In the Neighborhood:
This past week brought heavy rains with my home gauge showing over 4" vs 2" at the airport. The Red Cedar and Grand Rivers flooded and as usual, the Kalamazoo St. bridge South of Frandor was closed. We had significant ponding in the Back 40:
The Gnomes' first flood amidst emerging daylilies:
More daffs are opening up, the violets are blooming on the lawn, daylilies and iris are well up in front. Our forsythias are trying to bloom but would appreciate more warmth. The ones on campus have bloomed for days.
Our theory that The Black Kitty is a stray continues to hold: one late rainy morning, I saw it sheltering on the garage-side stoop. Security saw it so I tapped at the door window and it took off. Poor thing.
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While my family were not church-goers, we still celebrated the Catholic holidays. For Easter, Mom and I would decorate eggs most likely using the Paas dying kits with wax crayons if we wanted a pattern:
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4/6-Four astronauts swung around the dark side of the moon-their path put them the furthest any human has been away from our planet. This photo captures a view of the crescent Earth as they head for home:
As much as I have enjoyed our space faring past, I don't think we can afford this now. Social Security threatens reduced benefits in 6-8 years. Huge areas of medicare, medicaid are hurting. The list is endless. Of course, the government says, well, we gotta beat the Chinese there to mine all those minerals on the moon. Let them spend the money so their elites can get rich. And please, none of this mission to Mars, nonsense. Let's buckle down and fix things on Earth.
Yeah, Jeff-good luck with that.
~
Good grief, doesn't anyone spell check this stuff? I was watching a weather update from Grand Rapids WOOD TV. They were discussing the heavy rains and produced a graphic with data: Second raniest start to April on record. WTF.
While we needed the rain, you know what this means? An earlier start of the lawn mowing season🙀!
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A Pair of Spring Poems
Spring Rains
I know it’s there but cannot see yet,
the coming event horizon.
Doctors point to the expiring warranty
on my 71 year old organs.
Long and short-term memory loss happens:
Who was that? What song is that from?
Everyday chores take much longer,
I need devices to help open things.
I’m not coping as well with life’s one thing after another:
Roseanne Roseannadanna was spot-on.
Yet, when my feet hit the floor in the morning,
and I hear my sweetheart murmuring to our cat who answers,
the coffee and toast are delicious while outside,
Mr. Redbird is promoting his virility,
the Spring rains have arrived and
the woods are a hundred shades of green.
I quaff the power of life that has awakened around me
and I am grateful for another day.
From C:
Out walking without glasses
The fir tree whispers,
Squint a little more. How soft
would you like me to be?
The bulbs are pushing up
the matted brown leaves: roofs
for hobbit houses.
Dandelions – both phases. Try seeing
old faces in the suns,
young ones in the moons.
The tree bough curves
around a fence rail, gently
as a mama cat, or
a pietà carved in wood.
Both parts are dead now.
The dark braided circle
by the road might be
a bicycle tire, or a coiled viper.
The car-struck possum, mouth
agape, front feet raised
as if fighting or dancing – this
cannot be anything other than what it is.
~
Fun images:
Tree growing out of silo in Iowa:
Under a mushroom cap:
With all the rain we have had, we might see these in our lawns-fairy rings:
Beautiful purple cactus: Santa Rita Prickly Pear whose color deepens during Winter or drought. Native to SW US and Mexico.
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We recently watched director Guillermo Del Toro's 2022 version of the Disney classic Pinocchio. It's a beautifully rendered stop-motion film that takes the original story (written in 1883) which emphasized rigid obedience to authority and social conformity and transforms into a anti-Fascist tale which strongly resonates with today's events. Pinocchio translates into Pino (pine/pine tree) + occhio (eye).
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