsinore, Gardening, insects, Nature on 4 October, 2016| 2 Comments »
Special guest moth
Posted in Elsinore, Gardening, insects, Introductions, Nature, Uncategorized, tagged A tree grows in Brooklyn, Ailanthus, black-eyed susans, flowers, Gardening, moths, non-native, yellow on 11 July, 2016| Leave a Comment »
The Ailanthus moth feeds on nectar, but the young feed on Ailanthus leaves. As we are NOT fond of ‘Stink Trees’, we find this visitor downright patriotic.
Spring Things
Posted in birds, Elsinore, Gardening, insects, scenery, Uncategorized, tagged bees, change, green, spring, Xylocopus on 23 March, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Spring Singer alerted me to the emergence of this year’s first crop of jousting carpenter bees [Xylocopus] in regional gardens. This afternoon they are bumbling in and around the magnolia blossoms and riding the willow catkins, which bow under their weight in the March breezes.
At least, around here, at the moment, those are ‘breezes’. I understand Colorado got a blizzard, and sections of the Northeast got a recent blast of snow.
Big bees, little bees; it’s been a good day for watching wildlife in the warming weather. A wood thrush poked around in the leaf litter by the back fence. White throated sparrows haven’t disappeared yet, and the downy woodpeckers are tap tap tapping to see what might be waking up under loose bark. Cardinals, blue jays, song sparrows…. Squirrels, rabbits, and oh, I hope that was something other than a rat — aren’t those supposed to be nocturnal? Couldn’t it be a stoat, or something more pleasant, with a brown agouti coat and bright black eyes?
We’ll see.
Tracings of sparrow
Posted in birds, Elsinore, scenery, tagged Scarborough fair, Simon and Garfunkle, winter on 24 January, 2016| 1 Comment »
Hedging our bets
Posted in Backstory, Elsinore, Food, Gardening, tactless observations, tagged change, Gardening, Keeping Up Appearances, silliness on 5 December, 2015| Leave a Comment »
In light of the fact that we can typically get raspberries from our yard in December, I’m thinking more and more about an edible hedgerow. Raspberries, beautyberries [native], maybe more quince…
If I do, chances are, I’ll order from Nourse Farms…. Unless you have some suggestions for me…?
Heck, maybe a rose known for its hips rather than its blossoms might be fun, too.
UPDATE: A helpful friend sent this image of “a rose with hips”:
That friend, of course, did not have to live through wearing the massively-flowered dresses of the late 80s/early 90s. Mine were at least knee-length though….
Here’s hoping the rest of the winter is temperate enough that the figs don’t get frozen to their roots again. I miss having handfuls of figs to eat in late summer.
Snacktime
Posted in Elsinore, Gardening, insects, Nature, tagged butterfly, butterfly bush, insects, now you see it, swallowtail, tiger tiger on 10 August, 2015| 1 Comment »
On being recognizable…
Posted in Backstory, birds, Elsinore, Gardening, insects, My brain, scenery, tagged asters, blossoms, bricks, cloudberries, family, Gardening, memory, nordland, norsk, norway, say no to mow on 7 July, 2015| 1 Comment »
I just harvested my first golden raspberries this weekend [they did not last long enough for pictures; Word and I devoured them right promptly], and there’s been some speculation about whether or not these are anything like the cloudberries my grandmother talked about gathering as a child in Norway. That’s not a question I can ask her anytime soon, and I have no absolute convictions about whether the departed can look across the veil to see what we’re up to here. 
But if they could, I would hope that the Meadow looked welcoming; that they’d look past the overgrown hedges and be understanding about the incredible amount of rain that’s been making mowing impossible. 
Look over this way: I’ve edged most of the perennial beds with bricks. Look over there: the daylilies have started and the monarda is looking fine. We’d like a patio over here, with space for a grill or firepit. Maybe put a little pond over in this section, with a motorized spring to keep the bugs under control, and ceramic koi on clever little sticks… 
Dragonflies dart here. Hummingbirds and hawkmoths know to stop by. In the winter, the hop-pop birdies scratch around for all the aster seeds. This year’s asters haven’t started yet, but I can see the buds starting to set…. These are the signals I send, to say ‘One of our kind lives here.’ ‘Times have changed, but not so much.” “Hello! I remember!” This is how I leave the light on, just in case….
A list of things, in no particular order
Posted in Backstory, cats, Elsinore, Gardening on 5 May, 2015| 2 Comments »
Feed kittens
Order music boxes
Prep for service
Check venue availability for winter concert
Coffee
Milk
KITTENS
Bank
Consult with Silent Auction team
Laundry
Call paint/repair company
Select Policy Revision team
Review manuscript
Identify safer meal for dinner
Rehearse music
Water new plants; ideally, get some in the ground
OMG KITTENS
