Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~playing with chard~

~swiss chard, Out-of-Focus~

~swiss chard~

~~~~~

My daily 'camera time' is often early evening, before sunset, when I let the dogs outside for a good run.  They're busy - chasing each other, chasing anything, chasing everything - while I usually find something random that I chase with my camera - the edge of a leaf, a color, tiny hairs on the tip of a Salvia hidalgo.  Last year while living in the DC area I purchased a new Nikon - and more recently purchased a new macro lens that has been hard for me to get used to, much less master.   But I'm letting go of the desire to have a perfect image in perfect focus, and instead I'm enjoying the chase, like my dogs always do.

My current chase?  To see how many ways I can photograph swiss chard.  Soon it will be gone (gone = sauteed) and I'll move on to something else.

~~~~~

The Three Chards

Life with Chard

Annabelle Lee and Blue (aka Dog-with-the-Unruly-Ears)

~a rare pause in the life of a Pointer and her Coonhound Admirer~

~~~~~

Many of you who have followed this blog for any length of time are familiar with Annabelle Lee, one of the infamous members of the The Pointer Sisters duo.  Annabelle Lee was a "birthday gift" from a good friend - an 8 or 9 or 10 year old English pointer who had most likely (due to her injuries) been a hunt club dog, used for breeding since she was scared of loud noises.  She is now at least 12, maybe 13 (God-forbid 14) - and in amazing running shape (and curled up beside me as I type this).

Annabelle Lee has a new admirer, the long-bodied, long-earred mostly blue tick coonhound, Blue.... aka Puppy.  Blue was my 'test' dog for whether I was capable of 'fostering' a dog.  I failed the test, needless to say (and to no surprise for those who know me).  Puppy is no longer very puppy-like:  he can outrun the Pointer Sisters and well, he adores them. Unabashedly.

I've always loved hounds - and while Blue is a lover of pointers, he is quite different from them, starting with...

...his unruly ears.

They're always in the way, almost always flipped over, and, well, goofy-looking.  His right ear is particularly goofy, and often seems to be a bit... off.

When they are not flipped over, however, Blue is quite the handsome, Pointer-Sister-admiring, three-legged-cat-pestering, ball-fetching, mostly-coonhound failed foster puppy - meaning, he fits in just fine.

~~~~~

~Annabelle Lee and THE DAN, with their hound~

~~~~~

My Mother's Birthday

~my Parents wedding~

My parents were the first couple to get married in this church, the Evergreen Church of the Brethren in Greene County, Virginia.  My Mother is now buried there, in a double gravestone with my Father's name also engraved, with only the day of his death missing.  Both of their parents are buried in this cemetery as well as several grandparents, siblings and other extended family.  My Father, for many years after her passing, took flowers from her garden and placed on her grave, on his future grave.  For awhile now he hasn't remembered birthdays or special days, and that is fine - and I'm grateful that such days no longer bring him sadness.  I suppose that is the upside of dementia (perhaps the only one).

Today is my Mother's birthday, a day that has become a bit sad since her passing almost five years ago.  She would have turned 79 today - a feisty 79 I'm guessing.  I never quite know what to do with myself on this day - so I did what I know how to do best, and what my Mom knew how to do best - I planted daffodil bulbs.  Yes, it's late - but they'll be fine.

A few of the views of my Mother's daffodils and her garden:

1 March 2008

21 March 2008

23 March 2008

24 April 2008

20 March 2010

22 March 2010

 

Gardens are sure wonderful things - they provide joy, comfort and more.

~View from the cemetery at the Evergreen Church of the Brethren~