Monthly Archives: February 2021

Your Own Backyard

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Click on photos to enlarge and view as slideshow.

Both of the flowers that were emerging 24 hours ago have matured into their full glory and now shriveled up and fallen off the bush.
The agave from my garden has accepted its new place and decided to bloom and the palm tree whose leaves were cropped off by marauding cows before the fence went up, has put out new branches.
I found this perfect little succulent “flower” lying on the brick sidewalk
This is my present view of the lot from my studio.
and sneezes.

Stasis and Flux

Laughter is the flux of life, aiding in the flow
as we face gloomy prospects everywhere we go.
Better just to stay at home and enjoy what we’re given
It does no good to cry about the way our life’s been riven
into “then” and “now.” Whereas the world was once a race,
now we walk on tiptoe, remaining in our place,
observing what is close at hand—the blessings that surround us—
looking for the beauty in the space that lies around us.
Flowers, birds and family. Sunset skies, the trees.
Life may end where it began, here with the birds and bees.

The whole world is a miracle, and we are just a part of it.
Remember, there was no mankind way back at the start of it.
If we pass to oblivion and all our buildings crumble,
nature will go on again, our history just a mumble
that beings of the future will stumble on and wonder
why we chose to pillage and why we chose to plunder
when we could have just sat back to wonder at this world
where everything we ever needed lay securely curled.
Breathe her air, enjoy her fruits, enjoy simple things.
Open your eyes and ears and heart to all that nature brings.

Prompts for today are tiptoe, given, gloomy and flux.

Entry Blues: Thursday Doors, Feb 4, 2021

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Blue Portals
Separation Blues

Click on Photos to enlarge

For Thursday Doors.

Up Close and Personal: Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge

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Click on photos to enlarge.

Shredding the handmade basket Mom made

 

 

For Cee’s Midweek Madness Prompt: Closeup Photos

Hibiscus: FOTD Feb 3, 2021

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Click photos for enlarged views of the flower.

Yolanda drew me down to the garden to witness the recent appearance of this gorgeous huge hibiscus.

For Cee’s Flower of the Day prompt

Exculpatory Failure: The Cookie Caper

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Exculpatory Failure: The Cookie Caper

My sister can’t explain the fate
of cookies missing from the plate.
A generous portion merely vanished
to unknown realms furtively banished.

Here, for instance is an example
of why she couldn’t take a sample:
she couldn’t reach the cookies there
so high above her tangled hair—
an argument I must impeach,
for they are not beyond her reach.

And so I cannot exculpate
her innocence in this debate.
The cookies have indeed gone missing.
The coffee pot is gently hissing
and I can’t accept her bluff
of why there are not cookies enough
for all my mother’s friends to chew
even one, let alone two!

My mother baked hour after hour
so they’d have plenty to devour,
yet now there are a paltry few.
I guess they’ll have to just make do
with a cookie each or less.
Good for their dieting, I guess.

Who can the guilty culprit be?
My sister hopes they’ll think it’s me
who stole said cookies from the plate
and not that tiny reprobate
with chocolate crumbles on her lips
and frosting on her fingertips.

My little sis, so innocent,
admits not where those cookies went.
Yet that bonanza clearly resides
somewhere within her own insides.

Today’s prompt words are bonanza, example, generous and exculpate.

Reblog: Little Duck’s Current Status (By Request)

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I am so happy to get to see both Big and Little Duck again!!! And so glad they’re staying safe, although I must say they look like they are closer to each other than six feet!!! (Click “View original post” to see the photos.)

okcForgottenMan's avatarserial monography: forgottenman's ruminations

Judy/Remi/LifeLessons cajoled me into taking a couple updated photos of Little Duck & Big Duck after she posted some of LD’s past adventures tonight. She further cajoled me into posting them on my blog here rather than on hers. Ok, I’ve had just enough rum to accommodate. We’re being safe. Wash yer hands, wear a mask, avoid crowds, love a duck, vote liberal. (Click the thumbnails below to enlarge, if you dare.)

(For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Non-Alive Animals)

View original post

Last on the Card, Jan 2021

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For Bushboy’s Last of the Card Prompt: https://bushboy.blog/2021/02/01/last-on-the-card-january-2021/

The rules are simple:
1. Post the last photo on your SD card or last photo on your phone for the 31st January.
2. No editing – who cares if it is out of focus, not framed as you would like or the subject matter didn’t cooperate.
3. You don’t have to have any explanations, just the photo will do
4. Create a Pingback to this post or link in the comments
5. Tag “The Last Photo”

Okay, now can anyone tell me how to install this smart plug so I can use Echo’s Alexa to turn on my light? I bought 4 of them and so far Google hasn’t managed to teach me how to use them.

A REASON FOR THE SEASON

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Jane’s message is vital at this time when the importance of nature should be clear to us all. When we wage war against Mother Nature, she fights back. Just a close observation and enjoyment of the world around us can bring us back to what is important. Our very lives depend upon it. Please read her lovely celebration of the beauty and peace of nature below:

ladynyo's avatarLady Nyo's Weblog

I saw the Cooper’s hawk this morning. She landed on the chimney pot, probably looking for my miniature hen, Grayson. Eight years ago she was a starving fledgling who mantled over while I fed her cold chicken. She’s back this holiday, my spirits lifting. A good Christmas present.

In the middle of the commercialization of Christmas, Nature closes the gap. I have noticed squirrels with pecans leaping the trees, hawks hunting low over now-bare woods, unknown song birds sitting on fences, heard the migration of Sandhill cranes as they honk in formation. You hear their cacophony well before they appear. Their chiding cries float down to our upturned faces.

There is brightness to the holly, washed by our late autumn rains and the orange of the nandina berries has turned crimson. Smell of wood smoke in the air and the crispness of mornings means the earth is going to sleep…

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Little Duck’s Redux: Cee’s Fun Foto Prompt

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Click on first photo and then each photo to enlarge and see the story of Little Duck.

Little duck emerges from his handy little private condo in the kitchen cabinet..
Really little Drain Duck is the newest addition to the Forgottenman household. He makes Little Duck into Big Duck by comparison––or, at the least, Medium Duck.
Little Duck seems to have been very influenced by the Rio Olympics. Here I caught him working on his gymnastics routine on the steady ring(s).
I don’t think bungee jumping is an Olympic event yet, Little Duck!
But all that exercise took its toll. A few electrolytes helped restore energy. Forgottenman tried to pour salt on his tail to slow him down, but made the startling discovery that Little Duck has no tail!!! That explains why it is so hard to catch him when he is up to his usual tricks.
Birdy friends….
luckily this cooler version of the original grim pitchfork wielder had no objections to Little Duck making it a trio act.
And of course, being Little Duck, he had to get into the action.
When he woke up, it was to a flurry of packing. Seems the househumans are taking off for Minnesota tomorrow. Determined not to be left behind, Little Duck decided to smuggle himself into Judy’s bag, but misjudged the size of his tummy after all those treats and got stuck.
Although Little Duck at first remained in his ceiling seat restraint, as befitted his status as a sometime creature of the air, he soon grew restless.
he decided Big Duck needed a bit closer supervision.
I told Little Duck smoking would stunt his growth, but he never listens to me.
I finally hid his tobacco and papers, but I didn’t bother to hide this bottle because I knew he couldn’t reach it anyway. But he outsmarted me. Big Duck scorns in the dark background.
So, Little Duck decided to explore a bit. The recumbent nude bronze seemed to him like a pony ride created just for him.

You’ve seen these photos before in numerous posts about Little Duck. This is a blend of a number of his different adventures. 

For Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Non-Alive Animals

The Vile Effects of Cabbage

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The Vile Effects of Cabbage

I love eating cabbage, but its end results are crass.
It may affect digestion with propensity towards gas.
Between you and your closest friends it may create a scism
as you rival wild leaves in the wind with your psithurism.

Prompt words today are cabbage, propensity, psithurism (the sound of the wind in the trees and the rustling of leaves) and affect. Illustration thanks to Ibuki Tsubo on Unsplash. Used with permission.