No Monsters!

   The other morning, fog totally blocked out any sight beyond the pier.  It was as if the world beyond the Bayou suddenly ceased to exist.  Fog, in general, has always had a "creep" appeal about it.  Have you ever noticed that in movies, fog predicts a scary moment.  Let a mist start swirling and you just know some villain or monster is about to appear! 

   Personally, I like the fog.  It brings a lot of things into perspective.  Fog allows you to see what is close around you...really see it like never before.  Your full attention is focused on only what is near so your awareness becomes crystal clear.  Each step taken is studied.  Each sound resonates.  Each sense is bombarded with stimulation.  Blocking out the world beyond makes the near become life. (By the way, no monsters nor villains appeared!  Just fog...peaceful, silent fog.)

  

The "Staff of Green" On My Table

   When going back to the idea of finding weird things in photographs, I suppose it is all in how you look at things.  I have often said that a lot of people look but just do not see.  Sometimes, I am just the opposite.  I see even when I do not look.  Make sense?  Nah, if you are not a person with a weird sense of understanding, that will be just a garbled bunch of words without much meaning.  To me, however, in my feeble brain, it is all perfectly clear.  There are things that can be seen from a different perspective...so, it is all in how you look at things. I choose to be delighted in the simple mystery behind a lot of this thing we call life.  

  As I stumbled into the kitchen this morning to make that pot of "wakeup" called coffee, one of those pondering moments hit me.  I had flipped on the light and immediately saw an unusual sort of "staff".  There it was in bright lime green on the kitchen table.  It reminded me of a misshapen trident.  It had four prongs so could not be an actual trident.  Poseidon would have freaked had his trident been portrayed as such!  Funny thing...I never noticed it before.  It was there unmistakably clear and bright green. The stove light had passed through a bottle of cleanser that I had left on the table the night before.  Somehow, the angle of the light made a most unique image to be cast upon the table.  

  My pondering moment was not why the "staff" was there but rather why I suddenly saw it.  Why did I not see it last night?  How could I miss seeing something so vividly produced?  The image kept me enthralled through my entire first mug of coffee.  I looked at it from different angles thinking perhaps I needed to be in a certain spot to view it.  Nope...it was there from all angles.  I figure I need to just start noticing more things.  Pop would have claimed "Had it been a snake, you would have already been bitten."  It is a good thing he taught me to smell snakes far before I could see them!  Maybe the image just became viewable so I could have a good "thinking" early this morning.  All things happen for a reason.

Magical Mornings

  There is magic to be found in just about everything.  Life in itself is magical.  It is my thought that magic is anything that is unexplained or unexpected.  I have learned a long time ago that you cannot go about life fretting what others think as it is up to you to make life magical.  I live that way now.  Each day proves that my idea is correct.

  At daybreak this morning, I ventured out into the gardens.  The air smelled fresh due to the recent rains and the ground was still wet enough to muffle any footsteps.  The pair of cardinals were patiently waiting for breakfast and the frogs were still in the midst of their serenading of the night before.  It seemed to be a perfect morning and that all was right with the world...at least, it is all right in my little paradise.  Just outside the garden gate, the Althea bush had lovely blooms that were opening with the rising sun.  Their bright lavender petals and burgundy centers were absolutely breathtaking.  These blooms have always been special as the bush has "family ties".  It started as a cutting from my grandparent's place.  I eased my way to inspect the blooms and, to my surprise, found a dragonfly wing inside of one blossom.  Well, that was strange!  Of course, there was probably an ordinary explanation but finding the wing placed so perfectly inside the petal made it magical to me.

  Had Aunt Helen been on this stroll with me, she and I would have immediately proclaimed that a faerie had gotten new wings and left the old one as proof of her existence.  Maybe?  When Aunt Helen was alive, she and I could let our imaginations run amok.  Fantastical tales could be woven on a mere find as the one this morning.  

  Folks, sometimes it is important to let go of the worries of the world and find your own magic. It is out there.  Look for it.  Perhaps the "magic" was not in finding a dragonfly wing nor the lovely Althea bloom.  Perhaps it was in being free enough in my own mind to view it as such.  Finding beauty in mundane things is a gift.  Finding magic in everything is, too.

Stepping In It!

   Whenever I take a break from working, I sit in the shady gardens to cool myself.  If you sit and watch the doings of nature as much as I do, you are bound to ponder things.  I ponder things.  I think a lot while working but pondering comes during rest.  Then, I have time to delve into thoughts that are stored back in among the cobwebs of my brain.  That stash contains everything taught to me by those who took the time and effort to make sure knowledge was secured within reach if I ever needed it.  I appreciate their work.  Now, frequently, I search the nooks and crannies of the brain and filch out things of great importance...at least, important to me.

  For instance, today, I pondered the butterflies.  It seems we have more butterflies this year than ever before.  Hundreds flit around the hillside every day.  A ton relish the shade provided by the woods, others love the marsh but the zinnia garden seems to be a favorite gathering spot for many.  So, I pulled the wicker chairs next to the zinnias so I could have a front-row seat for the "Dance of the Butterflies". 

While watching, a thought occurred to me.  How do butterflies know what flower has tasty nectar?  And how do they choose what host plant will have delightfully delicious leaves for their caterpillars?  I should know this!!  I do know this!!  Time to dust off the information hidden behind the cobwebs.  I searched the dark corners of the brain and found my answer.  Somewhere, I had heard that butterflies can taste with their feet!  It makes sense if you watch the critters.  They always do a taste test before sipping the nectar.  Then, I queried...Is this actually true?  Or did I have false data stored?  Time to check.  Yep!  Butterflies taste with those feet according to what I could find.  I am sure glad that is settled.  See, pondering is good.

Meanderings, Baby Birds and Commonsense...

  While out in the gardens or roaming the marsh lines, I observe.  It seems that is what I do best. I am a watcher of sorts.  I investigate everything...plants, critters, weather...whatever catches my eye.  Mostly, I watch critters.  The animals around the Bayou have not flourished as they have by being stupid or ignorant.  (And, yes, there is a difference.  Look it up.)  People of the world should take note.  Animals are smart. They know how to take care of themselves and don't go whining about their lot in life.  The tiniest mouse has just as good of a life as the huge alligator.  Neither are up in arms about the other.  People are not so smart.

  Today as I piddled in the gardens, I could hear a family of blackbirds as they came up from the marsh to get a bite to eat at the feeders.  I was pondering why it took them so long to make the 300 ft flight but then I realized that they were coaxing their young along the route.  The parent birds were not only encouraging their young to fly but were teaching them where they could find a free meal at times.  The mama blackbird would fly to a tree and call to the little ones.  Once they made it to the tree, she would do a short flight to another branch.  Never did she let them actually reach her until they were finally at the feeder.  Then, she and the papa bird pecked furiously at the seeds.  The little ones peeped, fluttered their wings and begged to be fed.  Mama and Papa pretended not to hear but kept pecking at the seeds.  It was only a short time before the little ones got the idea and tried to mimic their parents.  The lessons were a success.  Baby birds only have a couple of weeks to learn the ropes to being an adult bird.  Flying, finding food, finding shelter are all lessons that need to be mastered before the mama bird takes to the nest again.  It is this way with most critters. Very few spend more than a couple of weeks or, at best, a few months caring for their young.  It seems that humans and elephants are just about the only ones who baby their young for any length of time.  

  It got me to pondering a lot of things watching the birds today.  It has not been that long ago that human kids were put to work at an early age.  Families depended upon it.  If you were able to toddle at all, chores were assigned and were expected to be completed.  Maybe that's what is wrong with society today.  Kids are mollycoddled too much for too long.  They become dependent, lazy and have a "me" attitude.  They expect to have everything handed to them or they pitch a fit just like the little birds at the feeder.  Gimme!  Gimme!  Gimme!  Thankfully, those parents had commonsense.  They led their brood to the feeders and expected them to start feeding themselves.  No more handouts!  That, my friends, is commonsense teaching.  That, my friends, is what is lacking nowadays.  No one thinks for themselves anymore.  'Nuff said. 

Clouds And People...Both Have Moods!

  The other morning while I was on the pier, I noticed that as I watched the sunrise, something pretty spectacular was going on to the south.  The sky was brighter and there were large clouds looming but those clouds looked vastly different than the ones shrouding the sun.  To the east, dark clouds were moving in and giving threat to an upcoming thunderstorm, the sky was gray and waters were dark. The southern clouds were not nearly as ominous, the sky was brilliant blue and the sun was casting perfect reflections on the water.  It puzzled me, to say the least.  How could the sky appear so exactly opposite at the same time?

  While pondering the sunrise and weird effect, it dawned on me how this was eerily similar to some people.  One side is bright and cheery while the other is dark and threatening.  The twofold personalities are difficult for most of us to understand.  As with the morning sky that I viewed not seeming to fit, the dual personality of such a person just does not seem to mesh.  Being around the person is difficult since there is no telling when a mood is going to change into something unfavorable.  While we all have our ups and downs, some folks seem to thrive in the turmoil.  Not me.  I think I am just too lazy to flip-flop back and forth.  Let me just stay in my happy place.

  The clouds did come together as a storm that dumped nigh on two inches of rain in the gardens.  This was a welcome occurrence since we have been in the midst of a severe drought complete with wildfires in the general area.  Now, the turbulent storm has brought peace from the raging fires.  I guess it takes all kinds...in weather and in people. (The two photos were taken less than a minute apart from the same spot on the pier.  One facing the east and sunrise.  The other facing the south.)

Hand-me-down Knowledge

  You know, this quarantine stuff really got me to thinking today.  I was in the midst of a bake-fest, when it occurred to me that not everyone has the knowledge of how to even bake a loaf of bread if needed.  Although it is not a hard thing at all, it does require a wee bit of good old-fashioned "know how".   That "know how" is merely the hints and tips that have been passed down from generation to generation.  Most of these tips are not written but were taught by hands on experience.  Most baked goods follow a general recipe and have "add ins" for flavor.  Because of this, die-hard bakers can whip up a loaf of bread without ever cracking a cookbook or, nowadays, looking for a recipe on the Internet.  It just comes natural.  

  Thinking back on it, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors all had a hand in making sure I had a good solid background when it came to survival.  One of the utmost lessons was to be able to grow, cook and preserve food.  It seemed to be the thing to do.  Teach kids to have a smattering of knowledge about everything.  Fix a broken pipe?  Got it!  Tune a carburetor? No problem!  Bake a loaf of bread?  Sure thing!  Fillet a fish?  Hand me the knife!  Mend a shirt? I can do this!  The list goes on and on. We were a generation of kids that COULD!  What happened along the way?    I am sure glad my three adult kids have that "smattering" and are not afraid to try anything!  They know how to survive when the going gets tough.

Compilation of Traits?

   This morning, the time-change thing sort of discombobulated the brain.  Once I went to bed last night, I awoke five different times thinking it was time to rise.  Normally, I do not go by the time a clock says even though I have a wall full of ticking timepieces.  The collection of antique clocks is a passion but being consistent is not.  Finally, I just gave up trying to go in a deep sleep, got up and made a pot of coffee.  (Yes, I still prefer fresh brewed coffee over this quick colored water that has no semblance whatsoever to the real stuff.)  Then, I had to wait until the sun rose up over the pines before heading out to the pier.  Once there, I was amazed at the brightness of the sun's reflection on the strip of mudflats exposed by the low tide.  The brilliance almost hurt the eyes!  The winding glow started me thinking of how nice it is to be living on the water.  Being a Pisces, I guess it comes naturally.  Before bed last night, I was reading several "lists" of attributes of a Pisces and most hit home.   Below is a compilation of fifteen things found in the personality of a Pisces.   I love the first one...(truth!) but this whole list is pretty much me in a nutshell.

1.  You are drawn to water and feel most at peace when in nature.

2.  You find beauty where others cannot and seek inspiration from everything.

3.  You do not do well in a highly-constructed life.

4.  You are creative and imaginative and are happiest when absorbed in a project.

5.  You are eccentric and others might view your life as strange.

6.  You are crazily intuitive and can sense things before they occur.  

7.  You rely on gut reactions to making decisions.

8.  You are laid-back and do not get too hung up on details.

9.  You do not hold grudges but rather forgive and walk away.

10.  You go into self-preservation mode when things get tough.  

11.  You have a soothing, calming presence.

12.  You always try to look for the best in people and things.

13.  You are in tune with the environment and notice things that others often miss.

14.  You can live in a fantasy world but often make it into a reality.

15.  You feel things deeply and often have a ton of different emotions all at the same time.

     Being drawn to the water is a natural thing for me but I am also drawn to the depths of swamps and mires.  The beauty there is often unseen by many.  It has often been said that I march to the beat of a different drummer where there is no rhythm which I suppose is true.  My life leads where it may and, as long as that landing spot is peaceful, I am happy.  Lots of pondering going on while waiting of the inner clock to regulate to the actual time!

Art In The Making?

    Every now and again, I find something that strikes a notion in my brain..."I can use that!"  Although, I have no earthly idea just how the item will be used, it is toted home and stuck aside while those wheels in the brain turn and turn.  Eventually, some creative notion shapes and the "thing" is put to good use.  Usually.  Occasionally, the item either goes back where I found it (if it a natural occurring thing), I give it to someone who will use it or I discard it.  Those choices are easy.  The hard part is to never pick it up in the first place.

  This morning, there was not much going on in the way of a sunrise nor were there any critters doing spectacular things to divert my attention.  A lone piece of driftwood was the only thing that caught my eye.  "I NEED that!" my brain told me.  "Get it!"....so I did.  A knot of pine was fished out of the mud and rinsed clean.  After sitting in the sun for a while, the piece of wood dried out nicely and appears in much better condition than I originally thought.  It has a very attractive shape and some interesting worm holes and barnacles for added flair.  Now, to figure out just how to use this fine piece!  Perhaps some bauble could be framed in that center hole????

 

Validation!

  Recently, I had someone tell me that I should start clearing out things to make life easier.  I admit that I am getting older and it is taking longer to accomplish anything so I had to mull over the idea.  "Declutter the house, purge unneeded items and clear the yard of plants." I was told.  The person then proceeded to tell me that I was too old to be dealing with "things"and gardens and such. It was her idea that I would be much happier (in an empty house and barren wasteland of a yard.)  "You will have so much free time!" Hogwash!  Well, it is not my nature to live in a barren place and, personally, what would I do with free time if there is nothing to fill it?  Later, I questioned Son about the whole craze of "purging" and why people tend to think I need to be doing it.  He answered by posing yet another question..."Are the folks trying to get you to convert to their ways or are they simply needing validation for theirs?"  Uh, oh....I had to ponder that long and hard.

  Years ago, Granddad told me that "If you ever run out of things to do, you might as well not be living."  I pondered that point as well.  I was trimming out the jasmine vines (and one knows that wielding snips does not take a lot of thought) when the mind wandered to Granddad's point.  That soon overlapped to the conversation with my well-meaning visitor who is after me to clear out everything. "If you purge everything, life will be so easy because you will have nothing to do!" I was told as if that was a good thing. It came to me that if life ever got too easy and I had nothing to do, why even get out of bed in the morning?  Oh, that would never work!  I would be slap miserable! This morning, I awoke with the urgent need to trim the jasmine vines before the rains set in for the next few days.  I HAD something to do!  Each and every morning is much the same.  There is always some chore, some creative endeavor, some duty to be fulfilled...there is always something to get me up each day even if it is to dust all of my so-called collectibles!  I want things to do.  I do not want to stagnate.  I do not want to live in a void.  I do not want an empty life. I want to have things to look forward to each and every day.  I want to live a life of fullness whether that be of people, critters, hobbies and, yes, things.  Keep in mind, I do not begrudge others of their mindset.  Some of the ideas are helpful. That is their business...and, perhaps, I am just "validating" mine.  I did, however, purge the jasmine vines of all of their excess growth! 

Rollie Pollies Are Smart!

  I was pondering something today.  With all of the stress that has been suddenly added to my life (ailing family member and aging dog being the most prevalent), I figure I should seek some sort of refuge where I can escape now and again.  It does not necessarily have to be some exotic place or even some faraway place.  It just needs to be a "me" place where I can close myself off from the worries of the world for a few hours.  This would allow me to regroup and face dilemmas with a renewed energy.  I need the proverbial "she shed".  I really, really need this!  A place like that would be ideal as I could literally run and hide. The shed could come equipped with a sign that says something to the manner of "No One Allowed!"  It then occurred to me that some critters have built in "she sheds" where they escape from the reality facing them.

  Armadillos were the first critter that I thought of when I was thinking "portable she shed".  These critters can roll up in a little ball and escape whatever is not to their liking.  Of course, my mind wanders a lot so I started thinking how pill bugs are so like armadillos.  The ones around here even have reference to that in their big, ole fancy name Armadillidium Vulgare!  I have always (like most folks) just called them Rollie Pollies!  It is a much easier name to remember and, well, I need easy things to remember at my age.

  Rollie Pollies are actually crustaceans that have made the trek to land and decided that it suited them fine.  So..there they stayed.  They feast upon rotting vegetation and roam about the place unnoticed...at least until something wants to eat them.  Then, they roll up in a tiny ball hoping the predator will either lose interest and go away or have trouble eating them.  When things start to get a bit rough, I am going to roll up and hide! Sounds good.  Real good. 

Zombie Earwigs

  Earwigs!  Have you ever stopped to wonder about these little critters?  Nope? Well, don't feel bad.  Most folks don't.  I do, however, as I ponder most critters.  I ponder about the whys and wherefores of each thing that creepy-crawls, flies or swims around the Bayou.  Why?  I don't know but maybe it is just because they are there.  The earwig just happened to be crawling around under a bag of potting soil and begged to be pondered.

  First, where in the world did this thing get its name?  Break that word down and you have ear and wig.  The bug does not have ears like ours (has tympanal organs but not ears) and it definitely does not wear a wig.  That procedure was no help, whatsoever.  So pondering the name became a moot point and was soon abandoned.  The critter was not.  I watched the little one scurry about as it searched for a place to hide.  I already knew that the earwigs eat other insects and sometimes a bit of plant matter so that pondering was out.  I knew that they are mostly nocturnal as it provides some protection...another no go.  Aha!  The folklore!  There is a pondering point!

  There is a bit of folklore that still lingers in some folks' brains.  "Earwigs seek out human ears and bore holes through the eardrum to infest the human brain."  What??  Well, that is ridiculous!  Where did that bit of hogwash originate and why?  Well, it seems that recorded history of the 1700s relates people were sure that the critters had a fondness for human ears and eventually brains.   Their gnawing away at the brain gave great pain and potentially death.  This was a common way that doctors of the day explained migraines.  An occasional discovery of an earwig actually being in the ear did nothing more than keep the myth alive.  Why would an earwig ever seek out a human ear?  Commonsense would tell us that the critter was seeking refuge from an otherwise terrifying situation of finding itself on a human in the first place.  Most reports of an earwig even being near an ear come from those camping out in the earwigs' territory.  The poor, hapless critter was lost and scared and, well, here was this handy dark hole in which to hide.  The earwig had no intention of being trapped in earwax and surely did not wish to eat a brain.  (Leave that for the zombies.  Earwigs are not zombies.)  

  Yeah, my ponderings take weird turns at time but, after long nights with an frail dog and even longer days cleaning up after him, I need some sort of distraction.  The earwig provided that so I happily accepted.  

Just a little pondering....

  Mark and I headed to the pier bright and early this morning.  He wanted to fish but I was more interested in the clouds that were fast developing on the horizon.  One in particular caught my interest.  Had I not known that what I was seeing was a closely contained rain shower, I might have been duped in thinking this was a waterspout developing.  While I watched the shower move across the Bay, Mark called my attention to a beautiful rainbow forming behind me.  The bright rising sun gave brilliant splash of color to a cloud to the west.  Wow!  That was lovely.  

  That rainbow got me to pondering.  Why do we always immediately think Roy G. Biv when thinking of  colors of the spectrum?  I realize that little acronym was taught to us in elementary school but is it not false? Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.  Easy enough to remember by using the acronym but what about all of the other colors in the rainbow?  What about the aquamarine that is seen between the green and blue?  Why include orange and not aquamarine?  If you think of it, there is an infinite number of colors.  Yes, it is far easier to remember seven but where those seven overlap, there are any number of shades and tints that can be listed as "colors",  Why even try to limit the colors to such a small number?  

  Perhaps it is just a quirky thing that runs through my head but I get a bit amused at folks trying to set limits of things.  Each person, each thing, each day is different.  Why try to conform anything or anyone to what you deem is correct?  Let it be.  Relax and just enjoy what is laid out before you without over-complicating things.  Let go of your inexplicable need to control what is not yours to control.  Too many folks are so busy trying to change everyone else that they lose sight of themselves. With that in mind, I sat back and reveled in the beauty set before me.  So what if there are a billion colors in a rainbow?  Does that make it any less beautiful that saying it has seven?  Nope. Accept what it is and leave it be.  Life is easier that way.  Besides, I like aquamarine!  And orange!  And purple!  Where is purple??  The rainbows of life with all their complicated colors are perfect.  Just perfect.

One and the Same...Yet, Entirely Different

  I take a lot of photographs.  In fact, I have been told that I take far too many photographs.  I think not.  Each picture is something personal even if it is of the Bayou Cats, a bug or even merely a photograph of the horizon.  Each means something to me.  I especially like to peruse each picture with "a fine-toothed comb".  While doing this, I sometimes find things that "accidentally" become part of the picture.  In the past, eagles have made their way in pictures of sunsets, snakes in photos of waterlilies and raccoons in photographs of persimmons.  Sometimes the unintentional picture is better than what I thought I was taking.  Then there are the photographs that are just thought provoking.  Ones where you can get lost in the depth of the surroundings.  

  A recent photograph of the sun setting in the west was one of the more thought provoking ones that I have come across in a long time.  The almost spiritual depth of the scene sent me in to deep contemplation. With the layers upon layers of clouds in front of the fast sinking sun, the few pine trees seem almost desolate.  How many millions of miles can be viewed in that one picture?  How many layers of clouds float between that last bit of blue and the viewer?  How amazing is the Creator to have granted me the vision?  Ponderings upon ponderings flitted through my brain.

  The sunset in question also allowed me to take another almost eerie photo.  In this one ethereal rays reflect off of the camera lens fabricating fantastical "beings" that dance on the water.  Orbs float mystically off to one side while irises glisten among the upper clouds.  This is the type photograph that bounces the imagination into gear and lets me form wild tales in my head. Otherworldly images can be seen in the mind's eye with the least bit of effort and the sudden dots of color amidst the dark shadows call the  mind into the inkiness of the night.
  
 One sunset, two photographs....yet a million ideas.  This is how my brain works.  Do I take too many photographs?  No...it keeps my brain jolting at a mile a minute.  I need that.  Sometimes, we all need that.

"Variety is the Spice of Life"

Here I list another grouping of "random" thoughts..things that pique the interest enough that they often make you stop and ponder. So perhaps instead of "random thoughts" I should list them as "ponder-worthy thoughts". Whichever..I will continue to mull over some of these and then file them in the back of the brain somewhere among the cobwebs and dust bunnies. I am sure that there must be a place that collects these discombobulated thinkings and can supply some sort of rationalization to each..I just can't! So..in my method of filing all things important here is a variety of "ponder-worthy" items!

First, how is that you can till, fertilize, weed and seed a garden with high hopes of it flourishing and it never turns out as well as a plant that decides itself where it wants to grow. I seem to do well at growing a vast amount of weeds, but at times the garden never matches the grandeur that I see in my mind's eye. During the dead of Winter, when I can only dream, my wanna-be garden is lush and full..then Summer and I have weeds! Then..then there are times when you wonder what in the world a plant is doing growing in something like...a plastic Easter egg???? Son pulled this from the new garden spot. The tiny plant had found its own little haven and survived the Winter. Hmmm, maybe I should stop with the large gardens and plant in eggshells!

Another ponderation.. (yeah, I know that is not a real word.. I just like the sound of it!).. what causes major lumps and bumps on some trees? There is a tree growing behind the house near the creek bed that has a great number of swellings on it. I think it is a Tulip Poplar or maybe a Red Maple (it is hard to tell at this point since it is dormant yet. I cannot get close enough to it to observe the bark and any new leaves.). It has the most grotesque bulges growing out of the trunk. Why? I have no clue. Do all Tulip Poplars or Red Maples look like this? Not that I can see. In comparing it to others near it, this is the lumpiest, bumpiest tree in the woods! These burls do not seem to have once been limbs that were knocked off, nor does it seem to be diseased. The tree is about thirty feet tall so whatever caused the nodes did not stunt its growth. Perhaps the stress of past storms caused the burls but if that is the case..why are the other trees not deformed, also?? Anyway, I sort of like my lumpy, bumpy tree..it could possibly become a character in some animated movie!

Question..what possesses birds to think they can outwit a cat? I have several bird feeders that are visited by multitudes of all types of birds. Ezzy, the dog, loves to be near the feeders just to watch the birds. So does Ms Put....the cat! Her vigil is for a much darker reason than that of the fun-loving Ezzy. I have seen the evidence that occasionally Ms Put invites a bird to dinner and not in a good way. The fact behind the question is that Ms Put is so obvious about her stalking! She makes no bones about sitting right in full view of the birds and still they fly within a few feet of her. I am not even sure she is trying to stalk the goofy birds..perhaps she just gets annoyed at them. Do the birds not know that she is a threat? Do they have such short memories that even when they witness the massacre of their buddy, they are not afraid? Do they really think that Ezzy will always be there to protect them against their feline foe? Hmmm...ponder, ponder....so many questions..so few answers!

Another avian related musing. Why are birdbaths not weatherproof? Am I supposed to lug a ninety pound concrete birdbath in and out when the weather changes? I think not! This winter was not a particularly frigid winter although we did have several freezes. It was more a "wet" winter..the cycle of rain, freeze, fog set in and lasted for several months. This rain obviously saturated the concrete birdbath to the point that once during a freezing night, it cracked. Not just a minor crack..a huge devastating crevasse! The bowl of the bath slid to the ground and received a scathing blow as the entire base toppled. The base broke smoothly in two pieces. The power of Nature is intriguing to say the least. Now, I ask you.. shouldn't a birdbath be weather resistant? Are you not supposed to have water in a birdbath? And also..what do you do with a broken birdbath..aka..four large chunks of concrete??

Finally...if many people see the same photograph, how do they see a different picture? The wording of that question might seem a tad strange but the point is..how can there be a different point of view when looking at one photograph? I took a seemingly mundane photograph of an ordinary sunset on the Bay. When I enlarged the photograph, I, with my overactive imagination, could see a figure in the clouds. What was the figure? Again..I have no clue! It is all left to the interpretation of the viewer of said photograph. As I showed it to multiple people, I received as many answers. These answers ranged from a knight reaching from flames to God watching over me to a demon or monster grasping toward me...hmmm. Personally...I would rather go with my dear sister-in-law's interpretation of God! The others are a mite unsettling..ponder..ponder...

More Random Thoughts!

Every now and again, my brain cannot seem to hold all of the thoughts that are bouncing around in there! It seems that no sooner does one idea pop in than another is pushing it out! There just does not seem to be enough space! I thought today's post would be of some of these random thoughts..maybe you can ponder on them for me.

First..why oh, why can an artist never paint a rainbow? The vividness of the colors..the beauty of the spectrum would be a dream come true for anyone that could truly capture it on canvas. Try as I might, any attempt to paint such idyllic wonder would never compare to the real deal. I guess only the Master Artist can paint with light in the sky..it just makes the rest of us dream..imagine..keep trying.

Another ponderable, wasp's nests! These papery thin constructions are almost indestructible by weather! There has been a vacant nest in the palmetto bush for almost a year now and it is still in perfect condition. You would think by this time something so thin and fragile would have completely disintegrated! Another thought..how do the wasps create something so perfectly symmetrical? They do not go to engineering school to learn this. Ponder the thought..what if someone studied the methods of the paper wasp and could create a home or building that withstood the elements as well as these hives. Amazing!

Thought..how can the most fickle creature ever to live steal your heart? Take Ms. Put, for example, she is the most standoffish animal to ever walk the face of the Earth (or at least, the Hill on the Bayou) but can lower the blood pressure just by doing something adorable! She is demanding, contrary, intimidating and at times totally frustrating..I sure would not change a thing about her!

Does one little bright spot in a cold, grey winter day really make you feel warmer? Do the colors of red and yellow make the brain send warmth signals to the rest of the body? These two little leaves..one red, one yellow.. brightened up my day today. I spied them on a six inch tall sapling near the mulch pile as I was gathering kindling for the fire. The colors reminded me of flames.

Stare at this picture for a minute..or a few seconds..have you ever seen so many swirls in one piece of driftwood? Wouldn't you have loved to see the tree? I have been staring at this thing trying to figure out just what direction the limbs must have grown. What is the top..bottom?? What caused this tree to be so twisted? Perhaps a hurricane? Where does driftwood actually originate? How far does it travel?

Is it my imagination at work again or is there a perfectly formed "8" in the eye of this old oyster shell? Is this some strange omen? Or mere coincidence? If I was the superstitious sort, I am quite sure that I could read some sort of eerie meaning into the finding of said shell. Should I?? Or should I just let it go that this oyster was at one time a budding mathematician? Hmmm????

Speaking of eerie..the letter "e" jumped out at me today! Literally..jumped out at me! I was out gathering the kindling that I spoke of earlier and a vine flipped off the arbor for no apparent reason other than to make me ponder! The letter "e"! Now was this some divine sign? Hehe..the vine..divine..ok, ok....anyway..I suppose I could read something in the letter "e" dropping in on me like that but I think I am pondering way to much!!!

Last but not least..what is it??? I love this picture! Again, if too much emphasis is placed on the unearthlyness of the photograph, all sorts of things come to mind! Was there some ethereal meaning behind this or is merely a fluke? Is this something alien or some computer-generated image? To be honest..it is the moon. I was out taking shots of the moon the other night and Ezzy, the dog, bumped my leg at the perfect time to totally either mess up or create the best photograph! I have to admit..I do sort of like it! Perhaps I should be pondering why sometimes mistakes in photography are great shots!