Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Farm auction in 1947

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Below is a list of items put up for bids following the end of dairy operations at a farm belonging to one grandfather: Hay Loader, 6' ...
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Tuesday, March 08, 2016

All together now in the springtime

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Anemone coronaria St. Brigid has gone to town this year, showy and prolific and long-blooming. Visitors marvel. The Bradford pear has come ...

Furniture with many an alias

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This common article of furniture in the category of case goods was first known to me as a chest of drawers, but others call it a bureau or a...
Friday, February 26, 2016

Spring's moving right along

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Anemones have been in bloom for almost a month. This week has brought more hyacinths and more narcissi, along with redbud blossoms, leucoj...
Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Cassette tapes: an inventory

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The household stock of recorded music is chiefly on vinyl, and there's plenty of it, even though the most valuable LPs were sold long ag...
Thursday, May 14, 2015

Loquat bonanza draws gray fox activity

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This morning at about 6:45 am there was a gray fox in the pleasure grounds, drawn by the giant, juicy fruits of the loquat. Figs are forming...
Monday, May 04, 2015

Crepuscular visitor

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At just about 8:30 pm on Friday, May 1, when it was not quite entirely dark, we were sitting outdoors when the largest gray fox we've se...
Friday, May 01, 2015

Butterflies, loquats, nigella

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Although a frost took some potential loquat fruits, those remaining are very large and juicy. They have been attracting clouds and clouds o...

The perfect bowl for breakfast cereal, hot or cold

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Why did Bennington Potters discontinue these? This is a Bennington bird bowl in blue in blue; there were also speckled greenish-tan Benni...
Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Passion vine, for the gulf fritillary butterfly

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To the left of this passion flower a bud can be seen. These don't flower all that often and, when they do, the blooms are often way up...
Tuesday, April 07, 2015

As spring progresses

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New arrivals this morning were the first rose, the first sweet pea blossoms (three different colors), the first nasturtium, and the third ...
Thursday, September 25, 2014

Wonders of the season

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September 9 brought the first oxblood or schoolhouse lilies (rhodophiala bifida); two days later, on September 11, the pink version of thes...

Department of bad prose

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These examples are all to be found in an article reviewing a book about Scalia written by a prose stylist at Chicago Law : (a) "Perha...
Sunday, September 07, 2014

Tallest tithonia toppled

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The world's tallest and most bloom-laden tithonia plant went down, snapped off by the wind. All figs have been consumed, and the pecans ...
Wednesday, July 09, 2014

For the first time this season

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There were two zebra longwing butterflies working the lantana flowers. A black-chinned hummingbird lingered among the Turk's caps. Flowe...
Thursday, July 03, 2014

By the light of the silvery moon

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There's at least one moonflower blossom each night, but we often see only the spent remnants,  because we end our days too soon and some...
Monday, June 16, 2014

Bounty

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The first ears of On Deck corn have been harvested and consumed. The cobs are small, but the kernels are very tasty. Each day threatens to b...
Thursday, June 05, 2014

They weren't there yesterday

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Today brought the first tithonia flower ("Mexican sunflower") and the first figs. The figs are small and far from ripe, but yester...
Friday, May 30, 2014

A slithery visitor

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We were surprised to find a juvenile Texas rat snake back near the compost pile. We've only ever seen an extremely large adult example o...
Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Keeping up with the spring arrivals

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Bulb foliage has died back enough and grass has grown enough that the trusty non-power mower came into use this morning for the first time ...
Thursday, May 15, 2014

In the pleasure grounds

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Spring progresses. The pecan flowers have all dropped; there wasn't much sassafras scent this year. A great resurgence of Erlicheer brou...
Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Since last week

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It was Tuesday a week ago that a tally was last taken. Since then, there's been a large flock of cedar waxwings seen and warblers heard ...
Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The day before yesterday and about a year ago

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This is Tuesday; Sunday brought us our first bearded iris (see a heritage iris from a year ago). It has stood up very well against the extr...
Saturday, April 12, 2014

Spring in progress

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The pollinated flowers are falling from the live oak tree in the front yard. Sweet peas are in bloom in two places, in pots and behind the h...
Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Stormy weather

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Monday evening unexpectedly brought hailstones the size of peas, and lots of them. The ground was left white and, in shady spots, the slushy...
Friday, April 04, 2014

The progress of spring

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We;re guessing that it's the large number of below-freezing days that brought such an outstanding display of old-fashioned narcissus and...
Monday, March 17, 2014

New this weekend in the pleasure grounds

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Among species tulips, we've been enjoying Lilac Wonder and Clusiana flowers. A visitor got right down close and informed us that Lilac...
Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Spring and more spring

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The pear tree is more spectacular than it has ever been. Today there are two stalks of Thalia in bloom. The grass is beginning to green up...
Thursday, February 27, 2014

New arrivals in the pleasure grounds

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Today brought us pink wood hyacinths and blue ones, plus the first poet's narcissus. The flowers of the Bradford ornamental pear tree ha...
Tuesday, February 25, 2014

At the blue and violet end of the spectrum

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Today's new flowers are grape hyacinth, Siberian squill, Dutch iris, and ipheion.
Monday, February 24, 2014

Now on display in the pleasure grounds

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Ice Follies appeared late this year, so were not available to be removed during the night for use as someone's Valentine tribute. They b...
Thursday, October 24, 2013

Monarchs and honeybees and more

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A dozen or so monarch butterflies were seen in Mack's yard on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (20, 21, and 22 October). The honeybees contin...

Collections of images that don't exist, but should

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In years to come, they'd say something about this period in time: Angela Merkel in the close-up company of other world leaders, partic...
Friday, October 18, 2013

Because it's now autumn

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Despite the rains, it appears that the grass has stopped growing and will be dormant soon. Milkweeds are in full bloom again and so are four...
Thursday, October 17, 2013

Bookstores: a list

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Have any been overlooked? The name of the establishment on Red River where Stubb's is now located doesn't come immediately to mind, ...

After the rains

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Now that the ground is cooler, there are volunteer seedlings everywhere, many of them Bright Lights cosmos, sweet peas, nasturtiums, and hya...