MOTHERS DAY EMAIL

I just have to show you the pictures that were emailed to me yesterday from California.












So, I hope that all of you moms and g-moms had a wonderful day yesterday.

RIC MASTEN

We lost Ric Masten last week. He lost his long battle with cancer at last.

You may remember me mentioning Ric a couple of months ago. Some of you may have gone to his site at that time, and discovered his delightful poems and drawings. For those who did not, I am going to print here a very moving poem that he wrote about his wife.


DEMENTIA

when I was 19
my parents went around the world
leaving
from the San Francisco marina on a freighter
with passenger accommodations
back in those days
when the gang plank had been raised
and the ship was ready to depart
the passengers
would line up at the rail looking down
throwing serpentine
colorful paper streamers
to friends and family on the pier below
we would hold tight to one end
while those we hold dear
held on to their end
of these
slender fragile ribbons
then slowly
almost imperceptibly
the ship began to move away
the paper connections
snapping
one by one
as the steamer headed out into the bay

after fifty five years together
my cancer is incurable
and your memory is fading
which makes me acutely aware
of time circling the drain
running out of the clock
wondering whether
the love of my life
will slip over the horizon
before I am forced to leave the dock


Ric has gone. He is survived by the love of his life. If you go to his poetry site, you will find that he wrote more about her, following this poem. I think you will enjoy his poems, as well as the drawings he did to accompanying them. I have no idea how much longer the site will remain, but of course, his work can be found in the library or the book store.

MOTHERS' DAY

............................HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.........................

HUMMINGBIRDS

This is the same little hummer I pictured on Thursday. She seems to have decided that my feeder belongs to her. I have had several hummers visit often since that first day, April 24th. She was not the first to arrive, but came along soon after. The males come first, to scout out the area.


I have no clue where they are nesting this year. I would have thought it would be in my neighbor's back yard, but she has adopted a couple of kittens whose mother had them in her tool shed last spring. Since they are outdoor cats, and love climbing trees, her yard wouldn't be a very safe place for nesting hummers this season.


Wherever they have nested, they like to visit my feeder and flowers. But this little lady chases the others whenever she sees them. I do intend to hang a second feeder soon. That may help a little. It gives me so much pleasure to watch them. Their ability to hover and to fly backwards and to move so fast is just amazing to me. It's hard to believe that something so tiny and delicate looking can survive out there.

SKY WATCH FRIDAY

I do apologize. I forgot to post the picture before I signed the list this week.


I went back into My Pictures, and think I'd like to submit this one, taken out on Montauk Point, Long Island, NY when my oldest daughter and her children and I visited the Montauk Point Lighthouse, some time ago. It captures the mood of the day as I remember it, with that little cloud above my grandson's head.





Sky Watch Friday is hosted by Tom at Wiggers World. Visit some of the many others who have participated this week. They are from countries throughout the world, and some of their sites are very worthy of your time.

MORE OF THIS AND THAT

I like this new scheduling we can do with our blog posts. It lets me set up Sky Watch Friday ahead of time.




Do hope you're considering a post on something to do with Human Rights on the 15th.





Here's a thought. It's been making the rounds of emails for a while now and it seems to make sense to me. If we're really concerned about the price of gas - just stop buying it from the biggest producers - and they would be Exxon/Mobil. Go elsewhere for it. If enough of us did that to the Big Guys - it could hurt them enough that they might lower prices.



Here's a good one. Villas Girl, as you may have figured out, is sort of like a second daughter to me - Well, I guess that should be a fourth daughter. She kind of looks out for me, which I do appreciate. Now she's complaining because my son repaired my car too well. She used to be able to hear my car when I went off somewhere or when I came home. Now she doesn't hear me. I'm driving The Stealth-Mobile!



My son was here the other night, putting in my a/c. As he was leaving, he got dive-bombed by one of my hummingbirds who had headed for the feeder, but was side-tracked by Joe standing too near it. He went buzzing past his ear, then swooped off. It was pretty comical.



The seeds I threw into the little extension of my garden are sprouting faster than I would have believed. I will have wild flowers for my butterflies in no time at all. And this time I do not have my neighbors nasty cats using the garden for a litter box, because I laid wire mesh over the whole thing. The plants can grow right through it, and the cats can't dig. In the past I've tried hot pepper and every other suggested deterrent, but nothing has worked. For now, my only complaint about the cats is that they continually walk through mud and then over my car, leaving their paw prints over the hood, windows, top and trunk. I've about given up trying to keep it anywhere near clean.


If I keep posting odd little things like this, I'm going to have to find a better title than "This and That" aren't I?






Well, at least today I managed a decent photo of one of my hummers.