The barges grumble as they glide up and down the river.
Sometimes they carry things. Sometimes they are empty.
The river is like their road or rail, only it moves. The flow may help or hinder their work.
I watch the traffic from my perch on the hill. Standing still as they pass, but feeling the same wind.
FLOW
When the fog is thick
I cannot see beyond the trees.
I hear sounds of things
moving on the river.
I imagine how sailors at sea felt
floating blindly while hearing
sounds in the fog.
FLOW
I love scones but have never made any. I saw a recipe for scones with lime zest and a lime glaze.
I still have some key limes on my tree in the laundry room. I thought this would be a great use for those little green jewels.
I picked four and removed the zest with a zester.
Then juiced them for the glaze made with powdered sugar.
Spreading the coarse dough without smashing the blueberries was the hard part. I may use tiny frozen berries next time.
They turned out really messy. How did they taste?
Perfect. It was those fresh little limes that did it.
FLOW
This is my daddy’s chair. We called it ‘Hong Kong’ because he seemed to be far away while he sat in it. It is in my library now. I have sat in it quite a bit lately.
I sit and think, but sometimes I just sit. A reader sent me that statement while I was grieving.
It is my haven, now that the homeplace is being sold.
My little world in a blue chair. Surrounded by my favorite things. Watching the sunset on another cold day.
A third Ladder-backed Woodpecker hit one of our high windows this week while we were home. This last one was lucky enough to recover and fly away. We usually keep seasonal window clings on our windows, but we were late getting the winter set up. These will stay up permanently. They are prismatic, anti-collision decals put on with only distilled water.
I will wash the lower windows later and use prismatic snowflakes. Living in a house with a lot of glass and not many blinds is hazardous for our flying friends.
I am relieved to have this task completed. I ordered these from Amazon. Look for the term “anti-collision.”
FLOW
We had some strong storms pass through our area yesterday. Our power was out for hours. A tornado touched down in a little town across the river.
All that rain has to go somewhere. It either goes down in the ground or downhill. Now that so much vegetation has been removed, more is going downhill or downstream than ever before. We have a new stream along our driveway because there is a new house in the woods. A house has never been there before…ever.
Let me highlight that NEVER BEFORE. There are roads and houses where there were never, ever any before in the history of this land. Forests have been cleared here and replaced by neighborhoods and giant warehouses and business parks. Progress has a high price. I am not preaching. I am telling you what I am seeing with my own, old eyes.
The river gets water from every little creek along its banks. This water dumps into every cove. All that detritus and debris gets flushed into the river. It turns brown from silt and is covered with floating mess. Most of this is organic at this time. The trash comes from the lakes upstream as water flows over the dams. That is what is happening right now. We have witnessed empty boats and boathouses go by during past floods.
Some of this mess will move on downstream if the wind blows it away from shore. Some will get stuck and settle. This will have to be removed later.
I want to end this post with a picture of Mr. Flower assessing flooding at the farm. He is looking at acres underwater. He is wondering if his culvert pipes where we cross the creek are still intact somewhere under there. This is the worst its ever been you see. There is a big, new development upstream along with a huge new warehouse. More water is moving downhill and downstream than underground to that parched water table that needs to recharge from recent droughts.
He looks little standing there amidst all that water.
Our ugly prediction has come to fruition.
FLOW
This story started with a sting in 2018. My husband was going in and out the deck door while grilling. He felt pain on the side of his flip-flopped foot. There was a red spot that started to swell.
The party paused for Benadryl and ice. We soon discovered that Yellow Jackets were hovering low at the corner by the door. We keep wasp spray on hand for just such an incident. That killed those present, but more arrived to the insect airport.
I looked up various remedies to fix the problem. None worked including sealing to opening. They quit coming and going above the deck and moved their traffic below deck. Mr. Flower even used some gasoline at the point of entry. This flushed some of the flyers inside the basement where Mr. Allergic watches television.
Finally, he rigged up some bottle to blow Sevin into the hole. The airport shut down.
This could have been the end of the story but there has been a new development.
Flower finally got her own television for Christmas. It was installed on the wall upstairs, after years of watching on an old box in a cabinet. The new TV needed to be hooked up to the dish cable that served the downstairs TV. More channels for me! It’s about damn time…
Ceiling tiles had to be moved in the Man Cave. This is when the huge nest was discovered. WOW! Mr. Allergic could have been killed on the couch as he watched his sports and scary movies. We all took turns climbing up on the cabinet to peer into the cavernous darkness using a flashlight.
Insects are amazing. I respect them. I usually leave them alone unless they invade our living space and threaten my family.
This nest is a wonderful work of art and architecture. I am so glad we found it hiding in the siding of the Man Cave.
FLOW
floweralley 