August Break

The neighbour's delectable apricots hang across the fence right by our garden gate........

I haven't yet laid eyes upon the snake, but temptation is strong!

"Is not the action of nature like the stretching of a bow?

The high, it pulls down; the low, it lifts up;

it takes from what is in excess

in order to make good of what is deficient.

Who can take what they have in excess and offer it to others?"

Tao de Ching

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Sitting on the porch in the cool of the evening, watching the mourning doves and the quail perform their evening rituals and admiring the delicate willow that grows in the front garden, a haven for dozens of small song birds.

I don't know the name of this lovely tree that bends and sways in the breeze (that has thankfully arrived to blow away the heat of the day).  Charles thinks it would be perfect for making baskets, so for the moment it is the Basket Willow.

Summer has truly arrived in the Similkameen, - a time for doing chores early in the morning, - running over town before everyone is mopping their brow and complaining about the heat, - well, what can you expect.  It's Summertime, summertime, - the days are hazy, the hills are blue in the distance and nobody is moving at a very fast pace, - including the person unpacking boxes.

Today I tackled the den, where the computers live and where at one time I had a wall of shelves and a desk of drawers, filled to overflowing.  The things that are important will eventually find the perfect spot, and the rest of the 'stuff' that seems to gradually accumulate, will be gone, gone, gone, and I will feel happy and cleansed.

In the meantime, think of me......

ABC Wednesday
August 3. 2011

The letter this week is the curly  C and first of all the many interpretations of Clementine!

A traditional rendition of the song 'O my darling Clementine' by Pete Seeger



But Clementine is not only a song, - behold the beautiful Mandarin Orange, - the Clementine.

wonderful to eat, - great in salads

There is a NASA  mission to the moon that mapped most of the lunar surface, named Clementine;

but also  known as the Deep Space Program Science Experiment.   This mission was launched from

Vandenberg Air Force Base on January 25th, 1994. Clementine tested a small spacecraft subsytems and 

sensors in deep space and returned a vast amount of scientific data from the Moon.. 

How many of you are old enough to have seen the 1946 movie 'My Darling Clementine'

starring Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell and Victor Mature, (sigh).

(I am, but unfortunately didn't ever see it)

and then, of course, there was the love of Churchill's life......... Clementine (Hosier) Churchill

He wrote to her.....

January 23, 1935

My darling Clemmie,
    In your letter from Madras you wrote some word vy dear to me, about my having enriched yr life. I cannot tell you what pleasure this gave me, because I always feel so overwhelmingly in yr debt, if there can be accounts in love. It was sweet of you to write this to me, and I hope and pray I shall be able to make you happy and secure during my remaining years, and cherish you my darling one as you

 deserve, and leave you in comfort when my race is run. What it has been to me to live all these years in yr heart and companionship no phrases can convey. Time passes swiftly, but it is not joyous to see how great and growing is the treasure we have gathered together, amid the storms and stresses of so many eventful and to millions tragic and terrible years?... 

    Your loving husband, 

I am sure there must be a Band somewhere named 'The Clementines' - there usually is.

But  I wasn't able to find it.....

Do go over to ABC Wednesday to see what other classy C's are there.