Beloved Crabapple
A hidden weakness
Exploited by wind and storm.
Blossoms on the ground.

I’m not sure we will be able to save the rest of our crabapple tree. Long has it cheered us with vivid pink blossoms in the spring.

I’m back to haiku, as you can see. It’s a lovely form of poetry that gives firm boundaries, but allows for beautiful freedom within those boundaries. Isn’t freedom always made more meaningful within boundaries? After my last extended haiku phase, my friend Teresa gave honor to it by contributing her own:

Enjoyed the Haiku.
Thoughts with rhythm are peaceful
Feel free to write more.

When I asked permission to share it on the blog, she cleverly replied:

Feel free to do so
As one whom I do regard
My beloved friend.

I can’t help but think that there are others of you out there with Haiku in your heads just waiting to find expression. Send them to me and I’ll share them on my blog. If you want, you can also share a photo to go with it.

Go and Haiku!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning. Possibly. There’s a small chance of it. Infinitesimally small.

I made a new friend yesterday. You may take that as literally as possible: I “made” a new friend. Her name is Betty. Formally known as Wall-Eyed Betty, she’s undergone some reconstruction and now has a certain homespun beauty about her. Things were somewhat iffy in the middle of her creation – can anyone say “scoliosis?”

Poor Betty. But in the final inning of the game, I put my rally cap on and…voila!

Isn’t she adorable?!!? Luna thought she’d make a good toy.

I was so completely taken with her that I kept taking pictures, kind of like you do with a newborn. I might be getting a little TOO obsessed with Betty.

It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that when I was a child, I read “Raggedy Ann” and “Raggedy Andy” and was completely convinced that my dolls came to life every time I left the room. I’d leave, carefully close the door and then stand there with my ear to the door listening. Occasionally, I’d open it quickly so I could catch them making their way back to their original positions. But they were too quick for me. Ah, youth.

Today, I made a friend for Betty, so they can have cozy chats while I’m out of the room. Her name is Daisy.

I’m so addicted to this now, that I might just make every pattern in the book. But don’t worry – I won’t subject you to every single photo I take along the way.

I guess you never get too old for dolls. Or should I say, some of us don’t.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning. Right after I check in on the girls and say “good morning,” to them. Wouldn’t you?

I had to do it – I couldn’t help myself. I was in a Joann’s store last week and saw a book of patterns for little felt animals and dolls and had this inward conversation:

Me: You must get this. These are adorable.

Also Me: But I probably shouldn’t.

Me: Listen up, lady. You’re a grandmother now. This is just the kind of craft you should take up in order to make cute little gifties for your granddaughter.

Also Me: Should I get it?

Me: Sigh. Just get it. You bought a bunch of felt squares at a Joann’s last year for JUST THIS KIND OF THING.

Also Me: But the book says to use only 100% wool felt – the stuff I got is made from recycled plastic. IT’LL NEVER WORK!

Me: So what? Try it out on the cheap stuff and see what happens. You ALREADY bought the felt!

Also Me: Should I?

Me: Yes!

Aren’t you glad you don’t live in my head? I bought the book and got started and can hardly wait to finish this first doll, Betty (she’s the comely lass on the left).

Other than Betty being a little wall-eyed in my version, I’m off to a great start. It turns out I shouldn’t have marked the eye placement quite yet. Fortunately, it looks like the red hood will cover those marks and I can put in better ones. Wish me luck on the arms – I’m going to need it. Unless the final result is hideous, I’ll show you how it turned out. Wait – we’re all friends here – I’ll show you what it looks like even if it’s hideous. We can enjoy a good laugh together.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning…unless I’m too busy working on Betty!

We were walking in an arboretum last week and as we went near the edge of a pond, our daughter caught sight of something, reached into the water and grabbed it. “It’s a wandering garter snake!” was the excited announcement. You expect college to bring changes to your children, but this was a fairly large shift that I didn’t see coming. This same child used to scream every time an Asian beetle flew in her direction. I’m pretty sure that in a not-too-distant day in the past, she and I would have hit high C in perfect unison if we’d spotted a snake in our midst. Chalk it up to the herpetology class she’s taking (along with her husband and our youngest son). The study of reptiles and amphibians has brought about this astonishing transformation in our fair young maiden. Who knew?

The snake curled around her hand and then began gripping and squeezing it, apparently not too happy with its current celebrity status (I took a lot of photos). We bid it a fond “adieu,” and went on our way, marveling, mostly about the snake. But me – I was marveling about my daughter, she who was now the Snake Handler. I doff my hat to her.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning. Snakes – ugh.

Years ago we bought a whole bunch of tulip bulbs and planted them around our berm in the fall. We thought we were making a garden display of beautiful colors. Instead, it turns out that we were providing a delicious midnight feast for the deer in the spring. Some tulips always came up, but it seemed that each year, the tulip salad bar got more popular with our Bambi friends. We found something called “Deer Scram” and sprinkled it liberally around the tulips. This concoction consists of animal blood, meat meal (whatever that is), garlic, pepper and clove and is designed to give the deer a reason to pause and go to the neighbor’s tulip salad bar instead. It only lasts until it rains, however, which necessitated us remembering to reapply the stuff. Eventually, the tulips lost heart in the whole existential crisis of their lives and mostly quit showing up. A few years ago, we had all the plantings on the berm removed (it had become a wildly successive weed garden) and seeded it back to grass.

I took this photo of the only two tulips in our yard this year. They are volunteers that have been showing up in the same spot year after year, apparently under the radar of the deer (shhh…don’t tell!). I salute them and give hearty thanks to the Lord of the Tulips for making something so ravishingly beautiful. Spring is a fetching lass, indeed.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning. Thanks for reading my blog. Assuming someone is, in fact, reading it.

‘Tis a jay of blue,
Looking at peels of orange,
Near, and yet so far.

It’s my last haiku,
At the very last minute,
Of this Tuesday night.

It is hard to quit
Counting syllables to make
More and more haiku.

Help! I’m trapped in a
cycle of five seven five –
Writing bad haikus.

Delete this I must
Probably very early
Tomorrow morning.

Phew!

What did you see first –
The Grand Tetons range, or the
Moose in the foreground?

By the way, the last line sounds like a great book title to me: The Moose in the Foreground. Would it be a mystery? Romance? Historical fiction? Memoir?

I’ll probably delete this in the morning after I’ve heard from a number of you about what kind of book that would be.

Tiny purple bloom,
The world is in need of you.
So saith the Lord.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning. So saith the Lynn.

A throng of turtles
Talking and telling tall tales,
Tanning on timbers.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning. Tut tut!

Seen only in spring,
Only in our fair city,
The dwarf trout lily

‘Tis a rare flower, indeed!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning, pondering why a flower name should include the word “trout.”

A chickadee sings
Bringing light and full joy to
His dark silhouette

I’m sorry to double up today, but about 5 versions of this one kept showing up in my drafts and I thought I’d published it already. I couldn’t find it in my blog, however. Tell me if you’ve already seen and read this one, though. I think we were traveling when I tried to publish it and the upload might have failed. Oh, the mysteries of technology!!

I’ll probably delete this in the morning? I feel I’m in a time warp, so I’m not sure.