in fall life season
we rust, flake, slow, grip tightly
our love hangs on, lasts
My honey, we face the fall like these rusted chains. Aging, losing a few pieces, showing our age-but we are strong. Hands held tight, the iron love clasp of eros, pragma, and agape flows between our entangled fingers and hearts. Hold tight. I’m here beside you.
We have a Sunflower Forest.
Not intentionally, but as happenstance. Last year, I planted sunflowers. This year, the birds planted sunflowers (leftovers from their grazing and dropping last year). I love my Sunflower Forest. It really does resemble a forest with all its many layers, shadows, heights, and wildlife.
Just this morning, I was again (and again) gazing out the window to enjoy the peeping antics of goldfinch families. They flit, flirt, fight, and feed throughout the Sunflower Forest. Swarms of bees, many varieties, wasps, and other flying hungry insects buzz and float around the Forest, a veritable cloud of life shifting back and forth. I don’t need a fish tank for gazing and relaxing. I can sit on the deck and watch visitors enjoy the Forest. Relaxation and entertainment all wrapped into one ball of delight.
It’s interesting how our brains work, those miracles of human technology. Thoughts and ideas zip and zing along brain pathways so fast I often find myself wondering How did I get to that thought from this?
Take ecosystems. As I watched the Sunflower Forest with rapt enjoyment, I realized it was an ecosystem in its own right. Our Forest is approximately 25-foot-square, give or take a straggler standing tall along the edges. The top height is at least 15-feet, well as tall as the RV, which rests high atop tires and tire stops. That’s plenty of ecosystem space for the myriad of wildlife I see every day.
The Undergrowth (Forest Floor):
I’m so excited about this level of the Sunflower Forest. Baby oak trees have sprouted from last year’s planting of numerous (I mean NUMEROUS) acorns I brought back from my cousin’s house. I love science activities and free exploration and invited my grands to play at will. They did. Played and planted. Baby oaks have been discovered in very surprising places!
Other nature on display in the undergrowth layer: weeds (of course), ants, spiders, worms, earwigs, beetles, frogs, millipedes, roly polys, mystery bugs, snails, grasshoppers, and cats. Our cats LOVE hiding in the Sunflower Forest.
The Understory:
In the Sunflower Forest, the understory is crammed full of bamboo-like stalks, mottled leaves, dappled light, and fluttering life. I imagine myself small, wandering amidst the trunks of sunflower trees, climbing too high for my own good. Tall weeds populate this layer, plentiful, but not enough to trouble sunflower trees. Anything that creeps, climbs, and flies traverses the Sunflower Forest understory.
The Canopy:
The majority of my sunflower trees litter this layer with bright blossoms, wilted petals, and plump seeds. This is where the action is! Goldfinches love the canopy of bright yellow, fragrant and fruitful. Before the seeds were ready, nearly as soon as the first few yellow faces opened to the sun, goldfinches made forays into the canopy, checking to see if food was available. They didn’t stay long, since seeds were not even pollinated yet. But now? Layers of unopened buds, fully exposed golden orbs, droopy petals, green seeds, and ready-to-go seed buffets lure our state bird (Washington, goldfinch) by the droves. I love the families, fledglings peeping loudly and shuffling their feathers, waiting for mama or daddy to bring the seeds to them. Parents, proud and busy, race to pop seeds into open mouths. Several males pop in, notice each other, and fight for feeding rights. Never fear, my little finches, plenty for all.
Also seen in the canopy layer: red-winged blackbirds, sparrows, finches, butterflies, spiders, yellow jackets, and multiple varieties of bees and flies.
The Emergent Layer:
I hadn’t thought much about this layer, the very tip top of the forest and everything above. Until this morning, still observing the finches, I noticed the shadow of a fledgling hawk pass across the top of the Sunflower Forest. Aha! Besides the very tallest of sunflower trees and nearby ornamental corn, our emergent forest layer is filled with other wildlife. The hawks (two parents and the tween), crows, starlings, magpies, and geese regularly putz back and forth above our heads. The only ones we all keep sharp eyes on are the hawks, of course. Hunters they are, and Junior is especially attached to our pasture, nearby power lines, and a few strategic trees. I can only guess how many friends have met their end as he learns to fly, land, and hunt.
So there you have it. The Sunflower Forest and its ecosystem. I’m sure your garden, yard, or field has yet more exciting nature (flora and fauna) inhabiting the different layers. Take a look. Grab that cup of tea or coffee and sit for a bit. Who do you see in the different sections of your ecosystem?
tasting toes, flutters
and alights; dinner prepared
dine, consume, be full
dine by Angie Quantrell
Meet our dinner guests, flora and fauna beauties.
Welcome! Join us for a Happy Hump Day Haiku Challenge. Leave your link or Haiku in the comments. One, two, three, go!
I found this picture while looking through my baby book, well, what is essentially my baby book from back in the days before instant photos, digital prints, and fancy printed books.
My baby album is one of the huge, sticky-paged tomes filled with blank space for inserting photos. The albums of sticky-is-not-good-for-photos type. Perhaps I should remove the photos and put them in something safer . . .
As the oldest of four, I am thankful that there are photos of me as a child. The more mouths, the less opportunity, time, and energy for mom and dad to click off oodles of pictures of their ever moving and hungry offspring.
If you squint just right, you’ll notice I look a little out of it. Kind of scary! But boy am I rocking that big bow and the golds and browns of the late 60’s.
It’s Christmas, complete with Aunt Helen’s tree trimmed in tinsel and flocking. The photo is cut in half, so I was thinking, “Why is a Christmas picture cut in half? We’re not old enough for bad relationships or family discord.” But after reading half of the back, my brother is listed in the photo, hand-written by Grandma Wheetley. My guess is that she or my mom cut it in half and my brother has his half with his baby photos. Best guess anyway.
Besides my towering appearance (and at barely 5’1″ now, this was nearly the extent of my towering over anyone), my cousin Melissa stands next to me. I wonder if this is when she started loving red clothes? She has some great red pieces I’ve seen her wear as an adult. She doesn’t suck her fingers (that I’ve seen). Instead she is an accomplished pianist, mama, and professional woman. Those jobs probably keep her fingers out of her mouth.
Family and friend, that’s what Melissa is to me. We’ve had each others’ backs for a very long time. Proximity, similar ages, family gatherings, overlapping interests, and time spent together through the thick and thins of life have cemented both our family love and our deep friendship. Blood AND friend.
(Pinterest= One of our favorite relaxing time activities, sitting beside each other in recliners and sending Pinterest ideas back and forth, even though we could easily just tilt our tablets and share. LOL)
So. I love all of my cousins, even if we don’t get together as often. Life is busy, and my calendar is just as crazy as the next person’s. Merry Christmas to my cousins, even if you were cut in half by Grandma and shared elsewhere! Love to you all. Anyone want to Pinterest?
Do you have any special friends or relatives? Of course we know they are ALL special, but what life pieces came together to build that bond? We’d love to hear.
Said brother, Mark, who may have been cut off in the other half of the photo. I’m about 3 1/2 here. Since it’s May, Mark has probably just turned 2.
Last weekend was my first foray into Stamping Land over the Cascade Mountains since fall. I was long overdue for hours of creativity, messes, visiting, snacking, and generally solving world problems.
Initial bruising and future scar (at end of eyebrow). That tiny hole caused so much bleeding!
But first! After tripping mid-street and saving myself 3 times before reaching the cement curb, I landed right-face-side smack on my eye bone and glasses up against the edge of the curb. Curbs do not give way. Glasses and faces do!
Alas, the nearby young lady was probably scared for life after witnessing my bumble and being unable to prevent the collision, but she was extremely helpful in procuring napkins, tissues, and aids of phone calls or rides someplace. Any place!
Gold duct tape for my poor glasses.
Lots of Good Samaritan help came my way, despite the blood pouring from my eye lid bone (the part at the end of your eyebrow, whatever that bone is called). A passerby offered a package of tissues and advice to get it checked. The restaurant owner repeatedly came in and out, bringing napkins, concern, and reassurances that I was not the only one to find this edge in the middle of the road. The young lady stayed with me until my ride arrived. And my ride came post haste after I remembered I had her number stored in my phone. Whew! Thanks, Connie! Otherwise, a long walk up steep hills with broken glasses and napkins held to my swollen eye/head…
Back to Stamping Land. Ahhh. The glorious experiments and messes we made. Interspersed with walks for meals, snacks, chatting, even a book on tape! Not that we could solve the mystery…Alyson’s B & B fit the bill for a weekend of crafting. Thanks, hostess!
After my initial concern of decreased productivity (due to head injury), you can imagine my relief when 66 cards were completed. Good progress!
Wow, when I compare then and now, I might just look worse now!
Rubber stamps, ink pads, markers, colored pencils, chalks, booger dots, patterned papers, cardstock, glue sticks, tape, scissors, paper cutters, bits of ribbon and scrap paper-just a little bit of anything and everything. PLAYING is what we call it. Playing with our stuff. And what do we get? Fun cards!
Have you ever given yourself a black eye? Or a wound with ample amounts of blood? What do you do when you get creative? Here’s to grace and play time!
New glasses! Worse color. I promise, I am getting better!
protective, shading,
standing behind shutter mask-
what are you hiding?
shutter by Angie Quantrell
Happy Hump Day! Share a Haiku (or comment) about something that is hiding. We’d love to read!
***These pretty green shutters adorn the home of Claude Monet, the impressionist genius who lived and painted in Giverny, France.
spring rain brings party,
water-logged crawlers become
salad of dead worms
worm salad by Angie Quantrell
I hate walking outside after a rain, afraid of stepping on and squishing the lovely gardeners who struggle to escape overwhelming water in their aerating holes. I never have enough time to rescue all the big ones, tossing them into garden boxes and grassy resorts. Instead, when I return home, after the rain has headed east, I find piles of worm salad.
First we had February. Snowmageddon and all of that. The season of snow.
Next we had the melt. Flooding, slush, and slippery ice. The season of melt.
Now we have rainy April days and plentiful water. The season of mud.
Does mud bother my grands? Not in the slightest. Nearly all the kids I know love getting dirty, playing in the mud. From what I’ve observed, most of the problem with mud comes from the adults. The ones who have to do laundry, wipe mud trails off of floors, wash boots, and repair muddy landscapes.
Forget all of that worry. It’s time for the season of play!
Enter mud play. A fine mist was falling, water stood in the wagon and various items strewn about from building fairy houses, and mud was plentiful.
They dug, scooped, buried, and transported mud, rocks, and sticks. They gathered water, poured it around, and put a dead worm in the mud in case he wanted to wake up.
They painted small pieces of logs by using a stick as a paintbrush, using the stick to smear mud across the flat surfaces. And then they decorated the wagon and fairy gardens with mud-encrusted artwork.
I love it when I see preschoolers and children (and even adults) use their creativity and imagination. I love it even more when nature and messes are involved!
I’m not sure if the parents agree, but playing in mud is excellent for sensory engagement and exploration of nature.
So…put on some old clothes, just in case, plop on the wellies, and head out for some messy fun.
2019 Word of the Year: Treasure
A treasure can be nearly anything you want it to be. This year I am spending time considering and giving thanks for the treasures in my life.
This may seem odd, but I think favorite items of clothing can be treasures. Laugh if you will, but for 2019, I am thinking of eternal treasures, earthly treasures, intrinsic treasures, and treasures of gifts and talents. With the right glasses on, anything can be a treasure!
Meet my sweater. The sweater of a thousand photos. Read this post about my favorite sweater.
This treasure was a BARGAIN I found at Goodwill. Years ago, I paid maybe $1.99 for this classic. Barely used but definitely broken in, I wore this soon-to-become-favorite with nearly all of my outfits, matching or not. I LOVE bargains and I’m not above wearing yard sale or thrift store clothes. After washing of course.
I wore my treasured sweater when menopause forced me to constantly put on and remove clothing to keep up with body temperature fluctuations.
I wore this beauty (in this case, maybe beauty is in the eyes of the beholder) on trips for ease of packing and smashing into a tote or suitcase.
I wore this lovely on too-many-too-count walks and hikes. Easy to put on, simple to remove and tie around my waist.
This sweater seen in many photos is a treasured wardrobe item. I’ll bet not too many of my family and friends have not NOT seen me wearing this.
And now? It has a significant OWIE! The elbow hole! Worn clean through.
First signs of failure included missing buttons, which I dutifully sewed back on, finally realizing I didn’t mind if the match was perfect. Sleeve and bottom edges became frayed. Armpit and elbow areas thinned. Lint was no longer an issue.
This is so sad! Can one grieve a sweater? I’m working up to it. Not yet ready to toss my soft fashion necessity, but the time is getting closer.
I’ve been hunting for a new sweater treasure. At stores (full price), bargain stores (on sale), yard sales, thrift stores, even closets of friends. Nothing has come even close to my favorite sweater.
The end is near. Should you hear the sound of taps being played outside and the metal clanks of a shovel on stone and dirt, it might be me, burying my poor, worn out sweater.
Here’s to fond memories of favorite clothes. We all have them. What’s your favorite clothing treasure?
rip, shred, pulverize-
greens, cheese, garlic, oil becomes
feast! dine, friend, pesto.
ode to pesto by Angie Quantrell
Spring is here and with it comes potted basil plants from Trader Joe’s. Basil is the scent and flavor of all things yummy. I cheat, buying multiples of potted plants each trip to Seattle, instead of planting. Though this year I am tempted to throw some seeds in a planter box and see what happens. Last year I picked up a basil plug from the grocery section at a store, and it performed beyond expectations! Of course, I repot the potted plants and plugs in good potting soil and harvest leaves as I need them.
Every summer, we gorge on pesto-on pizza, salmon, chicken; in sauce and soup. So pungent, cheezy, and filled with garlic, we can taste the beauty and intense flavors the next morning. (Yes, we brush our teeth…but my pesto is the gift that keeps giving…lol).
I use my little RV-sized food processor, so one batch is perfect for one meal.
WALNUT BASIL PESTO
Ingredients:
basil (lots of leaves, fill the food processor)
walnuts (coarsely chopped)
shredded Parmesan cheese
3-5 chopped garlic cloves
olive oil
sea salt
Optional: I’ve added spinach to up the nutritional value and use up left over amounts
Directions:
Add basil, walnuts, Parmesan, and garlic. Pour on olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. Blend, adding additional olive oil to get the consistency your prefer. I always have to stop the machine and stir down the pesto to get it all to mix.
I don’t measure anything with this recipe, other than how much garlic I add. It’s never been too thin, but rather I need more oil. Serve right away with chicken, pizza, salmon, steak, or on toasted bread. Store leftovers (if there are any) in tightly sealed container or freeze immediately.
Now, where’s my tiny food processor?
Love, Laughter, and Life 