57°f this morning, about 16° C. Huge thunderstorm in the night put on quite a show.  The wind was crazy yesterday! Blew hard all day, big gusts that made the clouds scoot quickly across the sky. An uneasy kind of day. High of 80°f, too hot for this time of year. We dehydrated the ramps I brought back from the mountains this past weekend, and boy did my porch stink for a couple days! Unless you have had some experience with ramps, it might be hard to believe that such an innocuous looking little onion could be so powerful, but believe me, it is. A newspaper editor here in WV once decided ..read more

67°f this morning (19°C) with light showers, overcast. Got up to 86 yesterday. Yuck. I stopped as usual at the tiny picnic area on the way to camp, and again on the way home. My first stop was rainy, cold, and the trail was so muddy I didn't go far because I would have had to go off the trail...which meant probably tromping on some of the numerous wildflowers. So I contented myself with just a short visit. This is the rambunctious North Fork of the Cherry River, about 10 miles or so from Richwood, WV, and location of the picnic area. The bridge leads to the little trail. I was thrilled ..read more

50°f this morning, 10°C, partly cloudy, breezy, supposed to get up to 80°f. The camp on the Greenbrier River Rail Trail, where we gather and write. This is an old railroad section foreman's house, built in 1909, and the color, believe it or not, is the original "forsythia yellow" used when it was built. You can see the forsythia hedge out front, just past its prime. Ah, home. How good it is to be back. And yet, how good it was to go. It has been several years since the 4 of us, the Porch Poets as we seem to be getting to be known, have gotten together for a weekend of writing. And write w ..read more

Yesterday's post, which did not post as our internet was acting up due to the heavy rains.  57°f, this morning, about 14°C. Raining, heavy overcast. We got out to town this morning to beat the bad storms predicted for this evening. So far, we have had some very heavy rain, but no high winds. Larry went to a neighbor's and reported water over the road in tbe usual places. I am hoping the rains move on. Our ground is so saturated we will be growing webs between our toes soon. Listening to the radio today, the show was discussing lessons learned as we get older. I had to chuckle, as the ..read more

60°F this morning, about 16°C, I think? Cloudy, showers. Not moving us, but plants.It has been the perfect day to transplant, and that is what we did. And boy do I feel it. We started with digging up starts of forsythia and bridal wreath spread to plant at Sarah's cabin.  That was something she wanted to do while she was here but there just wasn't time. Looking down at our house from Sarah's road. The roof is really all brown metal, but looks mismatched in this picture due to reflective light.  When that was finished, I spread another bag of mulch, this time around a hydrangea a ..read more

57°f this morning, about 17°C, I think? Overcast after late evening rain and thunderstorms. Expecting a high of 72 today. Well. After saying I didn't get all the hype about the eclipse, what was I doing 10 minutes before it was to start in my area? Digging around in my sock drawer for my eclipse glasses from 2017! The rubber snake was in my underwear drawer, the fake poop in my bra drawer (quite a nasty surprise to come upon that unexpectedly), and ta-da! Eclipse glasses at the back of the sock drawer! So, after all, there I was, gazing heaven ward and coaxing Larry to come out and have a ..read more

53°f or about 12°C this a.m., partly cloudy and windy. No rain came as forecast, thank goodness! Flood cleanup has begun in the affected areas, and even our mud is drying up. Yay! Peeking through the cherry tree on this pretty day. Larry has gone to town and I am enjoying coffee on the porch and the soft wind and sun. Later today we will have the eclipse that the media seem to have wound up to be a major event. Well, of course it is a big deal, but it seems like this time people have gone crazy about it. The eclipse starts here around 2pm and will be 95% totality, which is plenty for me ..read more

32°f, 0°C this morning, light frost and clear skies---at last! Rain expected later today. The view this a.m. from my chair where I have my tea. Two phoebes are building a nest over this window, so we see them darting past all day long. There is much flooding in our region right now. Marietta, Ohio has many areas under several feet of water. We feel a special attachment to that town, as we had a booth in the antique mall there for 10 years. Parkersburg,  WV, also has some flooding but their floodwaters has helped protect the historic downtown, I think. Pomeroy, Ohio, Wheeling, WV and ..read more

32°f , or 0°C this morning. Snow on vehicles, grass and roofs but melted quickly. And on it goes. Yesterday wasn't too bad, some rain and wind but today, wow. We woke up to a little skiff of snow on buildings, vehicles and on the grass in places. Then rain, hail, wind, sun, hail, snow, rain, sun...over and over, a weird rotation that has made this a cold, miserable day. But here on our hill we are fortunate. In the Kanawha Valley people are still cleaning up from Tuesday's bad storm. Some are calling it a directory, and I have seen one photo of a tornado that touched down briefly in the C ..read more

42°f, or 5.5°C. Rainy, windy, overcast and much colder than yesterday's 72. Linking up to Wordless Wednesday today. Quiet corner in my kitchen I think this is Juvenal's Duskywing  (Erynnis juvenalis). There were a dozen or more fluttering about on our driveway near a flowerbed. Apparently a very early butterfly. Son Derek and his niece, our granddaughter Sarah. This photo says everything about their relationship. Our friend Rachel with her Easter tulips Saturday's FFA (Future Farmers of America) farm equipment auction.  Our first batch of mollymoochers (morels) of ..read more