All Purls. No Swine.
February 29. It only comes around every four years, and next time it does, I'll be 73 (assuming all goes well between now and then). I thought I'd look for post inspiration by seeing what historical events the day has on offer, and--in checking Wikipedia (so sue me)--the first thing that came up was this:… Continue reading Well, This is News: Celebrating Odo, Count of Paris, King of France!
A recent post on Ricochet, in which a member published a simply gorgeous photo that a member of his family had snapped of a Great Blue Heron, asking for other members to share their favorite nature photos, prompted a memory of a post of my own from five-and-a-half years ago now. I'm reprising it below.… Continue reading Perseverance Pays Off
So. I’ve about wrapped up, absent a bit of trim and the installation of an outdoor-accessible nest box–not an immediate priority because the elderly ladies involved rarely lay eggs anymore–the construction of my assisted-living chicken coop for the geezers. It’s going to have to stay in the driveway for the winter, but it is on… Continue reading And Now For Something Completely Different: Chicken Clucker Edition
While this is a lovely little couplet, with nary a verb in sight, it’s not my favorite Ezra Pound poem. That one is his parody of the Medieval English round, “Sumer is Icumen In,” which starts out: Winter is Icumen In Lhudde sing Goddamm . . . And, indeed, I was singing away and giving… Continue reading These Poems No Verbs
October 3, 2023 is the 107th anniversary of the birth of James Alfred Wight, better known to the world as James Herriot, the author of upwards of a dozen beloved books about his Yorkshire veterinary practice from the 1930s onwards, and one of the three most influential authors of my book-filled youth. (The others were… Continue reading Changing My Life, One Book at a Time–Happy Birthday, James Herriot!
From Miles Davis and John Coltrane: https://youtu.be/9Zyr0IDaRXQ I shall not be dancing naked in the fields, or widdershins at midnight around the church tower, or anywhere else for that matter. I will be out looking at the sunset and appreciating the changing of the seasons (anyone who doesn't think summer's over wasn't standing with me… Continue reading Autumn Equinox, 2023
Today, September 9, 2023 is the two-hundred-thirty-second anniversary of the naming of a new city, built on federal land, as the capital of the still-very-young United States of America. The city was named after the country's first President, and the District was named "Columbia," a name still occasionally used at that time for the country… Continue reading Washington Pennsylvania, the First City Named For the First President
My last post on the wonderful Merlin Bird ID app, and how much fun I had with it the first time I really gave it a go, reminded me of circumstances a few years ago, here on the farm. I wrote about them on Ricochet for the first time in 2017, and reprised the post here… Continue reading The Gift–2023 Edition
As many of you know from previous tales of my gardening exploits and my rare modest successes, I generally enter into the fray–in the spirit of Dr. Johnson and his animadversions on second marriages–internalizing the “triumph of hope over experience.” Still, with the help and advice of good friends who are better at it than… Continue reading Meu Limao: My Lovely Lemon Tree
It's been almost exactly eight years since I published a version of the post below on Ricochet. (Time really does fly when you're having fun.) I was reminded of it this week, when I had a rare encounter with health care of the human sort myself. On Monday night (it's now Saturday), I did my… Continue reading Ruminations on the High Cost of Healthcare, and How to Bring it Down–2023