Summer’s Dog Days

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky

On summer nights, star of stars,

Orion’s Dog they call it, brightest

Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat

And fevers to suffering humanity.

                          Homer’s Iliad

I may have mentioned a time or two that it is hot now.  Hot, humid, dry (I know, sounds weird to use humid and dry in the same sentence but we’ve had no rain for a while now and the ground is cracked and the plants are panting).  Officially we are in the Dog Days.  Doesn’t actually have anything to do with dogs of course.  Has to do with the rising of Sirius, the dog star. 

Officially, the Dog Days are 40-days beginning July 3 and ending August 11.  I really wish that means that by August 11, things will begin to cool down.  Well, maybe somewhere but certainly not here in Texas.  We’ll be lucky if it cools down by the end of October!

Just a few odd facts –

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, other than the sun, of course.

Ancient Greeks and Romans believed Sirius signaled a time when evil was brought to their lands with drought, disease, and discomfort. 

And, according to other thoughts and superstitions you can expect:

1 Bad luck, intense heat, abrupt thunderstorms, fevers, flooding, and a generally more ill-tempered population.  (yeah – ok I believe that)

2 Snakes get meaner during Dog Days

3 From the first time you hear the Cicadas sing, the first frost will be six weeks later.  (Ok – I’ve been hearing Cicadas since the first of June – so it will be cooler by – oh yeah, now – hahahahahahaha)

4 All dogs could go mad.

5 Wounds won't heal, they'll just fester and cause pain

6 Put your right sock on first during the Dog Days or you'll fall and break your leg

7 It's easier to get drunk so there are more drunks during this time of year

8 If the cat eats grass during the Dog Days, it's gonna hail hairballs (the demon kitties are not allowed outside, so no eating grass for them)

9 Cars don't drive as good because gasoline gets thick during the Dog Days

I’m sure your wondering why I mentioned the Dog Days.  It’s because it too damn hot to go outside for more then a few minutes.  And, therefore, I’ve been a bit of a slug lately. 

Well – not a complete slug.  I do go out in the mornings to walk the neighborhood.  My goal is 1½ miles; two miles if it’s early enough.  By early enough, before 730am.  After 8am, it’s too damn hot.  I have seen some interesting things, like –

This gorgeous huge Oak Tree.

I keep wondering how I can move
it to my yard without anyone noticing!

I miss having Banana Trees

This little guy was crawling

through the Staghorn Fern.
It’s about an inch long.

With it being so hot, I’ve stayed inside and done a lot of reading lately.  One such book is a non-fiction historical type. 

Queens of the Conquest

England's Medieval Queens Book One

by Alison Weir

It’s about the first Norman Queens –

Matilda of Flanders, wife of William (the Conqueror, the first Norman king).  She was the mother of ten children all of whom survived to adulthood, including two kings, William II and Henry I.  She was queen from 25 Dec 1066 – 2 Nov 1083.   

Matilda of Scotland, wife of Henry I (son of William).  She was "a women of exceptional holiness and in her own character exempt from all evil influence."

Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I and England’s first female ruler.  She spent 18 years fighting for the throne during the civil war known as “The Anarchy” 1135-1153. 

Eleanor of Aquitaine who was queen consort of Louie VII of France (obtained an annulment) and then queen of England with Henry II (son of Maude and great grandson to William).  She was the mother of  the Plantagenet dynasty.  And, she led more than one revolt against Henry II for control of the throne with result being her imprisonment for 18 years.

It was an interesting book though, I think I’m done with “strictly historical” reading for a while.  The men of those times just irritated the puddin’ right out of me!

The demon kitties are doing well.  They like to watch out the front window.

 Oooo Birdies!

Wahoo!  I finally finished my most recent major sewing project.  I started on it many, many months ago.  Originally, the designer had it all one color.  But since I seldom pay attention to what someone else does, I added some color throughout.  Gold, red, blue, green.

It’s hard to tell but the cats are each a different color and there are small beaded sections throughout.

Now, I plan to dye the thing.  Yes, yes, I should have dyed the fabric BEFORE I started but . . . . I didn’t.  So, I am trying my hand at tea dying.  I’ll let you know how it turns out!

One last thing – I think someone needs to take Mr. Trump’s phone away from him.  How sad, tacky, and unpresidential to publicly tweet about England’s ambassador to the US, Kim Darroch – as "wacky," "incompetent" and a "very stupid guy."  It seems to me that with the resignation of yet another cabinet member, the Trump administration is "inept" and "chaotic." 

12 Jul 2019

Art: Ceramics, Glass, Jewelry, Mixed Media, Painting, Wood, Sculpt …

It is so hard to sit down at the computer these days.  Seems like every time I do, two pairs of gray ears pop up and the demon kitties come running.  One wants to sit on the keyboard, one wants to try to unplug every cord, one wants to climb in the trash can, one wants to walk along the shelf above my desk and knock everything over.  Yes, there are only two of them, however, seems like three-times as many when I’m trying to do anything! 

Yesterday Ellen and I drove over to Rockport to the

We went for the first time, last year.  It was very impressive.  So, we started watching for dates for this year.  We made our plans to go Saturday.  There were a few challenges.

It takes roughly 2 hours to get to Rockport anyway you go.  Ellen and I wanted to take the scenic highway along the coast.  Takes a whopping 9 minutes longer but, that’s what we wanted.  I set the map directions on my phone; pressed start.  

So, and I know this NOW because I paid attention coming back, you take Hwy 59S to Hwy 71.  Then a couple farm roads and ultimately land on Hwy 35 going south and west.  Lots of  planted farm land, lots of pretty ocean views, not much traffic.  

About the time we got to El Campo, Siri announced “You can save 9 minutes!” and changed the directions.  Aarrgghhh!  I don’t like the phone (or any inanimate and many living things) to tell me what to do.  If you’re paying attention and holding the phone, you can tell her NO, argue a few minutes and eventually she'll give up and go the way you want.  However, I was driving – and - we took Hwy 59 most of the way with traffic, trucks, and no nice views.  I fumed the whole way.  Okay, okay – in with the good air; out with the bad.

Got to Rockport.  Found a parking place. Walked over to the art festival.  So, if you live anywhere around here you know, yesterday was hot, humid, no cloud cover, minimal breeze, lots of sun, and HOT.  That’s fine – we expected this.

Now, and this is a personal “rule” for me, I generally don’t go to art festivals that have an entry fee.  Primarily because, I go with a specific amount of $$ to spend and I’d rather spend it on something I want and that benefits the artists and/or food vendors.  This show is held outside.  I might feel differently if the show was held in a large building with AC.  The artists are located under canopies outside in the heat.  They are slap-dash up against one another so if it’s crowded, you sort of shuffle from booth to booth.  The cost is pricey - $10.  Alright – we expected this also.  What we didn’t expect was to get there just a few minutes after it opened and find the place jam-packed-full of people.  When I said “shuffle from booth to booth” I was not kidding.  Just trying to get in the line going one way or another was hard (like 8am traffic in Houston!). 

There was good, bad and just odd.  Art is a very personal thing so I'm not going to denote good from bad, just some of the ones I really liked -

  

Stacy Gresell

Encaustic and mixed media

 Amy Lancaster

Raku Pottery

Letty Tijerina

Painted Tiles

Cindy Gentry

Lampwork Glass

Bill Killian

Wood Sculpture

Kathy Scofield

Coastal Art

Barbara Francis

Pottery

Christopher Alan Smith

Hand Drawn Maps

Ann Feldmeir

Unique Earthware Ceramics

Aly Winningham

Mosaics

Rita Marie Ross

Woven Metal Sculpture

I know, I know – I need to quit soon.  This is one of the odd ones and I want one for my yard!  I love it! 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the artist’s name.

These all make me smile!

 SD Meadows

Folk Art

There were more food vendors this year.  And, it you go, plan to share lunch with someone – the amounts are huge!

We left Rockport around 130-ish for the drive back to big W.  And, this time, we took the coast road.  Nice and pretty drive back.

7 Jul 2019

Adventuring – The MCBNC

After some adventure considering, my friend, Bobby, and I decided to visit the MCBNC (The Matagorda County Birding Nature Center).  Checked the weather – yes a chance of rain BUT it was not due for our area until the afternoon.  Temps in the morning in the 80’s.  All good.

The MCBNC is located just off Hwy 35 outside Bay City.  Believe me when I say you can pass the entrance by so keep a sharp eye out.  While there is a sign that says “entrance in 1 mile”, there is nothing that says “turn here now”.  We went right past it.  Turn around – oh yes, here it is.

  

“The Matagorda County Birding Nature Center covers 34 beautiful acres and is located on the Colorado River in Bay City, Texas.  MCBNC has six botanical gardens and three major eco-systems to enjoy.  We offer outdoor experiences for people with a passion for nature.  People who enjoy gardening, native plants or wildlife can follow a self-guided tour through a butterfly, hummingbird, rose, herb, cactus or palm and bamboo garden.  This means the possibility of encountering mosquitoes, snakes, wasps, spiders, and alligators along with sun, heat, cold, and/or rain.  You can sit and enjoy, or get in plenty of exercise, either way come prepared with water, sunscreen, bug spray, hats, and good walking shoes.” 

 We had both been there with the garden club several years ago and remembered it as a very nice, lovely place.

There have been some changes. 

While it is still a nice place to walk around, the various gardens have been woefully neglected.  We never found the herb, rose, or bamboo gardens but I suspect they were as overgrown as everything else.  But, we did find some interesting, some unusual, some beautiful things.

 No problemo – no disturbing the poison ivy, spiders and snakes, oh my!

I’m thinking this is the Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden

The Cactus Garden – completely

covered in wild grape vine.

We came across this very cute covered bridge.

From there, you could see the waterfall.

Hmmmm – no falling water.

  

More warnings - oh goodie - gators

 and, as it happened, we encountered a Clutter of Spiders (did you know a bunch of spiders is a clutter??  I had to look it up!).  They’re kind of hard to see in the picture but these babies were as big as my hand – well, maybe not quite that big but they were big.  And, there was a big clutter of them!  After Bobby walked into one huge web (nice to have a tall guy in front!), we were more careful to not disturb the webs.

These are Argiope aurantia

In North America, Argiope aurantia is commonly known as the black and yellow garden spider, zipper spider, corn spider, or writing spider, because of the similarity of the web stabilimenta to writing. 

I kept expecting to see Charlie Allnut

and the African Queen.

Just as we got to the Colorado River, it started to rain, like pour down rain – early, not afternoon, in the morning - early.  But fortunately, we were close to the pavilion so we waited it out in relative dryness.

  

 The river after the rain stopped - 

parts were all a bubble with bright sparkles
(maybe fish??).

Then we walked on to the parking lot.

  

It was a very nice outing, rain and spiders included.  A really truly wild place to walk around, look, see, listen, and enjoy.

3 Jul 2019

Monday – T – W – Th – F – Sa – Su - Today

I’ve sorta been off the grid lately – much and lots going on.  I’ve planned every day to get a post out . . . but, you know all about good intentions and the road to hell.

OK – first of all – KITTY NEWS!  I have lost my mind – ohmmmmmmm.  Honest to god – I spend all day removing them from the kitchen counter where they knock things out of the window; from the buffet where they jump up for glass wind chimes; from the venetian blinds that they try to climb like a ladder; from my desk where they knock over EVERYTHING; from various clocks; from the bookcases; from my computer; the printer; from behind my desk where all the wires are – ohmmmmmmmm.  OH! And, they’ve learned a new trick – they can open doors.  My house has pocket doors.  And, last night I finally tossed both out of my bedroom at midnight and shut the door.  At 6am, both climbed up on the bed to wake me up ….. wait, I closed the door last night.  Yep, it was open.  Ohmmmmmmm.

 Do not be fooled by this picture.  These are demon kitties.

I met up with a friend for a 2 mile walk around the high school track (actually pretty nice track – made up of rubbery stuff) and then a short walk around town.  There, I saw

 A really pretty Althea

It was growing wild over by the school.  Honestly, next time I’m over there, I’m going to take a cutting and see if I can root one.  Then, this –

  Interesting planter!

Tuesday was a DAY.  My sister was to be admitted to the hospital for a heart procedure.  And, because she is my only sister, I decided I had to be there also.  Otherwise, I’m pretty sure my brother-in-law would have turned off his phone after the 30^th call in 30 minutes – how’s things?  when she’s going in?  how’s she feeling?  what’s happening now?  So, I left Wharton at 6am to drive into Houston – in the pouring down rain.  Got to stay back with her until the go time arrived, then we waited and waited and waited.  And, finally the doctor came out to say all went well and she was in recovery.  Thank all the gods and goddesses.  Then, I headed for home.  My sister-in-law, niece and grandniece were coming for a visit.  This part of my family is from Washington (state) so I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like.  The last time they were here, my grandniece was 3.  Now, she’s an active, busy 7-year old.  She was very taken with the demon kitties.  I don’t think their little feeties touched to ground for 3 days.

It was a very long full day.

Wednesday we went to Matagorda.  Our beaches here are a little different than the beaches in the frozen northlands.  Primarily – you can actually get in the water here!  And, the beach had seashells.  So both nieces picked up shells and the littlest one paddled a bit in the water.

We left the beach about noon-thirty (it was starting to get really hot by then), got a quick bite of lunch and visited some of the local tourist shops. 

The beach was just a little odd this visit.  If you’ve been there you know there is a huge fishing pier that extends from the parking lot, over the dunes, over much of the water to a set of stairs down to huge granite blocks then to the beach itself. 

This time, the dunes were as high as the bridge.  I have never seen this before!

Now, I’ve been going to one beach or another for my entire life.  I know about the sun.  I know how quickly you can burn.  I know to wear a hat, sunglasses, AND sunscreen.  And, I did all that.  Except I missed one place with the sunscreen.

Sunburned toesies!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Another long full day.

Thursday was our day to “do Wharton”.  What that means is to visit the several gift, antique, and curio shops about town including one in the suburb of Glen Flora (bet you didn’t know Wharton had a suburb).  And, since 3 of the 4 Abbott cousins live close by, we made trips around so they all had time to laugh, giggle, visit, and remember.

Yet another long full day.

Friday was Tuesday in reverse, sorta.  First thing – Megan and I went to an Estate Sale (normally something Ellen and I do but, she was still in the hospital).  And I found a WONDERFUL, MARVELOUS, TERRIFIC thing.  Yay!

It’s a 1950 Mirro Cooky and Pastry Press!  With all the disks!  And the recipe book!  And in its original box!  So Coooooool!

So, here’s the thing – when I was growing up, I can remember my mother making Spritz (butter) Christmas cookies using this type cookie press.  And, in fact, when I had my children, I got the press from her and we did the same thing.  I pressed the dough onto the cookie sheet using the various shaped disks (tree, flower, camel, wreath, dog, etc).  The children decorated the cookies with sprinkles, colored sugars, red hots, and those little silver balls that could break your teeth.  Sadly, in the various moves, the cookie press disappeared. 

So I bought a more modern one when my grandchildren were ready to help make cookies.  Poop!  Stupid thing was useless – did not work well – grrrrrrr – went into the trash.  Not too long ago one granddaughter asked if I one – “that worked because the new ones were trash”.  Sadly – no. 

I snapped it right up!

 Later Friday morning, all my WA family left.  And, my sister came home from the hospital.  She assures me she is doing fine.  The procedure worked. The new meds are doing their job.  All is well.  Tuesday in reverse.  Oh, and I had a birthday in there also.  A big number birthday which was ok since I got lots of phone calls, texts, well wishes, cards and emails.

Another full day.

And, for some reason, the weekend worked out to be two busy full days.  Today is going to be a potato day (you know, sit on the sofa and watch mindless TV).

1 Jul 2019