A Calmer Time

This last weekend of August 2011, has seen hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, drouth, and severe heat temperatures. It is all on the television, radio, newspapers and internet. The following is a postcard sent to my grandmother in 1908. It is signed MJ. I do not know who this person is. I thought you might enjoy seeing this postcard and the message it contained.

"Write as soon as you can and tell me the news. Am very anxious to hear if Maggie is here. will write to you soon. Please send me a line as soon as you can. My boy is sick. With best wishes, MJ

Hummingbirds

I love hummingbirds. I always put out several feeders each spring. This picture is a treasure to me. A hummingbird made her nest under the porch just eight feet from my daughter in law's back door. The nest was on top of a wind chime that is made of old spoons. Mama Hummer was very hospitable in allowing us to occassionally drag up a ladder and peak in. We watch from the time of the eggs to when the babies finally flew off. I guess the accommadations were so comfy that Mama came back the next year also.  We pretty much left her alone that year. She raised her second brood and never returned to that spot. Now when a hummingbird whizzes by I wonder if it is related to the 'Spoon' family.

It Is A Mystery

This is a rose in my garden that I call the Mystery Rose. It is has been about seven years since I planted it. I purchased it from a local nursery with the tag of Tropicana. It was supposed to be an orange, pinkish, yellow rose with a very strong fragrance. It never bloomed. It sent out a few stray stems. It tried to die. I coaxed it along but no avail. It would come up from the ground every spring. Finally, I began to cut it down. But it would come back up. Then one spring nothing happened. so I planted another rose bush about a foot away from it to balance out the bed. Well it came back up last year and bloomed. It was a beautiful red rose. This year it was outstanding. It grew to about 3 feet and was covered in roses. The white blooming rose bush next to it even made this red beauty even more noticeable. There are several lessons I guess I could take from this episode from my garden. Sometimes the results of mistakes and failures or disappointments could bring us more happiness than we had anticipated. Or as a friend of mine would say, "Just roll with the flow" what ever that means. May the unexpected in mine or your life bring us joy.

Treasures

   Any of us that had children probably know what the word 'Treasure' means. The 'Treasure Box' was usually an old cardboard shoe box or cigar box hid under the bed. If the child, usually a boy, was lucky, he would have an old cast off fishing box that an older male member of the family gave to him. This was the best to have. The box had a large compartment in the bottom and lots of little slots in the top.

   Well, while Spring cleaning this week I found my 'treasures'. Oh, they weren't in a box. They were in a housewife's best container, a large ziplock bag.

   I have been collecting these items through the years. I would put them in a dresser drawer. Next Spring they would go into the office closet where things have disappeared for years only to be found in an unlikly space. I even put them out in the barn in a rubbermaid container. This is where I found them this year.

   The picture of the medals are some I received in High School for Citizenship, Activities, and Scholarship. Yes, I was the one that held up her hand first when the teacher would ask a question. Jumping up and down and saying,, "I know the answer!" There is a basketball from the

time I was in the 8th grade and we won the county championship. There is a football that I received in the tenth grade at high school when I was selected as football sweetheaart.  There are charms with my son's picture, pins for working at school every five years, and passes for rodeos and such. There are a few momentos from various vacations.

   Then there is the beltbuckle shaped like a double heart. It is rose gold. I wore it with my jeans when I had a 22 inch waist. Now I wonder if my leg would fit that belt. lol.

The biggest selection of treasures is jewelry that I have worn in the past. Big chunky dangley necklaces, small petite earrings with missing jewels, and the articles of fashions that family and friends gave to me. Some of them were not my style. You know what I mean. All are either tarnished or out of style. Somehow, I just can't seem to throw them away,

   When I gaze upon my fifty or so treasures,  I began to realize that these objects are not my true treasures. The memory of all this stuff is really the treasures. I remember when my son had this pictures made in the first grade. I remember how we saved to go on that long vacation. Oh, how sexy I felt in those tight jeans wearing that belt buckle while my husband smiled and said "Looking good."

Memories will be with us until we can not longer remember. We will truly be blessed if we concentrate on the good ones and let the bad ones slip away like the sun slips over the western sky.

Oh, My Aching Green Thumb

It is March 2. Way too early to get really serious about planting most plants or seeds in the garden. Our last freeze of the season could be as late as May 1.  I have looked at all my garden catalogs until they are just about to come loose from the staples that bind them. I have purchased seeds. I plan to start some of them tomorrow in my mini green house in the garage. I have pruned my peach tree, Rose of Sharon shrub, and lower branches of my live oak trees. I have dug up and completed three of my nine raised gardens. There are two large pots on the patio that have newly planted gardenias in them. Also six pots of herbs are on the porch. I planted brussel sprouts, broccali, and onions in a rose garden. Oh yes, I have pruned nine rose bushes. I moved a huge rose from one garden to another. It doesn't know it is a different garden spot. It has even put on new leaves. I bought a flowering quince and planted it too. But it is still to early to plant my flowering plants and seeds. So what do I do now? Let me see....where did I put that new garden catalog?

My Bluebirds

   Yesterday I saw a Bluebird flitting around the yard. So I went and inspected my seven bluebird boxes. Two have a few swirls of dead grass in the bottom of the nest. So I know they will return this year to make their nests. This is a picture I took last year. Those little fellows were so indignant that a peeping tom was intruding on their privacy.  They are quite ugly now but soon will be beautiful.

It is way too early for my Morning Glories to poke their heads through the brown windswept grass of winter. But today is such a beautiful day that it reminds me of what is to come. Two weeks ago, we had sleet and 10 degree weather. This week is sunny with soft southern winds breezing along. The temperature today is 72. The weatherlady (Ha, fooled you. You thought I was going to say weatherman) has promised close to 80 by Friday. Then a hint of possible rain showers this weekend. We need the rain so badly. Our dry parched earth is critically exposed to fires. Here in the prairie land the fires spread so quickly expecially when the wind is strong. Today I will concentrate on spring flowers and birds building their new nests. I think I will go on the back porch with a glass of iced tea and say "Ahhhhh:.

Scratchy

Scratchy is a female box turtle that came to visit our back porch  for sixteen years. The first summer that we saw her she was scurrying around on our back porch catching flies or bugs. Our back porch is  covered and is fifteen feet by seventy eight feet. So she had quite a large dinner plate. My husband and I have always had our morning coffee swinging on the porch. We would watch the sun come up and converse about the cattle and sheep grazing in the pasture. The three roosters had long ago finished their morning reveille. One morning as we settled down on the swing cushions we could hear an eerie high pitched cry. We looked down and there was a small snake tying to swallow Scratchy. The chicken snake had  his mouth over Scratchy's left leg and over on her back. We went into a swat team position and pull Scratchy from the jaws of death. The snake's fang' had scratched her back trying to swallow her more. You can see the battle scars on her back. Her left front leg was immobilized. The only way she could walk was to start with her right leg and drag the rest of her body. The recouperation of her injury took all that summer. The result was very slow. Her body would clunk as she tried to walk. Needless to say, Scratchy has lost her ability to outrun her snacks. I got a flyswatter and started swatting bugs and flies. I would gather them up and place Scratchy before her feast. She relished them all. She would not eat bugs already dead. I got tired of every morning going out and hunting down the small game for her to eat. So I started expermenting with concoctions from the fridge. She soon let me know her desired delectables. Canteloupe, sandwich ham, tomatoes, and cheese. Then off she would travel to the front yard to sleep covered in soft dirt under the Crepe Myrtle Tree.  Every June we anticipated Scratchy's arrival. One summer she didn't show up. We searched in her favorite spots. She was quite a rambler. No Scratchy any more. What a delight she brought to us. And no, we did not kill the snake. He was gathered up in a tow sack and carried to the north end of the place

I so appreciate and commend all the volunteers that are on the coast lines of our country saving endangered sea creatures during this time of oil spills and record cold.  

AGAIN?!

Well, here we are in our third or fourth cold spell. The one last week kept kids, pets and adults stuck in their houses. At least the kids could get out to play in the snow. I remember when our son was little and alway wanted to play in the snow. Snow in our part of Texas is about as rare as hen's teeth. So out  he would go. Most of his playing outside was helping his Dad feed the cattle. Having to clean up the mess when everyone came back in the house was a chore. Dirty wet boots, and snow falling on the kitchen floor. The dog getting close to someone so he could shimmy shake to clean his fur. Now after all the years looking back, snow is a good thing for making memories.