I was at the middle school for a meeting this morning, and as I arrived I noticed the entire high school walking over and entering the MS cafeteria…Guess why?
Bomb threat evacuation. I had to get the police to move their barriers to let me drive out when the meeting was over.
Bomb threats? Yeah, every time some kid has an exam they want to get out of…well, maybe not that often, but it is actually a fairly commonplace occurrence (2-3 times a year). The good thing is that they have never actually found a bomb or anything even remotely resembling one.
My dad, who was an abundant gardener, lamented every spring, as he began growing plants from seeds under grow lights and in cold frames, the year he lost all his plants to a hard freeze on May 27th.
You know, I just realized we have no turtles or tortoises in Tasmania. We have oceanic turtles in our waters, but it’s very unlikely I’ll ever spot one of those.
I guess the plus side is that I don’t have to play dodge-’em (and then stop the car and run back to get them off the road) like I did when I lived in NM.
No wasps here yet, far as I know — but there seems to be a new hatch of flies, carpeting the damp ground beside the barn.
It all seems awfully early this year.
Good morning Andi and keres! I managed to get in a little garden clean-up yesterday between raindrops. It looks like today will be for indoor activities only, with a big snow & ice storm moving in our general direction from Illinois. Maybe it’ll go just north of us as it occasionally does. Thanks for the puppy shots; the eye in number 2 really says a lot!
None of the forecasts I’ve seen suggest anything more than a few snow showers so I think we’re safe. But I was still glad to see that warmer weather will be back tomorrow.
Fantastic! Love seeing the difference in cloud levels.
I’ll bet ‘clouds’ could be a pretty fruitful category for the Flog — if we haven’t done it already.
Only temporarily. His people are away from home fairly often & leave him here at the farmhouse with my friend & I. He’s a fairly unusual type of kitty, called an Abyssinian.
So glad you enjoyed the day there today. Sounds as if it was truly scrumptious. I often think about heading down your way — winter’s taking leave too slowly here.
Took my little Crackerjack prize up the hill today, into the old farmer’s fields. These old pastures (the farmer kept sheep) are quietly alive with human history; they’re now the property of NYC as part of the watershed. If you dig stone walls, you might like these. The walls literally wind up & down the hillside for miles.
The weather wasn’t bad: about 48, misting lightly.
Please enjoy!
I am reminded of Andy Goldsworthy’s work. I lack the words to describe how utterly wonderful they are. The temporary nature of his work is something I also find very compelling.
This is a link to his wall at Storm King, NY and this links to photos of some of his other work.
Interesting! Thanks for the links. I’m not familiar with his work.
His Storm King wall clearly has a relationship to communally created stone walls like the ones here at Moon Hill & throughout the agrarian world.
What’s most interesting to me is the basic durability of human interest in this type of form, even in a strictly aesthetic (rather than traditionally ulitarian) usage.
The trees at Storm King were integral to the sculptural form of the wall, but, in general, trees in old pastures have taken hold when the walls have been abandoned.
How intriguing in an old pasture become forest, shrouded in mist. One of my strongest memories of the landscape in Europe is of the old stone walls. The sandstone prevalent in our neighborhood sadly precludes any such legacy. It just melts back into the earth in a relatively short time.
Sandstone is basically what we have here too, iirc.
These walls are relatively new, especially compared to what’s seen in Europe. The earth is gently taking them back already, without the necessary vigilant repair that ‘working walls’ receive.
Their vulnerable spots are poignant when they also ‘remember’, in their basic endurance, the very hands of the people who created them, long returned to earth themselves.
I lived on the southern end, in Asheville, NC for a while (the locale for that Jesus pic, actually). Now I reckon I’m in the northern part of the Appalachian plateau, in the central Catskills. I do love these mountains.
I’d like to see more pics of where you’re at some time, if you’re interested.
We’ve got those too, CG. Yep, we got snow last night. What a surprise! It’s melted a bit since I was out this morning — hiking uphill over wet snow! ha ha! — but it’s also cooled down a bit, with the wind picking up. Down to about 28 from 35 in the A M.
We’re up at about 2100′ here; down in the valley they might’ve missed out on the snow, since there’s generally about a 5 degree difference.
The old one was a bit puppied up…
What, you don’t like puppies?
Look how muddy they are!
I love that picture in large size. It’s going to be strange seeing only one puppy from now one.
I was at the middle school for a meeting this morning, and as I arrived I noticed the entire high school walking over and entering the MS cafeteria…Guess why?
Bomb threat evacuation. I had to get the police to move their barriers to let me drive out when the meeting was over.
wow, has that ever happened before?
Bomb threats? Yeah, every time some kid has an exam they want to get out of…well, maybe not that often, but it is actually a fairly commonplace occurrence (2-3 times a year). The good thing is that they have never actually found a bomb or anything even remotely resembling one.
I wold say that’s a good thing. Either schools don’t have bomb threats here or they don’t make the news. We have shootings instead 🙂
Perfection. 🙂
Morning Andi.
Plans for my day:
Oh, and somewhere in there post the Dog Blog.
Well I’m glad that somewhere in there worked out — great pics (and video).
Blogging goes well with the loafing bit. It’s almost a two-fer.
That’s because you’re talented — when I’m loafing anything that requires the effort of hand-eye coordination immediately qualifies as work.
Shouldn’t steps 2, 3 & 4 all end with (& housebreak puppy)?
Well . . . yes.
This week’s theme: Random. Show us what you got. You can do the showing and looking right here.
Go Purdue!!!!
Purdue??? you say. Umm yes, the Purdue women’s b’ball team plays Rutgers tomorrow.
I just realized the women’s finals are being held here. I don’t know how I didn’t know that.
So, go Purdue! Actually one of my best friends is a Purdue grad and a huge fan. The men disappointed her last night. Maybe the women will do it.
Go Perdue!
Oh wait, I thought you meant Frank Perdue. Damn, now I’m hungry for chicken.
Iirc, Frank Perdue already went.
Oh, yeah he did. I hope when I go people don’t say “I thought she died a long time ago”
I’ll bet folks are talking that way about me already. It’s really just a fluke that I’m still here.
The dogs say if you let them bury you, they promise you’ll keep showing up for years and years.
I don’t guess you’re signing on to that particular agreement ..
Well I have told Jim I want to be buried at our place but deep enough to discourage the dogs from adding me to the bone pile.
Quite a wise idea, methinks.
Me, I’d just as soon kick over in the deep woods somewhere & have nature do its work. I should be so lucky!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! Winter is slain, the ice gone away! At least for yet another day ..
I hope we don’t get a nasty freeze that resets the clock on everything.
Up here, we’re generally out of the woods (so to speak) by mid-April. Three weeks to go.
My dad, who was an abundant gardener, lamented every spring, as he began growing plants from seeds under grow lights and in cold frames, the year he lost all his plants to a hard freeze on May 27th.
I understand how he must’ve felt. Where did this happen?
Indianapolis.
Wow. I’d guess that’s as late for Indiana as it would be for New York. Even in the Catskills.
Every avid gardener has at least one lamentation story about the-year-of-the-late-frost.
Ain’t it grand to see those signs of spring (I was so happhy when I nearly stepped on a tortoise today).
Did you get a picture of it?!
You know, I just realized we have no turtles or tortoises in Tasmania. We have oceanic turtles in our waters, but it’s very unlikely I’ll ever spot one of those.
I guess the plus side is that I don’t have to play dodge-’em (and then stop the car and run back to get them off the road) like I did when I lived in NM.
We’re so heavily wooded around here that we rarely seen the tortoises on the road.
We did a lot of that when I lived in North Carolina, too. Haven’t done it here in NY (yet).
.. late in the summer thousands of butterflies come out of the woods to hang out in the road. Talk about dodge-’em ..
Glad you didn’t step on it. Not a good way to begin a new season, imho.
Me, I nearly knelt on a bee gathering pollen from the snowdrops. It may have been one of our precious honeybees. Not certain.
I was thrilled to see it, anywee — a real harbinger of finer days.
They are awfully easy to miss this time of year because the ground is so brown.
I haven’t seen any bees but the wasp are back … darn.
No wasps here yet, far as I know — but there seems to be a new hatch of flies, carpeting the damp ground beside the barn.
It all seems awfully early this year.
I’m not going to take any pictures of the wasps but here’s the tortoise.
click for larger
That’s a lovely shot, Andi. Your composition suits him/her very well.
They’re fascinating critters, really. I’m sorry I’m not more familiar with them.
I didn’t have much choice on the composition — once we show up, they pretty much stop moving.
I can’t tell he from she … unless I see them getting it on. 🙂
You’re too modest re: composition, Andi.
When the subject’s stationary, it’s all about composition, no?
what dogs find comfortable.
If you look carefully you can see Lily’s up-turned back paws propped-up on Luna.
I can fit your head in my mouth.
These are really wonderful, keres.
The head-in-mouth pictures is kind of freaky (especially Lily’s eye) but this one is just outstandingly adorable.
This one is great!
The sense of movement is so strong I feel like if I look at it for a few minutes, they’ll move out of the photo.
Good morning Andi and keres! I managed to get in a little garden clean-up yesterday between raindrops. It looks like today will be for indoor activities only, with a big snow & ice storm moving in our general direction from Illinois. Maybe it’ll go just north of us as it occasionally does. Thanks for the puppy shots; the eye in number 2 really says a lot!
They told us it was going to snow heavily all night and all we got was a dusting on the grass. And a lot of rain. So maybe you’ll be lucky.
None of the forecasts I’ve seen suggest anything more than a few snow showers so I think we’re safe. But I was still glad to see that warmer weather will be back tomorrow.
In fact, the sun is out now and all the snow is melted except where it is really shady.
Which I find quite annoying because I’m doing taxes and I’d rather be stuck inside on a snowy day than a sunny day.
Fantastic! Love seeing the difference in cloud levels.
I’ll bet ‘clouds’ could be a pretty fruitful category for the Flog — if we haven’t done it already.
here today. Everyone was at the garden center.
Well we’ve got the wind but seem to have missed the warm and luscious.
Your pictures are pretty damn warm and luscious — especially the third one, the Aritcan daisy. It’s so delightfully full of color and whimsy.
Yeah, I love the spoon shape of the petals when they are just opening.
This is probably the most gorgeous day in the history of ever. I wish I could make time stand still.
And wouldn’t they make a lovely picture for a new cafe (hint, hint CG).
Too early for me to stop things but come the first week in May, I’m sure there’ll be a day where I’ll want the same.
I like the fourth one – it’s kind of other-worldly.
Wow. Those are beautiful, SN. I can almost smell them from here ..
lol, that cat looks like a cougar from that perspective! is she yours?
Only temporarily. His people are away from home fairly often & leave him here at the farmhouse with my friend & I. He’s a fairly unusual type of kitty, called an Abyssinian.
So glad you enjoyed the day there today. Sounds as if it was truly scrumptious. I often think about heading down your way — winter’s taking leave too slowly here.
When I lived in Cleveland for all those years it was this time of year when I thought I’d just die if the sun didn’t come out and the weather warm up.
Hope both of those happen real soon for you.
That’s the prediction. We’ll see.
What was your temperature today (pant, pant)?
74, sunny, wind gusting to about 25 mph. :0)
Man oh man. Be still my aching heart. sigh
Took my little Crackerjack prize up the hill today, into the old farmer’s fields. These old pastures (the farmer kept sheep) are quietly alive with human history; they’re now the property of NYC as part of the watershed. If you dig stone walls, you might like these. The walls literally wind up & down the hillside for miles.
The weather wasn’t bad: about 48, misting lightly.
Please enjoy!
So glad I caught these – more Brigadoon 😉
I am reminded of Andy Goldsworthy’s work. I lack the words to describe how utterly wonderful they are. The temporary nature of his work is something I also find very compelling.
This is a link to his wall at Storm King, NY and this links to photos of some of his other work.
The documentary film, Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides – Working With Time was excellent.
Interesting! Thanks for the links. I’m not familiar with his work.
His Storm King wall clearly has a relationship to communally created stone walls like the ones here at Moon Hill & throughout the agrarian world.
What’s most interesting to me is the basic durability of human interest in this type of form, even in a strictly aesthetic (rather than traditionally ulitarian) usage.
The trees at Storm King were integral to the sculptural form of the wall, but, in general, trees in old pastures have taken hold when the walls have been abandoned.
These are so lovely, WW!
I think they compliment your beautiful flowers very nicely.
So glad that you went and then came here. I really enjoyed those — I love following the stones walls and imagining myself walking along them.
I’ll confess that I had you in mind when I brought along the camera.
I’m glad you did — I love the photos. And want to see a lot more so to be completely self-centered, I hope you think of me much more often. 😉
How intriguing in an old pasture become forest, shrouded in mist. One of my strongest memories of the landscape in Europe is of the old stone walls. The sandstone prevalent in our neighborhood sadly precludes any such legacy. It just melts back into the earth in a relatively short time.
Sandstone is basically what we have here too, iirc.
These walls are relatively new, especially compared to what’s seen in Europe. The earth is gently taking them back already, without the necessary vigilant repair that ‘working walls’ receive.
Their vulnerable spots are poignant when they also ‘remember’, in their basic endurance, the very hands of the people who created them, long returned to earth themselves.
for a cafe full of wonderful ones. It can’t really compete but it is one more sign of spring.
click for larger
I love this picture! Especially the delicacy of form.
All signs of springtime are beautiful & an ability to take notice is also beautiful.
Monday, Monday at Moon Hill. Sometimes it just turns out that way ..
ww – these are just stellar!
I was hoping we might get a snow shower, but alas, no such luck. Thanks for sharing.
I’m very happy to share, tampopo. Sure beats waiting for blooms.
Hope you don’t mind my asking: where are you?
I’m in southern PA near the end of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Interesting! Thank you for the map.
I lived on the southern end, in Asheville, NC for a while (the locale for that Jesus pic, actually). Now I reckon I’m in the northern part of the Appalachian plateau, in the central Catskills. I do love these mountains.
I’d like to see more pics of where you’re at some time, if you’re interested.
You got snow today?
I will stop whining about the chilly winds here today…
We’ve got those too, CG. Yep, we got snow last night. What a surprise! It’s melted a bit since I was out this morning — hiking uphill over wet snow! ha ha! — but it’s also cooled down a bit, with the wind picking up. Down to about 28 from 35 in the A M.
We’re up at about 2100′ here; down in the valley they might’ve missed out on the snow, since there’s generally about a 5 degree difference.
Very, very sorry for your snow … but very happy for the gorgeous pictures. The starkness of the barn against the snow is very striking.
So thanks to the snow for the lovely views and to you for putting up with the snow to go get us pictures.
You’re more than welcome. I’m sure there will be more of both snow & pictures in our near future.
The snow wasn’t much at all, maybe an inch. No shoveling, thank Gaia.
We skipped the snow but it went below freezing Sunday night. Then yesterday it was in the 60s. Spring weather is always such an adventure. 🙂