Category Archives: outdoors

by

Summer fools

Some fools are summer fools
other fools are sommerfugls
fugls are birds, yes, summer birds
but summer birds are butterflies
I don’t think butterflies can hum
but hummingbirds can hum and fly
flies and birds and soon it’s fall
the summer fools fool us all

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: hum.

Sommerfugl is Danish and is pronounced summer fool. The literal translation is summer bird, but it means butterfly.

by

Empty

Cupid shoots seven arrows from her quiver.
Eons of experience, she hits where she aims.
Six hit in my heart but the seventh in my liver.
Now I can’t eat gluten and wine gives me pains.
I wonder if hearts are like cats’ lives?
I think it’s seven but it might be nine.
The thought of more arrows gives me hives.
I’ve had enough of love to last through time.
I hope it’s seven and the arrows are done
And Cupid wanders by and fails to see me.
I’ll emulate Hestia and Artemis for fun
And Artemis’s hunt stays protective from the the trees.
The love of friends is enough for me.
An empty quiver will set me free.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: quiver. The statue is Galatea, in Port Townsend.

by

Rock rasp

There is a raspy sound when the beach is pebbles and the waves wash in and they rasp together. It is a singing clicking rasp. Beautiful!

I walk Marrowstone Island early yesterday, since there is a very low tide in the morning and it was sunny and gorgeous. The clear agates light up.

This one is clear in the center. I have to dig it out of the mud flat with another rock.

Turn again.

There, isn’t it beautiful with the light shining through?

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: raspy.

by

Not weird

This is not weird in Port Townsend during the Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race. This is normal. It’s coming in nine weeks, get your feathers and costumes and bright colors, build your sculpture and practice the mud bog and the water race! Most mediocre wins! Check your breaks, load a teddy bear, bribes for the judges and practice your moves for the Kinetic Ball.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: weird.

by

Welcome rain

We are having a little light rain this morning. It has been weeks. The grass is very brown, as you can see. I don’t water in the summer and my grass comes back and it has lots of weeds as well. I am encouraging herbs to take over. I have parsley, spicy oregano, pineapple sage and thyme all competing with the grass/weed ground cover.

The climate news has been fairly appalling. The sinkhole in Russia, people falling in Texas and ending up in the burn unit because the sidewalk and asphalt temperature reaches 130, and the northern Atlantic Ocean breaking temperature records. I have two friends who are moving from Portland, Oregon to New Mexico. They have health issues that do better in heat than rain, rain, rain, but I worry. My daughter wants me to travel with her and I would like a destination that is not on fire. We are negotiating.

I did water the roses yesterday. Most of my plants are used to there being a couple month dry spell in the summer. Perhaps they steal water from the morning mist. A rhododendron died this year. I think the temperature of over 100 was too much for it last summer.

Elwha in the dry grass.

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: climate.

by

Ladders at work

You can see the ladder that we used to clamber on and off the boat while the mast was removed, set down on sawhorses by the boat and then secured on the deck. I had a woman shipwright from Haven Boatworks and she was fast and efficient. I helped. I am not bad with knots but she is way better.

I have a ladder at home so I can do some cleaning and buffing and show Sun Tui to interested buyers!

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: ladder.