The Blindness of Familiarity

Maggie and I walked to town today. Wowser! This is Michigan in March. Yesterday I was in shorts, today I underestimated the wind. I should have worn wind pants over my jeans and warmer gloves. We came home feeling like blocks of ice.

I was wondering what to post today. I have several fun things that can be posted most any time, but then I found something really cool. I am embarrassed to say that I "found" it. If you had asked me what kind of tree was growing outside the post office that I have visited at least 500 times in the past 40 years, I wouldn't have been able to tell you. But today I found that a very large and handsome white birch tree has appeared there. (haha... covering my shame with improbabilities)







On the way back I picked up all the aluminum cans that the melting snow has revealed. They weigh just over half a pound! The scrap aluminum market has tanked lately, but they are worth a few cents. All but 2 (not pictured) are too flat to return for the state deposit. Still, if people are going to throw money out of cars, I'll pick it up! (And I picked up a pretty rock too... I'm hopeless... like I need another rock.)

See Only a Few Miles for another white birch bark picture

(Late) Winter Rainbows II

 
A number of years ago when I was teaching a Sunday School class the kids and I made up a devotional exercise called "Summer Rainbows." During the week they would look for something in nature with each color of the spectrum. They wrote down each find, and thought of something to thank God for that related to each item. It's a little harder in the winter, but I've found a set again recently, and I'll share it with you. I wanted to make one more winter rainbow- had a hard time with yellow, but it's a pale yellow. When spring starts to pop, this will be easy again.






The twigs of the red-osier dogwood are really RED at this time of year. With the light hitting them at a low angle they really shine. It is a wetland shrub, very common here on damp ground that has occasional standing water. I found these on an undeveloped lot right in town. Thank you, Lord, for the wild places that remain hidden, even in the city, where frogs sing and birds may build nests.

The moss is starting to reproduce. These ORANGE stalks are the sporophytes growing up like fingers from the green moss. With this picture next to the dogwood shrub there is no sense of proportion. These are less than an inch tall! I'm really grateful that there is such wonderful variety in the natural world to keep exploring.

I've had everything for this rainbow except YELLOW for two weeks. This crusty lichen is a pale yellow, not quite white. Lichens are good environmental indicators- they won't grow where there is a lot of pollution. I don't know much about lichens, but just learned that there is a local man who does and he is writing a column in the paper every month about them. Thanks, God, for other people who find joy in discovering the hidden treasures in creation.

This spinulose fern picture was taken in New York on my hike with Irene. I had to choose between a closeup of the leaf or this long shot with the three fronds. I like the way it fans out from the base, so I chose the long shot. This fern stays GREEN all year under the snow, even when beaten down. Now there is a lesson from God if there ever was one! Thanks for the reminder, Lord!

BLUE is another crusty lichen. And it's blue-gray. If we want real blue we'll have to wait for the crocuses and windflowers- they will be here soon! Well, I don't know exactly what to say about this one. Lichens just make me smile because they are a mystery of cooperation between a fungus that needs food and an algae that needs water, so I'm grateful for things that make me happy.

I also found this very PURPLE black raspberry cane on the walk with Irene. Black raspberries have medium thorns and very reddish-purple canes with a pale bloom on them that can be rubbed off with your fingers. I am very thankful for friends who love to take hikes. Watch over Irene for me, Lord!

I'm sure that will be the last winter rainbow this season! Not that upper Michigan will escape instantly into spring, but probably by the time I collect another set of pictures the change of seasons will be becoming very evident.

See Winter Rainbow I
See Letchworth and Gibsonville

Spring Promises

 

Yesterday's spring post was supplanted by toothy topics, but I'm coming back to it today. And I will disappoint any who are hoping for a green St. Pat theme. Let's say I'm dreaming of green (grass, stems, leaves!)

So I made myself a promise about 15 years ago. We used to have a bluebird box on a post in the back field. One day Om, a friend and I were sitting on the deck enjoying our view when we realized that there was some animal sitting on top of the bluebird box. And there was a family in the nest! I was even more distressed when I discovered that it was our own kitty-cat, the super hunter, V-8. At the end of that summer I took down the box and vowed I would not put it up again until the kitty was no longer chasing birds.

V-8 is still hanging in there, but she's almost 19 years old. She no longer even goes outside, so I am keeping that promise this spring. Last year a pair of bluebirds did nest here, in a hollow aspen trunk. But after they finished with the tree a woodpecker enlarged the hole so I knew the bluebirds wouldn't want it again. Then over the winter the tree fell down. Yesterday I hung the old bluebird box, and a second, newer one too. Now I just hope that the bluebird will be back to look for those enticing holes!

Today was quite a freak for March. As you can see, we made 60 degrees. It was a wonderful temperature, but the wind was also blowing at about 25 miles an hour. That didn't start until about 11:30 this morning.



I had already hung one load of laundry outside. Now I promise not to show you pictures of all my loads of laundry, but it's one of those special moments of the yearly cycle for me, like the first snowshoe tracks I make in winter. There is just something special about that first outside drying day. And I'm writing this in my fresh pajamas with that clean, outdoor smell clinging to them.

But you can see that the wind is pretty serious! It broke one clothesline, actually the one with all the t-shirts on it, and I had to re-hang them all on a different line. That was discovered when I went out with the second load. I retrieved the empty basket and weighted it down with the clothespin bucket. About then, Maggie decided to run off. I had to go get her- she's always been an obedient dog, and I don't like this new behavior of not coming when called. I didn't want to let her get away with straying so far. When I came back with her in tow, I was just in time to see the laundry basket take the clothespin bucket for a nice series of two-point rolls (sorry, flashback to wrestling mom days), dumping every clothespin in its wake.

OK, dog inside, retrieve the basket again, pick up the clothespins, and give up on the second load of clothes till the wind died down a little bit! In a couple of hours I was able to hang the rest of the laundry. I love how the wind whips the fabric so that it's softer than any chemical softener can achieve. Did I mention that I love the first clothes-on-the-line day of the year? Ahhhhh.



Now for some promises OF Spring. Here were the snowdrops yesterday.



Here are the snowdrops today. Pretty cool, huh? They are the first little GREEN things up in my rock garden this year. This post got pretty long, but it was full of promise.

See My Bluebird of Happiness
See Looking for Love
See Where Does an 18-Year-Old Kitty Sleep?

How's Your Self-Image?

 

Subtitle I Cured My Yellow Teeth

I was going to wax eloquent about the lovely weather and spring. But this is TOO good!



Do you like my new look? It was another dentist day. I was being fitted for my new teeth. Aren't they attractive? It's all true!

Oh, OK. I'll have to explain. The metal framework is all done and came back from the lab. The lovely pink blocks aren't teeth, they are wax. They warmed the whole thing up and then I put it in and bit down so that they could see what surfaces to make on the new teeth which will next be added to the framework. Another 10 days for that, then another fitting, then maybe another trip to the lab for the teeth, and then.... I will be able to eat real food again!

When the dentist had me look in the mirror to choose a color for the new teeth as compared to my own few I busted up laughing and insisted on a picture!

	See The Dentist and the Riddler
if you like this blog, click the +1   or

My Bluebird of Happiness

 
Days when the air is cool and the sun is warm are just to my liking. Today was such a day. And on the morning walk I heard and then saw a bluebird.

Very recently I purchased a new camera. I certainly wanted one, but wouldn't have put it on this year's priority list. However the death of my Pentax SLR and the increasing unreliability of my digital point-and-shoot made the purchase imperative. I'm definitely on the learning curve of using it.



So, that bluebird flew to the top of an apple tree. I decided to see what the camera would do just on AUTO, since I don't know how to do very much else yet! I went back out later and took a picture of the tree from about the same place I was standing. I've circled the approximate place where the bluebird was.



Most of the pictures were blurry. It's really hard to hold the camera steady enough at that amount of zoom. But I'm quite impressed at how these two came out. The camera should be able to do even better when I learn how to do manual focus, and it would have helped if I had been set up with a tripod or had even thought to steady it on my walking stick.



It was in the 50's today. I hiked in shorts and a sweatshirt! Can it almost be spring?

	See Bluebird News Flash See Canon Power Shot SX10IS - Out of the Box
if you like this blog, click the +1   or