2010 Year-End Meme

The objective of this meme is to reflect back upon the year. Flip through your blog and look at the very first entry for each month. Take the first sentence from that entry. Cluster them into a single post (as seen below) and tag other friends so that they might do the same. 10 Jan 2010This beautiful tree haunted the winter landscape this morning.   3 Feb 2010Smelts: sweet...

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Christmas

Snow whirls lithely beyond the window panes. The robust odor of Stracotto di Manzo permeates the house. An empty bottle of Reggiano Lambrusco litters my coffee table; I swirl sweet, still-effervescent remnants in my glass. But enough of that. Our Christmas was serene. We attended St. Stephen’s last night followed by dinner at a lovely restaurant across the river. We awoke to...

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Winter Solstice Eclipse

Nearly 3 AM. I’ve emerged from the house every half hour or so, the storm door hinges proclaiming my activities to the neighborhood like some enormous cuckoo clock touting the passage of time. I stand on my back deck and gaze up at the Moon. Gauzy clouds obscure lunar features but the Earth’s shadow has become more imposing as the morning matures. I’m awed by the tranquil splendor....

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Television

The memory is fickle. We plod through life without ever fully realizing how much data our happy little brains record daily. Case in point: Milky. I ran across an old TV commercial and found myself momentarily existing in a bygone era. Join me in the Way, Way Back Machine and I’ll take you on a ludicrous history lesson. Television. It has been around for quite a long time, in...

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What's on TV tonight, dear?

ABC Family Worldwide Inc. has put forth their usual excellent holiday programming as well as a disparaging amount of pop sop, proving without a shadow of a doubt that a lot of asinine Christmas productions have been made for the sake of cheap entertainment. Case in point for bad holiday programming: Christmas Cupid. As described by the IMDb, this pint-sized Dickens knock-off features...

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With Christmas Around the Corner...

Has anyone noticed that… My Thanksgiving “leaves” are still festooning my front door… Plastic tubs brimming with jolly ornaments are cluttering up my dining room and pose a hazard to passersby… The dogs are pooping little artificial tree “needles” because I haven’t vacuumed in a week… Don ‘t worry, it won’t kill them. They’ve pooped worse. Honestly. Has anyone noticed that...

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Early Winter Thoughts

Winter’s first true snows have blanketed the yards in our neighborhood. Soft piles gently tuck withered mums and hostas in for a long nap as the ice incased twigs and branches overhead sing a tinkling lullaby. A parade of large flakes marches diagonally beyond my parlor windows, a lovely visual contrast to the warm red and green hues emanating from the room itself. My holiday...

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Summer's End

The season is almost spent and I haven't done much of my usual blogging. I thought I'd add some photographs taken over the summer rather than trying to trace back through memories.   Hide and Seek Sweetness  A mushroom in the tomato pot. Zephyr and Daddy A butterfly visits the last blooms on the memosa Elusive Hummingbi...

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August Contemplation

A lonely flood bulb illuminates the worn concrete stairs that lead down into a jungle of cracking asphalt and unkempt grasses, casting the manicured lawn and planting beds into shadow beyond the green-wire dog fence. Moths pound themselves against the bulb in cadence with the chirping insects and late summer mating calls of amphibians shrouded by dense vegetation. A spider descends...

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Lesser Angle-winged Katydid

One more for the back porch collection: Lesser Angle-winged Katydid - Microcentrum retinerve She paid us a visit the other night. This clip is from Youtube. It captures the courtship song (it sounds like “katy did, katy didn’t” at a distance, hence their name) as well as the method used to create the sound. (Turn off the blog music by clicking on the Playlist...

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I Will Survive

I haven’t bothered to write in a while. I attempted a few “fresh start” blogs but quickly gave up on them. The Bemused Muse was my identity (and already had a top-ranking place in Google for some asinine reason.)I’m returning but I won’t promise sunshine and roses. I will be as politically and religiously unsympathetic as ever but I do promise to pepper those posts with scientific discoveries, introspection and the occasional “this was my day” entries. I don’t know if I will continue Sunday Scribblings (it became too much of a clique) and I don’t think I’ll participate in any...

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Prompt Writes: love

A simple drop in a still pond, unfurling ripples in satin slips scattering water bugs and bringing disorder to what was so orderly prior.This drop, this sudden onslaught, welcomed and cherished, ripples ever onward.I...

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Living Room Update

I haven't had time to blog. I barely had time to take photographs this week (and I won't have time to sort the pictures and post them.)The new furniture arrived this week. It's very comfortable, fills the living room, and creates a cozy atmosphere. I finished painting the walls in the nick of time. Sadly, my flash turns the wall color into a strange pea-green haze.We've had...

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More Snow

Water melting from the upper branches of the maple tree: it froze during a sudden drop in temperature, making this lovely sculpture.Deep drifts. We've run out of places to put the snow. Getting in and out of our drive is difficult.More deep snow. Note the downstairs windows on the neighbor's brick house. Deadly icicles! These hang from the gutter above the bathroom window.Pictures...

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Prompt Writes: Bud

Crocus budNubile wispSeeking lightFinding cold mantleAnd hesitatingJust belowBefore burstingPast snowPast iceAs couragesoftly leadsSweet eleganceTo wilting,Bitter death.Alas! MournThis crocusA springHarbinger wasted______________________________________...

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Snow Weasels

A glimpse of the snow wease...

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Back East Ohio Snow | Day One

It is the kind of winter where clear and snowless days are a rarity to be marveled at. The most recent round of snow rolled in hours ago and every last thing outside my windows has been obscured by heavy silver and blue drapery carelessly tossed to the ground by an irresponsible giantess cloth monger.The conquering flakes have invaded as swiftly and silently as a mythical army;...

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Smelting!

Smelts: sweet and succulent Osmeridae that gaily don their egg-and-flour bathing suits before easing into a Jacuzzi of hot oil; in the hands of a Greek or Southern person, they are utterly orgasmic to the palate.What is smelt? They are popular little fish found in the Great Lakes region and a staple here.Of course, they are best when they are served at festivals: This is Piper...

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