Foxy Loxy

We took a short drive with the youngsters, about which more later perhaps.  Along the way we observed two yearling deer grazing quite near the road, and a bit later we saw this little fellow.  We followed him along the way for a bit.  He stopped and stared at us, then turned and headed the other direction.  He did not seem unduly alarmed, but rather he seemed to be thinking, "Are you looking at me?"

Disconnected

We will not have internet access for a few days..  Usually when  such a thing occurs, I have several posts in queue for the duration.  That has not happened this time.  You may have noticed that the posting has been erratic recently.  This happens when the juices of creativity stop flowing. 

Maybe I will be rejuvenated by the days in nature's setting, or maybe not.  At any rate, I hope to be back. I hope to have something to write about.  Above all, I hope your days are filled with all the good things you desire and that you will be back here when I get back.

I snapped this picture of the little green guy sitting on a morning glory leaf.  I use this photo as wallpaper for the computers.  Heide asked if the critter has a name.  He doesn't.  What would one name a green grasshopper?

In the Interest of Literature

The author signs a book for vanilla's granddaughter.

We have had a great week here at Chez Vanilla.  Verla and Elvin arrived Tuesday afternoon; the visiting and "catching up" began.  Wednesday morning we went to Marion for Sis's book signing.  The author and her husband reconnected with old friends, some of whom they had not seen in thirty years.  Of course, there were family members present as well, which gave the event a little of the reunion aura.

Following the event, fifteen of the family members had a leisurely lunch together before everyone departed for the respective homes.  Verla and Elvin returned to our place and stayed until Friday morning.

When, as is typical, a year or more passes between visits with one's siblings, a time together is a treasure.  But maybe, just maybe, we will see them again soon, because we are toying with the idea of a trip to Colorado.  But that is just a maybe.  We shall see.




Child of Desire, by Verla Lacy Powers, Tate Publishing Company.  Also available at Amazon in print or electronic format.



 

Another Wordless Wednesday

Jefferson at Independence

 Southwest corner

 Northwest corner

Northeast corner

Southeast corner

Mid-summer. Really

August 7.  Today is the mid-point of the season, summer in the northern hemisphere, winter in the southern hemisphere.  I am guessing that the weather will be less severe in the second half of this summer than it was in the first part.  But I am a notoriously lousy prognosticator, so choose your prophets wisely.

I do know that yesterday, Monday, August 6, was one of the most pleasant days one could possibly hope for, weather wise.   BBBH and I rode the scooter around the countryside, simply drinking in the gorgeousness of the day.  Before returning home, we stopped at the supermarket so that Beautiful could pick up a few items in anticipation of visitors who will arrive tomorrow.  I sat outside on the salt bags watching people moving about their business.  It was not always a pretty sight.  Two women, old enough to know better exited the store in their raggedy Daisy Dukes (please stop that), one of them oinking like a sow at the fair, the other giggling uncontrollably at her pal's antics.

Two young men entered the store in their extremely grubby white tanks and filthy camos.  I, looking for the good, excuse this on the grounds that they may have been charged with the responsibility of picking up a few groceries on their way home from work.  I've been there myself.

Orange t-shirt, five foot five, one-ninety, gets the ramp out and lowers the power chair from the back of the van, wheels it around where Mrs Orange t-shirt, also five foot five, one-ninety, boards the chair and the pair enter the market.  They could have been twins, but probably not.

Cuteness in a filmy, summer print dress the hemline of which falls a full five inches above the knee exits the store on four-inch heels.  Nice outfit; but she is quite possibly twenty years past the wearing of it with any real grace.

But just who died and made me the Fashion Officer of the Day?  No one.  Leave the people alone.  I'll never tell them how silly they look.  But please know that the holes in my jeans are quite the fashion statement!



BULLETIN!

Meet the Author

Tomorrow, August 8,  my sister, Verla Lacy Powers, will be signing copies of her novel, Child of Desire, at Midwest Coffee Roasting Company Coffee House, 1621 West Spencer Avenue, Marion, Indiana, from Nine to Eleven in the morning.  That's Spencer Avenue at the Bypass in Marion.

Thank the Lord

The lightning flashed, the thunder crashed;
the rain poured upon the earth.
We are blessed!

And because the wind accompanied the rain, I have a yard full of twigs and branches to pick up.
That's okay; I'll trade a bit of labor for the sweet water.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias 

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias*, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.  --Percy Bysshe Shelley

When I enrolled for my senior year of high school, my counsellor had my schedule all laid out for me.  I told her it was all good, but I was not taking senior English.  She said, "Yes, you are."  And I did.  Miss Lillian Bateman was my teacher.  I addressed her as "Miss Bateman," and she called me "Mr. Lacy, Able Seaman."  To this day, I don't know where that came from, and in truth I prefer not to think about it too much.  I remember a good bit that I learned in that class, from the memorization (required) of a segment of Chaucer's Prologue to The Canterbury Tales  (When that Aprille with his shoures soote, and so on.) to a sincere effort on Miss Bateman's part to teach us the art of writing.

Shelley was one of the "Romantic Poets" we looked at, and I remembered a few things from that study.  I  started this article by quoting "Ozymandias" because it is likely the only poem I remember.  Impressive it is, too, because the truth it contains has been verified in my subsequent studies of the history of the human condition.

Two things I remember about Shelley.  The first is that even as a teenager, it struck me that the man bore a most unlikely name.  "Percy," okay, I have actually met a couple of living people named Percy.  "Bysshe," I have no idea where that came from, and I have never attempted to disabuse myself of my ignorance; but what an odd combination of names with which to go through life.
The second thing I remember is that talented as the man was, he seemed to me to be a rather unsavory character, and he died much too young.

Percy Bysshe Shelley, 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822

*Miss B took some pains to assure us that the name is pronounced in four syllables, otherwise the meter of the line is spoiled.  Also, I have heard the substitution of "upon" for "on" in the subsequent line, which also ruins the cadence.  The sonneteer knew what he was doing.

Centennial State

August 1, 1876, President Grant signed the Act which officially admitted Colorado to the Union as its thirty-eighth state.

The Colorado Territory was formed in 1861 When Kansas was officially admitted to the Union as a state.  Colorado Territory was created from pieces of the territories of Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah.  The original boundaries of the Territory are Colorado's boundaries today.  Colorado has no boundaries which are natural features; it is strictly defined by survey.

I am partial to Colorado,  because I am a native Coloradan, though I have not lived there in sixty years.  I was born in Prowers County in the southeastern part of the state.  So close, in fact, to the state line that I barely missed being born in Kansas!  Except for the first five years of my life, I grew up in Colorado, living in Canon City and Colorado Springs.  I graduated Colorado Springs High School, then deserted my native state to roam this vast country we call America.

For natural beauty and diverse scenery, Colorado cannot be topped.  Well, literally, one might say, for the highest point of elevation in the State is Mt. Elbert at 14,440 feet, one of 52 peaks that top 14,000 feet.  But it's lowest point on the High Plains is 3317 feet above sea level, higher than any point in 18 other states!

Colorado is the "Centennial State" for it was admitted 100 years after our Declaration of Independence.

As an eighth grader, I studied Colorado history which was required of all eighth graders.  I found it quite interesting, and I have to this day several books which deal with the history of the territory and the state.  Unrelated factoid: when I sought employment as a teacher in the State of Indiana, it seemed for a bit that my failure to have studied Indiana history was going to block me from the classroom, or I was going to have to take a college-level course to satisfy the requirement.  Some how, thank goodness, I obtained a "special dispensation" and though I have read a good bit of Indiana history over the years, I am one of very few people licensed to teach in Indiana who never officially studied the state history.