While this storm reportedly dumped 1/2 inch of rain on the NE Heights Tuesday afternoon, and while it looked impressive from our yard, it turned out to be much ado about nothing as it dissipated before it got to us and we got no rain out of it.
Category: Trees
Bungle in the Jungle
Our yard has gone from a parched desert in the beginning of July, when we had less than 9/10 for an inch of rain for the entire first half of 2013, to a colorful jungle since we have received over 6 inches of rain since the beginning of July. I took the photos just after sunrise, before I spent the day pulling morning glories off of rose bushes and other plants, clearing paths, laying cardboard on the paths and spreading mulch on the cardboard. It’s still a jungle out there, but at least we don’t need a machete to cut our way from one end of the garden to the other.
Enchanting
As the sun hung low behind the cloud cover, slivers of light crawled across the dark shadows in the foreground.
Like Sirens Sweetly Singing
The “Land of Enchantment” — like the sirens whose sweet voices called to the sailors to be dashed against the rocks — called for us to sit out the rains, which produced too much water for my Mazda to get through.
Road to Jemez
Continuing on our drive to Jemez, we could see the thunderheads over our destination. The junction of US 550 and State Road 4 is at San Ysidro. The San Ysidro Church has perfect Spanish Colonial/New Mexican style doors and a great little bell tower.
Building Success
How many workers does it take to build success and plant a tree? Don’t forget to pray over your chicharrones.
France Day 26 Paris vaut bien une messe
In chapter 33 of their book “1066 and All That” W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman conclude their section on the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre with “After the massacre the French King, Henry of Navarre, turned Roman Catholic and made his memorable confession – ‘Paris is rather a Mess’…” Their humorous interpretation of “Paris vaut bien une messe” describes the time as well as the original saying. After Henry of Navarre took the throne to become King Henry IV he paid off his enemies instead of waging endless, costly wars against them; he also ended the “religious wars” that he had fought in when he issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598. With the help of the minister Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, they regularized the state finances, and then they set about cleaning up Paris and restoring it as a great city. They also undertook public works and promoted education throughout France to improve the life of all people so there would be “a chicken in every pot”, which made Henry IV one of the most popular French kings ever. Although he was popular with the people, he had political and religious enemies. On the third attempt on his life, Henry IV was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic fanatic, François Ravaillac, when Henry IV’s coach was stopped by traffic congestion in the Rue de la Ferronnerie. You can see that Henry IV was a man of good humor from the painting of him as Hercules vanquishing the Lernaean Hydra painted around 1600 by Toussaint Dubreuil. And I think he would have enjoyed “1066 and All That” as well.
We were in the Louvre and Orsay multiple times yesterday and the photos show the changing light as we walked back and forth between the apartment, the Louvre and the Orsay from mid-morning until 10:30 pm when we got home for the night.
France Day 14 Montagne St. Victoire
We took a drive around Montagne St Victoire, visited the Barrage de Bimont, a lake with a dam that was built between 1946 and 1951 and went into service in 1952 to supply water to Aix en Provence and other villages in the area. We drove on mostly very narrow and winding roads through forest with scenic views on the north side of the mountains, and through villages and vineyards on the east side of St Victoire. The weather was still cool and windy, but it was a beautiful day.
Peaceful Pigeon
A pigeon flew over me as I walked out the my car, and a couple of police officers were harassing a guy outside the Gold Street Cafe for who knows what. The sunset on April Fool’s was beautiful.
Moon Shadow
I was out at midnight under the full moon — the silence was peaceful and the shadows cast by the moonlight were beautiful, yet somewhat sinister like a dragon or Scylla ready to rise up out of the serpentine shadows when your back is turned.
The ways of the world, and even more so, the ways of the Internet can be so very puzzling. I participate in market surveys that earn money for charities. The surveys are mostly about technology, automotive products and architecturally related merchandise like doors, windows, flooring, etc. I don’t know what the surveys will be about until I start them. Yesterday, after Stretch died, I received an alert that I had a new survey. The first question was “Do you own a pet?” I answered yes, and the rest of the survey was about if I would be interested in receiving text messages from my pet during the day, how much I’d pay for such a service and if I’d like to get continue to get messages from pet heaven after the pet died. Not only was it one of the weirdest things I’d ever heard of, it really creeped me out coming the day after Stretch died. I answered no to all questions and commented how weird it was when comments were allowed. I guess someone is thinking that people who don’t have time to spend with their pets would like the feeling of having a personal connection by getting text messages throughout the day from their neglected or even their dead pets. Trying to imagine why anyone would consider paying for such a silly service was like the kernel panic in the last photo.
Off Center & Not Even 