Introducing: Poppi the talking Cottonwood, or, "Life Through the Branches"

This is Poppi, an Eastern Cottonwood rescued from a ditch and transplanted north of our house.

Poppi has a unique perspective on the world and will be sharing it with us from time to time.

"It's cold. And snowy. Both beautiful and blue. 

I've been around for a few years but the first snow always shocks me. No less this year, coming with storm and accumulating surprise.

It happened a couple weeks ago and I'm stilling trying to decide whether the world is mostly blue, white, or some of both. 

One thing I do know: moving is limited and usually comes by way of wind (which can be uncomfortable). But I can gaze at the world around me. Right now I see winter blues, which always look better from a distance."

Tweet

From India to Indiana, in Just a Few Pixels (captioning to come....maybe)

Somewhere in the neighborhood was a business that did elephant rides. We heard they had gone by (I'd been up on the veranda and smelled it, ha, ha) so when they trooped by again, our hostess had given bananas to feed. The whole ride took hours. Did not like the chain on the leg, however....

Here is Sharon in her gorgeous wedidng sari. After laboring over the makeup and the hair styling, the talented beautician performed the task of perfect folds (and about 20 pins) for the ivory sari, with gold and silver border.

Daughters of nieces, I believe.

The two young ladies in white/ivory were the attendants. Sharon can help me out, but at least one is a niece.

Our wonderful hosts, Titus and Rachel. Titus is a brother of Vijo's father.

Preparing for the recessional. I would have taken more pictures but hey, felt I should exhibit some decorum as mother of the bride :-p

Here's a glimpse of the back of Sharon's 2nd sari. The bride changes into this before the reception. In the previous picture this was draped around Sharon's head. A gift from the groom as his promise to provide for her.

Well. Someone looks like she got her man....

Up front in the reception hall

Guess they finally get to eat!

Not for long....more pictures....

Holding court at Vijo's parents' house

My favorite :-D

You know....she's my daughter and I get to take pictures.

Was it latter that day? Hard to remember, but back at Vijo's parents' house for an evening meal. That is Vijo's sweet mom, getting ready to sit down.

Now this was really sweet. Sharon learn a Malayalam love song and sang it to Vijo the next day.

Back in Indiana....2nd wedding! Loren was feeling poorly on rehearsal day so BIL Justin kindly stood in to practice going down the aisle.

Loren was able to do his duty the next day! I had the nerve to pop out and snap a picture...

Picture with all the kids of the cousins

Really lovely cake. There was chocolate and vanilla :-D

We got to sit at the head table for the reception meal. Yeah, Ma scored big time. Heh.

Sharon joined in with her barbershop group from work, to sing at her own reception. Oh yeah.

That's my girl!

Throwing la bouquet! (seriously, bouquet is a feminine noun, right?)

Feeding of the cake.

I could not believe it when  Ella and Alina walked in the church doors. They drove all the way from Iowa to Indiana for the wedding. WOW! So good to see them. Carolyn is enjoying a nice chat, here.

TIme to ride off into the sunset. Everyone is laughing so someone must have just said something amusing....I'm guessing Scholl....

Tweet

Dear Ma:

This morning I had another one of those "senior moments." At least, I think I did...

Anyway, I knew there was a glass dish to wash from last night's supper, but I couldn't find it anywhere!

I started looking in the cupboards, to see if I'd absentmindedly put it away, unwashed. I looked in the fridge, to see if I'd accidentally re-purposed other leftovers in the dirty dish. Thankfully, no (not that the family would have noticed. probably).

Glancing around the kitchen for the upteenth time, I kept hoping I'd suddenly see it. Nothing.

I even checked inside the broken dishwasher in case my supper-dishes-washing son had hidden it so he wouldn't have to wash it played a joke on me. Still nada.

Finally, in desperation, I went to the freezer totally not looking for ice cream and there it was, under the brownies.

My age is 57. Am I getting old? Or just going insane?

signed, 

Scared, Paranoid, End-of-life, Worried, from....(just a sec, it'll come to me...)


Dear SPEW,

No, no, of course not!

Wait...what was your question? Oh yes...

You are not getting old (unless you've just read "Little Brother") and you are quite nearly as sane as I am. And I have many references to back up my sanity (all from my own writings) as I'm guessing you have, as well.

Have you considered that someone else in the family may have put those brownies in the dirty casserole dish, and then in the freezer? Perhaps they are so used to seeing dirty dishes in the kitchen, that they thought it was clean? This may all be the fault of someone else, in which case,  you probably have other things to worry about.

Still, even if you were the one to place the unwashed casserole dish in the freezer, you can still let this work to your advantage. Here's how:

You obviously need a vacation. I'm thinking you need a change of venue after years of being stuck at home, doing the same things, day after day after day (I'm reading between the lines, here, but that's just more proof of my sanity).

Going somewhere exotic is the ticket! Yes, someplace other worldly, like Bermuda, the Bahamas, or Texas.

And if you can't swing that financially, your best bet is for one of the kids to marry out of the country.

Hopefully you've been nice enough to get invited to the wedding. 

And by "nice," I mean, not having made them wash too many casserole dishes.

Hope this helps and good luck with the memory!

(you're going to need it)



Ma

Tweet

Life in the Yard OH LOOK, FLOWERS AND STUFF

Breakfast, anyone? This robin has a scrumptious annelid for you!

Thistle butterfly going all Red Admiral on orange wildflower

Some of my favorite wildlife, doing totally volunteer work

Part of my wildification section of the garden

Sea of Canadian Anemone.  Pulled these out of a ditch and they have colonized right well.

"Blackbird singing in the tree at right, please don't peck the lady with the ca-mera..."

And here we are, another timely post to document the teeming life with which Ma interacts, each and every day.

That Red-Winged Blackbird was a little upset that I was weeding so close to its nest, but then, not sure he's aware that the little bird-woman is raising two cowbird nestlings. The lone blackbird egg had not hatched, last time I saw it. And now the two chickies are so big I can't see the egg. More on that developing situation, later.

My hands are stiff and sore but nearly 75% of the garden is somewhat under control. And since the little Song Sparrow's nest is suddenly empty, I may get more weeding done, today.

After I do the breakfast dishes (glances at clock and notices it is 10:15). Which will come after I finish this post. Maybe.

Or perhaps I'll just go out and take more pictures.

Nolan and Trevor are at Bible School (helper and student, respectively) and I'm somewhat at a loss without the usual requests for computer game time and "another episode of Red Skelton."

Tweet

The Robins Have Hatched! and other vitally important yardy pictures, plus, now Ethan will be appeased by my postage

Hatched sometime between Saturday and today

This I don't quite understand. I thought this was a Redwinged Blackbird nest, but there appears to be only one blackbird egg, the others look to be cowbird contrived. Usually the numbers are opposite....

Song Sparrow nest, in one of my Blue Spruce

My largest Blue Spruce, transplanted on Saturday night, before the latest rainy season. It's not doing too badly, all things considered....only a tad droopy so far. It was directly in front of the tree in previous picture, and took over an hour to dig and transport--very heavy--but the song sparrow still returned to the nest.

On the other side of the house, Gary-the-Garter-Snake is sunning himself in the grass.

The Robins always seem to like this spot....

Feng Shui-y mushroom that popped up in newest bed,  north side of house

Tweet

50 Years ago Today...

.....tornadoes. Above is the now famous picture taken by Paul Huffman, Elkhart Truth Photographer, driving on highway 33 between Goshen and Elkhart, Indiana.

The double funnels had just gone through the Midway Trailer Park (called "Midway" due to its location between Goshen and Ekhart). As terrifying as this image is, there was more to come.

A huge tornado tore through the Sunnyside housing addition (approximately in back of the right funnel, but further down the highway). A school friend, Debbbie Forsythe Watters, recalls that horrible evening. All the pages of the article are short; it is well worth the read.

Debbie has been instrumental in setting up a memorial to that day, and to the people who died.

Palm Sunday, 1965, saw many more tornadoes than the three I've mentioned; you can read about their paths, here.

But for the "I was there" perspective,  personal recollections are always best. These are short and to the point. All the more hard-hitting in their stark brevity.

There weren't cell phones to capture on-the-scene video, but a few photos were taken.

We lived a mile or so from Sunnyside addition. Church had been cancelled and we were home, listening to weather reports (such as they were) and the occasional TV spot. One of my older brothers had posted himself on the upstairs landing, looking out the west window. Suddenly he called, "Hey....there's a little tornado!"

We went tearing up the steps and gazed in wonder at a skinny, little, twisty thing, harmlessly passing by over the trees. Pretty clear it was incapable of doing damage.

Wow. We had seen a real tornado! This was a huge deal and were we ever thrilled. I think most of us went downstairs again.

In a little while, there was another call from upstairs and back we charged to the landing.

Instead of another snaky smudge in the air near our house, we saw a huge, dark column, directly west, perhaps a mile or two away. There was no "funnel" shape. It looked like an upended rectangle, attached to the earth and the clouds.

I recall simply staring at in in shock, and then my father said, "I believe we'd better get to the basement."

At least we had a basement. Not everyone did.

It was absolutely terrifying. But we suffered no real damage. Certainly no loss of life. And I know I've written and talked about this before, but it was the kind of experience that will always remain frighteningly fixed on my personal timeline.

That's why I'm thinking of my friends in the Elkhart/Dunlap area today.

God bless you, Debbie! And all the others, as well.

Tweet

Facing Facts

There is no degradation to admitting my days of non-stop yard work are over.

Whereas a couple decades ago I pregnantally moved vet trailers (to mow. a feat which, while admirable at the time, I now regret), picking up pine cones in the yard is now too much to handle.

Thankfully, my available slaves helped me.

"Anybody sore from picking up pine cones, yesterday?"

"Nope!" they replied, all too cheerfully. Confirming that which is all too obvious.

I. Am. Old.

It's the ancient quadracepal dilemma. And it makes going up and down the stairs, particularly down, an excruciating experience.

It also makes one carefully gauge the the need for traversing floor to floor.

Important questions must be asked:

"I need a nap, but that means going upstairs...." (and eventually coming down)

"Do I really need to visit the little Ma's room?" (I'd have to come down the steps, again)

"How hard would it be for the boys to construct a litter?"

Currently my down-the-stairs trips are accomplished in Frankenstein fashion, stiff-legged and thumpy, with unspoken "OW's!" at each step.

All this to say, there may be some merit to paving the yard.

Tweet

In Which Ma Posts and Plants All in One Day and Becomes Moderately Fatigued

Hard to believe, especially on this day of Tom Foolery.

My favorite "product" for April 1st, 2015, was the "Selfie Shoe."

A shoe with a toe port to pop in your phone, then take a selfie with your friends by merely lifting one's foot.

Except I don't have a smart phone.

Or legs that can lift.

Or friends.

But I agree in principle with the selfie shoe.

If it existed.

Now, on to the very busy day of Ma!

Trevor had his last morning of yearly assessment testing, so I took him in to Ackley, beat it back home (changed into old clothes), and used my 90 minute window of opportunity to commune with Iowa topsoil.

Dug up enough to plant the last of my early crops, then (changed clothes), raced back into Ackley to take Nolan to his Woodworking class and pick up Trevor.

We partook of that most ancient and sacred ceremony: "Choosing of the Donuts." To celebrate the end of testing. Then we each took part of the booty

Raced back home.

(changed clothes)

Thanks to Ethan fixing all of lunch I was free to trip merrily out to the garden and plant carrots, peas, and two kinds of radishes.

It was extremely windy but I'm almost certain some of the carrot seeds did not blow away.

After lunch (donuts for dessert!) I prepared for shopping. I could have waited a day or two to get groceries? But I was almost out of coffee. So no, I could not wait.

You will not believe this, but I had to changed clothes (again!) and even take time for a shower.

The lads and I successfully completed another food-n-Walmart run, and by successful, I mean they each got candy.

Donuts and candy are much like beans and rice, in that, when paired together, they make a complete protein.

(in unrelated news, this posted on April 1st)

After a brief and relaxing 30 minutes of Evening News, it was time to fix supper and then,

out to the garden, necessitating YET ANOTHER CHANGE OF CLOTHES.

This time my labors revolved around digging up and re-transplanting six red twig dogwood bushes. Originally residing in a ditch down the road, these dusky-limbed beauties had spent three years increasing the property value in front of our home.

Turns out, they don't increase the value quite as much as a new porch.

Thankfully, ditch dogwood is tremendously hard to kill. After being "thrown" into the garden temporarily last fall, they have now found new digs by the garden.

Phase 3.4 of my simple, 57-step plan to re-vamp the side yard is complete.

To recap, that's:

2 trips to local town
1 trip to less local town
3 trips to the garden, some digging required.
NO NAP

Frankly, I'm tired.

Changing clothes is exhausting.

Tweet

Ma's Night of Amazing Entertainment (Do Not Try This at Home)

Last Wednesday I visited the world of opera via my local theater.

And by local, I mean 50 miles away.

But getting back to Offenbach, I can truthfully say the fat lady appeared and I did not sing.

Also, chocolate bars with caramel and sea salt are excellent.

Great production. And there were nine other people in the theater with me, so.....let's here it for old folks!

(incidentally, two intermissions definitely come in handy during a 3 hr 50 min saga)

The drama was not limited to Hoffman and his flitting from amour à amour.

Driving home it was very cold.

Four degrees below zero cold.

No heat in the car cold.

Why isn't the heat working? cold.

The temperature gauge is on the bottom, cold.

Oh, now the needle is going up, cold.

Hey, the needle is on the line below red, cold.

Hmm, better pull over and call the husband, cold.

I had gloves and even a pencil flashlight to look in the trunk for non-existent anti-freeze, cold, and NOW I AM REALLY COLD, cold.

*glances at surrounding, Iowan landscape...thinks...."So, this is what it would be like on Mars without a walker suit"....*

Après more cell phone mini-conferences the only recourse was to continue on to upcoming 90 degree curve, followed by a straight stretch, and then a the second 90 degree curve, wherein lies a New Hartford Casey's entitled, <"Bum-BUM>  "The Curve."

(did you know the temperature gauge needle can go above the very top line?)

At this point I was distracted by the searing gleam of *CHECK ENGINE LIGHT* burning my retinas.

If I could just make it over the next rise....

and.....

I.....

did!

Which is about the time the engine stopped. But I had enough momentum to coast into the gas station/convenience store with hazard lights ablink and power steering anil.

Despite closing in 15 minutes....*makes note to recommend opera screenings start one hour earlier*...the extremely nice and helpful lady ran around, found me the appropriate antifreeze, got paper funnels, actually helped me find the right cap, poured in the blue elixir of life, etc. 

To no avail.

The car would not start.

In the end, the store had to close but a sherriff's deputy arrived with a warm-car-YAY-I-can-feel-my-toes! (Ouch-I-can-feel-my-toes) while I awaited the arrival of Loren.

Got home. HOT BATH. Cup of decaf tea.

As to the car, it had to be towed. The Blue-Camery-of-Power now sits in the garage, sporting a busted water pump. Additional damages to be determined.

Opera is powerful stuff, people.

Tweet

In Which Hoyts Get All Cultural-y, Again

We are pretty excited, here at the Hoytstead!

It's Thursday, November 6th, and that means....

Straight No Chaser concert at the Gallegher Bluedorn....WOOT!

Almost as soon as Ma received the 2014/2015 GB concert season info she made plans.

She bought tickets.

And now the day is here!!

Just this morning I was going over concert attire with the boys.

"So, I think it would be nice if you wore a decent polo shirt, not a T-Shirt. Maybe a shirt and sweater, and decent pants."

Ethan: "One step above prayer meeting, but not quite Sunday morning."

Trevor: ".....*mumble*....wedding.....*mumble...."

Ethan: 'No, not as much as a wedding."

Nolan: "You mean, I can't wear one of my nice T-shirts? Like I wear for my class at school?"

Ma: "No. I think we should have some level of respect for all the work these people did for the concert. And it's kind of fun."

*half-hearted protests.....groans...."buts"....*

Trevor: "But I'm saving my good pants for Sunday!"

Ma: "Hmmm. It's Thursday. Plenty of time to do the wash before Sunday. Which you have to do, anyway."

*half-hearted protests.....groans...."buts"....*

Ma: I'll be happy to go through your closet with you and pick out some outfits. I LOVE doing this!"

*....confused silence..... *

(hee hee)

I think I'll use my Italian leather handbag.

Tweet

Manic Saturday

Every once in a while a lotta work gets done on one day.

Without any school today.....*cue jumpin' and shoutin' "halle-LU-jah!"*....Trevor, Nolan, and I were able to:

• clean bathrooms
  
• mow lawn (more than half!)
  
• burn trash
  
• Five loads laundry
• plant 17 willow whippets near the fence (myself) and stuck about 12 more in garden for safekeeping
• cut all stray blackberries across fence myself and hauled them to the burnpile without the wheelbarrow....*cough*...certain construction people are using it...*cough*.... (not strictly our property, but I feel responsible since my plants crossed over. Also, I need them gone so my willows will get sunlight

The willows need a little explanation:

Every year the field south of us, owned by a mega corporation, sprays their crops on a windy day and it blows over on my garden. One year they did significant damage , not only from the blow-over (which came up to the house) but because they had their mixture too strong. Even some of their crop turned brown.

So, having heard of at least one other case when an older man's garden was ruined in like manner, and the big whig did nothing, I decided to put up a defensive fence :-)

So, take that, Mr. Big Corporation Guy!

Yes, Ma is striking a blow for the little person. Because,

we've been sprayed,

and poisoned,

and ignored....

AND WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!

Well, as long as the bunnies don't eat my willows.

Tweet

Life in the Yard (yes, I know it's been a while)

Sunset while fog starts to develop with Ma standing in road while car drives toward her.

Poppy bedecked in dew. New flower this year.

"Invasion of the Poppy Pod People"...new Sci-Fi, coming soon to a shade garden near you.

Something acquired during a garden thinning work day.

My little prize jewel, this year. An oak, growing voluntarily in a park garden, which the volunteer gardener took home for adoption.

Shocking. That the pictures posted after only three tries. That I posted at all.

That adding text below the pictures works, today.

So shocking that's all I can manage.

Also, the World Series is on....

Tweet

Back in the Blog of Life

No guarantees, but since I was reminded, "Mommy, do you know it's been a month since you posted on the blog?" I decided to try, anyway. Funny, just now I accidentally typed "bog" instead of "blog." Ha. Ha.

So, there are a few reasons for the slackery.

First off, the hard drive died on our server, last month. Or this month. I forget.

And maybe it wasn't the server. But something definitely tanked.

Before that time I hadn't been taking many pictures, so little, if anything, was lost. And if it was I'm sure I can't remember. But I had to save pictures to my C drive and that always clutters things up, a bit. Thus, less photography.

Also, ever since Blogger changed their picture-posting scenario the entire process has become unwieldy.

I can't position the pictures as I want. Sometimes I can't add text in a space below all the pictures. Sometimes it won't let me put an extra line-space between pictures. And sometimes Blogger simply refuses to load the pictures.

It used to be SO MUCH EASIER. Not that I have any hard feelings towards Blogger. No, I remain the sweet and demure, continually cheerful Ma I have always been. No cross thoughts except for despising Blogger, that is whatsoever.

_____________

Summer is almost over. It was filled with the usual hubbub of yard work, detasseling, and computer games.

Loren and Ethan, Carolyn and Trevor, did a fair amount of work on the house. The guys on the outside and Carolyn especially working in the attic. But as the pictures below testify, she also pounded a few nails :-)
 
On Tuesday we'll get back in the homeschooling routine. Nolan got a head start this year by taking a Mechanical Drafting class at the local high school (local school starts in August). So far things have gone well, though the early dismissals for heat have slowed things, a bit. I think he will really enjoy and profit from the experience.

I drive him to the school and then run an errand or two, or wait in the parking lot, working at a little writing project on my tablet. Or reading. Maybe I'll get all scheduley and assign myself 20 minutes to walk and 25 minutes to write.

Well, must go. That Labor Day potato salad isn't going to make itself.

Tweet

House Progress

By the glow of the setting sun, Ethan, Carolyn, and Trevor work at window openings and nailing plywood.

Ethan is down on the left.... Trevor helps Loren with work on the eave that goes around the house.

South side. New siding on the bottom, foam insulation, on top. Believe it or not, when they took off the old siding, they they discovered no insulation....absolutely none, in that south wall. Things should be different, this winter!

And the scaffolding is assembled for the final (west) side.

With the scaffolding removed it's easier to see the finished product.

Tweet