Christmas Arrivals

Freshly unpacked from the "Harry and David" shipping box, a little miniature rose plant and accompanying wrapped presents.

Hedge Berries

Across the street from the dogwood of the Thanksgiving post below, and downhill all the way, is a tangled hedge of mixed vegetation, bare of color since all the red stalks of the poke sallet were cut down by a road maintenance crew--except for these brilliant red berries, which caught the late afternoon sunlight on November 30.

Late November Leaves

Under gray skies, the green grass was brilliant, accented by maple leaves like fallen fragments of stars.

From a silver maple:







From a streetside dogwood:





After the overnight stormy winds from a cold front, all the maples and dogwoods are almost bare, near to being Shakespeare's "bare, ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang."

But the mockingbirds around here prefer television antennas and utility wires for perching, and the cardinals peck around for food under the evergreen hollies and the brilliant barberry bushes.

Fall Portrait

Fall has turned chill and blustery in Tennessee, with the rain and the wind yesterday plastering starry little red or yellow maple leaves to the storm windows.

Here's a portrait of my cat, comfortable indoors, that I made the other day:

Fall Flower Plantings

Wherever I walk, near private homes or public buildings, there are beds of bright flowers, kept colorful by our occasional thunderstorms despite the drought--and, I imagine, by careful hand-watering also.

One little miniature rose bush bore blooms in all stages, from tight buds to fully opened blossoms, their petals shattering and falling in the light breeze.



Their foliage marked these specimens as gaillardias, which are related to sunflowers and very drought-resistant, although one resembles a rose and the other two might be mistaken for daisies or chrysanthemums.







These tiny yellow blooms were bright in the morning sunshine. I felt lucky to capture them with my Canon G2 digital camera's zoom, since each blossom was only about a quarter-inch tall.

Feisty and Cool

Here's a 10-lb. cutie I encountered on my cool morning walk today:



I took his picture with his owner's permission--they were also out walking, but in the opposite direction from mine. A couple of blocks further on, I caught the early sunlight just gilding this stone stairway up a hillside lawn:

Fire Plugs

At either end of the side streets along the route of my morning walk, there are fire plugs, and on some of the streets, an extra one in the middle, near people's driveways.

In this photo, the fire plug stands in the shadowed background. I am not sure what the installation above is for. At any rate, it does look like double protection.

Below is the rainy-looking sky that I captured on the day that I was photographing fire plugs at dawn. And below that, a mid-street fireplug nestled in foliage.

A Red Sunrise Lights an Old Crabapple Tree

The graceful branches of an elderly crabapple tree glow in early sunlight, silhouetted against a blue sky.



The photo below, shot facing south, captures the dawn's red light, warm on the old bark near the tree's cleft. The knothole crevice is about a foot deep, with a nest of old leaves and soft-looking hair or fur at the bottom, hidden in deep shadow. Perhaps a squirrel has slept here? But it's less than five feet above the ground, so not a likely home for squirrels, who usually build their nests in the topmost branches of trees. The material in the tree cavity is probably only windblown debris.

Hot Summer Colors

This little red pepper was half hidden in the plant's lush foliage, on a breezy morning before September's heat wave broke. Bees were buzzing around the tiny blossoms (below) and around the adjacent large yellow squash blooms. Just around the corner from this small urban garden, the wind was blowing the folds of a Tennessee state flag, hung near a cottage window.







The wind was gusting rather sharply at the time I was shooting this flag, but I could never capture it waving and outstretched, because the little gusts lasted such a short time. Tennessee's state flag has three white stars in a blue circle, centrally located in the rectangular red field.

Historic Farm Houses

Near the campus of David Lipscomb University stands this Tennessee historical marker, which describes the two farm houses under their historic oak tree shown in the picture above.

This is the bronze plaque at the foot of the towering old oak tree:

Here are two other views of Avalon and of the log cabin which was David Lipscomb's first farm home:

House on a Pie Slice

A huge brick house was built on a steeply sloping small, triangular corner lot a few blocks from where I live, last year. Neighbors all marveled at the clever siting of the two-story plus basement structure; and then, more construction added a long wing, the sunlit part in the photo above.

The place is still for sale, its asking price reportedly in the range of several million dollars.

The sloping ridge continues west along the street, which is part of my walking route. Several blocks further on is this interesting stone culvert, built to accommodate the side street above it and permit free flow of storm waters. This is karst country, and limestone blocks are frequently used as construction materials all across the area.

Stonework Culvert

At Home with a Prickly Pear

After many years away from South Texas, I still am astonished to find its native prickly pear naturalized all across Kentucky and Tennessee. This common cactus has even found its way into urban residential landscaping.

One of the streets on my morning walking route has a home with a prickly pear planting anchoring its southeast corner. After the recent rains, the little plants, so at home in a dry terrain, put forth a rosy show among their flat, spiny, grayish green leaves.

Daydream Cottage

All summer this little cottage has had a "for sale" sign in its front yard. At one point in July, the sign was changed to "sold," but after a couple of weeks the "for sale" sign returned. I surmised that the financing agreement had fallen through.

It's at the top of a gradual slope down to a little creek, the small valley lying between the back yards of the street of my morning walk and the parallel street to the north. The wild plants are lush on its banks, and a bridge about eight feet long connects to the opposite side.

There's a privacy fence on two sides of the back yard; however, because of the angle of the little ridge's slope, one can see the attractive lawn furniture under the trees.

If I needed a house, I think I would look into buying this one.

Tennessee White House

I'm deliberately being ambiguous with the title of this morning's post. There are certainly many white houses in Tennessee, and this just happens to be the one I photographed on my early morning walk today.

Interestingly enough, there is also a small town in northern Middle Tennessee, just off Interstate 65, named White House.

Unexpected Encounter

On my walk this morning, as I rounded the corner, I saw a neighbor who lives on the street that parallels mine to the west, out walking his Alaskan husky, whose name is Husky.

All summer we would happen, from time to time, to be walking at dawn's first light, and we could usually  chat for a second or two, though Husky would always be eager to get on with his exercise. I longed for a picture of the beautiful dog, but there was never time to ask for one, with Husky straining at the leash, longing to continue with his morning constitutional.

Today, just at sunrise, he paused to mark a bush, and I captured two shots of him. Only his flank in the first--but in the second, a slightly out of focus portrait.  

It was the best I could do. By the time the view screen had faded, 
he and his master 
were half a block away.

I walked on in the opposite direction and began the project I had in mind for my walk. I plan to photograph the old houses along the residential streets that are my usual route for my own morning exercise. Some of them have very beautiful architecture and lovely landscaped front yards.

Along with Husky, my picture for today is a stone-faced cottage.

Poke Berry Rainbow

On this overcast afternoon I've been scouting for responses to today's showers, and I found a tiny volunteer pokeweed about 12 inches tall in my  south-facing side yard, already sporting one brave little white raceme. In the tangle of growth at the southeast corner, I spotted its likely parent, shading with its large leaves on their red stems little curving bows of red and purple berries.

Poke has been very hardy through our summer's drought this year, growing luxuriantly near
every neglected roadside fence. Its early spring shoots are edible greens, much prized by Tennessee pioneers and enjoyed even 
today by their descendants who have kept to 
the old ways.

Poke (Phytolacca americana) is native to the Southeastern United States and is also known as pokeberry, poke salad, and poke sallet.

Toting a Starry Night

Yesterday I made this photo of my tote bag, hanging from a hall door knob, for easy access. This beautiful print on canvas of Vincent Van Gogh's painting, "Starry Night," is a conversation starter wherever I carry it.

In the line waiting to vote, fans of Van Gogh commented on it to me.  More than one clerk at a check-out counter when I'm grocery shopping has said to me, "Oh, I love Van Gogh's paintings."

And the last time I shipped a package, the post office worker helping me said, "Where did you get that? I love 'Starry Night.'"

I bought the tote in the gift shop at the Parthenon Museum, after viewing an exhibition of Impressionist paintings there several years ago.

"Starry Night" had been one of my favorites, ever since I took an art survey course while working on my master's degree in elementary education, in the winter of  1958.

Fall Project

After the record-breaking August heat in Tennessee--with its accompanying long string of days with no rain--September has brought refreshing little spots of green to this urban landscape. A few thundershowers were all that was needed to brighten the summer-seared view.

I captured this little clump of weedy grasses near a concrete-block wall early this Saturday morning.
First I took a close-up of a single blossom--the first picture above--and then of all the little volunteers under the overcast sky.

These are the first photos in a fall project that I have set for myself. I am going to take a photo with my Canon G2 digital camera every day, in order to improve my skills. I shall shoot numerous views of my chosen subject for the day, and then I'll publish the most interesting one or two here at Mary's Musings.

 

The Stars and Stripes Forever

I took this photo on a morning
walk around the neighborhood,
July 4, 2007.

Flag Day

Flag Day is celebrated
every year in the
USA on June 14--
which fell on a Thursday
this year, and
I wrote a limerick that day,
which I'm putting
further down in today's
Mary's Musings' post.

The original design of
the grand old flag of my country
was the work of our first president,
George Washington. It consisted of a
circle of 13 stars on
a rectangular blue field--to
represent the thirteen states
which had banded together
in 1776--and 13 alternating
horizontal red and white
stripes.

Today there are 50
stars on the blue field,
with the red and white
stripes arranged
as they were from
the beginning.

To a patriotic heart
such as mine,
it is thrilling to
see its folds catch
the breeze.

BANNER

My banner is truly star-spangled,
As it hangs from a staff that is angled.
It's a flag that I please
To display in the breeze--
Would George Washington find it new-fangled?

©June 14, 2007 by Mary, of Mary's Musings

June Picture of the Month

For a lovely picture of flowing
water, have a look at the
picture of the month
(in German,
"Bild des Monats")
at
http://www.dh2publishing.info/

While there, you could take a journey
through all the beautiful galleries
of Dierk Haasis. He is not only a
fine professional photographer--he's
also a brilliant writer and a professional
creative consultant for webtext, marketing,
and digital imaging .

Just click on his link
"Galerien."

Galerien

Here's a link to the best blog around!

zuihitsu

This is the blog
of Dierk Haasis,
whose fine website you
can visit to see
beautiful images and
get excellent
advice and
recommendations:

http://www.dh2publishing.info/

Today is National Limerick Day

Below is a little verse that I wrote
for the OEDILF project
(The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form):

http://www.oedilf.com/db/Lim.php?

On the twelfth day of May poets cheer.
Though they're chock-full of limericks each year,
They can write just one more,
Full of candles galore,
For the birthday of limericist Lear.

Every year on May 12, Limerick Day is celebrated
in many countries, including Ireland,
the United Kingdom,
and the United States.

The celebrations are in honor
of the birthday
of famed limericist
Edward Lear (1812–1888).

Cinco de Mayo

It's the day that
the people of Mexico
and people of Mexican descent
hold celebrations in much
the same way as the people
of the U.S. celebrate
the Fourth of July.

However, the Fifth of May
celebrations are in remembrance
of a significant battle in Mexico's
history and not of its
declaration of independence
from Spain, which had taken place
September 15, 1810.

May 5 is the anniversary
of the victory won by
Mexican soldiers, commanded by
General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin,
over the French occupational forces
in the Battle of Puebla
on May 5, 1862.

The city of Seguin, Texas,
is named in honor of this general,
who can also be referred to
as General Zaragoza.

For one good account of that
battle, see this website page:

http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm

Birthday of the Bard

Today is, as well as it can
be determined,
the anniversary of
the day on which
William Shakespeare
was born.

The writing he did
in his relatively short
lifetime influences
the English language
profoundly
to this very day.

And allusions to his
works, I would venture
to say, are common
in nearly all literate
communities, whatever
language is being spoken.

More Iris in Bloom

The back yard iris clump is now budding out. I like the way the massive tree trunks by the fence show behind this one yellow bud, shot in close-up:

Link to Beauty

Go to zuihitsu and have a look
at the post for April 13, 2007.

There you can view some of the most
beautiful images of spring flowers
that you will ever see. Click on the
zuihitsu link below:
http://dh2publishing.blogspot.com/

Yellow Iris Bud, at Easter

Bright as an Easter egg,
this little bud
was about 12 inches
off th ground near a sunny
concrete block wall.
I took the photo from
near the wall, looking toward
the front porch of the house.

Happy Easter Day

Here's a link
to one of the best
blogs
around
the Internet,
today with an image
of lovely little
Easter lambs:

http://dh2publishing.blogspot.com/

The blog's title is
Zuihitsu.

The text of today's post
is in German,
but the blog is
often written in English,
as the welcome panel
does note.

Redbuds and Cocoa

Blossoms growing directly
out of the bark
on their trunks--that's what
some trees and shrubs
have.

Cacao beans--which get
turned into
chocolate bars--share
this trait with
the redbud's fruits,
which resemble the pods
of edible peas.

Yesterday, March 30,
I photographed some
redbud blossoms near
the fork of the tree
where they had bloomed out
overnight.



What a joy the springtime can be, when the breeze is light and the sun is warm and such beauty is displayed around every corner!

How would you say it?

Do stars and wars rhyme for you?
To my ear they are perfect rhymes.

But apparently for most of the world
wars rhymes with s'mores.

S'mores? Those delicious little
hot sandwiches made by
squishing a marshmallow and
a square of chocolate
between two graham crackers
and heating them
over a campfire?

Under the stars?
Forgetting the wars?

Well, how would you say it?
Like me?

Or like all those
other people, who rhyme
wars with scores and stores and doors?

OEDILF has recovered.

Thanks to heroic work all weekend by Virge,
the programmer who looks after the
site,OEDILF is running, useable, and
useful once more, after the complete
failure of its hard disk.

The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form

It's a great place to visit,
or to belong to,
for anyone who enjoys limericks,
humor, or simply reading the posts
of an international group of bright,
witty people.

OEDILF Temporarily Down

OEDILF,
The Omnificent English
Dictionary
In Limerick Form,
is temporarily down.

Not from server problems.
There was a disk crash.
It will be up again
as soon as the programmer
can fix it.

Meanwhile, enjoy yourself
at:

http://petersheil.livejournal.com/

Serious Fun with Limericks

Check out the Random
box of limericks at:

OEDILF
The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form

The Independent State of Texas

Today is the anniversary of the Texas
Declaration of Independence.

From Mexico.

On March 2, 1836.

Texas remained an independent
nation-state for almost 10 years,
until it agreed to be annexed
by the United States in 1845.

Here's a link, in case there
are any other Texas history
buffs hanging about:

Handbook of Texas Online

A Novel in Limerick Form

Place:
http://alimerickaday.blogspot.com/

Author: J-Man Jeff

I have been reading a limerick
every day since January at
Jeff's blog site:
"A Limerick A Day."

Only today did I find out
that this talented
young man is a high school
freshman.

I had assumed, although
he did give
the name of his school
in his profile,
that when he said
he is a freshman,
he meant
a freshman in college.

It is really fun
to read him and to watch
his limerick-writing skills
grow steadily
better, as he stays
faithfully with his
project.

I highly recommend this site.

March Ahead

Blustery March
is threatening to bound in
like a lion,
heralded for me by
thunderstorms this afternoon
and more wild weather
on the weekend, as we move into
the last few days
of February.

Lew Sarett's words,
"Walk softly, March,"
came to my mind when
I read the forecast
this morning.

"Four Little Foxes,"
which I encountered
in my high-school days,
is hard to locate on-line
--at least, it's hard
to find all four stanzas.

But it's in two
places.

I found it first on Foxfire,
with a musical accompaniment,

http://www.geocities.com/stumpydog1/foxfire.html

and, second, as one of Mrs. Acton's
favorite poems.

http://aacton.gladbrook.iowapages.org/id19.html

You have to scroll down past
her all-time favorite, Robert Frost's
"Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,"
to get to Lew Sarett's
"Four Little Foxes."

It's worth the scroll, bittersweet
though the poem truly is.

While I was searching for it,
I came across Lew Sarett's obituary,
in the August 18, 1954 Beloit Daily News.

http://www.beloit.edu/~libhome/Archives/acoll/alum/sarett.html

There's a fine, meditative picture of
him in that article, which cites
"Four Little Foxes"
as one of his best-known poems.

And I now present it here,
as one of my own best-loved:

Four Little Foxes
by Lew Sarrett

Speak gently, Spring, and make
no sudden sound
for in my windy valley yesterday
I found
New-born foxes squirming on
the ground,
Speak gently.

Walk softly, March, forbear
the bitter blow,
Her feet within a trap, her blood
upon the snow,
The four little foxes saw
their mother go,
Walk softly.

Go lightly, Spring, oh give them
no alarm;
When I covered them with boughs
to shelter them from harm
The thin blue foxes suckled
at my arm,
Go lightly.

Step softly, March, with your
rampant hurricane
Nuzzling one another and
whimp'ring with pain,
The new little foxes are shiv'ring
in the rain,
Step softly.

By Lew Sarett, a poet, a professor,
an outdoorsman and guide.

I wish we could imagine a happy
ending here.

Lew Sarett
was an accomplished
outdoorsman.

I hope he found
a way to look after
those little foxes
so that they grew up
and lived good little fox
lives--
in Michigan or Montana,
or in the poet's head--
wherever Lew found them.

On-Line Closeness

How quickly a well-written blog
can make you feel
close to the blogger!

So, I felt as much rejoicing
to hear from Richie
that his new baby is here,
safe and sound, with
mother tired but happy--
as much rejoicing as if
I were a "real-world"
neighbor and friend.

For a picture of Little Sam,
go to:
Smart People in a Stupid World

It made me so happy
that I put the link on
my other blog,
"Reckon I Should Tell This?"
also.

Even though he's clear across
the Atlantic Ocean from me,
and even though
I may never see him
in person,
the thought that I may
get to watch him
growing up,
through his father's
blog posts,
has turned this
cold, snowy dawn
into
a delightful winter morning!

The New Yorker's "Notable Quotables"

Everybody does it!

Quips, comebacks, clever sayings.

Sometimes we're quoting and we know it.

Sometimes we even think we know who we're quoting.

But very seldom are we using the exact words of the quote--even when we believe that we are.

There's a great piece
on this topic, by
Louis Menand
in the current issue of
The New Yorker magazine:
"Notable Quotables."

Famously, no one in the film Casablanca
ever said, "Play it again, Sam."

And Churchill's famous phrase,
"blood, sweat, and tears"
has entered our common speech
but "toil" is
omitted.

Probably because "blood, sweat, toil,
and tears" does not suit
our sense of
the rhythm
of our language
so well as
the threesome does.

Intrigued?

Go enjoy the entire article
on-line at
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/

Rushing the Season

Here are some tulips
from a bygone April,
to cheer up
a foggy, frozen,
snow-flurrying day.



Enough of that
brisk north wind!
Some of us
here
are ready for
Spring!
 

Mary's New Blog

Ever do a Google search
on your own name?

I did that last night
and found another
blog with the title
"Mary's Musings."

It's a very nice blog,
too, although it hasn't
been active for
quite a few months.

Still,
finding it made me
want to have a blog
of my own
with a more distinctive
name.

I did a Google search
on
"reckon i should tell this?"
and found no blog
with that name.

So now there is one!
Mine.

reckon i should tell this?

Hope you've enjoyed reading
my own "Mary's Musings"
and that you'll drop in
on "reckon i should tell this?"
too,
from time to time.

The words in bold font, underlined,
above,
are a clickable link.

Just right-click on them,
and choose
"open in new window"
if you want to have both
my blogs
open at the same time
in your browser.

Happy reading!

Lincoln's Birthday

The calendar cycles,
and suddenly we are in a year
when Lincoln's birthday
falls on a Monday.

In his honor, here are some
tulips that I shot a few
years ago, although not in
wintry February.

Okay,
not so much in Lincoln's
honor as to add
some cheery color to
a gray February 2007
morning.

I had to actually have a look at
my kitchen calendar
to verify
that it's not a post office
and bank holiday.

Whew!

That'll be February 19,
the third Monday in February,
which Congressional wisdom
decades ago made
into a three-day weekend
by designating a
moveable date for Washington's
birthday.

It's commonly called 
Presidents' Day, 
thereby squeezing
nearly a century of history,
from Washington to Lincoln,
into one formal
commemoration.

When I was growing up,
in the 1930s,
the scene was more
generous.

First the birthday
of the Civil War president.

Then the birthday
of the Revolutionary War
hero and first
president of the United
States of America.

And in between--oh joy!
--in between:

Valentine's Day!

Which has been co-opted
from its religious significance
for many generations now--
and here is turned
to commercial profit.

But perhaps also,
somewhere, little children
are enjoying
home-made valentines,
using the time-honored
materials:
paper, scissors, paste,
and crayons--
and their happy
imaginations.

Wonder if cats
like valentines?

Ah--chicken/tuna
flavored valentines!

That might indeed
cheer up an overcast
winter's day.

Surfing the Blogger Scene

You know that you're bored when ...

you actually click on a link 
from a Share-Your-Blog
e-mail.

So, I lucked out,
found a pot o' gold 
at:

http://gabezblog.blogspot.com/ 

I read it from the bottom up,
lured in
by the moony little
leprechaun.

Thumbup to the Gabe-
and-Sandra 
soap opera!

Now I can put off  
recounting
to everyone
what it's like to
shower with a cat,
for one more day.

M&M is watching me
from a safe distance as I
wrestle with the
HTML requirements
here.

You have only
to imagine me occupying
the chair
behind her, in the photo
at the top of this post.

If you haven't already
slid down the URL
rainbow,
to check out the
leprechaun moon.