“Raindrops on roses . . . .”

I’m in agreement with Maria in listing “raindrops on roses” as one of her “fav — or — ite things“!  We’ve been parched around here for a couple of weeks, with sunlight and high winds.  Late last night the thunder and rain rolled in.  What a joy to go to sleep and wake to the [...]

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I’m thankful for people, and their different views of beauty!

I write a lot about our “full house” of old stuff.  But I do want to share that I appreciate those of you who love the composure and serenity of extra space in your homes!  Indeed there is something very soothing about three interesting things on a table, as well as thirteen.  I do understand your way of seeing!  The beauty of uncluttered space impacts me [...]

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Good Conversation!

One of the many perks here at our pleasant Nashotah home is the fact that in our very same building there is a man who has a northern home just a short distance from where we lived up north, near Phillips. Wisconsin.  Earl gets up north frequently, something we’d hoped to do but so far haven’t [...]

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The Rivers in My Life

“The tale that River told was so strange, so mysterious, that all the listening in the world did not explain all that was in it.  Even River, who seemed to be doing just as he liked, was not entirely his own master . . . . something that the sea had said had got into [...]

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A Picture Show

Looking at pictures has been a popular form of recreation ever since the invention of photography, and before that throughout the centuries of capturing people and scenery via sketching and painting.  When I was growing up, one still found stereopticons on coffee tables.  For those who do not haunt antique shops, a stereopticon was a wood and [...]

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A Robust Soul–Robert Louis Stevenson

  I have loved this author ever since I can remember.  As a child, I loved (and still do!) Robert Louis Stevenson’s A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES.  Who wasn’t raised on TREASURE ISLAND, KIDNAPPED, AND THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE?  I certainly hope most of us were! According to Wikipedia, Stevenson [...]

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“Mad as a March Hare”

 “To be as ‘mad as a March hare’ is an English idiomatic phrase derived from the observed antics, said to occur (some say incorrectly) only in the March breeding season of the hare.  The phrase is an allusion that can be used to refer to any other animal or human who behaves in the excitable [...]

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“Only God can make a tree.” Joyce Kilmer

“A township where one primitive forest waves above while another rots below–such a town is fitted to raise not only corn and potatoes, but poets and philosophers for the coming ages.” Henry David Thoreau All of my life, I’ve had a passion for trees.  Many of my childhood hours were spent in a horse chestnut [...]

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Celebrating Color

Above you will see the front view of a tunic, hot off my knitting needles.  I simply have to have color!   A few browns, greys, and blacks reside in my closet and dresser drawers.  These are quiet, restful colors— lovely in nature, and elegant on some individuals.  I wear the muted tones on occasion in the fall—but [...]

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Thyme on My Hands

The snow that mounded our neighborhood and covered a little dog’s play yard is all but gone.  Today I inspected our gardens, and discovered that the new garden area*, facing south and southeast, is completely snow free and exudes a bouquet—not only of fresh earth, but of lemon thyme. My thyme never froze out, and fresh green [...]

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