Mysterious Moment in My Night Garden and the Full Moon

 

At Christmas my oldest son gave me some solar floodlights for my garden. Above is on a night with the full moon. The lights illuminate just a few small areas, and turn off at about midnight. As you can see, most of the garden remains pitch black. I think it gives my gardens a romantic mood. Can you see the two metal peacocks flanking the birdbath? Behind it is my pink rose bush, not in bloom yet.

Above you can see the peacock friends more clearly and below is one of my peacock sculptures in the day time.

When we had our winery on land in the country I was intrigued to get some live peacocks but I realized they do a lot of loud cries and shrieks which would be disconcerting to our neighbors. Once for an anniversary treat we went to a rural motel in our area and they had lots of free roaming peacocks that had acclimated quite well to California.

Pet spider, pet three legged mouse, a magician's rabbit and mystery chrysalis

 What is this small white hanging object? Any experts on insects reading my blog? To me it looks like some kind of chrysalis, about an inch long, hanging on my arbor. The central part is round and it has two pointed "wings", one on each side.  It is only one or one and a half inches tall.

And while I am talking about mother nature and wildlife, here is my pet spider that lives in my bathroom. He or she only comes out at night and is rather shy.

When my hubby and I first married, we had a pet daddy long legs spider that lived in our bathroom. We put up a sign telling guests not to bother the spider. In that same rented house a tiny grey mouse appeared and it only had three legs. We thought it was cute and left out food for the poor little mouse. So our first pets as a couple were a spider and a mouse. Is that too strange for you? Feel free to laugh.

What is the oddest pet you have had?

P.S. I also had a pet bunny when I was a child, which my grandfather pulled out of his top hat when visiting us. Grandpa was Elmer Pelkin, a professional magician. So I could say I had a rabbit of magical origins, another unusual pet.

Easter Joy, He Is Risen

 

Yes, He is risen, a time of joy for Christians, as he gives us the promise of eternal life with him. Christ offers to each and every person in the world this promise, if you say yes and follow him.

Matthew 27:50-54 describes what happened at the moment of Christ's death: the earth quaked, the huge curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and tombs opened up. "When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said 'Truly this was the Son of God.'"

I hope each of you blog readers has a fulfilling Sunday and week and time with loved ones. The eggs below may be Ukrainian eggs, even more precious this year.

Thurber Book About His Dogs and another dog book

 

The caption of this sketch by James Thurber says "He's in love with a beagle who moved away" and the dog has a tear falling. This sketch is in the book below.

What a fun book to read; stories by James Thurber about his dogs, and his simple whimsical drawings. The book is "The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties and Talking Poodles", edited by Michael J. Rosen. I treated myself and bought a copy at thriftbooks online. A favorite story is The Thin Red Leash about how Thurber's Scottie puppy was insulted by some large and menacing workmen, while on a walk with Thurber. He thought that might be the day to die in defense of his pup, when an even larger man stepped in and loudly praised the pup. Thurber calls the man "the train lifter" because he looked strong enough to lift a locomotive from one track to another. 

Another Thurber sketch from the book and this one needs no caption.

 

I found the above book when reading "Dogs We Love", also edited by Michael J. Rosen. Jane Smiley, Armistead Maupin, Edward Albee, Ann Beattie and more contributed stories about their dogs. This book was a Christmas gift to me from my younger son, and has excellent photos in it.

If you love dogs and humor and essays about people's dogs you may enjoy these books as I do.

Spring Pretties In My Garden and Fluffy and Bounce and a Lady from Ukraine

 

I am showing a photo of Fluffy first, as she doesn't get as much mention on my blog and that is so unfair. I call this picture "Fluffy in a Box", as the box on the chair is very coveted by her and by Bounce. See photo below, titled "Bounce in a Box", of course.

 Some ranunculus and freesias I planted recently, these are photos from the packets. I planted the bulbs, or rhizomes or corms, I  can't recall which name is correct for which plant.

Above is Mr. Gnome, a Christmas gift. He is holding a solar light next to the yellow petunias I planted. Am I in a planting frenzy? Yes, a happy frenzy, and I am planting many seeds too, zinnias, knee high sunflowers, sweet peas, Swiss chard and Chinese edible pod peas.

One more photo and that's it, of cute pansies or violas I bought.

A Woman and Her Children from Ukraine Arrive Here

I am writing this post in advance, on Sunday March 27. I must tell you, at Bible Fellowship today a member told us that money we raised is helping a mom and her children from Ukraine arrive in our town tomorrow. We are looking forward to meeting her. She had to leave her husband in Ukraine because no men age 18 to 60 are allowed to leave. Her husband in Ukraine has 6 displaced people staying in their home with him and they are experiencing food shortages. When this was shared, people were quiet as it made all of us count our blessings. Update: The lady visited our small group (25 people) at church last Sunday, and I was not there. I am sorry to have missed meeting her. People found her a house to live in and all sounds as well as can be expected.

Peace Train, So Beautiful

 So relevant today. Out on the edge of darkness, here comes the Peace Train.

Peace Train

This Peace Train music video was prepared for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in 2006 and Cat Stevens was there and performed. Musicians and singers from all over the world participated.

My new friend Libby and free ebooks from the library, Elly Griffiths

I am a bit late to this game, I now get free library books using the Libby app. I can choose any book the library owns and Libby loads it onto my kindle, and I think the books load onto laptops and maybe iPads too. My sons both like the audio books Libby also supplies. My sons tell me that listening to audio books prevents eye strain from too much computer use, and is ideal to listen to while driving. 

Monica from Beyond the Lone Islands blog mentioned this Elly Griffiths series and I thought I would buy the next one I want to read, which is number 6. Then I decided to get it from Libby. So easy. There are 14 books and counting in this series so I can save quite a few pennies by using Libby.

Ruth Galloway is the main character and she is a forensic archeologist, examining bones from archeological digs and bones from crime scenes when the police need her help. She has interesting friends including the policeman, Nelson and a druid, Cathbad. Ruth lives in a very remote house in a remote and darkly beautiful area near the sea. Sometimes this remoteness leads to danger for her, but she dearly loves the place. If you have not started this series please begin with book one since there are events happening in Ruth's life in those early books.

Do you use Libby or your library's equivalent service? Very convenient and free.