me knee

always, i am astonished by medical technology. then, maybe it just doesn't take much to impress me. here's my knee, in what appears to be not-too-bad shape. how cool is it that doctors can see inside our bodies? that i can see inside me? and now you can too?

"spread your wings and..." nah.

on my way to school this weekend, i saw this amazing bird (a cormorant, maybe?) sitting in a tree over a pond with wings fully extended. he stayed like that for a long, long time. perhaps he was drying his wings or showing off for the other birds. i have been trying for naught to come up with a catchy caption for this picture for my students, something inspirational that deals with the new school year. i think i'll just ask them to caption it. maybe they will be more creative tomorrow than i have been tonight.

back to work

how unfair is it that school begins
on such a gloriously beautiful summer morning?

passages

this is my computer, sitting on the tiny pine desk next to the tiny bobbin lamp by the window over looking the garden and the woods beyond. this is where i do most of my reading, writing, learning, collaborating, experimenting, dreaming, and general messing about with new tech ideas and web tools. it's where i have spent most mornings this summer, including today, with cups of coffee or tea and sometimes music from itunes or pandora or birdsong outside. this is also where, late this morning, i watched my computer screen grow faint vertical lines that slowly swelled to thick dark ones, as my word document behind them faded more and more until it was eventually just - poof! gone. friends in the know tell me this is serious. sigh. how serendipitous is it that my computer would pick today to die, the last day of summer vacation, the last time i had to enjoy the type of morning i have just loved?

sudden rain

a prolonged shower with driving rain soaked everything in the yard and produced shallow puddles in the walk and grass. but they were just big enough for a little girl to splash around in, sit in, and get good and wet in!

feather of crow

a crow feather found this morning, standing black and straight in the grass under the pines. i'll add it to the others in the grapevine wreath by the side door. another serendipitous bird encounter tonight: as i sit here composing this post in the dark at my open window, i am serenaded by two owls up in the woods, hooting and calling to each other in the black of night.

glorious?

i love the brilliant blue of this morning glory, even though the center is not terribly interesting, especially compared to that zinnia from a few days ago. this photo's just a tad too fussy for me, i think.

wee beastie II

this fascinating specimen was found on my way out the door, crawling purposefully along the edge of a violet leaf. the magnified gaze of the new macro lens displays not only the head section of this spiky caterpillar, but also what looks to be a tiny face. can you see it?

blueberry morning

a serene, sunny saturday morning, the perfect day for blueberry pancakes and orange juice at the picnic table. how can i bottle this calm, this peace, and save it for the weeks and months ahead?

mid august

the farther into august, the closer to end of vacation, the nearer to school time, the more glorious become the days. like today. here, scarlet runner beans finally advance up the pole, at long last begin to bloom.

bringing the corn

the perfect babysitting day with the little girl punctuated with music, heavy equipment, frogs and toads, table settings, and the shucking of the corn for dinner. she exhibits a mean arm as she stands at the edge of the yard pulling husks from ears and flinging them into the compost pile, one handful at a time.

pink zinnia

look at all that goes on in the often unnoticed center of a zinnia! having this macro lens for my camera makes me wonder if i need to have my eyesight checked again.

mismatched

trying to camouflage the new grape arbor up on the hill by painting it to match the trunks of the trees beyond. as evidenced here, i am failing miserably. oddly, the arbor looks grey in this photo. in real life, however, it's a lovely muted shade of blue. not even close...

too much, too soon

the local big box store has removed all its annuals and vegetables and, in their place, put out chrysanthemums. at the beginning of august, for heavens sake. what on earth are they thinking, particularly now that summer is finally here? i guess it could be worse. they could have put out pumpkins, too.

pinus bogus

a cell tower, new england style. i still laugh when i see these, even though they are getting more and more realistic-looking. especially when glimpsed flying down the highway at 75 mph.

afternoon stars

the full moon i wanted to blog tonight was not only obstructed by clouds, it was interrupted by a phone call! but no mind - here's a shot from yesterday's trip. new york rises on the opposite shore as lake champlain sparkles like a million stars in the late afternoon sun.

a little tripp, a little culture, a little circus

my head still reels thinking about all the beautiful and unique antiques and collectibles i saw on a visit to a wonderful museum with a good friend. the most amazing was this miniature three-ring circus, 35,000 tiny little performers and animals and circus trappings and audience members. it was carved by the artist over a forty year period, using only a penknife and a treadle jigsaw - and he worked on it only during in his spare time. would that i had spare time like that.

finally summer

it's hard to believe it's august when i am in such a june state of mind. today was really my first feels-like-summer day: windows wide, shorts and a tee, flowers in vases, greens and balsamic vinegar for lunch, a nap in the sitting spot. these are the days that sustain me throughout the long new england winter. sure hope there's time enough to stockpile more as summer begins to wane.

beach grass

this is the last of the official vacation blog photographs, taken a few days ago from the edge of a rocky spot near the dock, looking though the grass and across the reach. two vacations in two weeks was so wonderful that i really don't want july to end. and so, following the lead of a wise friend, i have chosen not to turn the calendar to august. at least not yet.