The Dilemna

Having reached this ancient age with my wits still about me (well, mostly) and still harbouring  a vital enthusiasm for life, I am now faced with the dilemna of how to squeeze everything I want/must do before I board the Train to Eternity, which chugs along the track with anETA sometime surely in the next ten years!!!!

Oh dear, oh dear, - what a problem presents itself when one is drawn to every new and exciting project that comes to one's attention......  I am reminded of the Alfred Noyes poem, "Time you old gypsy man/will you not stay"  just while I attend to all these things I want to do.  All these things it seems necessary for me to do!!!!

There is the loom, - the dummy warp half tied - and the spinning wheel with a half filled bobbin and a braided swatch of carded wool waiting to be spun into glorious yarn.

And then what, I ask myself.

 What's to be done with yet another skein of blended silk and wool????

With the prospect of a summer-time family reunion I have been digging into the accumulation of genealogical papers I amassed when that was my passion - two shelves and a suitcase full of records and emails - marvelous correspondence from far removed cousins both in distance and relationship.  For a while in the '90's I felt myself in dual times and places, - here at home with family and the beloved, and there, back in the village of Loyalists who fled the American Revolution, or in Germany, Ireland, Scotland and England where these loyalists originated.  There are still mysteries regarding some multiple-great  grandparents and and aunts and uncles which I would love to have answers to, and so many off-shoot families whose records have been sent to me.

When my imagination wanders through my own descendants I am in wonderment that some of the pictures I have will be the 5th great grand parent of my own great grandchildren.  Golly!!

Oh yes, the pictures, - scattered in the most random fashion through my computer.  Will I ever get them into files and folders that will spring up at the click of the mouse??

Or learn to shoot pictures in RAW....?

Then there is the garden, calling to me, calling to me......  And I, completely seduced, cannot ignore this new life that is springing out of the sweet earth....

And the music - I still play Scott Joplin sometime during the day, in case it reaches Heaven....

Also the Ukulele - new and exciting as I conquer more and more chords and my feet tap along to the strumming.....can I take it to the campfire at the family reunion and pretend to be a musician???  A matriarch musician??  As long as the chords are simple and the fingers fast and supple, I guess....

Well, I make lists and schedules, but what it really comes down to is mindfulness and discipline, and those I am trying to cultivate with profound affection.

Most importantly I keep an eye on the track and hope the Train is just a-chugging along slow-like, enjoying the scenery.....

I is for Ibis

ABC Wednesday
March 9th, 2016

The letter is I for Ibis

"Every one has heard of the Ibis, 

the bird to which the ancient Egyptians paid religious worship; 

which they brought up in the interior of their temples, 

which they allowed to stray unharmed through their cities, 

and whose murderer, even though involuntary, was punished by death; 

which they embalmed with as much care as their own parents."

'Description of the  bird called the Ibis by the ancient Egyptians'

CUVIER 1831

This most ancient of birds has survived plentifully in some areas of the planet, 

to the extent that they are sometimes referred to as 'chickens'

so common have they become.

However, in China the crested Ibis is considered an endangered species

and every effort is made to protect them.

(seen in the lower right hand corner)

Can you guess which one is the Glossy Ibis?  

The lower left hand bird is the Sacred African

and the upper left the Australian Ibis.

An excellent article on the Ibis can be found here at 10000 Birds -

far too much fascinating information  to

include in this small blog.

If you are interested in poetry based on the Ibis, Susan Hahn has written

a lovely eighty page widely acclaimed book....

More interesting Is here at ABC Wednesday with thanks to

Roger, Denise and all Invigorated helpers.

What's happening in the Garden....

Well, it's March, and it all just depends where you're looking, what time of day it is, the state of the current wind (be it breezy or blowing) and just where you are in the schedule of intermittent storms that tumble in from the Coast, drop a little shower or two, bluster around and then move off to the East to make room for a session of sunshine.

A most peculiar month.

Last night we had a lovely rainfall, - puddles all over the lane, and one in particular that inspired a small thirsty robin to linger and drink, - the first robin of the season although my son tells me they have been as far north as the Chilcotin.

I go out into the garden when the sun is shining, and usually I manage an hour or so of losing myself in the task of clearing away leaves and old stalks, so that eventually a small bed will look like this...

with the bulbs and the iris and the elephant's ear around the Mountain Ash.

Over in the main raised bed there are a few crocus, and some lovely Lenten Roses.

and a few clumps of daffodils promise to be in bloom to grace the Easter altar.

There is blue sky to the west, tastefully decorated with wispy white clouds, and inside

the sun shines on last year's amaryllis which is blooming again, and on some 

sweet sticks of forsythia from our daughter's little bush.

But look, - here in the east the clouds are still a reminder that March can be just as fickle as April....

It is absolutely marvelous to be able to get out and dig around, poking at the scarlet stubs of the peony and the lacy delphinium leaves.

I spent all of yesterday's garden allotment time digging out buttercups.  One plant came into my garden twenty years ago, along with some early oriental peonies.  They have traveled with us, from garden to garden, but this year I seem to have lost the peonies,  Not so the buttercups, - much as I love their cheery faces they are terribly invasive and have spread the length and width of the bed, crowding out all their neighbours.

I'm glad I left some of them to begin the cycle again.....