Faeries Friday - The Blue Moon Faery

I don't what the glowing orb that she is holding in her hands is, but it only glows when there's a blue moon! 

A Blue Moon

The second full moon of August, according to the moon gadget on my sidebar, is full tonight.  The calendar I have says it won't be full until tomorrow, but She looked pretty full to me so...here She is in all her blue glory.  (She wasn't really blue; I had to give that a little 'help'). 

I call the moon Grandmother because that is what my First Nations ancestors called her.  Mother Earth, Father Sky, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Sun: humans, and all living beings, are connected as family through these four. 

Wordless Wednesday - Colors

Sunday Sunlight

I took this back on June 17th of 2009.  I really like the light and shadow, the patterns within patterns on the water and the shadow on the back of the little wave (it's the diagonal shadow in the middle of the photo).  I could look at water patterns and reflections forever.  One of the things that I love most about a camera is that it lets me look at things that otherwise are moving too fast for my eyes to properly capture.  (Left click on the photo to enlarge it).

Faeries Friday - Elderberry

(The illustration above is by Cicely Mary Barker, one of my favorite artists)

The elderberries that grow wild in these mountains will look more like those in the painting above when they are ripe.  I took the photo below about two weeks ago, so maybe they are ripe by now.

Jam can be made from the berries, but all other parts of the plant are poisonous, except for the tiny flowers.  If a mammal eats the berries raw, the berry seeds are toxic, but birds can eat the berries and suffer no adverse reactions.  I tried making some jam once, years ago, but the berries of the species that grow in these mountains are so tiny it took me forever to pick enough to make the jam!  I've read that one can make a sort of sparking wine from the blossoms, but I've never tried that.  When I was young I helped my daddy and grandfather make moonshine (a clear liquor distilled from corn), but that's a story for another time...

Wordless Wednesday - Signs

Time Flows...

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so, too, with present time."  Leonardo da Vinci

Sunday Sunsets

Taken on August 5 of this year.

Faeries Friday

                                            Image from the Internet  

Heat, Handsome Men, and Sisters

                                             (Image from Pinterest)
This just really summed up how I'm feeling today.  Hot weather wipes me out and I can't remember it ever being hotter up here than it is right now.  But, it could be worse.  Down in the San Bernardino valley where my sister lives it's 113 degrees F.  Thank God/dess her air conditioner is working.  She's over 80 years old and she just can't take the heat anymore.  (But don't tell her that; she'll probably verbally annihilate you and there might be some slapping involved, too.  I know this from experience).  I was down there today looking for a replacement air conditioner for the bedroom one but had no luck.  It seems everyone's air conditioner is broken!

I stopped by my sister's for some sweet tea before starting the drive back home and I'm so glad I did!  She was working in her garden and when I said, "Sissy, don't you think it's too hot for you to be out here?" she replied, "NO!  I swan, if you don't stop trying to..." and then she fainted!  I caught her before she hit the ground, thank goodness.  I called the Paramedics and they wanted to take her to the emergency room but she refused.  I was really worried, but when she started flirting with one of the Paramedics, a very buff, handsome young man (about SIXTY YEARS younger than her!) I knew she'd be just fine.  Me, I'm not so sure about.  Why?  Because, after they'd left and we'd both had several glasses of sweet tea, she looked at me thoughtfully and said, "You know, it's been quite a while since I've had that many handsome young men paying attention to me...I just may have to faint more often!"

Too Hot...and, OF COURSE!

I think this Gilded Flicker woodpecker dislikes the hot temperatures as much as I do.  We're getting our share of the heat wave that has been scorching the rest of the country here in the Southern California mountains now. We had lovely black clouds earlier in the day that looked like they meant business, thunder rumbled around, but not a drop of rain fell.  Selfish clouds.

So, of course, the air conditioner in the master bedroom chooses today to die.  And, of course, I didn't find that out until a few minutes ago. The temperature has dropped from 94 degrees to 78 degrees Fahrenheit outside (which is a record for 9:30 at night up here, usually our lows are in the high 50's) but up on the third floor it is a sweltering 103 degrees, even though the attic fan has been on all day.  I've got all the windows open, but there's not a breeze to be found. 

My husband says he's going to sleep in the bedroom anyway because he'd rather be hot than eaten alive by mosquitoes.  Me?  I'm heading for the couch in my studio.  The air conditioner is working there! (Uh oh, I'd better knock on wood so I don't jinx that air conditioner).

Sigh...I hope we have a really early, cold, wet Autumn.

Malcolm Mews

I can't sit here?  Why not, Dad?  Why else would it be SO warm if it's not for sitting?

Really?  Are you completely sure about that, Dad?  I think I'd better check with a higher authority....

      MOMMM, I have a question!

Practical Magic Thoughts on August

"Always keep mint on your windowsills in August, to ensure the buzzing flies will stay outside where they belong...never presume August is a safe or reliable time of year.  It is the season of reversals, when the birds no longer sing in the mornings and the evenings are made up of equal parts golden light and black clouds."  Alice Hoffman, 'Practical Magic'