Seaweed Chronicles

618

Well, this is always going to be a tough date, I suppose.  Mom's birthday, and the 2013 version is our first without her.  I can't focus on that without falling apart, and I keep telling myself that she would be upset seeing US all upset.  So here's a bunch of flower pictures.  Going to Longwood Gardens was on a list of things Mom and I talked about doing someday.  We didn't get to it, but she sparked the interest in me and so Jerry and I made it there yesterday.  

Here's a link to the (very) full set.  Highlights below.  

LANK-a-stir.

The natives pronounce it that way, as opposed to LAN-caster which is the way most everyone else says it.  How do I know? We are visiting our good friends The Billes (aka Chrisie and Craig) out here in a very awesome city. I love the downtown - reminds me of Portland, Baltimore, all the other old brick coastal Atlantic towns. And five minutes outside of the town brings you to amazingly beautiful and hilly farmland.  And Amish people with carts and horses.  We might get some pictures of them tomorrow but for now, there's this.  

From the Moon Dancer Winery Friday Night:

  

Here's the rest of the set, and the pictures from downtown today (Saturday). 

Lancaster, PA, Part I.   What a lot of fun. 

 

Name that tune . . .

I hung a hummingbird feeder on our deck this past weekend.  By Monday, we had a hummingbird visiting.  Actually, it is either one busy bird visiting us about a dozen times a day, or one bird and the rest of his or her family.  It's hard to tell them apart.  I believe these pics are of a female, though.  

Growth

Just a few shots of the things we have growing on the back deck this summer.  

Bell Peppers . . . 

Red Hot Chili Peppers . . . 

 

I planted Marigolds to remind me of India, but there appears to be an Irish invasion going on. 

 

Lavender . . .

Romaine and spinach. I've already had a few salads that included these.

Rosemary.  Used in a chicken marinade last week.

 Strawberries on the way . . . 

Basil has been used in two batches of pesto already.

Cherry and Beefsteak Tomatoes in the works.

This next one is experiencing an entirely different type of growth and I couldn't be happier or prouder. What an amazing transformation!

Indian Leftovers

Outside the Deer Park in Sarnath, India, we spotted a small storefront with a man outside working intently on a painting.  We asked our driver and guide if we could stop to take a look, as there were a few other paintings hung outside and we could catch a glimpse of many more through the shop's open door.  Generally, the trip we were on stopped only at regulation government-sponsored shopping spots and this place was definitely NOT on the map as far as that goes.  But we had a wonderful time talking to the artist about his craft and ended up purchasing two of these Kalachakra Mandalas.  They are incredibly detailed pieces, and the craft of painting them is passed down through generations in a family. The shiny bits are real gold paint.  We recently got both pieces framed and I have mine hung at the landing halfway up our center staircase. A magnifying glass is attached in order to view the details. The round section of this piece is only about 12 inches across, and many of the details are 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch.  

The artist is at left, and if I remember correctly, he was learning under his uncle, at right. 

Go Eagles!

The eagle was our high school's mascot.  I wasn't remotely interested at the time.  The American Bald Eagle has made a huge comeback in NJ in the last few years, and now I am VERY keen on them.  There's a nest down the road from us that has been used for about four years now although I only became aware of it last year when we moved to this town.  I didn't get a chance to take any photos last year, but today I set time aside to be patient and wait.  I was rewarded.  One of the parents and the two juveniles were pretty active this evening.  

The photo below is not an eagle, but an osprey that was checking out whether the eaglets might make a good snack.

That's one of the eaglets at the right side, below.  A little bigger than snack-sized, I think. 

Um, yeah, Mr. Osprey?  This "little" guy will be flying in a few more days.  You might want to be careful around him.  

A little lesson in French

I don't have any idea why, but I remember my Mother pronouncing this phrase when I was younger:  tic douloureux.  She was of partial French descent, and she loved the French language.  From her, I  learned the basic bon jour, bon nuit, bon soir, merci, merci boucoup, oui, non, s'il vous plait, and the numbers one through ten:  un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix.  Those words and phrases bring me right back to my eight-year-old bedtime when she would be putting my sisters and me to bed for the night.  There were often poetry recitations as well:  "Twas brillig and the slithy toves . . . " She taught us a lot of interesting stuff that occasionally comes in really useful. 

I was not surprised today when my doctor put a name to the problem I'm having lately.  I had kind of figured it out already.  The latin/medicinal name is trigeminal neuralgia.  The old French name?  Thanks to Mom, I was able to elicit a shocked expression from the doctor when I said "do you mean "tic douloureux?"  

Not happy about the diagnosis.  But I believe Mom's got my back here.  Not only did I know that French phrase, but my first appointment with a neurologist for this just happens to be June 18.  Her birthday.  

I believe I'll be in good hands.  

And the 2013 Games Begin

SAOH Pipe Band competition season opened this weekend at the Colonial Highland games in Fair Hill, MD.  As always, an amazing amount of fun with an amazing group of people.  

A whole bunch of photos are right here.  

My photo hosting site, Flickr, has changed their look today.  I was on the site last night uploading pictures and it was normal, but today is all revamped.  I like the new look a lot but haven't figured out any of the settings yet.  This set looks great in the slideshow mode which they've improved to pan and zoom in/out, etc., but I haven't found a way to control the speed, and if I pause and restart, it restarts at the beginnig of the album . . . anyway, the slideshow button is at upper right (if your view is the same as mine) to the left of the comment bubble icon.  

 

One of my more difficult days

We knew all the "firsts" would be tough.  The first Mothers Day was the worst so far. Her birthday next month won't be any better, I'm sure.  Must just put the head down and barrel through . . . 

I got some really unique gifts from both kids.  My daughter knows my tastes and pegs them every time.  My son knows my sense of humor and he nails that one.  It was a good day in that respect, although if I had a say in the matter, there would be no gifts for me at all.  I need nothing.  

I decided a few days ago that it would do me good to a) keep busy, b) do a few good deeds and c) do something that Mom enjoyed.  I managed all three today.  And also got to spend a bit of time with someone who has been in the periphery of my life the last decade or so and has made more of a difference than I realized.  I'm glad to find this out.  

In the late afternoon we went back to Cattus Island with the long lens but didn't have much luck.  The osprey were elusive.  On the other hand, we had a raccoon practically posing for us . . . 

Pictures from the day.

My new lamp from Emily:

One of my gifts from Declan:

And the raccoon we saw at the park.  

Advice to all:  Carpe Diem, and love your kin while you can.  There's no going back, and time is shorter than you ever think it is.   Say it while you  have time.  

 

Therapy

Longer days, warmer temps, exploring the new(ish) neck of the woods.  Haven't done much recreational activity around her since we moved 18 months ago, but we're starting to get out and about some.  Finding places to go to that that aren't Sandy-wrecked isn't easy but we did a bit of exploring at Cattus Island yesterday. 

These trees were knocked down by Sandy, but they emphasize one of the significant dangers present where we now live - an abundance of pine trees and seasonally dry temperatures mean a fairly constant fire danger.  

Red-winged blackbirds are everywhere in the salt marsh. Too bad this silhouette doesn't show any of his color.

An osprey bringing home the bacon.  Well, sushi, actually.

Stopping for a tree-top picnic.

Back at the nest. Next time, I'm bringing the telephoto and a spare battery.