I Can Have Roses Later

My front window is brimming with Black-eyed Susans in such abundance that each year I give them away by shovels full. I long to mix in lilies, hyacinths & all manner of floral dreams. The bed however, is bordered by a basketball & skateboard court. It is a graveyard for toy vehicles of all sizes resting as it does, at the bottom of "the hill of death". Out back, the large blossoms of my Bee-Balm must be removed from the snarls of the gate-latch nearly every day & tethered back. The roses which cascade over our steps often lie bent or broken. One of the blessings of being an older parent is a better understanding of how fleeting the seasons of life truly are. I will have a lifetime of gardens... for now, I live in the magical world of play & imagination!

Scouting Joy

As I drove over the hill, this was the scene I came upon at Cub Scout day camp. The local fire dept. came to hose down 100+ boys !!! I felt my money had been well spent, for me alone in my joy of watching...not to mention, knowing that my son was in the mix somewhere. There was no way I would find him in the sea of green shirts, so I simply set about shooting. Before long, he ran up to me in utter delight.


It must have been a blast for the man up in the tower. He sat amidst cumulus clouds in a Carolina-Blue sky adjusting water pressure & moving the 2 nozzles around to those who cried out from below.


Kids were absolutely giddy with glee & vibrating with joy!!! Every few moments, a kid would break down, dancing furiously on tippy-toes with arms & face raised skyward in complete abandon! This happened over & over again... One would have thought it was an evangelist revival with all the arms raised & crying out! This went on for an hour & it was "MY best day ever"!

In His Image: Creative

I often hear people say, "Oh, I'm not creative," to which I ask, "Do you believe you were made in God's image?....Do you believe HE is creative?... Doesn't that mean that you must be creative?"....*
Trees, leaves, plants, flowers, and even people remind me of God's playful sense of creativity. We often see His sense of humor in his creations, too. Take seashells for example. Something hard was needed to protect the soft animal creatures, called mollusks. He could have made a generic shape, color and texture. Instead He playfully had fun with it, changing color, texture, pattern...Take a look at the variety our Creator used in the cockle shell alone !!!!! Creator-God: Master Artist and role model.

















* If this resonates with you, I suggest you get Julia Cameron's book, "The Artist's Way" and work the process to rediscover your own creativity.

Bob the Peony

This is Bob. Bob is a peony, named in honor of an old neighbor of ours, from our Maryland days. His yard was completely circled with peonies from his mother's house. The fragrance is luscious...similar to roses but not as overdone. This year, Bob the Peony had 31 big, gorgeous blossoms, right across from our front door. Without HVAC, we have had all the doors and windows open and our home is filled with the fragrance !!! Fantabulous!


Our neighbor, Bob, was the "old guy on the street who always knew everything that was going on". It was an oak-lined neighborhood of Post-WWII, GI-Bill, Cape Cod-style homes. Bob was retired and when he wasn't tending his gardens, he would stand at his open door, watching. When he would spy something unusual, he would call his wife, Jean. I loved to mess with Bob. At the time, I thought I was allergic to grass and wore a white, dust mask to mow the lawn. This aroused Bob's curiosity. As time went on, I developed my "lawn mowing uniform": white lab coat, hard-hat and dust-mask with white, storm- trooper, wrap-around sunglasses. I wore this outfit even in humid, 100+ degree, D.C. sauna conditions. Bob always called Jean to the door. Both would stand, with hands to open mouths and watch me mow the entire lawn. Never once, in all those years, did either of them comment on any of this....but every time I cut the grass, I donned my outfit and saw them from the corner of my eye.(I wish I could remember the tree-trimming outfit I wore...I think it was a tarzan sorta thing......)

I like to make events out of mundane tasks. I have been in search of the perfect, white, froo-froo GOWN for weeding my gardens....I believe in making life as fun as possible... entertaining the neighbors is just an added bonus!

Job Hazards & Crack Cream

My hands get so nasty from being washed so much. They give my auntie fits! I wash and wash and wash. They get so dried out, they split open and bleed. Zim's Crack Cream...no lie... is DA BOMB to heal / prevent this. Paint gets caked into the dry cracks. This picture is from a month or so ago. A few weeks ago, they were caked with white earthenware, clay...now it is papier mache'...we are making pinatas, masks and Daruma san, goal-setting dolls. FUN ! FUN !!!!
Today, we start glazing. Time for my end of the year mantra, "Load the kiln, fire the kiln, unload the kiln, load the kiln, fire....." It is so awesome to see the kids' faces when they get their pottery back!! "Pretty, Pretty, Shiny, Shiny". It is truly magical!!! One of the BEST parts of my "job" !!!!

Sitting Together

London and I were sitting out one evening, on the banks of the lake. Along came a friend....
London, naturally scooped him up. While he gently played with the little creature,along came another friend...

London has to have Uncle Wesley's approval before he can handle any snake and was oh, so sad to simply watch this one (possibly a baby, yellow rat). Strangely, toad and snake didn't seem to take note of each other in the least...not even when the snake slid right over the toad...more validation that, "If you sit quietly and still long enough, the wildlife will come out".

What Is This? (Pt. 2)

Ok, you should have it now, but if not, the next one will be a give-away.

Robot Fun

Evening Watch

I am getting comfortable with the beaver's schedule, once again. I went down to where they come out each evening and was right on time...His wake is so cool. We have a small collection of beaver sticks..the old and used ones they have discarded.... washed up on the landing.

Growing up, we used to pass a creek that beavers' would dam up. Later on, a friend in Virginia showed Tom and I a beaver lodge that was maintained on his property. These are images I always held of beavers...until we moved here, adjacent to "Beaver Point". Beavers will burrow in the banks of a water body rather than go to all the trouble to build a lodge. Soon, they will have sticks covering their entryway, but right now, they have the doors flung open for a nice spring airing out......

Peep Jousting

Peep jousting season has officially begun and a 6th team has been added to the line up: Team Orange!! The pre-season opened with players squaring off for control of this newest team. Early polls show that orange has an amazing ability to swell larger than the plate and in record time. In the first match of the season, L's Peep easily overtook J's as her player lost control of her sword early on. As you can see by this photo, L's peep remained standing well after the gruesome match.

As of this afternoon, "bad food tossing season" has also begun. Sadly, pita bread does not soar the way a frisbee does....This weekend, we re-rig the 3-man slingshot for some food launching !!!