Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

Ahouva Rubinstein, guest photo

Are you studying genetics? Look at this fancy yellow and purple Lantana set among the pretty spruce.  We have mixed heritage roots here for sure.  Purple, yellow, yellow-purple-purple-yellow;  I do love a perfect multi breed.   What hidden medicine lurks within the shadowy centers of a combination flower!  

It's late, and we must get busy. This summer we need to make an Important Contribution.  May vanished in a mist of maybes, just as it always does, and July is ebbing away. Only August remains untouched, and we cannot count on August. Last August puttered and plodded and scampered off without so much as a Novel. Excuse me, does that blue and white thing belong to you?  Well, it certainly is not mine, since I do not have time.  Look at it!  It probably needs walking twice a day, and what does it eat?  That blue hovering thing, is that food? Where would I get its food? It's a stringy little thing.  Is that a drop of nectar on its petal tip? Look how the sunlight reflects around her center.   My what a yellow.  I think she likes that blue hovering thing. What alpine summer sky donated such a blue?

Salad Lettuce from Tree Bed Garden Other organic vegetables 1 Weed Toss with olive oil and vinegar   Fried Squash Blossoms Blossoms from Tree Bed Garden 1 Egg Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix Saute in olive oil Garnish with homemade apricot marmalade & maple syrup    Serve Anywhere with Candles and Pretty Napkins  

Winter Nostalgia

Our garden squash leaves are 10 inches across and already overflowing their tree beds.  The tomato plants are 3 feet tall.  Is that a spot of yellow?  Hmmm.  I take a closer look under the canopy of velvet leaves smelling of summer.  The sight takes my breath away.  Yellow Squash Blossoms! They are everywhere.  A scant two months ago, there was nothing here but earth that had been under concrete sidewalk slabs for over 90 years.  Not a leaf and not a weed.   Just add seeds, sun, and water.  Protect with bamboo sticks and a string. 

Pretty Pigeon may be a little Monster Pigeon out for its  first walk on cobblestones.  We don't know for sure, but maybe .  Some people slander pigeons, simply because one ought to avoid pigeon droppings, and take care cleaning them up.  Well, certainly do not stand under Monster Pigeon.   As often happens, however, Human people go over the nest about Pigeon people, using terms like the Pigeon Menace.  Menace?  "To threaten with evil..." ?  Not Toes! Toes is simply going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a Soiree!  See how nicely she (or he) is dressed?

Don't be a Absurd, it's only a Word! Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, yes, yes. But! The whiffle isn’t lifting up the waffle it’s recalling And the simple trumbling creshner needs a little overhauling, Yes, we all agree the brister-basters meet the speculation, But the tonal inferentials aren’t exactly regulation. And what about the effrel, don’t you think we need a spare? You know best of course, you’re our resource, but are you not aware That Travex’s latest seller on a similar enchantment has enough gigantic juggles to engorge a large decampment! Now wait a gosh darn minute, we aren’t selling jiggle juggle, we are shuffling up the Forty-four to sixty demiguggle! And, I have a small suggestion re: the tonalized regression, It’s succession, not regression. (Any Orthopod could recognize a chordal form progression!) So if you want your money, you will need to quittle snick. Now don’t get so excited, it’s a simple squattle trick. It shouldn’t take an hour, it will fitt

I‘d like to find a tatter in this pocket of my life, for something out of character. Not another lonely couplet, but a play within a play, A full scenario with sets and lights and subtle Innuendo-- i ntention, subtext, weather and reality. An audience participating through a clear fourth wall. Don't worry, w e'll pay the rent and feed the dog;  We'll mend the random fences. After all!  We'll  write a loving, not a crying game, And I shall show you where the stepping stones are.

There are two morphs of adult female Tiger Swallowtails, a yellow and a dark one. Yellow morph's hind wings have an area of blue between the black margin and the main yellow area. There is no doubt about it. Madmoiselle Swallowtail has a gender, and she is a she, with spots as blue as cornflowers. 

I watched a butterfly today. It was  large, very busy and determined to cover every white blossom on a honey drenched bush.  It completely ignored me. I will share Butterfly with you soon, but right now I want to discuss Sunflowers. The particular sunflower under discussion is of the genus regularus ordinarus. Regularus Ordinarus has many species, including our sunflower of the common annuus species. There are 'nearly 1550 genera and 24,000 species' of sunflower*. There are so many species and genera of sunflowers that each one has its very own artist.  *http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0903a.htm

The sacred forest spirit cat is seldom seen.  It reveals itself only at night to select people and other beings by opening it's eyes to reveal the light within.    This rare photo brings spiritual wealth and material happiness to those who drink deeply of the beauty of life. 

As you may know, my sparrow Ounce is currently renting his nest and is looking for a nice home to settle in.  This condo seems like a good choice and Ounce has relatives here.  There are over 40 units, with apartments suitable for single sparrows on up to entire extended families.  It takes a long time to grow a sparrow tree.  Each knotty nest needs to be hollowed out bit by splintery bit by insects, sparrows, and occasionally a downy woodpecker. This home belonged to Ounce's Cousin's grandmother, and it has sheltered many generations of nestlings.

Too much dark, too many mopes. Bring on the daylight, in with the hopes I think it's time for a few sunbeams and  dreams and reams of happy extremes Of joys and caresses and juxtaposed successes. Ok. I know.  It's not a picture  with sunbeams.  Darn.

I need to get over there a little faster, where the doors are always opened. It's only a small detour, a shortcut really. As the Crow Flies, and all of that. Aha! A small rowboat!  Why would it be here if not for me to take it? “Climb in,” it says to me. There’s plenty of time before dark. Hollow squeak, thump, ripple, tip, gurgle and splash. Now Push! Jump! Freedom! Floating! Oh yes, floating as light as a wobble of  air. An oar! I remember now, one oar, one side at a time.  Got it. Row, row. The thing is, somehow the building with the points has moved over to the right. Since I am going right, the building if properly rooted should be going left, right? row, row, .....row. Is that a bulding near the shore? Thank goodness. It’s getting wet, it’s getting dark, I'm getting tired, the water’s  chopping, and the buildings are moving. I’ll just pull up, hop off and leave a note. Isn’t there supposed to be a pier? Is any body home? Ahoy! Hang on, those aren’t window

Shhhh.  We may not be seeing Squiva  for a short while, since I have reason to believe that he/she is on an assignation.  Now we mustn't raise false hopes of new little S quivas ; after all, there are several sorts of assignations. It may be an appointment, an engagement or a simple tryst. Squiva may have gone back to  school to become a Physicians Assistant or an Architect.  I mean, I have no reason whatsoever to jump to any rendezvous conclusion. Nevertheless:  the concern with the tail, the obvious effort at fluffing up, the slinking off into a darkened dell, the camouflage of shadow.... Let's take a closer look.  (zoom,   zoom.) Oh Dear.

How exactly Cat came to be on the park bench isn't clear.    Cat was lost (again ) owing to a serious  discontent with the here-I-am.  Any nearby something has irresistable appeal; the next leaf is always greener.    How to find the nearest next?   First hold on with a few of your back feet.  Then look and feel  around by slowly, one by one, releasing your front toes and swaying until the Next New is sensed.  Grab on with all your might, r elease back feet and p ull !  Oh my.  Ahhhhh .   Here we are!!  But where?  Sadly, Cat is very near sighted.  I  found a dr y sycamour leaf that met Cat's cater pillarian sensibilities. Up he came and off we went to a nearby wood.  He grabbed a green leaf, swung himself aboard, and waved a multi-foot goodbye. Guest Photo by Rachel S.

I know a game, let’s turn back the clock. Just a bit of a tick and the tiniest tock. Not every when, just now and again; not everywhich where, but just here and there. Would you like some time, way back in the day, To say those things you didn’t say? Great schemes may come great thoughts may go, But a second or two, now who would know? A tiny pause before a phrase, the smallest space in the stretch of days. Let’s give it a try, let’s blur the edge, Wedge open a gap and grab that ledge. Let’s slip a knife in the crack of time, I’ll toss in a nickel and raise you a dime. Can you lend me a smile?  I know it will pay, when we count up our change at the end of the day.

All counter measures have failed so far to halt the inexorable encroacing nest construction of Monster Pigeon (and Mate).  Proactive measures, smoke, warnings, and mirrors have failed to halt the illegal settlement.  As you can see, the situation is very grave. Nobody knows for certain how many tourists have been lost.  This latest countermeasure has never been attempted this close to civilization.  The entire building site has been surrounded by electromagnetic solar panels that spontaneously combust on contact.  All panels are mirrored in a second attempt to frighten and confuse.    It is essential to convince Monster Pidgeon  (and Mate) to flee prior to onset of the Monster Pigeon breeding  season. 

 Summer, summer.  Green, green,  grass, grass, barbeque, barbeque.  Too old, too late, too bad, next!   This is too boring! What if nothing ever happens?  What if things just come and go without a mark?  What if life stammers and the spark just misses that dry and tinder leaf?  I think it's time to make a wish. Let's give that waiting leaf a nudge! Ok, now count to three. One~~~~~  Two~~~~~~ (go ahead, blow)~~~~~~ THREE !

This exclusive digital image once again shows the determination of our stringer photographers to capture those individuals and activities previously only glimpsed.   This shadowy personage is exercising the right of freedom of expression.  She is armed only with a C ertificate of A uthority to C ollect Sales Tax. 

As it is easy to see, the stalwart Bloomberg Administration has removed 64 Square Feet of sidewalk from our front 'yard'.  Why?  to foster Urban Agrarian Sustainability.  Land in such neighborhoods as this is difficult to acquire and even harder to till. The tenants simply have no proper farming equipment or decently appropriate clothes. Persistence, inch by hard-won inch, is needed by a dedicated cadre of hardy Volunteers. See the bare places among the lettuce leaves in front of the two foot high tomatos? Behind the impatiens?  The competely organic salad pictured below is made from those exact missing leaves!  There is no actual point to the paper bag. 

Thoughts for sale, thoughts for sale! A thought for a penny, three for a dime! I’ll take that one please, the one in the corner over there. Not that one, silly, the one with the wispy scarf, and I’d like the bumper sticker. Well, yes, I’m on a road trip, I’m travelling. I saw the ocean awhile ago. Waves and all. Soft and blue with a washed gravel sea urchin tide pool. Yes, North-Northwest. Upper California. Those cold water blue pacific cliffs are something. Oh I don’t care, whatever slogans are on sale, I guess. Tell me, do you still carry those pale yellow thoughts with the dark centers? Yes, I did like them as well, but I’ve had my fill. Just for awhile, might you let me have that one with embered words and kind at heart? Oh, I just like it I guess. I’ll give it back, you know, if I have to.