Alien Spotted in Wooster oHIo

Actually, this is my friend's Sphynx, Sugar 'n Spice, a.k.a. "Booger, Rhymes with Sugar." Note the lack of whiskers.



The way she curls her tail up into a spiral is something I've never seen other cats do. Maybe because other cats, with their fur-laden tails, can't?

Now Blooming in a Yard Near You

The irrepressible dandelion.



The irrepressible periwinkle.



Lots of sunny daffodils.



And some shy lil' bloodroot.

Sometimes Those Junk E-mails are Good for a Laugh

From today's inbox:

Five tips for a woman....

1. It is important that a man helps you around the house and has a job.
2. It is important that a man makes you laugh.
3. It is important to find a man you can count on and doesn't lie to you.
4. It is important that a man loves you and spoils you.
5. It is important that these four men don't know each other.

The Farm Boy Shares His Naked Cat Pix

"You know I wouldn't get a normal cat," he said, when he told me he had sold his cigar collection to pay for the Sphynx.

"But I at least thought you would get one with fur!" I said. "It's kind of the whole point of a cat."

Still, she looks sweet. And like she could pick up Radio Free Europe with those ears.

This is Evidently Me in a Relationship

Gazin' at the sky, pickin' pretty posies, and steppin' off some dang cliff.

It's not the first time.

A lesson will be repeated until learned.

At least I'm taking the yappy little white dog down with me.

Note to My Commenters: Sorry!

It was brought to my attention that comments were being made that were not making it to the blog. I found out why: they've been patiently waiting in moderation, which I didn't realize was turned on. I've let them out of detention and they're now all up.

Sorry - I've not been ignoring you. I've just been ignoring the comment moderation tab.

Squill!

While I'm quite pleased with my progress in using the macro setting on the camera, I am less pleased with the loss of brilliant purple colors when jpg's are compressed for the web.



Violets



D. - what are these?



White crocus

Epiphany

My heart felt pinched and dry today.

My eyes wanted to close and sleep sleep sleep, yet my nerves were trying to crawl out of my skin. I’ve got work trouble, home trouble, man trouble, want-to-go-to-Whitefish-Point-and-probably-can’t trouble.

My heart couldn’t pull anything more out of itself to keep going and started to build a wall of its own dry red dust so maybe it would never have to go out again.

Please, can we just stay in tonight?

Then, while opening a can of chicken to make tacos for dinner, a gentle spark sent all my heart wall dust crumbling to the carpet:

I am part of the universe.

The only time my heart runs dry is when I forget that.

Aw, a Baby

My brother collected spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum). From a few long-lived specimens that have survived my mother’s macrame hangers since the ‘70’s, he propagated a whole jungle of the narrow- and many-leaved plants. Once I came home from oHIo and he had about two dozen of the “babies” taking root in yellow dixie cups, lined up on the sill of the bay window like carnival ducks. He even had a cultivar we had not previously seen: one with white leaves with central green stripes. We're pretty sure he stole it as a baby from someone in the neighborhood.

Part of that spider plant was put in his funeral bouquets. I think my mom still has the rest of it on the kitchen window. When I left after his funeral, I took a small piece of it home with me. That was three years ago, and Ethel has finally flowered and is having her first baby.



I also did not know her name was Ethel until just now.

Sylvie checks it out.

Usually They're Just Looking for Ted Hughes

Every once in a while, Hawk in the Rain (a blog, 'cuz everyone else is doin' it) receives a referral from Google. Most of these are people searching for quotations or information on poet Ted Hughes' book "The Hawk in the Rain." (And yes, I stole the title because I was reading Hughes at the time, and I like hawks, and it was raining, and I couldn't think of anything better when I opened the Blogger account, which I originally did only because I wanted to comment on Kevin's blog. Phew.)

Evidently the search terms "flapping pterodactyl" will also bring you here. But that's an aside. Today's referring link was just the best.



Ooh la la! Will be interesting to see if I move up from page 36 of the search results.