Hornets, Whales and Bonsai Crepe Myrtles!

   It seems that 2020 has been a topsy-turvy sort of year and we are not finished with it yet.  What else is to come?   Any day now, I half expect to see Godzilla come sloshing up out of the Bayou.  Trust me...that would be no surprise after what this year has thrown at us.  In fact, I was reading a few oddities that have occurred and I am still astounded.  Have you heard about the whale in the rain forest?  Come now.  Does that seem normal?  Viruses, hornets...bah!  But a whale in the rain forest?  Seriously?  Yep, seriously.  It was all over the news about the dreaded Murder Hornets but I am more concerned about that whale!

  Now my oddity is nothing compared to the earth-shaking things the media is trying to shove down our throats but, when you have been confined to the Small Gardens for more than a month, things are exciting.  My garden "claim to fame" is...wait for it...a crepe myrtle tree!  Yay!!!  Oooh!  Ahhh!  Ok, enough of that.  But, indeed, I was totally engrossed by such a tree this morning and spent a good ten minutes weeding around it.  You see, I have never seen a baby crepe myrtle tree bloom!  Yep, THAT is something that should be news worthy!  "Breaking news!  Climate changes have started creating miniature versions of trees that are blooming all across the South!  We are thinking these trees are harbingers of bad times to come as the trees will spread like wildfire!  They will kill off all food supplies and, worse yet, will steal toilet tissue causing massive shortages!"  Sound about right?  Yeah, well, this is exactly why I do not have a TV in the house.  

  But I do have four inch tall crepe myrtle trees blooming in the front yard.They are like cute, little wild bonsai trees!   Obviously, I neglected to cut back the spent blooms of the large trees last year and the seeds were viable.  Tiny crepe myrtle trees are everywhere and all are blooming!  They are so adorable! 

  Well, that is my all important news flash for today.  Other than that, all is quiet on the Bayou.  We are at peace here.  I do, however, have so many questions about that whale.  Why?  How?  What on earth was it thinking to go there?? What was it seeking?  Did a bird drop it?  If so, I want to see that bird!  Which opens another can of worms!  

The Dreary, Grey Days Of....Summer?

  Usually, grey is a good word to describe winter days.  It is not so good as a description of a summer day.  Summer days are bright.  Summer days are maybe green.  Summer days are not grey.  Today was grey..  It was not just overcast grey, even though there were a few clouds, the day was an ominous, gloomy, almost eerie grey.  It started out that way at daybreak, stayed that way throughout the day and ended that way at nightfall.  I do not think Mr. Sun ever showed his face all day.

  According to the local weather forecast, our greyness was a bit unusual.  It seems that a great cloud of dust floated across the ocean just to visit us.  How nice!  Could this year possibly get any better?  I am still awaiting Godzilla's appearance on the Bayou then my happiness would be complete!  Back to this dust storm/cloud/entity, however, as it is the current situation that looms over our heads.  Pandemics, riots, murder hornets, tropical storms...those are not enough!  We NEED a good old-fashioned dust storm (said no one ever)!  But we got it so I have tried to look for the silver lining amonst the grey.  The weather people have promised that we will have "enhanced" sunrises and sunsets for the next few days.  Well, duh!  If it weren't so grey maybe I could find that sunrise!  As a matter of fact,  I cannot even find the sun at all! How am I supposed to have an exciting sunrise or sunset?  Nope.  Neither happened.  I got grey.  Grey.  Hazy, hazy, can't see anything in the distance grey.  That's it.

  Perhaps tomorrow will find me facing a different story and I can share some beautiful photographs with you.  The greyness today did not bother me much as I spent my time putting up a couple of bushels of butter beans and a bushel of field peas.  Those brightened the day tremendously!  Things are not all bad  regardless of this newest attempt at giving us all a good stir.  The media blowup of each and every mundane occurrence should be waning as we are all growing weary of the dire warnings to their fairy tales. Although, if I do see Godzilla sloshing around in the Bayou, I will admit that it was all worth the aggravation of listening to the bunch of crock we have had to endure from the media the whole of 2020!  The media and all of the pot-stirrers need to just give it up. Making mountains out of molehills is a thing of the past.  Things happen but there is no reason whatsoever to get riled.  Life is far too short for that.

Clouds, Old Dogs and Eclipses

 Today, August 21, 2017 was the day of the "Great American Eclipse".  It boggles the mind.  The eclipse, itself, is not so mind boggling as it is just a happenstance as the moon's orbit takes it between the earth and the sun.  When the moon gets right in front of the sun, it blocks out the light beaming down to the earth.  So, basically, anything that passes in front of a light "eclipses" it.  Duh.  Not that difficult to understand. What does flabbergast me is the over hype that this thing has received.  It all boils down to media hype and sales promotion.  If you tell people something wild enough for long enough, they fall into the trap. While I have no problem with folks viewing the eclipse, I am amused at those who claim it is a life-altering event...a near religious phenomenon...an earth-shaking affair!  Huh?  Wow!  I must be missing something here.

  I have heard all sorts of wild tales and even made up a few myself.  In the past, I had no problem relating to gullible folks that we are a sun ruled planet and that when the moon blocks out the sun, it rules.  The moon is also known as "Luna" which is where we get the word lunatic.  (Which, by the way, is NOT a technical term.)  Relating that fact, you can see where this was going.  Tie this in with a healthy fear of zombies and all sorts of wild tales can be conjured.  I actually scared the bejeebies out of a former sister-in-law with such a tale.  I was visiting her and my little niece during a past eclipse and made up a wild tale.  She was ready and willing to fall for anything so it was easy.  Needless to say, she and the baby stayed locked in the bathroom until I told her the danger had passed.  Geez!

  Today, by all other standards, was a normal day here on the Bayou.  Son and I tackled the rebuilding of the bookshelves in the dining room.  We were both inside and out as we cut boards and nailed them in place.  Neither of us thought much about the so called epic event except to appreciate the bit of shade that it produced.  During the midst of the ordeal, a rogue cloud decided to cover most of the sky so viewing the eclipse would have been disappointing regardless of how we felt.  While discussing this fact, we had to laugh at the old dog, PJ.  He was sound asleep.  Both of us decided that he was pretty smart.  He did not have to buy some fancy-schmancy eyewear to protect his peepers.  Take a snooze and all is well!  Smart dog!

  Now that the grand event is over, folks everywhere are all the richer for the occurrence or maybe poorer depending on how much they spent to stare at the sun.  The merchants are happy that they sold out of their "solar glasses", everyday folks are still in wonderment of a natural phenomenon and the news media's hype was a success. Now...what is next?  Since this is in the past, what next will garner the media sensationalism and throw the country into a frenzy?  Personally, I think I will go take a nap.