All aboard. People I very much appreciate:

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Backyard Buddha

Backyard Buddha began as Backseat Buddha two years ago. I hope you click and visit that title --a fun post to write.
(above is a photo of when Norma and Christina drove Buddha home)

But times have changed and, although our new friend liked the living room very much, he longed for a closeness with the world that television couldn't furnish. We understood --that has to come from within.

The hydrangea leaned into our guest,

Raised its  grassy fragrance to his face
 And kept it there through the night.  
                                    All plants seek light.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

No-Name Creek

My childhood was idylic. I began along a big river, fished, hiked, swam, rode rowboats and dodged the game warden with fish caught with a bent pin on a bamboo pole. When I was 9, my family moved to the Vineyard.  Vineyard is a census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area.

It is made of hills and bottomland. It is prairie. I made new friends.  It has a creek, which all my friends named after themselves --but we collectively called it "The Creek" and possessed ourselves in humor and patience.We left. Over the next 40-50 years, several of my friends and I moved back --retired from jobs in the big world. Dave, Floyd --yes Floyd, we never pretended to be anything but hicks--and me. This is what we see:
Big machines carving drainage for upland developments. The Grand Cat's ass is pointed  spang in the middle of our woody end.  Wildlife is fleeing: it is Exodus. Exhibit A:
Wild turkey, tall--
--to keep tabs on her kids:
Norma has piled thickets for wildlife to feel safe in. She is preserving some respite for creatures to conduct their lives in least fear. She knows where the huge machines will tear the earth and wild things trust her. Every day we get new émigrés.

Yes, we have a  yard so rustic it was turned down by editors of the Sierra Club Calendar, but it lets wild things live out their lives. I have interviewed wild things and asked what what they like least about getting older. They answer, "Well, it's time-consuming!" We all laugh, and go on living.
 
   

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Mister Bottomley Gets Quarrelsome



I bought this view of 1890s humor from Patty Warren's shop off First and J Streets. In the 1990s, I'd go there after work about once a week, translate Russian --Cyrillic script-- and buy stereoviews.  I now have hundreds of them. This particular view has always intrigued me. What were Bottomley and Longshanks quarrelling about? Let's guess.

Longshanks: You, sir, have no right to court my sister!"

Bottomley: Nor have you, sir, any right to object. You know  what I mean. Shall I say it, dog?

Longshanks: True, yesterday I chased my wife up a tree  --but that's no business of yours.

Bottomley: And was it not your editorial in the Holland Evening Sentinel that read "...it took many rabbits many years to write the Talmud"?

Longshanks: That was a printer's error. It happens!

Bottomley: Is that why, next day, your newspaper assigned you an article on "How to Stretch Your Shoes At Home" ? 

Lonsghanks: It would appear I'm arguing with one who's looking for a tizzy to be thrown into.

Bottomley: I must agree insofar as cacoethes.

Longshanks: Which is?

Bottomley: A sudden urge to do something inadvisable.

(enter Carl Jung) Jung: As far as we can discern, the purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being.

Bottomley and Longshanks: Profound and true! Bring in the stereographer!

Stereographer: Fists up! Brows knit! Flash! Well done all!