Category Archives: nature

Getting Fruity Around Here!

I adore seeing fruit trees and vines and such leafing out, blossoming and getting the goodies growing! Here are some of the favorites I have; I already have picked a bowlful of the strawberries! I also have grapes, peaches and such, but these were the easiest to photograph.

Here are what they produce: Across the top are apples (I have five different kinds) and blackberries, the biggie below is blueberries and the stacked ones to the right are raspberries and strawberries. Come on cobblers, bread additions, muffins and lots of other ethereal edibles!

Pretty Yellow Angels

The yellow daffodils that I saw here and there a couple decades ago when I built this place have spread like wildfire! They’re along the ditches, up the roadsides, all through the forest, along people’s driveways and more!

This makes me imagine how the first Dutch settlers came here with just a meager collection of these. They put them in front of their homey little cabin. Then it rained and washed some away. Then on and on. Wow!

I also have an update on the Mouse Maven…here is the embellished version:

Satin walkway
Must have guards!

Dog Days Done!

Wow, the Dog Days of Summer should be done anyway, you know, when Sirius the Dog Star aligns with Sol and we all sweat and guzzle water. We had the heat waves alright; they should be gone for a while. And we’re only in the 90s today (humph).

Oh, Barky! Cool Off!

I haven’t used any air conditioning in the cabin or car all summer and don’t intend to start now. On the inferno days I just work in the underground basement where it’s like a 20 degrees cooler respite. Except being down there made me notice several issues that need attention…oh well.

Oops! Barky heard me jabbering!

A Small Gift for Earth Day

There are a few natural things around my country cabin that I consider truly precious. This is a shot last night right behind the back porch. I’m not sure where the bluish cloudy places on the hillside came from, oddities do occur here.

This is why I went out and tried to take that picture:

Curiously Curved Trees

As many are aware, I live far out in the Kentucky woods on 100 acres of wild forest in a log cabin I designed and built. From the get-go, I have wondered why there are trees of several types that mysteriously start bending, usually a few feet up the trunk, and continue or even twist as they grow larger. Examples:

Sure, if a new tree is growing on a hill or monkeys start swinging on them, they’ll bend. These don’t fall into either category. There are many more around here, too. So why this Shag Bark Hickory or that Post Oak? Mystery indeed!

A while back, I published a series of books called ‘Take-A-Break Shorts’. They each have a few short stories, grouped by the type of story; about a dozen eBooks at only $0.99. There’s a story, a sci-fi answer set at the end of the Civil War called The Curiously Curved Trees. Read the whole story here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085161BHG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p2_i5

Possible Hope?

Striving to help the light and dump the dark

Trying to keep busy sewing dresses, skirts, jackets

or painting on canvas

Weeding the garden

Making bread, yogurt, cookies

Writing…

Job ripped from me, no friends, no pay, alone

Reason for eating regularly?

Reason to keep my heart beating?

Reason to imagine soaring sheep?

Sheep bleating in the clouds – yes, I could pull another crazed story from my brain. Forget it.

Today? Cozy in my homemade jammies and housecoat, what about today? Get dressed!

Too much sewn , I don’t need more bread or yogurt, nowhere too hang anymore paintings, all outside is dormant. Another story or book? Nobody reads them, so why?

In the early morning sun’s shadows, I walk to the end of the long gravel driveway and see the wild yellow narcissus plants budded out. I look closer. Many new ones, the established ones have big, tinted buds, and there! There are a few in bloom! Spring’s grand harbinger! Possible hope? Barky nudges my knee for a pat and wags her tail.

Lots of newbies!
The sunniest spot blooms first
Will rise more as the day progresses
Buddies surrounded by briars…that’s life
The promise of Spring!

SNOW GEEK!

After rain, rain, rain and more rain, I got jazzed to not only get some snow but 8 or 10 inches of it! I’ve lived in New York, California, Illinois, Florida and a little Indian Ocean atoll, but have the dearest attachment to my birth state of Kentucky. I love the environmental diversity, the equality of seasons (usually) and the log cabin I built here amidst the woodland and wildlife.

Yet I still love science and the fascinating areas of astrophysics and energy production. I study the climate issues and pick out the constellations on clear nights. I write science fiction with real science issues in them.

These two aspects coalesced on a snowy afternoon, impelling me to etch a Snow Geek in the freezing white fluff. Enjoy your day!

Silly but fun, needed for sanity sometimes!