My grandpa and invisible zombies

 

My grandfather was a professional magician who traveled the United States in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s and this is one of the posters for a show of his. His name was Elmer Pelkin, and his wife and children participated in the shows. Each child played instruments, and he and my grandmother sometimes dressed in colorful Chinese robes to add glamor and mystery to their act. One magic trick that was a show highlight was that he would cut my grandmother in half.

Can you tell that I am quite proud of this part of my family tree?

Emily Dickinson "If I can stop one heart from breaking"

Hi Friends,
I bought the cutest little book of book marks, published by Dover, at my public library's store. You tear out the book marks along the perforations.
Each bookmark has a different poem, each with a garden painting.
Here is a favorite:

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

Do y'all love this like I do? Well written Miss Emily.

This Coffee's For the Birds and Earth Day

The name of the first article I had published is "This Coffee Is For the Birds", way back in 1999.
What is this all about? Well, when you buy organic or shade grown coffee you are helping the environment and in particular, the song birds in your garden.
The coffee in the photo is sold by www.thanksgivingcoffee.com

Many song birds migrate south for the winter to South America or Africa, and this is where coffee is grown. The older way of growing the coffee plants is bird friendly, while mass produced coffee plantations are harsh on the environment. Organic coffee plants grow in shade provided by native trees, which makes a richer habitat for birds and animals.
Gigantic coffee plantations provide no tree or bush cover for song birds and other wildlife, and the huge plantations use a lot of harmful chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides!
My husband and I purchase organic or shade grown coffee beans. They may cost a bit more but we love our planet and we love our birds.
Natural food stores, your local grocery chain, Costco, and online stores like Audubon, will sell you organic coffee, and also organic tea! My husband and I found large bags of organic coffee beans at Costco that are very inexpensive.

Wordless Wednesday Hedgehog

A hedgehog visiting one lunchtime
Originally uploaded by Dr. Pat
I love these little critters, they live in the United Kingdom.

Red Sun Sunflower

Red Sunflower Bush
Originally uploaded by Art Aspirations
What did you plant over the weekend?
I planted some Red Sun sunflower seeds. The packet says "vivid crimson red". In addition to the golden sunflowers, these sound gorgeous, so I planted seeds in my vegetable garden, some around my strawberry plants.
The stems will be tall so the sunflowers won't shade my veggies or strawberries, or that is my theory :)
My friend gave me the seeds so I will think of her as the plants grow.

Sunflower
The heart that has truly loved never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close,
As the sunflower turns on her God when he sets
The same look which she did when he rose.
by Thomas Moore

Do you know answers to these blog questions?

Glasgow Computer Cat
Originally uploaded by Ben.Allison36
Hi all,

Little ol' me has 2 blogging questions and I'm guessing some of you will share solutions with me here.

Hope, hope, hope.

As you can see, my questions are for blogspot blogs.

First, can I turn off comments to an older post? A spammer keeps commenting on two old posts and it would be nice if I can turn off comments, just on those two posts.

Second, how do you all get pretty borders on your blog, as opposed to my plain wide edges?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

You are my bouquet

Julia's Garden
Originally uploaded by Allie's.Dad

Hi friends all over the world. I share here a poetic reminder of how we are each a flower in the bouquets of friends, including here in blog land and you are all in my bouquet.

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever."--Alfred Lord Tennyson

Cute tame baby hippo video

Have you seen this video of a baby hippo who lives as part of a family in South Africa?
She was adopted by a park ranger when she was found after a flood at the age of one day old. She spends time in their house and also with wild hippos that live nearby.
This video is So Cute!, the hippo is now 7 years old, broke a sofa and a bed in their house, and so now is limited to the kitchen and the porch. The hippo is free to leave at any time.
http://www.flixxy.com/pet-hippo.htm

Animals are so precious, aren't they?
I have in my heart a desire to protect the wild animals of Africa, and am a long time member of African Wildlife Foundation, which does great work to protect these beautiful animals, especially the gorillas, elephants, lions and hippos. It only costs $20 to join http://awf.org   hint, hint

The winner is ....

Wild Strawberries
Originally uploaded by randihausken

I wish I had more than one copy of "This Little Prayer of Mine" to give away to all of my sweet blog friends!
The winner of this copy is Marydon Ford of Blushing Rose blog, who commented that her kid-lings would like the book.
I already gave a copy of this dear book to a child in my church who had back surgery and is recovering.
The photo is of strawberry flowers.
Does anyone else think strawberry flowers are cute? I have some of these flowers in my garden, from my Chandler and my Seascape strawberry plants.
A friend has 100 strawberry plants! I don't have the room, I guess I am just dabbling in strawberries with my 12 precious plants.

copy of kids book to give away This Little Prayer of Mine

This is a lovely book ideal to read to young children at bedtime or nap time, ages 2 to 8.
 The short prayers and pretty paintings will teach children how to pray, and tell them how much God loves them and wants for them. The book is in rhyme so it is very much fun to read aloud. One page reads "Whenever I feel really scared and want to hide my head, please help me to be brave and strong and face my fears instead." Even the adults reading this book will find themselves smiling and spirits lifted.

 Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group provided a copy for me to give to one commenter on my blog. I think you and your children or grandkids will enjoy this pretty book with its enthusiastic message about prayer.
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307458049&ref=externallink_wbp_thislittleprayerofmine_sec_0223_01
Leave a comment for a chance to win this copy.

Poem Gardeners Will Appreciate

I read a poem I love, and I hope you like it too.
The author is Robert McDowell and he gave me his permission to post it here.

Reminder
I remember running into his house on Ocean View,
Full of myself as usual, chattering on and on
About all of the important things I'd done that day.

George sat in a red wingback chair and listened,
Never interrupting, like a man serenely waiting out a storm.
When I ran out of things to brag about he said,

"Today I planted a single row of beans."
I felt so warm and foolish as he smiled.
I felt calmer, centered, good!

The poet's website is robertmcdowell.net and his most recent book is "Poetry As Spiritual Practice: Reading, Writing and Using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals, Aspirations and Intentions". I haven't read it but it sounds excellent.

The winner is ...

Happy Easter
Originally uploaded by HocusFocusClick

Hi All,
The winner of An Absence So Great is Sherry of Country Wings in Phoenix.
I found this illustration on Flickr, isn't it cheery, and it expresses my wishes of Happy Easter to all my friends worldwide.