Sunday Sick Day Outside - Sunday 4/12/2009

Well, it could be worse.

It could be raining.

I woke up feeling lousy again today. The Never-Ending Bronchitis, plus the long day yesterday. Hydra was also seriously under the weather on Saturday, too, but there was celebrating to be done that involved, food, chocolate and assembling jigsaw puzzles and we weren't about to miss it.

We had a great time, but about 40 minutes into our two-hour drive home, we had a call letting us know that I'd left my antibiotics prescription there.

Oh no. We'd left the house at 7:15 a.m. and didn't get home until a little after 9 p.m.

Anyway, this is the view from the little swinging bench we put between the house and the slope that leads to the open hillside. We call this the back of the house. We also call the back yard the back of the house.

We have no sides.


This is taken from my reclined position. Very good advice from Hydra to get outside to continue my convalescence. It lifts the spirits.




He busied himself cutting the lawn and cleaning up the shrubs and stuff while I hung out with the lady bugs in the vinca. I've never seen as many flying lady bugs as I did today. I wasn't even sure what they were at first.


Giant (overexposed) California poppy in the back yard. He's not really threatening it, just showing how big it is.



How is it that California poppies are so fragile that you can't pick them and bring them inside, and yet they have the strength to fold up at night to protect themselves?

I really love this about poppies. Poppies have good boundaries.

If you've gotten this far, here's a reward. Or a punishment. It depends on how much you like amateur poetry.

Still writing a poem a day for the month of April. Here's today's :

From Where I Lie

Mint and vinca mingling on the slope
The old table, decaying
The shed waiting for paint
The tilled soil waiting for herbs
The grape vine sprouting
The tip of my shoe resting
on the far end of the sheltered bench
The book
The water glass, sweating
The cedar, the willow,
the apricot, peach and plum showing promise
The lady bugs defying gravity,
orange asterisks on the breeze
The geranium sprouting from the nest
of last year’s bloom
The round brown bird of unknown origin
who nevertheless enjoys
a good reputation in our back yard
for bug consumption and dancing
The man who told me, rightly,
to rest outside.

NaPoWriMo : No Fooling! - Tuesday 4/1/2009

I am pretty sure that I take a photo of the gazanias in the midst of the ice plant every year. Just such a lovely beginning to spring. Both of these plants were in the yard when we bought the house.


The apricot tree was also here. See the little apricots? They're about the size of green olives right now.


Dodger and I went out to the table on the deck to write. We spent a lot of time listening to all the birds visiting in the yard, and even spotted a (fairly unusual) bright orange Oriole in the willow!

I'm participating in NaPoWriMo with some of my online friends. What, you ask?

It's National Poetry Writing Month! If you want to join in and would like some inspiration, go to Read Write Poem, where the bloggers offer daily poetry exercises for the month of April. There's still time to catch up! (Post a poem here, if you like!)

Believe me, writing a poem a day for 30 days is way saner than writing a novel in the same amount of time. For long-form writers like me, it's a nice way to focus on brevity and have a little fun. No pressure for me to write good ones, either. I'm not a poet.

I'm not going to put up all my poems, but since you're here, here's the first one.

April 1:

Bird Song

Within the unbudded honeysuckle,
sparrow peeps pleas to his best girl.
Finch thrums passion
beak to beak in the apricot tree.
Fragrant rosemary dark
harbors dove’s croon and coddle.
Oriole dances saucily on the willow branch
tail left, tail right, step step.
Quail whistles wittily from the juniper.
Raven glides close upon his love’s glossy crown,
folds wing over wing as they rise over the greening hill.
Me? I hum Beatles tunes
beneath your berry pie kitchen window.

Bloomin' Loverly - Sunday 3/30/2008

Looks like the neighbors are going to get some fruit this year. Not sure if this is a plum, or what.

Our own apple tree busted out with some blossoms on the other side of the house, but I didn't get all the way over there (ahem) to get a photo. Lazy Sunday!