Jaya Xochitl
Sasha, waiting for breakfast
May 1st, 2006
Time to try something new! Instead of adding to this page, which will become awkward if it gets too long, I have started a blog, "Wanderin' Weeta". It will continue with the same content; whatever seems interesting to me at the moment.
Come on over and join in!
April 12th, 2006
"Of the making of books (or webpages) there is no end." Who said that? I've forgotten.
Never mind. This is fun! My daughter has just uploaded a bunch of photos to her blog; the antique church where she has her photography studio, and our Christmas party! The Angel Gabriel in a miniskirt! Wonderful!
March 2nd, 2006
Trying to get on top of this website; something to do while the wind blows.
Major grumble: Just went over the whole thing carefully, to bring the html up to standard. Got my daughter started on her website, White Album Wedding Photography. Then remodeled another website, here, discovered that the old one needs extensive tidying up and changing of outdated codes. It's going to take a good month to finish it.
Which means redoing all this site, too. A million and a half times to write br / where now it says, br, on all 3 sites. I can feel the carpal tunnel moaning already.
On the happy side, the varied thrush is staying around! Yay!
February 7th, 2006
So, here it is 6 months since I wrote. Summer did come, finally, then fall. No winter. They forgot to schedule it this year. In January it rained, 29 days out of the 31. That's a lot of rain. There was no snow. I wanted snow.
And now my garden thinks it's spring. The hydrangea is all over buds; the crocuses are getting leggy; the honeysuckle is leafing out. And I keep my fingers crossed. Just our luck to have some hard frosts in March, to kill all the young life.
Hope I'm being too pessimistic.
On the hopeful side, we have a varied thrush in our evergreens. Maybe we'll have a nest this spring!
June 28th, 2005
The end of June and still summer hasn't come. We seem to be living in an eternal spring; the kind that rains unpredictably, then blazes sunshine down on you when you've gone out in your warm jacket.My cherry tree bloomed late, waiting for a dry day. Not dry enough; even though she dressed in the fanciest, frilliest, most over-the-top bridal gown, she waited in vain for bee-kind suitors. There is no fruit. The chickadees scramble through her branches, searching for bugs, but there will be no house finches, red-headed birds gorging on red cherries. I hope they find other food nearby.
But my flower garden is growing, better than last year. I dug in steer manure and peat moss; when I dig down a bit now, I find fat earthworms aerating the roots. So do the robins, and they are fat, too.
I'm going north in a couple of weeks, to eagle country. Up the coast on the ferry, a lazy trip, then exploring the Bella Coola valley, under the shadow of Nusatsum. (See my Nusatsum parable.) I hope we see some grizzlies. And maybe the mountain goats.
TTYL
February 24th, 2005
So winter is over. It still freezes here at night, but the days are warm: far, far too warm for February. The snow caps on the mountains never materialized this year. Are we in for a hot summer? Will our lawns turn brown like Texan lawns?
More to the point, will our wildlife survive such a drastic change in climate? The frogs; how will they deal with non-existent ponds? How many of our birds will be edged out by southern birds moving north?
Life is change. True. And some change is for the better. But all change entails some loss. I am reluctant to lose the diversity of our flora and fauna. But what can one do, but watch, document, and wish for rain?
A sad state of affairs.
A few favourite quotes:
"Writing is about learning to pay attention and to communicate what is going on. Now, if you ask me, what's going on is that we're all up to here in it, and probably the most important thing is that we not yell at one another."
by Anne Lamott, "Bird By Bird", Doubleday
The Javacrucians, a group which looks suspiciously like a parody of the Rosicrucians, has selected the less-controversial caffeine as its sacrament. It also has the simplest theology in history, teaching that one thing only is necessary for salvation, the American Coffee Ceremony -- a variation on the Japanese Tea Ceremony. This is performed at dawn, and you must face east, toward the rising sun, as you raise the cup to your lips. When you take the first sip, you must cry out with intense fervor, "GOD, I needed that!" If this is performed religiously every morning, Javacrucians say, you will face all life's challenges with a clear mind and a tranquil spirit..
by Robert Anton Wilson, "Coincidance", New Falcon Press