Walking, pruning

 I think the insects must be carb loading at the end of summer. Suddenly there's a mass of clearwing hummingbird moths all over the butterfly bushes, literally couldn't count them. They were fearless, landing inches from me. 

I did a big prune of the butterfly bush and they went right on feeding, even when I was cutting branches. Just switched to another branch. 

There were even a couple of aerial battles fought. In among them several kinds of bees, monarchs, tiger swallowtails, lbbs -- little brown butterflies -- all feeding like there was no tomorrow.

And at the pond there were several small turtles swimming, frogs sitting up at the water's edge

Near the leaves there's a frog, then look further up for the little turtle.  

Across the pond were ducks, which means either the turtles weren't snappers or maybe they were too young to bite the ducks' feet.

And the morning glories are beginning to set seed.

I think I'll let the seeds fall naturally and see if they self seed next year. I'm definitely up for letting nature get on with it, aside from a bit of pruning when I can't get past the butterfly bush.

This is all offsetting the grinding constant fear we're all living in with this so called government. Nature and art will save us all. And good food. Resistance wherever I can, and self care.

Speaking of which, it's over two months since I had a microwave and I find I'm not missing it at all.  I thought it was vital but I manage the reheating,  baking potatoes, all that, in other ways. So maybe I won't replace it.

Happy day everyone, play and have fun, or the bad guys will have won sez Ted and Big Ursy, rhyming neatly.

And Fluffappalooza agrees

 

 

Library picks and butterflies

Since Saturday was to be hot -- feels like 90s sort of day, high humidity, of course, this is NJ after all, I got out early to the library to pick up my weekend ( who am I kidding? It's all weekend) viewing.

I've seen many clips from The Imitation Game about Alan Turing and the breaking of the German Enigma code, and I've seen and read Brideshead more than once. It used Castle Howard, a familiar stately home near where I grew up, as a location. And one of the main characters has my family name. Odd feeling of connection in a way.

And I'm ready with this on my Kindle 

All in all, enough to go along with while I considered what artwork and what frame. 

I think one of this summer's drawings, because you're supposed to show forward movement, not dusty old items you've had lying around. Particularly at my age, I'd like to show I'm still alive in art. 

I managed to be on the deck a while, despite the heat,  drinking tea, eating plum torte, watering flowers and watching butterflies and moths.

The weather and the lack of noisy humans suits them fine. I saw two species of clearwing hummingbird moths, several monarchs, a viceroy and a tiger swallowtail all zooming around overhead in the butterfly bushes. And the thermals must have been good today, a couple of turkey vultures gliding in lazy circles. 

Most of my photography was unsuccessful, but here's what I ended with, see if you can spot what's there.

This is just a closeup of lovely shapes and negative space

There's one of the turkey vultures over head. 

Happy day everyone, enjoy your day whatever it contains.

ACLU knows their members, and other intriguing things

 Today there's a survey, everyone does surveys, this one actually includes my age group. 

I get so sick of age ranges ending with boomers as if they've written off the active involved people beyond the boomer age. I'm still kicking boomers off my lawn, dratted kids.

The chocolate cake and ANZAC biscuits were so successful that after enjoying them here, Handsome Son took a box more home.  I'm looking at a depleted supply. He tells me he feels the same now as ever, despite the birthday.  Which I understand. You don't feel a chronological age at all. You're pretty much the same person anyway.

Lovely encounter with Gary's nine year old granddaughter K, wheeling her baby sister A, about. Beautiful baby, looks like her sister at that age, about three months. They're so bonded, too. A held my finger briefly, then she was happy to switch to her sister, and she hung on to her firmly!  No pictures, protecting them both. 

In other exciting sightings, Handsome Son and I saw the first hummingbird clearwing moth of the year, hovering around the butterfly bush. And many brown butterflies. Late but welcome. The little browns seem to be having a banner year.

Likewise the Democratic convention which I watched online with friends, great fun with knowledgeable people commenting. I had the live stream going on my phone and chat on my tablet.  No mainstream media, much better this way. We got to see everything, not just what the networks picked.

It was flawless, a brilliant production, such happy energy. Best speeches Kamala, Hillary and Michelle, so wonderful to have women front and center. And daughters, and a goddaughter, and sisters! We're really blessed with the Walz family, too.

I'm a bit tired now, but a nice tired. And fired up. 

If you're in a red state, keep on checking your voter registration status. Many voter suppression efforts are happening. Friends in Texas have had to register twice more already because of being removed from the rolls, despite being regular voters. So please do that. Don't wait.

Meanwhile flowers for all of us 

and the platonic ideal of dessert 

The Friday knitting group was fun 

The sock knitter brought treats from her recent trip home to Taiwan, rice, seeds and her uncle's honey 

Chat ranged over library acquisition, humidity, Shetland, Edinburgh, furniture, weather, shorts, tie dye, accents, gaelic, Norse, mackerel fishing, lobstering in Maine, craft books and more.

Happy day everyone, have a great weekend.

Take my word for it photography, and Fall soon

This is one of many attempts to capture, with a low level phone,  one of the clearwing hummingbird moths busy in the butterfly bush near me.  Lovely afternoon on the deck. They're there, they are. But you can just enjoy the greenery.

And here's the current collection of applique blocks. We'll see when they're all finished, this is about a third, how they need to be arranged.

Fall is in the offing, still lovely 80° sunny days, less humidity today. My energy, MIA lately, may return

 Meanwhile, the puzzle answer is, drumrroll

THATCH!

And while I'm in corny mood

Then, here in the Northern chunk, it's Sunday so I'll observe it

Happy day, everyone, be irreverent, it's more fun.

Discernment, ascertainment, moths, mushroom soup and a thank you

Discernment is one of those great words that people in the religious life or thinking about it use to describe the careful process of understanding their path. Most of us do some form of it. 

My own recent path, looking for a spiritual life that fitted, led me, via a year long attendance at a weekly online centering prayer group, silent meditation in company, which, nice as the people were, didn't fit, to the adjacent outreach work for homeless and addicted people. 

That's the Sock Ministry hq, where I found I was needed by their knitting group as the only sock knitter. That fitted. Discernment done for now, but ready to revisit if it becomes physically unwise.

Unlike Ascertainment which was an unintentionally comic aspect of the years when I worked in public television, exciting stuff, first person in the country to have the job of working with higher ed and broadcasters in presenting adult instruction, via public airwaves. Another time I'll tell you. That had its comic side too.

Anyway, one of the legal requirements on the public broadcast license was for representative execs of the network, in this case a four-transmitter statewide setup, to troop annually to the transmitter locations. There we would be open to questioning on anything at open public meetings. 

Which sounds very good, and appropriate, taxpayers asking what we were doing with their money. What it usually came down to was having more execs than public, being grilled about things that didn't even involve the network.

A lot of people would challenge us on things that commercial tv did, or that public broadcasters that weren't us, did or didn't. Quite dismayed to find they were banging on the wrong door.  

Those who were better informed challenged us to do more programming for various groups, usually stuff we were already doing anyway. 

We'd politely refer them to the day and time to watch programming made by and for the  Hispanic population, or for seniors, in cooperation with senior organizations. Etc. Etc. 

We'd troop home again, long drive at night since our offices and Master Control were central, so we tended to live around there, and the transmitters were at the four corners of the state, for best coverage and reception. 

Not sure anything other than bragging rights ever came out of Ascertainment.  That and the ability to point out to complaining state legislators that we did,  too, offer the public the chance to meet face to face. Happy days!

On more interesting subjects, yesterday the butterfly bush was mobbed with clearwing hummingbird moths, never seen so many. Like this, not my pic

I noticed that no monarchs showed up until they departed. Then two or three did. I've never seen monarchs and clearwings at the same time. I wonder if there's a territorial thing going on? Anyone who knows, please say.

Now, admittedly, one person drinking tea and observing one butterfly bush, is not statistically significant, except don't dismiss the findings of a lone observer. 

I mean, look at Len Howard, who made all kinds of avian discoveries alone in the woods. If you don't know about her, check her out, she's amazing. Anyway if you have any info about the relations of monarchs and clearwings, please let us know.

Misfits arrived yesterday, yes, different day, I ordered early before they put up the minimum order price. Supply chain issues, shipping issues, they're raising the minimum to order rather than individual item prices.

But I got in for one last minimum at the old rate.

And went on to make cream of mushroom soup. Using chicken bones and collard greens water (Ellen saying yeah, mighta guessed!) for broth. I also peeled and added in the last few white potatoes. 

It could have been cream of chicken soup, really good, but I was committed to the mushrooms I'd cooked down.

And it was just fine.

One sad note today, one of my best art teachers, at Mercer County College,  from whom I learned all I know about life drawing and paper making, has gone. 

Look her up, renowned paper maker. Also had six children.  One husband. Really happy and such a life. I'm glad I knew her.

And on Ukraine, my state legislator, who has gone to bat for me more than once when the state bureaucracy was determined not to honor their legal obligation to seniors and taxes 

So that's where we are today. Happy day!

F and F nature notes, hair installation, spindle sticks

Today in field and fen, from my favorite vantage point, the sofa, which gives a great view of the butterfly bush next door, a couple of sightings. 

One was the faithful old, apparently solitary, monarch butterfly, flitting around all afternoon, any number of bees and adjacent insects and, drumroll, the first clearwing hummingbird moth of the year. 

These are marvelous animals, wings going nearly as fast as a hummingbird, but with fat stripey bodies. Their wings are transparent so at first you can mistake them for hummingbirds until you notice they're not moving like a blur, that their legs are insect ones, and they're too stout for a hummer. One of my favorite moths, and we have a lot of great moths in this area. No pix, too fast moving.

Then the mail brought me my beautiful spindle sticks, ready for me to continue  learning supported spindle spinning. I have a whorl to attach. Notice she already wound on some fine thread. Nice touch. It means she's tested them for balance.

One in cherry, one hickory, both lovely. They're back in those tubes for now, to protect the points until I get to them. 

Bought from the maker, Caroline of Hershey Fiberarts. Support artisans!

Meanwhile back at the doll, working on her hair. I'm inserting lark's head knots of embroidery floss. This will take a lot of time and a lot of thread. Good thing I have both.

This is the back of her head, and you can see the back of the sculpting work. It will be covered in hair, so it won't matter.

Here's how a lark's head knot works.

And in case you thought it would all be brown hair, nooooo, more exciting than that

Silver, gold and metallic blue as well as a couple of other browns are in the offing. And maybe more stuff too. This is a doll of fantasy!

I have a great piece of patchwork for a skirt. And there will be pearls.  But first I need to get the hair sorted. And hands and feet, too, they haven't happened yet.