Mosquito trap ... will it work?

Will this work? pinch of yeast and 2 tsps. brown sugar in 2/3 cup warm water. Seltzer bottles strategically placed at front and back doors, and around the garden table! Let's see! The little tiny biting ones are the worst !!!

Will this work? pinch of yeast and 2 tsps. brown sugar in 2/3 cup warm water. Seltzer bottles strategically placed at front and back doors, and around the garden table! Let's see! The little tiny biting ones are the worst !!!

Minnesota Midget cantaloupe

In March I bought a little packet of seeds from Weeks Seed Company, Greenville SC - at our local Farmers Coop. "Minnesota MIdget Cantaloupe" ... and found 2 perfectly ripe tiny golden fruit under the flourishing green vine last evening. My…

In March I bought a little packet of seeds from Weeks Seed Company, Greenville SC - at our local Farmers Coop. "Minnesota MIdget Cantaloupe" ... and found 2 perfectly ripe tiny golden fruit under the flourishing green vine last evening. My kitchen is filled with the perfume this morning ...delicious. Saving the seeds, and hope they come true next year!

Working hard for pleasure

Haulout - not bad  for 2 years on her moorings

Haulout - not bad  for 2 years on her moorings

Three days of hard work - scraping, painting  ..ready to go back in the water ... the red deep waterline paint is hard copper for the Chesapeake water which leaves iron stains on the waterline ... new antifouling looks gaudy!

Three days of hard work - scraping, painting  ..ready to go back in the water ... the red deep waterline paint is hard copper for the Chesapeake water which leaves iron stains on the waterline ... new antifouling looks gaudy!

Beyond our ken

amazing quiet tiny mold patterns

amazing quiet tiny mold patterns

Quietly over the winter in my studio ... one gourd still creamy, with impacted tendril ... the other covered with delicate patterns of tiny mold ....

Renewal after the ice

Lark's dinghy ... battered after a hard winter ...

Lark's dinghy ... battered after a hard winter ...

Winter has truly gone at last - with the help of a good friend, Lark's dinghy is now at the cottage, ready for maintenance and repainting ...

Flowers at last!!!!

Flowers at last!!!!

Color at last!  How did these crocus bulbs escape the squirrels?  and pansies waiting until after the snow to brighten the doorsteps! and managed to overwinter geraniums and lemon verbena, snuggled in the laundry, reaching fro afternoon winter sun even in the worst snow.

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February - Ardoigh me mo Sheoil

Lark swings alone in the ice ...

Lark swings alone in the ice ...

First day of February ... in Ireland the first day of Spring ... I would raise my sail now, head west .... (Mise Raifteiri an File ... ) ....but soon, soon ....

"Cill Aodáin"    English translation below  

Anois teacht an earraigh

beidh an lá ag dul chun síneadh,

Is tar éis na féil Bríde

ardóidh mé mo sheol.

Ó chuir mé i mo cheann é

ní chónóidh me choíche

Go seasfaidh mé síos

i lár Chontae Mhaigh Eo.

I gClár Chlainne Mhuiris

A bheas mé an chéad oíche,

Is i mballa taobh thíos de

A thosaigh mé ag ól.

Go Coillte Mách rachaidh

Go ndéanfadh cuairt mhíosa ann

I bhfogas dhá mhíle

Do Bhéal an Átha Mhóir

Now coming of the Spring

the day will be lengthening,

and after St. Bridget's Day

I shall raise my sail.

Since I put it into my head

I shall never stay put

until I shall stand down

in the center of County Mayo.

In Claremorris' family

I will be the first night,

and in the wall on the side below it

I will begin to drink.

to Kiltimagh (Magh's Woods) I shall go

until I shall make a month's visit there

two miles close

to Aghamore.

... as the Bay freezes over

Click on  photos to view Gallery images :

Valentine Creek - Lark's dinghy ... Lark swinging her open water space in the ice ....

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.    Mary Oliver