sweet potato harvest in the lot

The neighbors are harvesting their sweet potatoes in our lot, where in the 1950s my parents had a garden.  A team of horses pulled a shovel beneath the row and brought to light the several varieties.  Next they pulled them to the top of the mound to dry before packing them.

mysterious hieroglyphics

Sunday night reading in bed, I heard a thunderous roar of a crowd of Amish youth,  after the singing at the next door neighbors,some walking past our house, some at a distance.  A primal scream?  A ritual of that gang's leaving after a day of volleyball and singing by gas lanterns?

Today a silvery marking on the zelkova tree caught my eye.  Youth on a rampage marking territory, or doing graffiti?  Some ancient spirit writing hieroglyphics as a warning, as a sign.  Or, a lost snail confused about which way is up in the dark. Or two snails' courtship, leaving their slime which in sunshine turns visible.

All speculation.

first corn picking

Here's the first picking of my sweet corn this week.  On May 26 I planted 4 rows of Butter and Sweet.  Maturity was supposed to be 75 later.  But I picked it 70 days later and it was a little too old.  We froze this picking here and got 8 pints of frozen.  There's nothing quite like walking down your rows of corn the first picking.  Three weeks after May 26 I planted 4 more rows, to spread out the harvest.

neighbor's house demolition begins

Sharp at 7 this morning the crew took power saws, crow bars, and hammers to the neighbor's house.  They had already moved into the new house behind the old one.

tulips search for something

A bit late this spring, but when they had the nerve to open they were as resplendent as ever--the tulips by the pump.  Yesterday Groff rototilled the garden, so no more pretending the earth is sleeping.

more of the river

Here's a long view and the river up close, again from Wrightsville, April 27.

Wrightsville escape

For a short afternoon escape we drove to Wrightsville, York County, Pa., yesterday, especially enjoying views from the west bank of the Susquehanna River, behind this restaurant.  In the past week the ground has popped into green.  We also hiked up to Chickies Rock without the camera.

walked up to the pinnacle

"a poem as lovely as a tree"

What does a tree look like?  Depends where and when you look.  Here is a piece of a tree which served as a shingle over my head for 25 years until a wind blew it off.

souvenirs of a colon screening

What does one getting away with after postponing for 20 years?  Lucky for me, a endoscopy.  Here's the show-and-tell after a good outcome.

"a poem lovely as a tree"

Moving right along, leaving the shrew behind....

When the bill came I wondered what you'd have to pay me to climb a tree some 20-degree day, and, with nothing more than a leather strap between me and a broken back, start trimming.  Probably a bit more than these arborists who did a good job.  Trees really enhance life and are poetic to people who like Kilmer's poem, one of the few that I memorized.  It's short and rhymes.

the clue--a shrew

I asked what the pest guy is doing coming by early January.  He found a reason.  Apparently one pest was moving about.  An adolescent rat?  He thinks it's a shrew.  A shrew?  Thought that was a renaissance rodent Shakespeare wrote about.  No, I'm told.  This is related to the vole, an insect-, berry-, and nut-eating critter. There was no struggle this zero-degree day.  That rat trap (bigger than it looks) could severely hurt your finger.

no room at the inn--try the barn

The cold finally drove this vagabond inside.  Sunday evening was water and bread with peanut butter.  Same thing this morning and lunch.  Slowly began to trust me.  The last time I went to the barn he was at the door, but retreated when I entered.  But the inevitable--the township police.  First one with mere gloves.  Seeing the animal, he called back-up with a loop.  I don't want a dog, but my heart went out to this one as they walked him to the car.  I tried to be upbeat:  "hope this is the worst you see today, thanks."

Some kind of mastiff breed?  Trained, anyway.  As soon as he got out the barn door he peed; as the officer nudged, pushed and finally half-lifted him into the cruiser he pooped on the officer's shoe.  "Can I get you paper towels?"  Nah!  That one was not inclined to fraternize with civilians.

ring in the new

Moments before midnight, family gathered in western Maryland climbed steps to the abandoned church's bell and rang it fourteen times.  Flashlights required.  Around me are nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews and family by marriage waiting their turn to pull the rope.

New Year's Eve

Enjoyed spending New Year's Eve in Grantsville, Maryland, with family.  In the final hours of 2013 we gathered in the Casselman dining room.  One family of four children makes music as a string quartet.  I stopped in the center of town to look at this antique store in blue lights.