ABC Wednesday -M for Minute Minute Minuet!

Click on these words to view other posts - or to participate yourself!

 One, Two, Three;  One, Two, Three!

 One, two, three; Leaf me be!  Can't you see?  I'm raking!

 (April 6, 2013)

Watch it please; I may sneeze!  These old leaves - are dusty!

(April 4, 2013)                                  (April 9, 2013)

 Pile on tarp; Looking sharp! At least I'm -thinking so!

(April 4, 2013)

 Move on back.  Cannot slack!  Finish soon - 'fore it rains.

(April 6, 2013)                             (April 9, 2013)

Looky here; we're very near.  Lovely ones - are nodding!

 (April 9, 2013)

Daffodils - give me thrills.  Want to see?  Dividing!

 (April 9, 2013)

 Minute love -sweetly blue - hug me do, you sweethearts!

Tiny ones; cast your eye!  Hands and knees; I'm peering!

(April 9, 2013)

One, two, three.  Can't you see?  Spring is here.  I'm thrilling!

One, Two, Three; counting be.  My Minute, One-Minute, Sweet Minuet!

(April 6, 2013)                                                              (April 9, 2013)

 (April 9, 2013)

Dancing around the garden beds!

Enjoying the sights, sounds and smells.

Two days ago we had 1 1/4" of rain.

By this afternoon we had received another 2" of rain (!), and it continues!

Perhaps we'll recapture ground moisture lost from last year's very severe drought (and dry summer of 2011).

Temps are to be low tonight.  Mr. Shady took in the rain gauge ...

Hopefully I won't rue the time I've spent raking and removing the layer of mulch/warmth.

This post is exclusive property of http://yardisgreen.blogspot.com

Happy Spring, nevertheless!

SG

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day

I wonder if Carolyn will think it's a-Muse-ing if I create a "Muse Day" post?

After all, it was Carolyn that began Muse Day as a sweet meme commemorating the beginning of each month of the year.  Now that she's no longer author of Sweet Home and Garden Chicago, but

author of Sweet Home and Garden Carolina (click the link to visit her),

perhaps she'd like to know her Muse Day (sometimes) continues!

:-)

Wearing of the Green

It ought to come in April,

or, better yet, in May

when everything is green as green ---

I mean St. Patrick's Day.

With still a week of winter

this wearing of the green

seems rather out of season ---

it's rushing things, I mean.

But maybe March is better

when all is done and said:

St. Patrick brings a promise,

a four-leaf-clover promise,

a green-all-over promise

of springtime just ahead!

by Aileen Fisher

Looking forward to a little Green . . . 

but thankful for the precipitation we've received lately!

SG

ABC Wednesday -F "Feathered Friends"

This week's

 ABC Wednesday Post deals with the letter:

 And a Fine, Fruitful, Fanciful, Feathery letter it is, too!

L to R: Female Cardinal, Female House Finch, Male House Finch
(photo taken January 22, 2013)

RECENTLY

A Few of our Feathered Friends

Gathered 'round out here, as of late;

"We're aiming to discern," said they

"The Fare at our dear Shady's plate."

"We know she's Fairly Friendly,

On that we do agree.

But the Food we're finding lately

is not always of First Degree."

"In fact, it's not the quality

Of which we're Finding Fault . . .

It seems it's just the quantity -

More or Less; is what it's called."

(photo taken today)

"There seems always more on 'snow days'

And when she's "got it all right,"

The snow - then it goes, as does the food -

So Foraging again is our plight!"

"So "Pretty Please," Ms Shady dear,

Won't you please yet reconsider

Being a bit more generous;

By providing more from your larder?"

I listened then to their chattering;

Their chirping grew louder and louder.

It gave me pause and helped me to move

Dipping much more from the Larder.

Oh! Please don't call me stingy.
I meant not to earn such a 'brand,'

I do truly love my sweet bird Friends . . . 

They have ME "eating out of THEIR hand!"

(This time we add a goldfinch and a downy woodpecker to the "mix!")

We're hearing reports of snowstorms on the horizon.  I'd best refill all the feeders today!  :-)
Have a great day!
SG

January's Reflection...

Where go the days, the months?   And the years?

Now we've a new:  Two thousand and twelve.

What might we find here?  

In looking for significance, within the year's fare . . .

What might we do to show others we care?

Might we be the difference - in the life of another: 
A positive influence, a word, or a gesture?

It's a challenge we can offer ourselves, at the most.

It's a challenge I offer myself with this post.

     Friendship,        Fellowship,         Produce,        Care,  

       Beauty,            Love,        Commitment,       Help,
                       Assistance,   Travel accommodations,     
                                            etc., etc., etc.


Care to add to the list?
Best Wishes,
SG

Tongue in Cheek - Akin to Blogging? GBMD

ou, Reader

by Billy Collins, poet and Poet Laureate of US 2001-2003
author of seven collections of poetry, including this volume -
The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems.


I wonder how you are going to feel
when you find out
that I wrote this instead of you,

that it was I who got up early
to sit in the kitchen
and mention with a pen

the rain-soaked windows,
the ivy wallpaper,
and the goldfish circling in its bowl.

Go ahead and turn aside,
bite your lip and tear out the page,
but, listen---it was just a matter of time

before one of us happened
to notice the unlit candles
and the clock humming on the wall.

Plus, nothing happened that morning---
a song on the radio,
a car whistling along the road outside---

and I was only thinking
about the shakers of salt and pepper
that were standing side by side on a place mat.

I wondered if they had become friends
after all these years
or if they were still strangers to one another

like you and I
who manage to be known and unknown
to each other at the same time---

me at this table with a bowl of pears,
you leaning in a doorway somewhere
near some blue hydrangeas, reading this.


Shady's note: Actually, I'm sitting at the computer and you may be enjoying your hydrangea... is it blue? Or is it like this below... my 'Pinky Winky' in its second year?

I know, I know.
I understand that the name is slightly silly... but the plant is not. :-)

Now visit Carolyn at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago. She began this muse. Aren't you glad?
Have a great day!

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day - June 2010

Okay - I'm a day late and probably a dollar short, but I've appeared with my Muse Day Post!! :-)

If you'd like to see Carolyn' Gail's post, and the others participating in her muse, click on the logo below!

Campanula glomerata 'Supurba'
Clustered Bellflower

A Gardener's Disclaimer/Explanation - prior to the Muse Day Post.

Thank you friends for bearing with me during the previous two posts. I needed time for a little "creativity!" :-) You must know that things are very busy over here at chez-Shady. I was asked (and agreed) to participate in the annual local Garden Tour. This will take place Sunday afternoon, June 13.

In other words, accelerated busy-ness is the current by-word. When the weather permits, you will find me planting (just a couple more perennials as well as annuals in pots and a few the ground), weeding, mulching, mowing, raking, trimming, braiding and cuffing, deadheading, composting, etc. You will also find me painting longed-for projects, such as my garden panels - some of which are being put in place (!), bird houses, additional plant labels . . . you get the idea.

Gladys is also busy with her agenda: Who will sit where (relative to Hazel, Harry and herself), whether Susie-scare-the-birds' replacement will show up in time, where to place tables and chairs and refreshment items (lemon aid, tea and/or water?). You know Gladys!! lol.

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day - June 2010

The Days Are Clear

The days are clear,
Day after day,
When April's here,
That leads to May,
And June
Must follow soon:
Stay, June, stay! -
If only we could stop the moon
And June!

Christina Georgina Rossetti

O is for the Ostrich Fern

ABC Wednesday

Ostrich Fern

Matteuccia struthiopteris



Ode to the Ostrich Fern


How stately does the Ostrich Fern
Rise above the bower

Unfurling greenness in the glade,
Besides her last-year's flower.

Exuding elegance she does rise -
And above all else she towers,

I'd love to join her in the shade,
and while away the hour.


---by yours truly,
SG



Would you like to read more about this fern?
You can find information through Wikipedia by clicking on this sentence.




To see who has posted this week's ABC Wednesday Post,
visit Mrs. Nesbitt by clicking the logo below. Read and enjoy her post.
Then look for this same logo on her site to see who else has joined the meme today!

Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter

I owe everyone an apology. I was so excited when I saw the bird's coloring that I made a terrible ID error! The last photo is NOT a Towhee. It is an "Oregon Junco" that is probably an intergrade with the "Slate-colored" Junco.

Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter
by Robert Frost

The west was getting out of gold,
The breath of air had died of cold,
When shoeing home across the white,
I thought I saw a bird alight.


In summer when I passed the place
I had to stop and lift my face;
A bird with an angelic gift
Was singing in it, sweet and swift.

No bird was singing in it now.
A single leaf was on a bough,
And that was all there was to see
In going twice around the tree.

From my advantage on a hill
I judged that such a crystal chill
Was only adding frost to snow
As gilt to gold that wouldn't show.

A brush had left a crooked stroke
Of what was either cloud or smoke
From north to south across the blue;
A piercing little star was through.



I know that not all these photos apply to the poem (which I thought was lovely),
but I wanted to share more of "my birds." ;-)

The photos below show a visiting female Towhee!

Happy days!

The Snow's Not the Only Flurry at the Feeders!

Hello all! Yesterday was quite the cold, windy, snowy day around here. I can't imagine what it was like away from our wooded area... I just had to share the photos, etc. taken over the course of the day... and it also caused me to create a little poetry. ;-) Without further adieu...

(There are quite a few tiny photos - click on them. Some of them enlarge nicely!)

Please do not use any of these photos or the poetry without permission.
Thank you.... nothing Shady, it's just mine!

The Flurry ‘Round the Feeders

The snow is not the only flurry

on this extremely cold, chill day.

The birds, it appears, are in a hurry

“The food is here,” they seem to say.

Quickly they each decide to scurry

but find there’s ‘someone’ in the way.

Perhaps, think they, “There’s quite a slurry

but it may not last another day!”

And so the birds, they come a flutter

and lightly perch on what they may.

“A challenge this,” they seem to twitter,

despite the cold; they mean to stay.

My imagination they have captured;

I watch them with such tender care.

Alighting they, with fragile stature,

They’ve journeyed from … I know not where.

All through Winter’s cold and snow,

I’ll faithfully those feeders tend

Intending that the birds not go.

‘til Spring arrives and Winter ends.

written by yours truly

Jan. 7, 2010

(Looks like a valentine... perhaps I'll use this photo again!)

:-)