~ New Year Blessings ~ In A Vase On Monday ~

img_7344 When I saw this Vinca major ‘MoJo,’ with its light-centered large leaves, I decided to tuck some in around the gardens. Today I found this one little periwinkle bloom, and had to make it the star of today’s posy!

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Abelia grandiflora ‘ Kaleidascope’ adds some height and lightness. After two years in a sunny corner, this shrub is thriving and brings year-round interest to the garden .

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The shrub featuring dark purple berries is nameless today. It is evergreen, grows to about 12 ft. tall, with dense stems and the berries on their own stem. I remember adding it twenty years or more ago, but can’t find the name in my notebooks, nor have I found it searching on-line. If anyone has an idea what it is, please leave me a comment!

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Today’s vase is perhaps the first one I ever bought for myself.  It was hand-thrown by a student at Washington State University. It is signed ‘STACH’ on the bottom, but there is no year mark.  I found it at a student sale when I was an undergraduate there — sometime between 1970-72.

Once again, thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden  for getting me outside to look at what’s happening around my grounds on a freezing cold day!  A few brave Primula are offering pretty little flowers, and one of many Hellebores is beginning to present blossoms.

~ Happy Gardening in 2017 ~

Posted in flowers, Gardening, In a Vase on Monday, landscape gardening, nature, pacific northwest, plants | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

~ Cee’s Fun Foto Chalenge: Duck Duck Goose ~

Not new snaps, but favorites!

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Pintail ducks

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Merganser Ducks

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Female Mallard Duck and chicks

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Canada Goose

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Canada Goose

Canada Goose and goslings

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Canada Goose Magnet!

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Posted in birds, Cee's Fun Foto Challenge, nature, ornithology, pacific northwest | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

~ Wordless Wednesday ~

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Christmas eve double rainbow, Corvallis, Oregon  USA

 

Posted in nature, pacific northwest, photography | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

~ Boxing Day Herbs ~ In A Vase On Monday ~

I love adding perennial herbs to my shrub and border gardens. Not only do they add their heady fragrance, they also provide unusual color and texture to the gardens, and most are evergreen in this region.

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Here are some favorites served-up in a tin and presented in front of a Christmas themed display on my buffet.

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Along with the common and official names I’m providing symbolic meanings for each from the “Language of Flowers”. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalisis) symbol for love, remembrance and good luck, is budding and has a couple open blossoms on the stems. Sage (Salvia officinalis) represents long life, esteem and health, and makes a nice tea to settle the stomach. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) signifies activity and provides some small-leaved texture to the arrangement, while lavender (Lavandula), looking like it’s covered in frost, offers serenity, grace and calmness.

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Cheers to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for a reason to wander my mostly drab and damp gardens on this cloudy Boxing Day!

 

 

Posted in flowers, Gardening, In a Vase on Monday, landscape gardening, nature, pacific northwest, plants | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

~ Skywatch Friday + Weekly Photo Challenge: Path ~

As I drove out of my neighborhood on the last day of autumn, light white/grey cumulus clouds — barely visible on the horizon — drew me to pull over, get out of the car and take some shots with my iPhone.

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            Over these sixty-seven years, I have traveled many paths. Invariably, what stops me in my tracks is the stunning beauty of our fragile little planet earth.

 

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Path

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Posted in Art, nature, pacific northwest, photography, Poetry, Skywatch Friday, weekly photo challenge | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

~ Winter Solstice ~ Wordless Wednesday + WPC: Anticipation ~

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Snowstorm on the horizon.

 

 Anticipation

Posted in nature, outdoors, pacific northwest, weekly photo challenge, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

~ How The Trump Stole America ~

With many apologies to Dr. Seuss
(Hope this goes viral)
HOW THE TRUMP STOLE AMERICA

By John Pavlovitz

In a land where the states are united, they claim,
in a sky-scraping tower adorned with his name,
lived a terrible, horrible, devious chump,
the bright orange miscreant known as the Trump.

This Trump he was mean, such a mean little man,
with the tiniest heart and two tinier hands,
and a thin set of lips etched in permanent curl,
and a sneer and a scowl and contempt for the world.

He looked down from his perch and he grinned ear to ear,
and he thought, “I could steal the election this year!
It’d be rather simple, it’s so easily won,
I’ll just make them believe that their best days are done!
Yes, I’ll make them believe that it’s all gone to Hell,
and I’ll be Jerk Messiah and their souls they will sell.

And I’ll use lots of words disconnected from truth,
but I’ll say them with style so they won’t ask for proof.
I’ll toss out random platitudes, phrases, and such,
They’re so raised on fake news that it won’t matter much!
They won’t question the how to, the what, why, or when,
I will make their America great once again!”

The Trump told them to fear, they should fear he would say,
“They’ve all come for your jobs, they’ll all take them away.
You should fear every Muslim and Mexican too,
every brown, black, and tan one, everyone who votes blue.”

And he fooled all the Christians, he fooled them indeed,
He just trotted out Jesus, that’s all Jesus folk need.
And celebrity preachers they all crowned him as king,
Tripping over themselves just to kiss the Trump’s ring.

And he spoke only lies just as if they were true,
Until they believed all of those lies were true too.
He repeated and Tweeted and he blustered and spit,
And he mislead and fibbed—and he just made up sh*t.

And the media laughed but they printed each line,
thinking “He’ll never will win, in the end we’ll be fine.”
So they chased every headline, bold typed every claim,
‘Till the fake news and real news they looked just the same.

And the scared folk who listened, they devoured each word,
Yes, they ate it all up every word that they heard,
petrified that their freedom was under attack,
trusting Trump he would take their America back.
From the gays and from ISIS, he’d take it all back,
Take it back from the Democrats, fat cats, and blacks.
And so hook, line, and sinker they all took the bait,
all his lies about making America great.

Now the Pant-suited One she was smart and prepared,
she was brilliant and steady but none of them cared,
no they cared not to see all the work that she’d done,
or the fact they the Trump had not yet done thing one.
They could only shout “Emails!”, yes “Emails!” they’d shout,
because Fox News had told them—and Fox News had clout.
And the Pant-suited One she was slandered no end,
and a lie became truth she could never defend.
And the Trump watched it all go according to plan—
a strong woman eclipsed by an insecure man.

And November the 8th arrived, finally it came,
like a slow-moving storm but it came just the same.
And Tuesday became Wednesday  as those days will do,
And the night turned to morning and the nightmare came true,
With millions of non-voters still in their beds,
Yes, the Trump he had done it, just like he had said.

And the Trumpers they trumped, how they trumped when he won,
All the racists and bigots; deplorable ones,
they crawled out from the woodwork, came out to raise Hell,
they came out to be hateful and hurtful as well.
With slurs and with road signs, with spray paint and Tweets,
with death threats to neighbors and taunts on the street.
And the grossest of grossness they hurled on their peers,
while the Trump he said zilch—for the first time in years.

But he Tweeted at Hamilton, he Tweeted the Times,
And he trolled Alec Baldwin a few hundred times,
and he pouted a pout like a petulant kid,
thinking this is what Presidents actually did,
thinking he could still be a perpetual jerk,
terrified to learn he had to actually work,
work for every American, not just for a few,
not just for the white ones—there was much more to do.
He now worked for the Muslims and Mexicans too,
for the brown, black, and tan ones, and the ones who vote blue.
They were all now his bosses, now they all had a say,
and those nasty pant-suited ones were here to stay.
And the Trump he soon realized that he didn’t win,
He had gotten the thing—and the thing now had him.

And it turned out the Trump was a little too late,
for America was already more than quite great,
not because of the sameness, the opposite’s true,
It’s greatness far more than just red, white, and blue,
It’s straight, gay, and female—it’s Gentile and Jew,
It’s Transgender and Christian and Atheist too.
It’s Asians, Caucasians of every kind,
The disabled and abled, the deaf and the blind,
It’s immigrants, Muslims, and brave refugees,
It’s Liberals with bleeding hearts fixed to their sleeves.
And we are all staying, we’re staying right here,
and we’ll be the great bane of the Trump for four years.
And we’ll be twice as loud as the loudness of hate,
be the greatness that makes our America great.
And the Trump’s loudest boasts they won’t ever obscure,
over two million more of us—voted for her.

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , | 6 Comments

~ Season’s Greenings ~ In A Vase On Monday ~

When we moved into our home thirty-three years ago, I discovered a copse of holly (Ilex aquifolium) in the back yard. As I worked the grounds, whenever I found other holly starts, I transplanted them into the copse. Now the stand has grown to be taller than my two-story house, as you can surmise from this shot of today’s vase sitting on the (second floor) deck railing in front of the holly grove. I love that it provides year-round shelter and habitat for many native and migrating birds.

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Back to the vase!  I tried four other options but this inexpensive highball glass filled with water worked best for these top-heavy stems.

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The chartreuse of Mexican orange (Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’) adds lightness and contrast to the posy, and a branch of heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) fills in with clusters of bright red berries.

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Once again, thank you Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, for giving me an excuse to slog through the slush of my environs to find beauty near my doorstep!

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“Of all trees that are in the wood,
The holly bears the crown”

From Sharp’s English Folk-Carols (1911), the publication that first established the current words and melody:[1]

Posted in Gardening, In a Vase on Monday, landscape gardening, nature, pacific northwest, plants, trees | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

~ Anticipating a New Horizon ~ WPC: Anticipation ~

Last week’s photo challenge “New Horizons” folds nicely into this week’s challenge “Anticipation.” Right now I’m anticipating the close of a real-estate deal which will result in the acquisition of a condominium at Longbeach, Washington USA.

img_6643The view looking from beach dunes toward the condominium complex,

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and each time I crest the trail to the ocean, I’ll behold a new horizon!

 Anticipation

Posted in Beagles, dogs, nature, outdoors, pacific northwest, pacific ocean, weekly photo challenge | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

~ Wordless Wednesday + WPC Horizon 1 ~

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New Horizon

Posted in weekly photo challenge, Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , | 2 Comments