I would buy this if I could. I want someone who can appreciate it to buy it. It is not a showplace…it is a homeplace.
Google the address if interested.
FLOW
179 Enwood Drive Charlotte, North Carolina
The Parked Barge
It is going to be hard to play pioneer woman when I have a barge parked across the river.
It is a constant reminder that change is coming.
It is time for me to accept this and adjust.
I am still here, so are the deer.
This is the new normal.
FLOW
The Deer with Feathers
Maybe I did not realize the deer had feathers,
Or maybe I thought it would not matter.
But it has mattered.
The deer is lovely, but its feathers have caused problems.
Anytime the deer moves or is held, it sheds a few little feathers.
I not only have to dust for dust, I have to feather dust.
I have wondered if my son’s sneezes are related to the deer and its feathers.
Sometimes when I am trying to be patient, it turns into tolerance, procrastination. and passiveness.
Today is the day I will start tackling the issues that I have tried to ignore.
I started with the deer and its feathers. The feathers went in the trash. The deer got a new pillow.
One less irritation in my life and on my couch.
Do you have a deer with feathers?
What are you ignoring?
GO FLOW!
River Barges
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
Sounds in the Fog
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
My Messy Scones
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
A World in a Chair
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.
Invisible Danger
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
Dirty Weather: Dirty Water
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
floweralley 