A few days after my last post, an illegal war of impulsive, mercurial volition was launched on the country of Iran by the mob boss …
Frozen Mix on the Day of the First Narcissus Bloom
This heirloom narcissus—whose name escapes me now—decided to bloom on the coldest day so far this winter, when a wintry mix of rain and snow has insisted on tumbling thickly out of the sky already three times today. The clouds are pale gray bruises in front of brilliant slices of blue. Other flowers are blooming as well—hellebore, camellia, a few scattered snowdrops hither and yon
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Days Are Getting Longer, Blossoms Are Returning
And the witch hazels are blooming in our backyard habitat garden. Crimson, fire-engine red, and this sunny, cheerful yellow. I just learned that the North American species of this shrub are occasionally called winterbloom because (obviously) that is when they come into flower. Good for them for cheering us on to spring. I suspect more than a few of us need such harbingers now. Saturday we did not, for the first time in forever, march in that anti-ICE rally that ended up being tear-gassed and flash-banged down in southwest Portland as they peacefully made their way to the building ICE rents on Macadam Avenue
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To get the ink flowing again…
Unscrew the cap of the glass bottle of a beautiful black-blue ink. Submerge the barrel of the pen into the neck of the bottle. These days, the fanciest of pens have a plunger mechanism that makes them oh so easy to fill. Sometimes I find it takes me a few tries to get it right. Wipe the pen nib off with the soft, ink-stained linen dish towel scrap I keep in my desk drawer just for these occasions. Find a blank sheet of paper, bear down, wait for the line to flow…
Feels Like A Year (Or Maybe a Century?) Lived in a Single Week
That about hits the nail on the head—bingo and then some. Twelve days into a new calendar year and the de-compensating, dementia-addled narcissist-in-chief starts a war. A few days later, his thugs on the snow street of Minneapolis, Minnesota murder a woman in cold blood. More rattling of sabers and spewing of gaslit diatribes 24/7 since then
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Tis the Season…
Solstice. Day of an equal amount of light and dark. Late December. Nearly the end of an insufferably long and disappointingly amoral year. During which …
A Day of Shadows and Sun
After several days of Pacific Northwest November weather last week—downpour, high wind, dramatic clouds—it was a relief to have a weekend of sun. As our Portland universe dried out the past two days, we were finally able to sweep up more of the bajillion fallen Douglas fir needles that had become a uniform carpet on the sidewalks, flagstones, patios, and driveway. This is addition to raking, raking, raking the maple leaves from the three giant trees in our backyard. We are very close to having all of the foliage shaken from every branch. The return of the rains on Monday may just do the trick…
For the love of a watery landscape…
This is a commonplace sight on the English Boom Trail on Camano Island. A place surrounded by the waters of Skagit Bay, Port Susan, and Sarasota Passage in Washington State. Water makings its determined way through marshes, rushes, fields, the surrounding land. Insistent, dominating, winning out in the end
Greetings from War-Ravaged Portland!
Where there are free bouquets available for passersby on their way to and from Alberta Park. Where there are no fires that I can see, no conflagrations, no insurrectionists warring in the streets. Where the sun is out and it is a glorious autumn day iridescent with green, melodious with birdsong, peaceful and calm and serene. And since I know that the tyrants are lying and gaslighting about what is currently going on here—in the city where I live—makes a person wonder why one would ever take anything they utter at face value let alone assume it is telling the truth
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Autumnal Equinox & the Diminishing Hours of Light…
This past Monday marked the passage from summer into autumn—a day of balance between light and dark—even though most of these late September days are still cloudless and warm. Tomatoes continue to ripen on the vine. Assorted flowers are in riotous late-season bloom. In spite of the growing menace—and very real harms—flowing 24/7 from the unhinged actions of too many
