Blooming...

Like many places in the US, it's been snowing here in southern Idaho the past few days. Not a lot - but enough to be discouraging when one is itching to get out in the garden. I just got a big seed order from Territorial Seed on Monday, and I was looking forward to getting some seeds going in my indoor greenhouse.

I have a new lighting system for the greenhouse, too, so this morning I was fooling with it, trying to see where each fixture would hang to the best advantage. In winter, the greenhouse is home to all but my biggest houseplants. They seem to do very well in front of the patio window facing south - it's become quite the jungle in the past few months...

So anyway, I'm fiddling with this light fixture, when a flash of white caught my eye. I have a Christmas cactus on one of the shelves, a gift from a student several years ago. It was blooming when I got it, but it hasn't bloomed since. It had put on some new growth lately, which pleased me. I never expected blooming from it - but blooming is what I have!

A nice surprise on a wintry day...

Sunrise...

I went on a retreat this weekend at a monastery not far from where I live. I stepped outside on Saturday morning and saw this sunrise...

Namaste'

Patchwork...

I’ve always loved quilts. They are warm, and homely (in a good way), and colorful – and the fabrics in them can evoke such special memories…

This is my baby quilt. Right now it’s hanging over a rocking chair in my office. I can actually remember being covered by this quilt when I was a wee one.



These are patches from a “Sunbonnet Girls” quilt. My mother had one that was always on the spare bed in our house. It eventually wore out – but a few years ago, she made another one for me. The patches are made from old clothes I used to have, which she embroidered onto the backing.




This is a lap quilt made by my friend, Dee. It hangs on the back of my desk chair, and sometimes and wear it around me to keep me warm while I’m working.



This isn’t really a quilt picture, although there is a quilt in it. This is Hoover, my lab, in her favorite place to sit during the day. The quilt in the background isn’t old, but it covers a doll bed my grandfather made.



I like to think of patchwork quilts as a metaphor for life – colorful, sometimes worn, bits and pieces from all over, that together, make a beautiful whole…

These two...

I share my house with three critters: Hoover, a sweet lab/retriever cross; Hoops, a rather hyper, but equally sweet Brittany spaniel, and Hope, a young cat that was given to me by a student on the last day of school a couple of years ago. I feed them, and they let me live here.

Hoover is 12 years old, and mostly sits and looks regal, but the other two tease and chase each other all day long. I used to yell at Hoops because she’s bigger, and I thought she was just tormenting the cat to intimidate her. Lately, I’ve realized that the torment goes both ways. I was sitting on the couch reading, and Hope was perched on the coffee table in front of me. Hoops walked by and stood by the table, right next to the cat. Neither of them moved for a moment – in fact, Hoops was showing a great deal of restraint, I thought.

Then very slowly, Hope reached out and put her paw on Hoops’ head. Touch. No response. Then she did it again. Touch, touch… I could see Hoops trembling, but she still didn’t rise to the bait. Touch, tou…. And the race was on – back and forth down the hallway and around and over all the furniture, under the dining room table… Hope finally jumped up on the kitchen counter and then onto the fridge, and Hoops did a little tap dance down below.

They like to do this when I have company over, so everyone can see that I live with circus animals.

these two –
they chase and bite
and tease each other
all day long
my own personal
circus – start up
the music
the show
is starting
again…

Yesterday morning I walked out in the kitchen and they were both lying in front of the patio door, almost on top of each other. They stayed that way for about an hour, until the sun moved beyond the door. Sort of like the lion lying down with the lamb, I thought…

Pets – you gotta love ‘em…

poem for a cat...

kitten that became a cat...

cat in repose

sphinx-like, she reclines,

eyes closed - soft, rumbling purr

emanates from within

now she rises, stretches,

and walks across the table

to watch me write this poem

about her...