May 14, 2018 Fat Little Buffer

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I took a week off of blogging whilst we were traveling. I had thought to keep it up, but then a second thought (a vacationing kind of thought) overruled the first thought. There you have it.

During the aforementioned travels, we listened to an audio version of the P.G. Wodehouse book Love Among the Chickens. One of the characters, Ukridge, uses the phrase “fat little buffer” in describing a man he’s met. This phrase gets repeated a fair number of times as Ukridge labors to explain that no one could possibly object to being called a “fat little buffer.” I knew immediately that this phrase would have to enter my general lexicon. Doesn’t it just cry out to be spoken aloud? I enthused to my husband that I was so taken with the description that he could probably get away with using it on me, but then I tried it out experimentally: “How’s my fat little buffer today?” No. That will not do. At any rate, while we were listening, we stopped at a rest area and lo and behold, it was replete with fat little buffers! The technical term for these critters is probably “ground squirrel,” but we shall dispense with that and put them squarely in the FLB category.

Where has this phrase been all my life? Three cheers for Wodehouse!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

May 4, 2018 Nest

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Just a little something...“Just a little something I picked up for the new house – I know just where I want it to go!”

“I’ve got this eerie feeling I’m being watched?”

“Uh oh – I’ve been spotted. Stay still…stay very still.”

First of all, can you tell that these photos were taken through a window screen? I tried standing outside on the balcony to get an unobstructed view, but Mrs. Robin demurred to make an appearance with me right in plain sight. I just happened to see her yesterday when she was first checking out the place above the lamp as potential nest real estate. She hopped around up there, her little birdie feet slipping down every time she tried to get a purchase. It all looked rather precarious to me, but others of her kind have nested there before and perhaps the word had spread, even though we had removed last year’s model home when the occupants were done with it. Here’s an interesting thought: what if she was raised here last year? If so, she had to be rather puzzled about the disappearance of the old homestead.

At any rate, I’m impressed with her craftsmanship and look forward to watching her accomplish in about 8 weeks what took me 20+ years. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

May 2, 2018 Zoom

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I’m not sure yet what I want to say about this photo. I like it immensely. The idea of having a 70-300 mm lens never appealed to me in the past. I wasn’t sure what real benefit could be derived by being able to zoom further – big deal! When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child… I didn’t realize what lovely things happen to the background when you use a zoom lens. This humble bit of wrought iron is on our front porch, but what really makes this beautiful to me is that the ugly pre-spring patchy lawn behind it has been transformed into a mellow greenish hue of undetermined detail. The bright blurred background allows the wrought iron piece to stand out in proud relief and strut its stuff. The lens allows me to see this is a way that I couldn’t with my eyes alone. It occurs to me that this is a gracious way to view a friend, or even an enemy – let all ugly background stuff become blurry and focus on the best parts.

Zoom, baby!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

April 27, 2018 Luna

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Sometimes it’s just the two of us now, me and Luna. She has her secret cat thoughts and keeps them well hidden. Most of the time our paths don’t even cross, yet her silent companionship is somehow comforting. In the morning after a long lonely night, she comes into our room absolutely starved for attention, but at those moments she is loud and demanding, and I grant the attention begrudgingly. It is ungracious of me – I do not deserve her continued devotion. But like the lovingkindnesses and compassions of the Lord, her devotion is new every morning, whether I value it or not. It seems right and good to welcome this kindness of hers. I no more deserve it than I deserve God’s, yet there it is.

On a side note, I took this shot using the “photo illustration” effect. Nifty, eh? Look at those eyes – just look at them!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning (right after I give Luna some loving attention).

April 25, 2018 The Right Sort of Bird

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Full disclosure: this is my copy of something I found on Pinterest, a way to practice watercolor painting.

Edmund: “But have you realized what we’re doing?”

“What?” Said Peter, lowering his voice to a whisper.

“We’re following a guide we know nothing about. How do we know which side that bird is on? Why shouldn’t it be leading us into a trap?”

“That’s a nasty idea. Still – a robin, you know. They’re good birds in all the stories I’ve ever read. I’m sure a robin wouldn’t be on the wrong side.”

C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

I’m just as sure that this bird wouldn’t be on the wrong side and wish I had a story to tell you about it.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

April 23, 2018 Stay Long…

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Having trouble with my arm (tendinitis – I’ve had it for 7 years), which makes typing painful, so I’m going to keep the chatter short this week and post on here some of my instagram posts from this year. I was experimenting with simple watercolor paintings or primitive sketches along with pithy commentary. I didn’t make up the “stay long, talk much, laugh often” part – but it came to me after I painted the cheery little house. Hospitality goals.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

April 18, 2018 Squittel

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We once listened to a Redwall audiobook narrated by Brian Jacques himself. It turns out he has a quaint Liverpudlian accent, which rendered the word “squirrel” more like “squittel.” Ah, those Brits – they make everything sound better. Back to the topic at hand. When I was a young lass, I had delusions of grandeur about becoming the neighborhood “Dickon,” able to tame critters and have them follow me around. My first attempt was with a baby squirrel. I patiently held food in my hand while the little guy got closer and closer, skittering back now and again in fear, but generally moving in the right direction. Closer, closer…I urged silently. Finally my patience was rewarded. He overcame his fear and began to eat food right out of my hand. Just as I was congratulating myself, he relapsed into fear mode and sank his teeth into my thumb. I yelped in pain and flung my hand out, effectively throwing him across the driveway. My delusions of grandeur had not allowed for the possibility of pain and setbacks (the word “delusions” is instructive here). I was done.

Instinctual fear is hard to overcome – don’t I know it. Although the Bible is sprinkled liberally with “Fear not,” I often relapse into fear mode. I attribute it to delusions of control.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

April 16, 2018 Going to Seed

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I feel a bond of fellowship with this cattail, which barely resembles what it was in the bloom of its youth. No longer sleek and thin, it has become rather bulgy and seems to have really let itself go. This sort of “going to seed” happens to us all, whether we like it or not. It’s called “aging,” and our culture spends a great deal of time, energy and money in an effort to thwart it, or at least disguise it. Somehow, what should be viewed as a triumph is seen as tragedy. What do you think is going on here, anyway? The whole point of this fluffy expansion is to disperse seed, and if that isn’t a jolly bit of business worthy of some disfigurement, I don’t know what is. So here I am – I’ve already cast my seed into the world (six of them!) and by golly, I’m going to welcome these fluffy years (sounds better than the empty nest, doesn’t it?). Bring it on.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

April 13, 2018 Fallen

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It was a spectacular fall. The dilapidated home across the street from us had been used for training exercises for fire fighters and when they were done, they burned the whole structure – razed it to the ground. The last thing standing was the brick chimney, tall and regal, doing its job until the very end. One was reminded of the sea captain, the last man to abandon ship when all hope is lost. Finally, even the chimney toppled with a satisfyingly loud crash, sending ash and smoke into the air all around it. Brick and mortar, sturdy and dependable…fallen. Whatever we build will eventually be undone; that is the way of things. Only souls last forever.

We went over the next day to survey the carnage and take photos. A place that was once someone’s home and that held countless memories had become just a pile of rubble. I thought of those words at the end of Shelley’s poem Ozymandias: “Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.” When the mighty have fallen, the hubris is gone. Just a hint of sadness was in the air.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

April 11, 2018 Face Off

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Using the telephoto lens again, this time from the kitchen window. Most of the shots weren’t that great, but I really like this one. I was pretty enthusiastic about it until I started zooming in on it so I could see the chickadee’s face. Then I realized it didn’t have one. I’m not kidding! It’s just a ball of fluff, feathers and legs. I find it hard to believe that my new camera failed to notice such an important thing as a beak and two little beady eyes when it was doing its autofocus thing. Of all the features on a creature (including a human), the face is the part you want to see the most, isn’t it? Faces tell us that we are beholding a creaturely thing. I don’t want to live in a world where chickadees don’t have faces. Better to let the camera be a liar. Let God be true and every man a liar, as the Apostle Paul said. That chickadee’s face is true.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

April 5, 2018 Really Seeing

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We saw a documentary a couple weeks ago called ‘The Riot and the Dance,” a glorious celebration of beauty and chaos in this created world – starting in the narrator’s “back yard” in Idaho and eventually going all the way to Sri Lanka to see what wonders God has wrought. And I thought, “Hey, what about my back yard? We have wonders here, too, right?” Both my husband and I have found that when we go forth with cameras, we see more. It seems a little more challenging when the going forth is on a cold day and brown is still the reigning color. There is a lot more death (riot) than life (dance) in our world right now. Still, our eyes were opened and oh, what wonders we saw!

Is this not charming? (I had to get my knees wet for this photo, by the way – all for the sake of art. As you can tell, I’m not one to suffer in silence.)

Or this. The graceful curl of the dried seed pod (milkweed?), the contrast in color between the underside and the coat – lovely! it doesn’t take much to amaze me, evidently. Go forth and see what He has made; be like the God Who Really Sees.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.