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Friday morning: 5 October 2007 7:26 am
This is what I glimpse of the sunrise from our front porch. I treasure this soft morning love light. The rest of the day the sun was bright--blaringly so, with hardly a cloud in the sky. But I remember this softness and find peace.
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Sunset, as seen from the futból fields.
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The photograph shows one of my favourite things about kids playing chess. They won't give up. T2 and his game partner went 'round and 'round like this for quite awhile. Can you imagine? Only two pieces left.
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This is probably one of the worst times for me to write something. Because I can’t write on the subject I would like very much to. Not kittens. I have photos of kittens, which I have been thinking of a lot lately, for a number of reasons. Two plus four reasons, actually. 2 + 4 = 2, to be exact.
I have been thinking of kittens to help sooth a monumental headache which took residence within my skull, as of Thursday last and stayed, an unwanted visitor, until Saturday night, after the concert. That would be the Thursday and Friday we had late dress rehearsals for the concert.
It’s the concert I want to write about. The first concert of the season, some wonderful music. Choral music. Words set to music, what could be better? This is my second season singing with this organisation, and each time we begin work on the next material I find myself quite pleased with our director. He is very knowledgeable about the music—not just as a good conductor, but he tells us a lot of background for each piece, and the nuances of the particular period of music from which the piece hails. I learn something new each set of concert music we explore. As if adding to my vocabulary, as music is the language I speak.
But I can’t talk about it right now. I am having a hard time making sense, so hang in there as you read this. I feel as though I am still recovering from this headache thang, whatever it is. I know folks are sincerely trying to be helpful, but why is it everyone is trying to give me allergies? It goes, how are you, or are you okay, depending on the degree of grimace in my expression, I imagine. Describe a headache that won’t go away, and they give you an allergy. It’s allergies. No, it can’t be allergies; we don’t have any of those. (We are very fortunate.) And it doesn’t match up, anyway. Last Wednesday T3 was home, sleeping all day with… a headache. Well, he had a fever, too. Then it was I with the headache, then T2 was home Monday with… a headache. Well, he had a scratchy throat and felt weak, too. It was almost a relief when I made a connection between what ails me and the boys being ill. I may not let well-meaning friends give me allergies, but it’s surprising what I was willing to give myself. It’s all in my head—so close to the brain, you know?
The boys only suffered a day, each. I am still feeling the effect of whatever the headache is. I wonder if it has anything to do with my decision to stop taking caffeine. Ha! No, it is not the cause of the original ailment, but I didn’t think I could feel any worse, so why not detox as long as I was so miserable. Nothing would touch this headache. Admittedly, I only tried ibuprofen with a little coffee; the adrenaline from the concert performance gave it the final little kick, and by the time I returned home, I was feeling better overall. Yet, there’s a lingering something, but after having 2 cups of full strength coffee every day for months, I suppose it could be expected. What a relief it will be, once I’m clear of the caffeine. I do not like being dependent like that—at some point, you have to have it, or you suffer.
And now, as my suffering is easing, so shall I ease yours and end this. I’m going to go think of kitties, maybe find three or four to pet, so soothing don’t you think? And then, a strong cup of decaf tea. Mmm, it doesn’t sound quite right, does it?
It’s a party! Look at all those smiling faces. Sunflowers!
These are wildflowers—prairie flowers?--they are smaller than the sunflowers which produce the large seed heads, the edible seeds. These sunflowers showed up this year on their own. A lovely large cluster in the garden, such a pleasure to see in the morning sun. I guess we can thank the birds in their willingness to help in seed distribution.
The sunflowers are beautiful and plentiful this year. They can be seen in untilled fields, between subdivisions and shopping developments. The road we take to the futból fields is lined with them. They welcome us every time we drive to practice sessions.
One last photo for the road (click it for greater detail):
Angels and PVs for you.
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When, perchance, you feel in need of support, this is from me and mine to you and yours, my dear friends.
When T2 was between two and three years of age, we would be driving through the neighbourhood to take older brother to school. Whenever he saw the sunlight touching the early morning dew, he would tell me, "Look, Mommie, angels!" It is one of the sweetest things I have ever heard.
And so I give you...angels.
(click also HERE)
Ha! This was taken when the others were holding the large, fairly newly opened seed pods. I’m still waiting for this to throw out some late season flowers. It’s possible, isn’t it?
Now, what is it with the bugs and automobiles? This was taken about a month ago. And guess what?
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That’s what I saw when these seed pods began to open. Do you know what plant they come from? No, really, do you? ‘Cos I don’t know the name of it. Can you guess what the plant looks like before the seed pods appear? That would be the flower stage. Mmm, you will have to go with my description, then, because surprisingly, I don’t have a photo of the large, pale pink flowers this plant produces. They are about as big as my hand, kind of floppy like an oversized petunia flower, but with a wider base and without a fluted shape. There may be some buds appearing on one of the plants, so I will report back at a later date, unless some very bright person reading this knows this plant. The plant itself stands about 4 feet high! Yes, true. The seed pods are about six inches across. Just kidding! They are only two inches across at the widest part of the largest pod. (Oops, this is an error--they are only about one inch across. I don't think they have shrunk that much.)
The plants have been standing like this for a few weeks now. I have left them because of their unique appearance, and to see what happens next. They don’t seem to be of interest to birds, so I am considering a harvest and planting seeds in a few places around the garden where the soil doesn’t seem to want anything besides crazygrass. We don’t know how it came about that these plants grew up in our garden, but they have come up three years running, in the same location. 
When it rained recently, every single one of the seed pods closed up tight—even tighter than this one in the center. As the sun came out the following day, everything rapidly warmed and dried, and these opened up again, status quo ante.
Every time I look at these plants I think of the phrase, “Feed me.” From the parenting world, it recalls a book, “Feed Me, I’m Yours,” by Vicki Lansky, which I see at various book sales. It is highly recommended for its baby- and toddler food recipes and ideas. The book has been around a long time. I always thought that was a clever title.
I was musing over the command that it is: FEED ME! and the idea of being fed. People speak of being intellectually fed, spiritually fed, fed-up, fed food they like or dislike. Lots of us utilise the internet to visit and make friends. We learn of places and people that previously didn’t exist in our immediate vicinity. Are we being fed, or are we feeding ourselves? We are nurturing ourselves, reaching out to those sharing their gifts: words, images, music, knowledge; feeding our hearts and minds with the connections made across the miles. We are feeding others the offertory of our own talents. Complementary—oh, and complimentary--exchanges spring up as we offer each other support; express appreciation.
I enjoy this camaraderie and this community. I’m having a blast learning the ins and outs of operating this, my own small forum of mischief and magic. Now, before I think of another path to explore for a paragraph, here is a little of…which?
This photo, credit: ZAZ
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See? It’s true!It’s right downtown and across the street from the Chicago Art Institute.
This is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever seen, because of the many ways you can look at it, or see into it. You will understand in a moment. It is the Cloud Gate, commonly known as the Bean. I actually found us in this photo, in the reflection.
Cloud Gate is the creation of British artist Anish Kapoor. That’s not chrome, it’s made of highly polished stainless steel plates. Here is even more information.
If you check the link, you will see that this sculpture park has not escaped the corporate naming syndrome. I was really really hoping, but was disappointed. I won’t name the corporation. The city we live in is rampant with the syndrome. At least the public schools and the library system aren’t named after some wealthy businessperson. Yet.
You have to walk inside the Bean. It is absolutely incredible. Look at all the configurations of each person’s reflection:
There we are, at the bottom. Can you see the wild distortions? How many times do you see us reflected?
Here’s a wider view. This time I used a flash. It makes it easier to track us.
We were able to make a family portrait. Does this make me look too… ?
I don’t know where those little things came from, but they would run away and then spring back to our side. We usually have all our things with us, but the eldest was off on a different adventure for the summer.
You can’t see Millennium Park in the photo, but it is on the right. We’re going around the southwest corner of the park, turning north onto Michigan Avenue from Monroe.
This is the Wabash Avenue elevated train platform, the “el”. We turned left, or south, and drove under it, on Wabash.
Our trip this summer was tempered by the time involved with the conference. It was probably good for us, in a way, as we usually try to do too many things on each expedition northward. Still and all, it was disappointing that we were not able to stop to see our good friends on the way up or back. But wait--that, in itself, gives us new opportunity--time to plan the next journey!
The good news is we took lots of photos, snaps, pics, close-ups, prints, portraits, mugs, landscapes, clicks, shots, images... and there is much more to tell.
(Check this space often!)
Who you callin' a Pansy?
This is a Tansy. And it looks a lot better today than it did just one short week ago, when, as everyone must remember, it was really dry. And hot. I originally planted the tansy because it was purported to keep ants away, which happened to show up uninvited from time to time. "Just plant it by your door" and that was supposed to do the trick. The ants just nodded and walked around it, harrumph. In the end, we used mint spray to get rid of the ants. I was just going to say, we should have planted mint--but we did! We had a lot of it for several years. And yep, it was around the back door. It even grew up between the brick steps. Gotta love that mint. It doesn't affect the ants the way tansy is SUPPOSED to. The mint finally got tired of the searing heat, and didn't come back this year. ::sigh::
This almost looks like the tansy is out in the wild. In a way, it is. It's growing in the garden next to the house. The "grass" is quite persistent and grows quickly, sending out runners. I think it's called "crabgrass" in other places I've lived. Anyhoo, I don't like tending to it, and so I don't, very often. I'm afraid I'm not a very avid gardener here, having had some spectacular failures. The crazygrass makes a nice green background for the tansy, don't you think?
Here's another longtime resident of my garden - twelve years old now, I think:
Rosemary
Poor dear, almost didn't make it, for the first time. And then, it rained. You can see the new growth. I am waiting to see if it will bloom for us now. Have you ever seen rosemary in bloom? Beautiful!
[Scene 1: Photo credit to ZAZ (T2)]
I think they heard us talking about giving them another bath. It looks as though they decided on an alternative. Kind of extreme, if you ask me. I dunno, I had the impression they kind of enjoyed the last shampoo.
Hee-hee-hee.
