Today's Flowers

I don't know what they are called, but I love the gentle purple against the green...

Scenic Sunday

North Carolina has some idyllic scenic spots, very nice to look at if you enjoy country driving. These pictures were taken in the Spring of 2008. The red barn standing in contrast to the leafless trees reminds me of the red barns of my storybooks as a child. The horses are steadily grazing, safe inside the fenced yard. And we share the roads with farm machinery. We even have road signs with cattle. It is very peaceful to live here.

(Pictures previously posted on Friendster)

The Birds Finally Fledged!

Checked on them two days ago, had these eyes as big as saucers.
Yesterday, they edged out of the nest! There were FOUR of them - they all hatched!

Early this morning, Aris saw and took the rest of these shots.WHERE ARE YOU, MOM?LOOK AT ME! I'M CLIMBING DOWN!!

WELL, I AM!!!

ME, TOO!! WHERE IS EVERYBODY?

I'M NOT SURE ANYBODY'S NOTICING - A BIRDIE OVER HERE!!

Sorry, guys, I was asleep. Aris was coming home from work, saw all this drama unfold, and PURPOSELY let me be because he was worried (again!) that I would scare the birds away. He said the Dad and Mom were perched or hovering up somewhere in the tall branches of the trees, calling out to the babies. We don't have shots of them, I feel bad about that! Now all I have is an empty nest - literally. I wasn't even able to say good bye.

Sunday Stills - Elements Through The Seasons

How do we explain the elements of nature?

Ever seen horses wearing blankets? In Winter-Spring, they do.

They say Winter is synonymous with Earth. Check out the dry Potomac bed, the dead branches, the thick clothing.

Even Santa's appearance is dictated by the change in elements! :)

There is stillness as the cold peters down, settling in as snow.

In Spring, there is coolness in the Air, harvest is a-plenty for strawberries, a favorite spring fruit!

Farmers till their land for more planting!

In Summer, Fire is strong. Some fruit rot!

Some transform into a ripe, luscious eating! Love guavas!

The butterflies are a-flutter, alight with passion!

People, plants, and animals go through a lot throughout all the seasons. Our Spirit transcends everything and nothing. There are births and deaths.

The elements of nature have their own order. Fall is synonymous with Water, where intuition is strong.

We affect all these elements with our attitude. We must take care of Nature before Nature can take care of us!


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Hope you enjoyed this!

(All the pictures are mine, although some were first posted in my Friendster account and are still there.)

Flower Ponder

" Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them..." " Only children know what they are looking for."

" It is such a secret place, the land of tears."

"The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them..." " One only understands the things that one tames."

"Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shop...." " If we love something, sometimes just knowing it exists is enough to make us happy."

"But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more."

"If you want a friend, tame me."



What I love about Antoine De Saint-Exupery is that he is a timeless writer. I pieced together some of my favorite quotes of his from The Little Prince. I hope you let my flowers cast their enchantment on you. Like the little child in the book, I am also on a quest to learn something, so that someday, maybe, I might understand.

A blessed weekend, everyone!

Last Night

Please let me DRONE on, yup, you read it right - I won't bore you, though, I promise, but there's little else to do.

Clothes Talk
I was at work, yeah, yeah, wearing another one of my pretty scrub tops and my patients were going oooh, and my co-workers were like, "Really, Cherie, you wear a size 0? Wow, I've never worn anything UNDER 14." We were not talking about my scrubs - just ordinary clothes, this time. I said, do you know that store called Petite over at Smithfield's? It's MY store, guys, nothing else. Everywhere else, I'll have to try the BIG GIRLS section first - that's MILD for Kid's Section. Well. I like to look good, and every woman SHOULD like to look good. It need not be expensive, but it's almost like the eleventh commandment for me. Come on, now.

Well, one of my favorite patients said to me, "Cherie I don't always admire what people wear around here, but I like your blouse." It was a nice compliment while I checked her pulse.

Rashes
Before going to work, though, we picked up a refill for my Prednisone (remember the poison ivy episode some posts back?) Well, my arms, yes, it's the arms this time, started itching yesterday afternoon, pretty much controlled by Hydrocortisone (Matthew even applied salt, encouraged by tales of my childhood post-caterpillar run-ins). I was fine. Until about 9:30. Boy, the itching! Aaron was kind enough to relieve me from 11:30 till 7 this morning. I said he could have the Hardee's chicken I brought for the staff. (Blanda, the black lady in my post SCRUBBED, made a coconut pie - yum - which I ate a slice of first before leaving.)

I am so tired of these rashes. I am allergic to Penicillin and Aspirin, and was wary of crustaceans growing up. I was found allergic to one brand of lipstick, and another of shampoo. God knows plenty of people irritate the skin out of me, but i'd never been allergic to plants. Aris said I should go for a patch test to see what this is this time. He's beginning to think something from work is doing it. Hah.

Back Home
The boys were bushed but after I showered, I stayed up and a friend came up on my Yahoo Messenger. Imagine my surprise when he said he has Stage 4 Adenocarcinoma of the Right Lung. We are both nurses. My instinct wanted to know how long - you know what I mean, because stage 4 lung cancer is incurable. Surgery is out of the question because this type metastasizes to the other organs (brain, liver, bones, etc.). Chemotherapy will offer palliative relief, but nothing more. So I offerred intercessory prayers. Please include him in yours, too, so at least when it's time to go, it won't be painful.

At 5:57 am
I woke up with an intense itch on my arms and ran to the bathroom to wash them with soap and water. I didn't bother with the cream this time but downed 3 pills of Prednisone. I've never encountered as bitter pills as these in my life, so I always take P with orange juice, and if there's none, I keep a spoonful of sugar ready (Mary Poppins is right about it making the medicine go down, no doubt about that.)

I started reading Mr. Fleckenstein's blogs YESTERDAY so I'll be doing more of that today. I am very interested in how Americans view the Healthcare Reform Bill (with a thousand other names).

We'll go walking when it's not so hot. There was a nice fog over here, too, yesterday morning, we were on the lookout for deer crossing the roads.

Family: Matthew is playing with his friend Mario outside.

AJ is here: he is saying with doleful eyes: "Mom, look at me. I'm sad. I don't want Daddy going out." He is the dramatic actor of all time, and the sweetest, I tell him not to be sad, and give them the biggest hug.

The Daddy: is cleaning the Isuzu, our clunker car. He wants to get a truck if we eventually decide to cash in our old ride. It's good for short distance driving, though, and has served us well all these years, even in the harsh winters of Pittsburgh before we got our Pilot. I guess the bigger the families, the more diverse the needs, the more the priorities change no matter how attached we are to our properties. Well, a good converation piece over lunch between us later, that's for sure as we love all our stuff even the old ones.

I'm still miffed that I didn't get to see Robert Frost's House or maybe Daniel Webster's (gotta check this one out) while we were up in New Hampshire, and it does not help that my brother is ribbing me about going all the way to Connecticut in BAD weather to see Mark Twain's when RF's was right around the corner. Aaaaahhh!! I'll never live this out, but there's always something.

By the way, Mrs. Robin's NOT gone. She's been really busy feeding those big mouths - I am so wondering if the food is WORMS. Aris warns me (he is terribly protective and clearly the worrywart between us two) to keep a good distance because the mother bird he says is just hovering around but is wary of people and strangers, and the birds need to eat. So I am keeping away, and hoping they all get big and fat.

I'm really going now. Please don't say I bored you. Have a blessed Tuesday!

My Little Pretties

Ooooh, look at those mouths! Three of them! They should be feeding every 15-20 minutes by now. They say when they fledge, and drop on the ground, we really shouldn't interfere. I guess we'll all find out in a few days. More to come, folks!

They HATCHED!

See the beak on the left? That little chick is looking up! Haha! So excited! I've become a bird watcher all of a sudden! Now all that's left is for them to fledge! Hope I catch that, too! Yey!!!

Trails

Whenever I think of trails, the Appalachians come to mind. I read a funny anecdote about it in the Reader's Digest back in the Philippines, something about hikers running into skulls and bones, on account of the length (over 2,000 miles), not to mention the wildlife and the wilderness as a whole.

I never did think I'd live in one of the States they traverse. Can you just imagine breathing the history of the nomadic Indians and their life and culture?

Another thing that comes to mind is the book Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins. I remember him writing about coming to North Carolina, being a houseguest to a black family and wearing green shoes to church (don't quote me, though, it's been so long). Haha!

I guess in my heart I'm a hiker. But for now the only hiking I do is over at the four-block walking trail across the street when I'm not working, with a son, or the whole family. Matthew and I did some walking yesterday, and I was regalling him with tales of my childhood while on the look-out for some mushrooms. (Brought down memory lane by Rainfield's black mushrooms of Malaysia.) My son can't quite comprehend the fact that when I was his age (six), I'd already plucked and 'cooked' plenty of mushrooms, had near-brushes with snakes, played with so many different kinds of caterpillars (so rashes are not new to me), caught jars of dragonflies, climbed countless fruit trees, nearly drowned from the frequent trips to the beach, flown kites in the fields while carabaos watched, planted and harvested several garden vegetables, and so many more.

I guess a trail, any trail, is an entrance to any life journey. I miss those carefree days of learning, exploring, yearning, reaching out, just BEING. Now it's my son's turn.

It's surreal.

Little Nest by the Ledge

There's a nest sitting in the corner of my windowsill. From what little I've read about nesting, this one is called a CUP, a nest woven in a circular pattern, out of grass, leaves, string, hair, saliva and mud to help hold it together. Birds are really not above man when it comes to architecture! My nest builder is likely an enterprising Robin, who, by the way, I have not heard pecking yesterday.

The nest has 4 eggs in it, and the momma bird sits there most times. However, it was thundering really bad about two nights ago, so my husband, thinking to be a good fairy godparent, went out there to give it cover of some sort, and sprinkle a good amount of birdseed (our lovebirds died) on the ledge. What do you know, momma bird flew away as soon as he got close enough. AND that was two nights ago.

We've been waiting for Mrs. Robin since. Yesterday morning, we found a dead ground lizard (my son says dinosaur) close to where the nest is and I am just so worried the momma of that creature might come looking for it and see the eggs instead.

How long before these little chickies hatch to become fully flighted aviators? How sturdy is this little nest to last them while they incubate, and to protect them from predators? We have plenty of tree squirrels and crows roaming the area, and also an occasional cat. Oh, Lordy.

I hear a lot of singing outside now, I guess I'll check it out. In the meantime, any information on missing robins will be highly appreciated.

Thank you all, and good morning!