Z is for Zoo

The prompt for Mrs Nesbitts ABC Wednesday photo won't be posted until tomorrow or Wednesday - but it will be "Z". I was frustrated by the problem described below, so looked in my computer archives for a substitute for my original plan.


I took this photo almost six years ago at the Denver zoo. Zoo isn't the Z I intended to use. I had set up a lovely still life of carved African zebras in a zigzag line, intending to call it "Zigzag Zebras from Zimbabwe". But it looks as though the lens of my digital camera has been somehow jiggled out of alignment. Fine thing, when I was counting on it for grandson Cedric's wedding (and gathering of the clans) in three weeks!

If I could take a picture of myself sleeping, I suppose I could label it ZZZ. Shamefully enough, I slept until almost noon today. I've really been getting my Zs.

Anna in New York Times

Please click on this picture to see larger view!

A nice surprise today when a picture of granddaughter Anna appeared in the New York Times above a story about Port Townsend, Washington. She is "busking", i.e. playing for tips, trying to raise more money for her September stint in England, studying acting. I'm pretty sure that we were in Point Townsend the day this photo was taken. At least on a day we were visiting there (to attend her brother Johnny's college graduation) she came home triumphantly with almost two hundred dollars - and a bad sunburn. I have a feeling that Anna will appear again in the New York Times, but in their entertainment section as actor or singer. Probably not as a violinist, although she is extremely good at that.

Johnny, by the way, has arrived in Vietnam and sent a jet-lagged but enthusiastic post on Facebook. He won't start his job until Monday. He posted a number of photos, but I'll include just one of Vietnamese traffic seen from above.

Happy Birthday, Stan!

Stanford Douglas Smith, born July 10, 1950.

Stan at the University of California Stadium
after hearing President John F. Kennedy speak.

Y is for Yuletide

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday challenge is "Y".

Reflections in the bay window of Otto and Kristin's house in Port Townsend.
I was trying for a Escher-like effect, even seeing through darker parts
to the shrubs outside of the window.

Now, I know it's strange to be writing about Christmas on a sweltering day in July with the temperature in the upper nineties and no air-conditioning. But what better time to try to remember a season when frost nipped the nose, and (believe it or not) mittens and mufflers were welcome? Especially in Ontario, Oregon, where our daughter Candace lives, or in Port Townsend, Washington, where son Otto lives.

And in those colder climes, fires were something to welcome, not to fear. Fires continue to rage in California and two of them threaten our dear redwoods retreat in Mendocino County, one from the east and one from the southwest.

Maybe this will cool me off a bit!

This noble fir graced daughter Candace's living room.

This tree is in the home of the younger Otto Smiths in Port Townsend, Washington.
Otto's wife and my good friend, Kristin, is dressed in her Swedish holiday wear.

Christmas poinsettia in Candy's house.


Monkey Boy enjoys the fire in the home of grandson Joe, his wife April,
great-grandson Ocean and - of course - Monkey Boy.
They live a few miles out of Port Townsend.

Chance Encounter

The Sunday Scribblings prompt is "chance encounter". This is not a new poem. It was absolutely true to the facts when I wrote it. I could also add that, in a chance encounter with "our" peacock, a raccoon almost lost his tail and slunk fearfully out of the back yard. The neighbors objected to the "raucous cries" so, reluctantly, we called the pound. The man from the pound came to our home with a large wire trapping cage which he baited. We were to call him when the trap was sprung.

Instead of being tempted by the allure of carefully chosen peacock goodies, the peacock took up residence on top of the cage. He slept there for the rest of what must have been the mating season, then left as suddenly as he had appeared, leaving only a yard full of tail feathers. We have never seen him again.

THE FERAL PEACOCK

Regally he paces into view --
step, then pose, then step --outside our room,
small imperious head with swept-back plume
balanced on its column of shocking blue.

He wears his wedding raiment, trailing train
or iridescent satin, feathered sheen
of circlets -- emerald, sapphire, turquoise green
on shifting bronze and gold. We tap the pane.

His strident outcry penetrates out walls,
pierces our minds, awakens memory
of gothic tales, estates that used to be.
What is it he demands with raucous calls?

His hens? He was alone when he appeared
and claimed our unkempt yard, small urban stage.
Wide lawns of empire lost, another age
when he could strut and preen and never feared

the thorny vines that strip each nether quill?
Shrill, he summons his retinue. Who comes?
We lean past garbage pails and toss him crumbs,
sole loyal subjects who obey him still.

Photo Meme

Nonizamboni at Peacock Blue challenged me to the photo meme shown below. The numbers go from left to right along the lines (i.e. not columns). Make of these what you will! Click on the collage to enlarge.

I have sworn off passing memes to specific bloggers, but if anyone feels like doing this one, the rules are posted on her site at INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Type your answer to each question below, into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image.
3. Copy & paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

THE QUESTIONS:
1. What is your real Christian/first name?

2. What is your favourite food - right now?

3. What school did you go to?

4. What is your favourite colour?

5. Who is your latest celebrity crush?

6. What is your favourite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation destination?

8. What is your favourite dessert?

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. What is one word that describes you now?

12. What is your Flickr/Blog name?

Have fun with it if you feel like doing it!

X is for Xerophyte

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday letter prompt is X.

Looking into the heart of a prickly pear (cactus) blossom

The dictionary defination of xerophyte is A plant that grows in and is adapted to a an environment deficient in moisture. The most common ones are cacti and succulents. The cacti in the photos are the first I have ever seen in bloom. So, naturally, my camera leapt into my hand when I spotted them last month.

The garden in my photos is that of conscientious neighbors who realize that California is thirsty, with resevoirs very low. We are currently under a water conservation alert. I have never seen the neighbors give ANY water to this garden.

Here are other views of the neighbors' garden.

prickly pear blossoms mixed with varieties of ice plant (a succulent).

Some of the little flowers are those that thrive on sand dunes.

I don't water either, but my garden has not been planned with that in mind, with the result that we are losing many of our plants that can't live without summer water. The plus side of that is that those that survive thrive, such as our aggressive pink geraniums that ask only that they occasionally be cut back to a few inches above the ground.

My xerophytic geraniums