an interesting thought

"The only joy in the world is to begin."

                -  Cesare Pavese,  from an article by Frances Mayes

"for you love all things that are"

"Before the Lord the whole universe is as a grain from a balance or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth. But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook people's sins that they may repent. For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things! Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord!"

                                                    -  Wisdom: 11:22

falling leaves

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day

Every leaf speaks bliss to me fluttering from

the autumn tree.

-  Emily Bronte

way way way

too early.

October in New England will often give you temperatures from one extreme to the other; eight days ago it was over 80, and today forty degrees lower. But snow -  unusual in October; it just reminds us of that awful storm a few years back.

So the snow fell all today, and even now sleet is pinging on the nearby window. It was Mark Twain who said, "If you don't like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes." Yes.

the new Gardener

"O Lord our God, you have replanted on our earth the garden lost in Eden, and you have sent a new Gardener to till the soil plowed by the wood of the cross. He who is both the farmer and he seed has watered the earth with his life's blood, shed for our redemption. Make us grow in his likeness by the power of his word dwelling in our hearts. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen."

                                                   -  from Magnificat, October 2016

three roses left

and here are two of them. They lasted a whole week.

windy day

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling,

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads,

The wind is passing by.

-  Christina Rossetti

Henry, blocking the front doorway

30 years

I've been at the library for thirty years. Well, you stay put in any job and the time does go by.

There was a ceremony last night at Town Hall, and Suzy Q brought me some roses - some white, and some pink.  She's my boss.

First of all, in this house there is nowhere to put a large bouquet or vase of flowers where a cat won't go, and maybe tip them over.

The pinks had thick stems and the whites had thin. So I cut the stems and separated them into two more manageable groups.  The pinks went into a quart mason jar. The whites are in my favorite bottle for roses. 

The cats won't bother them.

"true felicity of life"

"The true felicity of life is to be free from perturbations...Not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is abundantly sufficient; for he that is so, wants nothing."

         -   George Washington

from Rediscovering Washington, by Richard Brookhiser

bowl of garlic

I just heard you shouldn't put onions or garlic in the fridge; I knew it about onions. I've always kept garlic in the fridge.

Now I'll be good. It's in a bowl. We'll see what happens. (or doesn't)

a lot of red

The weatherman keeps talking about how many brilliant red leaves there are this fall.

It's true in our yard - two of our maples are bright green except for vivid red leaves at the end of nearly every branch.

the best bottle brush ever

I was never satisfied with the bottle brushes my mother had when I was a kid, doing the dishes. But she got what was available.  The last one I bought was from Williams-Sonoma; it had a sturdy wood handle and the brush part was sponge, in a star shape. It was an improvement over the others, until the sponge deteriorated.

At the supermarket recently I passed a bin with assorted kitchen utensils, greatly reduced. This thing caught my eye - I knew immediately it would make a great bottle cleaner! But I had to make sure of the price, and that meant I had to figure out what they were calling it.

I can't remember it exactly, but it's a sauce something. So, this miniature mop is supposed to be used with sauces? Maybe for grilling? Whatever. Anyway, it was a nine dollar item, and I got it for ninety cents! It's wood, and tough string, and let me tell you - if you're looking for a good bottle brush, this is it.

time for watermelon

It's going to be cold tonight, so I thought the moment of truth had come for the melons, and they hadn't been getting any larger anyway, not for a while.

Delicious!

success and happiness

"...success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. ...success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it."

                                             -  Viktor Frankl

little raisin in the sun

making pumpkin pie spice

It was in the newspaper, a recipe for making your own. I threw our (very) old one in the trash, and mixed up this new batch.

Yes, fall is really here.

just hanging around

I stepped out the front door to shake out a blanket and noticed a praying mantis hanging on the awning support.

Just hanging out. I went in and got the camera, and started around him, taking pictures.

His head turned as I moved along and his eyes looked at me. Rather unsettling.

I think what makes them seem so weird is that we don't expect insects to have intelligence. I can't think of any others who do, that I know of. I told my theory to my brother, and he said when ants see a threat, they scamper away to escape getting squashed, but I think that is just instinct. This guy followed me as I went around him to get a good angle - he turned his head and looked at me.

I first used the point-and-shoot, but then got my DSLR; when I focused, his jaws were working - it seemed like he was silently crabbing at me for bothering him! At least, that was my thought, but it turned out he was chewing.

He hung around a while, then disappeared, and then I realized I've never seen one flying.

one cowl finished

I finished the Winterfell cowl, and am making another one. Why? Because I have plenty more of the yarn, and am wondering if I'd like a longer one better; I'll see if I can how long I can go with the remainder.

Also, after quickly internalizing the pattern I've been enjoying the process, and am not in a hurry to end it.

pensive

O God, You Search Me and You Know Me

 O God, you search me and you know me.

All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.

When I walk or lie down you are before me:

Ever the maker and keeper of my days.

You know my resting and my rising.

You discern my purpose from afar,

And with love everlasting you besiege me:

In ev'ry moment of life or death, you are.

Before a word is on my tongue, Lord,

You have known its meaning through and through.

You are with me beyond my understanding:

God of my present, my past and future, too.

Although your spirit is upon me,

Still I search for shelter from your light.

There is nowhere on earth I can escape you:

Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.

For you created me and shaped me,

Gave me life within my mother's womb.

For the wonder of who I am, I praise you:

Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.

-  Bernadette Farrell

shed with chrysathemum

and the ever-present neighborhood cat.  (does it matter which one?)

Polish tomatoes

A client of my brother's gave him two tomato plants, and said they were Polish tomatoes. She goes way to the other end of the state to get the plants.  They are a different shade of red than "American" ones - they're sort of pinkish red. 

It's too bad the tops are cracked; it seems that happens when heavy rains come after a dry spell. We'll have to cut all that away, along with the paint splotch on the right-hand one.

Dolly has callers

First, a long haired yellow cat, and then these two.

Gentlemen callers? I don't know.

They stayed quite a while. Was it Dolly's pretty face? Or the aroma from my dinner?

Who can tell?

more on Shakespeare's influence

 "Among the words first found in Shakespeare are abstemious, antipathy, critical, frugal, dwindle, extract, horrid, vast, hereditary, excellent, eventful, barefaced, assassination, lonely, leapfrog, indistinguishable, well-read, zany and countless others (including countless).

His real gift was as a phrasemaker... Among them: one fell swoop, vanish into thin air, bag and baggage, play fast and loose, go down the primrose path, be in a pickle, budge an inch, the milk of human kindness, more sinned against than sinning, remembrance of things past, beggar all description, cold comfort, to thine own self be true, more in sorrow than in anger, the wish is father to the thought, salad days, flesh and blood, foul play, tower of strength, be cruel to be kind, blinking idiot, with bated breath, pomp and circumstance, foregone conclusion - and many others so repetitiously irresistible that we have debased them into cliches."

                                              -  Bill Bryson,  Shakespeare: The World as Stage

a visit from Cyndi

Cyndi came by today

she's always been big on gadgets and electronics.

She brought a drone. It has a camera on it.

Wild.

gift

"O God, you loved the world so much that you gave your Only Begotten Son for our salvation. Grant that we who have received such a gift from you may withhold from those in need no gift that lies within our power to give, through Christ our Lord. Amen."

-  from Magnificat, September 2016

bird talk and bard talk

There were three mockingbirds in the bird bath a few days ago - that was a treat.

a bad photo

The next day we were about to sit down for dinner when a hawk landed on the shed. We just could not get a decent photo of him.


In my day, wearing white accessories before Memorial Day and after Labor Day were a no-no, and I've always stuck to that. But I'm recently feeling the impossibility of it when the weather still behaves like summer. If it's 80 and 90 and I'm still wearing summer dresses, and the only sandals that match are the white ones, I'm going to wear them. This is a big deal for me.

another bad photo

I'm finally reading something by Bill Bryson, who seems to have written a book on every subject under the sun. Shakespeare, the World as Stage.  Herewith, a long excerpt:

"[plays] were strictly regulated. The Master of the Revels licensed all dramatic works and made sure that companies performed in a manner that he considered respectful and orderly. Those who displeased him could in theory be jailed at his indefinite pleasure, and punishments were not unknown. In 1605, soon after the accession of James I, Ben Jonson and his collaborators on Eastward Ho! made some excellent but unwisely intemperate jokes about the sudden influx of rough and underwashed Scots to the royal court and were arrested and threatened with having their ears and noses lopped off. It was because of these dangers (and the Vagrancy Act of 1572, which specifically authorized the whipping of unlicensed vagabonds) that acting troupes attached themselves to aristocratic patrons. The patron afforded the actors some measure of protection, and they in turn carried his name across the land, lending him publicity and prestige. 

Plays were performed at about two o'clock in the afternoon. General admission for groundlings was a penny. Those who wished to sit paid a penny more, and those who desired a cushion paid another penny on top of that - all this at a time when a day's wage was 1 shilling (12 pence) or less a day. The money was dropped into a box, which was taken to a special room for safekeeping - the box office."

The one I really want to read is Notes from a Small Island, but this small book will do for now. Small, because he says there is really very little known for certain about William Shakespeare.

"More than two hundred years ago, in a sentiment much repeated ever since, the historian George Steevens observed that all we know of William Shakespeare is contained within a few scanty facts: that he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, produced a family there, went to London, became an actor and writer, returned to Stratford, made a will, and died. That wasn't quite true then and it is even less so now, but it is not all that far from the truth either."

                                          

the Chandos portrait

Back to the subject of birds, he is blamed for the presence of starlings in this country.

better planning

I suddenly had a light bulb moment that if I wait until the cats are having their meal and then open the tuna can, they won't even notice.

More for us.

a wisteria cowl

I haven't blocked my little blue scarf yet - I want to do it on a dry day. But today I began another single-skein knitting project, the Winterfell Cowl. (You can find it on Ravelry or google an image for it.) It's easy and very appealing, or maybe it's the drama of the photos in the snow. Either way, it's a safe bet for this pretty wisteria colored yarn that I lost the label to. I know it's wool and worsted weight.  And I can use it all up with this pattern if I want, because I can just keep going with it. I'll see when I get there, but this is a pleasant way to learn knitting with a chart.

so young, so cute

At the library, when books are returned we flip through the pages looking for things; in children's books, for possible crayon marks or torn pages, in adult books for coffee stains or water damage. Not to mention personal things left behind, such as a special bookmark, etc. So, with that in your mind, picture me at work yesterday paging through some inter-library loan returns. I see a photograph.

I recognized him right away -  Paul Newman, from the fifties!

I looked up the last patron who had the book, and called - they said to dispose of it. !  It wasn't theirs, apparently. I brought it home to show my brother.

It's a real snapshot, not a print. I googled images of Paul Newman, Paul Newman with car, promotional photos of Paul Newman, but this didn't come up, so I guess it really is a photo that somebody, who maybe even knew him, snapped. It's a great pose; he's got a pen - maybe giving autographs? The car has California plates. Maybe I can look up the person who had it before this one, but we can only go back so far.  I've never been a fan and have probably only seen three of his movies but now I'm feeling nostalgic and want to see another one or two.