Book Inscription 1881 One hundred and forty-three years ago, a man gave his wife a Christmas gift of the book, The Poetical Works of Wordsworth, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. The pale pencil lines he made to insure his script would be straight are barely visible. There are also light pencil marks in the table of contents marking some poems. To my surprise, the poem I chose to quote below, is one of them. Eerie. From The Oak and the Broom, a Pastoral, VIII,  O the Same Flower, last stanza, page 146: Bright Flower! for by that name at last, When all my reveries are pas ..read more

Forget-me-not  The background photograph of forget-me-not was taken several years ago in my tiny flower garden. The plant was a stray inside the shrubs that I transplanted. Alas, it bloomed a few years before it didn't bloom again. Lately I've been pondering style, mine as well as the world around me. I'm not up with fashions, the shopping scene. I don't go anywhere that I need to look all spiffy. As long as I'm comfortable, and like what I'm wearing, there's no struggling with what to wear that I have to deal with. Why I'm spending time (again) thinking about my style is a myst ..read more

There is no telling what might strike one's fancy sometimes. For me, last fall for the holidays, the little resin something birds with scarves and other  decorations were being sold (around $7.00 US). The bird in the photo had a dark green scarf. It fell off the shelf and broke its tail, and a piece out of its side (under the end of the scarf far left).  I used glue to stuff and smooth over paper towels in the hole as the piece wasn't found. When it dries, I will use an emory board to smooth it out before painting. The feet were gray metal. I used acrylic paint to fancy up the scar ..read more

What happened? Today, I find 50 emails from retail, websites, and information places I am registered with. That is a surprise because it really hasn't been that long since I checked my emails. What is shocking...my spam folder that rarely has any emails, has near 2 dozen! What have I done differently? Hm? Yesterday I installed Opera.  I have been checking my X aka Twitter page daily for over a week.  I registered to receive emails from a new online retailer. Which one is the possible source of the spam? The new online retailer. Google Gmail decide to change things up in categ ..read more

Cedar Waxwings Bird wings in flight is a photograph I've always wanted to capture. Yesterday, I took a beautiful picture of such a wing. The branch across the bird's face is called, Fate. ? Browsing along, laughs galore, interesting questions, fun in general on X aka Twitter, I got to thinking again about Life. Common knowledge says that life began in Africa. Other evidence suggest the Middle East region. The Bible says Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden, [somewhere in Mesopotamia, West Asia (north of Ethiopia)]. Science supports that human remains are best preserved whe ..read more

Instead of a recap of what the week has been, I'm thinking forward to what this week will be from Monday through Saturday. Some day during the week: Changing over from cold to warm weather, pack up winter clothes to store away; clean and dry boots to pack away; box up donations; and toss stuff. Sort out warm weather clothes, shoes and sandals Bag up thrift store donation clothes Wash all the floors Home pedicure in preparation for summer Transplant some seedlings How does your week look ..read more

Transported  Memory is interesting. I can remember half a dozen or more long unique passwords, but struggle remembering what I did yesterday. Why? Well, I don't relive yesterday over and over again. I do use a password multiple times every day. I remember my high school boyfriend's birthday, but have to stop and think of my own. Getting old is easy to put out of mind. The oldest memories I have are being in a crib, drinking from a bottle, and sleeping on two plush arm chairs pushed together in my grandmother's living room because our attic apartment had no heat.  Today, if ..read more

Lake Champlain in April 2024 Upstate New York at Fort Saint Frederic The beautiful Chartreuse buds on the trees are everywhere. An audience waiting for a spring concert of leaves to begin playing in the wind is one of the many delights of the season of new growth. So what's up? Well, my 2024 change of lifestyle doesn't seem to be much different than 2023. The changes I have made are subtle.  For example, my attitude has improved as I am less tolerant of worrying too much over tiny things. If stress becomes too high, then nightmares will let me know when to make asjustments. I've ..read more

Route 17, Addison, Vermont Snake Mountain (center) Green Mountains in the distance Left Photo Right Photo Cropped center left Note the cumulus cloud Panorma View Route 17, West Addison, Vermont To paint from photographs, I sometimes create a panorma image.  I crop from a point where in both pictures, there is an identifiable feature. In the photo above, the cumulus cloud with the dome is a good place. From there I can see the section that overlaps in each image. The scale of the painting is another story. I can condense, and lose the vastness of the ..read more

Shocking Write your representatives ..read more