In local phenology events, we had a storm early on Sunday, and then, hours later, an unexpected power outage. Electrical power grids, such a foolish and outdated idea...The total time it took to find these links was more than one day but less than two.
Green
What does it mean to have been brought up old-school Granola Green? S.E. Bourne's parents weren't mine; mine rented a few different houses in the woods before coming to rest at a farmhouse that did have running water and electricity, but no television, ever. We had the washing machine (there was no drying machine) and a neighbor had the working telephone, for most of my childhood years. Most of the neighbors were relatives; none of the older ones had motor vehicles. We didn't go into town much and for a long time, when trips were made into town, anything too heavy to carry back on foot was hauled back on a sledge by a horse (sometimes a mule, but the mule didn't work out too well). Then horses were banned from the street and we hired taxicabs for the occasional big hauls. And I still live that way now. I lived with a few more mod. con. when working in the city; never became dependent on them. I missed untamed, unsprayed Nature in the city more than I've ever missed bus or train service, corner stores, or television when at home. (In fact the only thing about city life I've ever missed--apart from living/working with specific people--has been bus service.)
Music
Vince Staten's post offers quite a playlist. I can even add to it: Jim Reeves actually did an album of girl-name songs called "Girls I Have Known." (The original album cover contained some joker's fictional reminiscences of school friends, college dates, and finally a wife called Mary. I grew up thinking Jim Reeves' widow's name was Mary.) Sweet Sue, Mona Lisa, Linda, Margie, Charmaine, Marie, Maria Elena, Juanita, Ramona, Anna Marie, Mary...I think Maureen was on a different album. I'm fairly sure most of the songs were recorded first by other singers.
There's a "Priscilla's Song":
Here's a gospel song that's new to me, which does not necessarily mean it wasn't recorded Before Tinnitus. I didn't listen to every song even then. Anyway:
Phenology
Glorious view, normally associated with Kansas, but this one was snapped in Michigan...hard to believe that many of the grandparents of people who are still alive considered this fantastic food crop "WEEDS!"
Alana Mautone went to Maine and spotted the first aster of autumn. I don't think New England asters grow in Virginia at any season. Several other species of asters do.
Poetry
It's free verse, but Reena Saxena shares some thoughts on the clunky Victorian way of trying to preserve butterflies' actual carcasses, on which technology now offers such a huge improvement:
Recently I thought back to "the weirdest thing I loved as a small child." Children project love onto all sorts of things, perhaps most often a blanket or stuffed toy they clutch as they fall asleep. They can't fall asleep without their special blanket. I couldn't entertain myself in the boring back yard of one house my parents rented without a particular pebble I was able to recognize from the others. As I reenacted stories I'd read while indoors (where I would rather have been), the pebble represented a character called Pal, a pony. I even wanted to take Pal with me when we left, before I had time to reflect that we were going to a place that offered much better ways for children to amuse themselves...Well, here is what I wish for Pal the pebble. Even a pet rock deserves good wishes.
Recipe
To go with the sunflowers...
Grind dried sunflower seeds, preferably unsalted, to an oily clumpy sort of meal. Combine with an equal volume of instant oats--say about a cup of each. Stir and mix in peanut butter to bind, sweetener to taste (preferably a liquid sweetener--before glyphosate we used local honey), and carob or cocoa powder if liked. Scoop up by teaspoons and roll in carob/cocoa to coat. Store covered (to keep out ants) in a cool dry place. Long-term storage is not usually a problem. They taste drier and oatier after 24 hours, but any left over more than 12 hours used to attract neighbor children. Those who don't want to grow any more may want to make small batches. You could substitute Nutella or other nut butters.
My mother used to call these Kindergarten Patties, a variation on a recipe from one of the Rodale Press books she used to review. Kindergarten children can mix them up while a responsible adult is doing something else in the kitchen, was the idea.
Zazzle
Mine, not for the first time, on sale:
Not mine:
New: Zazzle does trivets. You can design your own; any species.
Not mine. Not native. Not protected by protections for Monarch butterflies. But it is the only butterfly people herded into some "nice" suburbs ever see...the Cabbage White butterfly. Nobody should have to live in a place where the only butterflies they see are certified pests.
I envy you a childhood like that, Priscilla, and I so agree that, living in town, one misses the natural world painfully...........
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to get back to the island you describe so beautifully, Sherry!
Delete