Virginia American Beauty Blooms

Fairy flowers 🧚🧚‍♀️🧚‍♂️

The little Spring Beauty flowers are blooming! Their real name is Virginia Claytonia. They grow over half of North America and  are a  low plant with loose clusters of pink or whitish flowers, striped with dark pink. The Plant disappears from above ground shortly after the seed capsules have ripened. You’ll see these in large spectular patches. They grow from an underground tuber like a small potato and have a sweet, chestnut-like flavor. Native Americans and colonists used them for food and they are still enjoyed by those interested in edible wild plant.

The green area is where the little fairy flower grows.

Here is what the little tubers look like. I’m thinking of digging some after these bloom and wither.

 

I’m Doggin’

 

Under the watchful eye of the new residents, Logi and Asti continue to “cedar” the barn! I got to burn the pile of ends and pieces yesterday! I try to be useful but am not worth much♥️

My cousin Frankie Powell trains cow dogs. They have trials and he won a category with this dog. My Daddy was a dog man too. We always had what he called an ‘old time Shepard’.  The dog had a collie look but no long nose. More like an Austrian Shepard. Old Colonel was more yellow than black. Dad traded him for a work team of horses and a wagon! (Per Sister Patsy). Dad’s dogs would go get the cows and bring them to the barn lot. They would cut a cow or bull out of the head! They killed snakes by grabbing and slinging them. You better get out of the way‼️ 

Truck Days

My sister in law Barbara fell and broke her femur. She’s 83 I think. She lives with my niece. I was afraid of the outcome, but she is determined and strong. She’ll be back home soon.

Logan and Astrid sold his truck, a blue diesel Ram. He got that ride at 16 and he loved it. They have a camper and the old truck often had issues. They couldn’t go camping ⛺️ too far away. So this is a big rig that will pull a load. Logi brought it over to show me. A cold rain was falling or I’d had him drive me around in it. They worked on the barn yesterday afternoon.

 

New Path

Sigrid is on a new path. This week she was accepted to pharmacy school at UAMS. I’m beyond proud. Wish I could go with her and be her maid. I could fix her supper, wash her clothes, rub her sore feet!

Her friends from High School celebrated with her by eating out. They created a pill cake. 

 

Bloom

When I saw the little pixie flower, 'Bloom where you're planted' occurred to me. I discovered that Saint Francis de Sales, who served as the Bishop of Geneva from 1567-1622, is credited with the quote. Mary Engelbreit's artwork added to its later popularity. Image below is by Mary.

Yesterday, I cleaned on a fence row. I cut brush and briars and picked up dead limb. I have a big pile to burn. It was 71 degrees. Nice to be in the sunshine. I spied this hairy moss. It’s called haircap moss, and is a Polytrichum. The scientific name is derived from the Ancient Greek words polys, meaning "many", and thrix, meaning "hair". This name was used in ancient times to refer to plants with fine, hairlike parts, including mosses! Isn’t just beautiful 💚

Whiskey loves basking in the sun. Astrid joined him and took a selfie with her pal.

 

Creating Again

Laura and my Grand Girls took another class—ceramics. This is Laura’s project.  She called it a berry bowl.

Astrid painted the plate and Ingrid’s is the mug with the L on it.

Sigrid painted this cup for her friend Marvin. He likes coffee. Sigrid went to Chemistry Club. They play trivia and about 20 attended. She won! Wow, that’ll boost her ego. She received a gift card for coffee. 

Eggs

 Astrid painted pretty eggs for Easter. They are wooden. 

My sister had a flat tire going home and then a problem with the donut. She had to call AAA. I hope Fleta’s son will help her get it fixed. Always something.

Egypt

Laura shared the above picture. Her friend’s son sent it. He’s in Egypt. You can see a tiny beast. It’s a camel. 🐫 I am easily amazed.

Laura created the little totes for her girls for Easter plus a pretty towel. I’m thinking the one with pink is Ingrid’s. She loves pink.

Helen headed home at 7:30 AM. She is carrying eggs. The wind is strong. She may end up in Kansas like Dorothy.  

 

Sister’s Here

Ran across this older picture of Siggie holding a starfish at the beach. I think she’s brave just to hold it. Starfish aren’t fish.  They have no brain or blood. They can grow back lost arms. They eat mussels, clam, oysters; they’re mostly carnivores. They have little suction cup feet structures that capture their food. Their stomache comes out of them to nibble. They can’t live in fresh water.

There is a parable about a starfish. A child walks along a beach after a terrible storm  that washed up thousands of starfish. The child is throwing starfish back into the water, when someone states the child  cannot save them all, cannot really make a difference. The child replied—I made a difference to that one. Al Harpenau once gave me a starfish pin to remind me a teacher may not be able to a make a difference to all…but even to one will make a difference.

More early flowers bloom.   Helen is here with me. The news had me down and I welcome a change in my everyday existence.  It’s so nice to have a sister who is also a friend.

 

Cedar Lined

Astrid and Logan worked on the stable. Their stalls will be cedar lined. The door to the big storage will slide open. They added a walk gate and restretched the wire tight. Logan braced the posts by the gate. It smells heavenly.  That’s tar paper behind the wood. The little windows have shutters. Doesn’t it look great. Built by two kids. I get to pick up end pieces today. Helen is coming and will take some home to go around her tomatoes.

I hope the Lord blesses you today and you get to uplift someonebwho is feeling down or is hurting!

 

Latest Blanket

Finished another baby set. This one is acrylic soft yarn. I just make up most of my patterns. I don’t follow recipes when I cook either. I add something to the bowl or decide to omit an item. 🤭

Laura took this one for someone at her school. I’ve started another for soon it’ll be too hot to work on these.

 

Dead on my Feet

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Thursday I got a new pair of walking shoes. I may buy cheap clothing but I want good shoes. These are Brooks Glycerin shoes. I wanted a spring color. I have a big foot, size 9 1/2. Fleta wore a 71/2 or 8 growing up and Helen smaller than that. Mom bought me 8 1/2. We often wore those off brand keds. Mine would split behind my toes. They probably were not wide enough. As we age, most folks have to have bigger shoes. But age 50, nearly half of the fatty padding on the soles of your feet is lost causing you to need a shoe that's bigger than what you wore in your 20s. It’s partly because of weight gain that puts greater pressure on your feet, and because your ligaments and tendons have lost some of their elasticity. If you've given birth, your shoe size may increase. Hormones  released during pregnancy cause ligaments to relax. Menopause affects  foot health. Unless countered by medications or exercise, the loss of estrogen can lead to lower bone density, resulting in osteoporosis raising the risk of stress fractures. Stress fractures can worsen and cause the bones to shift out of place. Woe to the me!

Sunset last evening 

Last evening between Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune I walked to get my mail. It’s a half mile there and back. I like to walk during the news as it’s a horror story every night. I don’t turn my tv off or I’ll forget to turn it on. I mute the sound during the news if I don’t go get my mail. 

Larry passed five years ago on leap year February 29. I guess it would be today. It seems long ago but also like yesterday. Part of me died too. I’ll never be the same. 

 

 

Sunny Days

I saw blooms yesterday when I walked.  Would I get out every morning and walk around a parking lot or down a side walked street where dogs ran the fence barking ferociously or even worse on a treadmill staring at a wall? I doubt I’d be consistent. And my bonus—Laura left lunch in my mailbox—taco salad🌮🌮

My Dreams Fizzled

Yesterday, Helen spoke of a book written by my High School Business teacher. She’dchecked it out of the library in Green Forest. I own the book and looked on my selves for it but it’s a small volume and I didn’t see it. I ran across memories that took me back to my High School years,

I was editor of my a high School paper. I put out a little paper either once a week or twice a month. We had a sports writer, a feature writer, news page, proofreader. I did the editorial page. We had to have a good typist. Patsy Gardner on the left had that job. She typed the paper on those mimeograph pages that were thin plastic stuff and more than one layer. Then Kenny Harvey and I ran them off on one of those old machines with the purple fluid. The staff correlated them and went from to room selling the editions. They were a nickel or a dime.  I only have the last one we printed. On the feature page we did a bio of a senior. The one above is my interview.

Left to right and what happened to them.

Patsy got pregnant that year. By graduation she was showing. She had 2 boys and divorced. She was so smart, our valedictorian. She lives in Florida. 

Dortha works in hospitals in records. I met her once a a few years back. She was administer of records at a hospital. She married but later in life. No children.

Our teacher Mrs. Smith is next. She retired soon after this. Her husband taught science.

Kenny Harvey is next in the photo. He attended U of A on a scholarship and became an engineer. He passed when fairly young.

Patty Davis is next. She married Junior Norris after graduation. They had a dairy farm.

Steve Vowell is next. He’s a lawyer and bald headed now. 

I’m seated next. My life has not been the one I had dreams of.

Hope Arnold is my assistant. She’s the only junior on my staff. I don’t know what became of her.

Linda King is next and she was one of my friends. She went to U of A majoring in home economics. Her last job was home economics director for an Arkansas county. She lives in Green Forest. No children. She married but divorced. 

Steve, Patty, and Linda are all my distant cousins. I didn’t know this fact then.

Our last Tiger’s Roar was dedicated to me with a cover sheet. Fayenne Farmer, the lady who wrote the book I searched for, wrote this paragraph about me. I was surprised. I won editor of the year in Arkansas that year. I earned a scholarship to Ouachita Baptist University.  I was very poor. Going half way across Arkansas to a College with no money was frightening.  We just had an old truck to drive with a single cab. My parents were older and after me still had 3 children to support. I couldn’t go to Little Rock to accept my award. I didn’t really even have a way to get to Ouachita. So I let the first of many dreams fade. 

I choose a College in Missouri for poor folk. Everyone there was poor like me. My father went to high school there.  He delivered me there in his truck. All was well. It was about an hours drive from Green Forest. I worked 12 hours a week to help pay my fees. Someone rich sponsored me and paid the rest of my bill. You had to go year around. There were no summer breaks. Each worked more hours in the summer.

There weren’t many majors. So I picked education. My older brother was an athlete and had a scholarship for four years of college. He majored in physical education. I just picked the same major. Only sport I was good at was running.  I had no dreams of being a coach. I wasn’t even that interested in sports. I was into health, but they didn’t offer that degree choice. I stayed at School of the Ozarks, two summers and 3 semesters before transferring to Arkansas Tech.

 I don’t know how I even got to Russellville. Maybe Fleta or Clayton brought me. I don’t think Dad did, but I’m slipping in memory. I was at tech without a car and very little money. I survived, but I soon gave up more of my dreams to survive. 

I started earning my way at 14.  I was a live in baby sitter for 12$ a week. I got Sunday off. I turned 15 that June. That little money gave me better clothes and I started to dream of what I wanted in life. I was not dreaming of getting married and having children. I was different from most of the kids I went to school with at Green Forest. I found friends with like goals. Other groups were into boys and finding a mate for life. I wasn’t thinking of the same things. Some were drinking and searching thrills. Not me. Some of the boys were getting drafted and going to Vietnam.  Drugs were not a big issue in my little town. Kids didn’t get involved with drugs very often.  Alcohol was the drug of choice. Smoking was the “thing” a lot of kids did. I didn’t do either.

Here we are putting the paper together “by hand”.

I may forget everything soon. These a just some fading memories.  My dreams and how my life evolved were different, but I have Laura and Erin Marie. They are my greatest accomplishments in life.
 

Finches are Here

The finch picture is from last April.  They’re still brownish yellow but are getting prettier each passing day. I love watching them. They travel on but today they are brightening to my dreary existence.

The goldfinches aren’t sick—they’re molting. Every spring, goldfinches replace their dull body feathers with yellow ones for the summer. The new feathers come in one by one, giving the birds that strange patchwork appearance. Unlike most songbirds, goldfinches molt twice a year, early spring and late fall. They grow in a complete set of feathers having  a strange, patchy appearance for a few days. Soon in spring they’ll be vividly beautiful but in the fall turn dull again. God created them in this manor for protection camo. I praise his creation today.

 

Grit your Teeth and Go

I helped my sister with a baby blanket project. She’s been crocheting this winter. I love the little bonnet. She’s doing these for grandchildren to have in the future “if” they have a family. She said this is the last one. I think completing stretches  is relaxing. Helen said “it makes my jaw hurt”.  She grits her teeth as she works!

Didn’t have to make myself stroll today.  It was a beautiful day. I walked my mile plus early, but by after noon the sunshine called my name and I went over to Pop’s Pond and sat in Astrid’s swing absorbing much needed vitamin D.