The Bent but not Broken Cherry #ThursdayTreeLove

The cherry tree stands on a median between the sidewalk and a street on the West Side of Binghamton, New York.

Its trunk is twisted.  But once a year, it blooms, with beautiful double flowers, like miniature carnations.

Here's a closer look.

"Persevere against the odds" says the tree.  "Don't be concerned by my age.  Instead, take comfort from my strength."  And finally, one more piece of wisdom:   "There is beauty even in times of stress."

Join Parul and other tree loving bloggers each second and fourth Thursdays of the month for #ThursdayTreeLove.    After you do, could I ask one more favor of you, dear reader?

I jumped the gun and posted a tree post last Thursday, too.  Why not visit it and show some Tree Love to it, too?

I'd love it if you do.

Tomorrow, why not join me for a combination #SkywatchFriday and #GardenBloggersBloomDay?

Rise Up and Flower #WordlessWednesday

I could make this a true Wordless Wednesday by linking to this blog post and saying "what she said". But I am not going to be that lazy.  (Thank you, Songbird).  As my regular readers are aware, I was born in New York City and spent my first 21 1/2 years there.

I'll give you a picture of beautiful double flowered cherry blossoms blooming where I live now, in the Southern Tier of New York State..

And then I will link to this classic sung by Billy Joel, as the Empire State Building keeps the beat.  Stay strong, New York!  Rise up and Flower.
Linking to Sandee at #WordlessWednesday.

Linking to Natasha and Esha at their Wordless Wednesday.

A Peek Into a Community Garden

Our community garden is open! My spouse planted our onion plants yesterday. 

For all those thinking of gardening, I wanted to give you a little peek into the community garden in Binghamton, New York where my spouse (with a small amount of help from me) does his vegetable gardening.

It's a large community garden - here is some of it.

The agency that now runs it, VINES, has expanded the raised beds section.  This will give opportunities to disabled people to be able to garden.

The new agency also tilled in a lot of organic material. As you can see, a major crop in the garden is rocks.  My spouse has to rake and rake to get all the large rocks out.

What is that yellow stuff?  For beds where weeds have not yet sprouted and you are planting PLANTS, not seeds, we have used (for years) something called corn gluten.  It is a high nitrogen organic fertilizer (the bag we currently have is labeled as being organic) and it will prevent many seeds from germinating for up to six weeks, according to what we have read.

Now the hard work really begins - the raking, the picking out of large stones, working in compost or manure, the planting of the seeds, the weeding, the watering - but, eventually, the eating.

It will taste so good, those vegetables that will taste like they should taste.  And the flowers that will brighten our table.

Here's to the beginning of a fantastic gardening season.  We can only hope, because it's more important than ever to be able to "eat local".

Would you like a gardening feature on my blog, to learn more about gardening?

Mothers Families and Little Richard #MusicMovesMe

It's the day after Mother's Day and it's time for Music Moves Me.

Who are the members of Music Moves Me ?  We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  

Our conductors? First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  

For May, our guest conductor is Cynthia at Ccol4him's Claymania.  

Cynthia's theme for today is:  Songs about Mom or Family.

Why am I thinking about this in a slightly different way?  It could be because part of my childhood was not in a nuclear family - after my mother died I was raised by my father, a single Dad, who had to be both Mom and Dad to me.  I owe so much to him!

Families come in all shapes and forms, and there are many women out there who are Moms and not biological Moms.  And there are families of all sorts.

Our House by Madness is one of my favorite songs about family.  So upbeat.

And then there is Welcome to the Family, by Avenged Sevenfold a nice dose of something heavier.

A fun song (sort of)  Fountains of Wayne and Stacy's Mom.

This is such a touching song about family: Lukas Graham - 7 Years.

This has also been a sad week in the music world.  So many artists have been taken from us in the past few months.  This time, we mourn Little Richard, who was 87 years old.

So many good songs to choose from - this time I will choose Land of a Thousand Dances. 

If you want more, here you go.

And that's a wrap! See you again,  dear music lover, same time, same place, same station!

Mothers Day in the Time of Coronavirus

Needless to say, this is a different Mother's Day.

My son came by.  I haven't seen him since mid-March, although we have texted and spoken on the phone.  We chatted, keeping social distance, outside my house, and with both of us wearing masks.  He brought by a few groceries (strawberries, salad, and a few other goodies), and left them on the porch with three basil plants.

And, he gifted me with a hanging basket.

He spoke about possibly getting chickens (he lives in a rural area) and being able to go in with a neighbor for some beef.  And about the garden he is intending to tend for 90 year old neighbors, in return for some produce.   The woman, I know, has been like another grandmother to him. He has no grandparents left.

It made me think about all the mothers out there, whether they are biological mothers, adoptive mothers (like several women I know), teachers, health care workers (like the daughter of a co worker, who works in a neonatal ICU in the Bronx), and more.

This is for you.

My mother, who passed away many years ago, was alive for the 1918 pandemic.  She never spoke of it but I wonder how much of it stayed with her. 

Near where I live now

When I think of my Mom, I think of lilacs, which aren't in bloom yet, but I also think of crab apple blossoms.  There was a crab apple tree right outside the apartment building where I grew up.

May all the mothers in our lives have a Happy Mother's Day, and, next year, may we all be able to touch or have dinner together with our loved ones.

The Robin vs Me

Nature is still nature, whatever else is happening in our world.  

I like robins.  I love their early morning musical concerts, which they hold in the trees they must spend their nights in.  Before sunrise, they somehow know the sun is coming back, and sing to greet it.

They have beautiful blue eggs.

I am talking here, of course, about American robins, not the robins of Europe.  But I digress.


I own a robin.  Or, more accurately, a robin owns me.  Or, to be exact, there is a robin family  who thinks they own my back yard.  They might be right.

Last year, robins built a nest in the roof of my covered patio and raised a family.  Each time I tried to use the back yard, said robin would fly to a fence post or a nearby tree and stare at me.  Soft hearted me, I would retreat back into the house.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed this structure on my patio beam. This nest has a long "tail" of nesting materials hanging out of the next.  It's a bit blurry because I don't want to scare the bird into abandoning the nest if I get too close.

Now, every time I entered my front yard, the robin flies out of the nest, heads to a fence post (above) or tree, and stares at me.  "Get out of here, human" it glares. 

 I should be used to this treatment by now.  For years, finches have taken over my front porch light.  This past winter, a bird even used the nest (I never did take it down this fall) in the winter, building an addition onto it.

But I really do like to sit and read (or use my computer) in my back yard.

At least, the robin doesn't try to attack me.

I would feel better about it if the robin chipped (chirped?) in for my real estate and school taxes.

My yard is small.  Still it's worth staying away for a couple of weeks or more, so the robin can raise a new generation that will sit in trees and sing for me in the sunrise.  But now, I really want to use that yard.

We'll see how this turns out.

Do you have similar problems?

Cloudy or Sunny? #SkywatchFriday

It's Friday, and it's time to watch the sky.  Once again, I don't have any spectacular sunrise or sunset photos, but what I decided to do was run a Cloudy vs. Sunny battle.

Which sky would you prefer?  This sky?

Or this one? (Incidentally, the building in the distance in a couple of these is the middle school that Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame attended, so many years ago.)  This sky is so blue.

A cloudy day in downtown Binghamton, New York, last summer, looking towards a historic downtown building.  But wait - wait about 15 minutes.

Whichever you prefer, I know you love spring flowers.

So I'll take you back to this spring and to another beautiful rare sunny day with the deep blue skies we are seeing recently.  This is still another view of the school Rod Serling attended.

But on a different day....an empty field there that normally would have been filled with lacrosse players practicing is empty.  No touchdowns today, either.

And that's what our world is all about right now.  Sometimes gloom.  Sometimes the sun shines brightly.   The world changes day by day, and there is still beauty around us.

Join bloggers from all over the world at Yogi's #SkywatchFriday and see even more beauty.

Time of Transition #ThursdayTreeLove

Spring is a time of transition.

Trees get that signal only they understand.  They yawn and stretch, lengthening days telling them it is time.  We can't see it, but the trees know that signal.  Finally, buds swell and break.  Flowers appear.

And then...come the leaves.  Leaves so brand-new green, against a sky so blue, a blue we normally see on a brutally cold day in the winter.  This is a special blue, coming from the Pause the tree's human neighbors are enduring.  Nature is being allowed to catch its breath.

And soon, the limbs of the trees, visible in the winter, will once again be clothed in leaves of green.

But sometimes, the plan goes wrong.

Our apple and pear trees are in full bloom. But we may have a hard freeze this weekend.  What that means is that the trees will drop their flowers.

If the flowers die, there will be no fruit.  We will, once again, realize how much we owe to our trees.  Beauty, lumber, and, most of all....food for the soul, and for our bodies.

So this weekend, farmers here in upstate New York will be holding their breath.

Join Parul and other bloggers for #ThursdayTreeLove - NEXT WEEK, because, like so many others, I've lost track of the time and was thinking myself a week in the future.  Guess I'll just use this post!

Sigh....

Flowers of Fear #WordlessWednesday

What a sad and scary time. 

I was working on an outdoor flower pot this afternoon when the postman started up the sidewalk to our house. In other times I would have said "hi", and taken the mail from him with a smile. 

What did I do? 

I ran into the house as fast as I could.
In my mind, I was thinking "I don't have a mask on." But my reaction said a whole other thing.  

I've read stories of health care workers who walk into a store to buy dinner and people flee.  Now, I the same thing to a man who is risking his life delivering the mail, an essential service that we tend to take for granted.  Like garbage pickup.  Or mass transit (I did grow up in New York City in a family that didn't own a car - which was not uncommon in the 1950's and 60's).

I looked up flowers that symbolize apology,  There are several, including blue hyacinths (which are really purple.) So today's picture is a little bit of a rerun.  I took this picture on April 16, 2013.

My mail carrier won't see this but I have to change this state of mind I am in. So, OK, it wasn't my finest moment.

I have a feeling it wasn't his first experience like this, and won't be his last.  In the meantime - I can't spend the rest of my life afraid of other people.  Because that is what that reaction was - pure fear.  And fear must be faced.

Joining two #WordlessWednesdays this week.

Sandee at Comedy Plus

Natasha and Esha at #WordlessWednesday.  

Why not join one of these fine #WordlessWednesday hops?

Spring Can't Be Taken Away From Us

I had a blog post all scheduled to run this morning.  And then, at 3 am (what is it about 3am?) I woke up with a bad feeling.  A very bad feeling.  I decided not to run it.

Anxiety had struck.  It's not the first time since February that this has happened.
Why?   I know why.  I am not going to say it.  I will not give it further power over me.

 Perhaps I need to blog about something else entirely.

Spring.

While we have been dealing with this terrible year, spring has been sneaking up on us. 

One day, it appears, with a flowery smile.  It tempts us.  Our hearts open wide.  We sit in the sun.

The sun shines and the flowers bloom.

The tulips open up wide.

The birds sing, and all is well, even in these times.  You forget about the other stresses of the day.

The next day, it's 30 degrees cooler and overcast. The sun is gone, replaced by cold winds.

And now, snow is in our forecast for the weekend. 

Wait, what?

No, you aren't going to take my joy away from me.  I might be fighting anxiety at 3am, but, you are not going to take spring away from me.

The sun will shine again one day, both for my flowers, and for us.

I can do this.

May The Fourth be Music and an A to Z Retrospective #MusicMovesMe #AtoZChallenge

May the Fourth Be With You on this Music Moves Me Monday!

Who are the members of Music Moves Me ?  We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  

Our conductors? First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  

For May, our guest conductor is Cynthia at Ccol4him's Claymania, and I think we are going to have a lot of fun this month!

Welcome, Cynthia! Today we are having a "You Pick" day.  And, it is also the Blogging from A to Z Retrospective, and the fourth of May - also known as "May the Fourth Be With You."

So I should start with a Star Wars themed song: Meco and their Star Wars Melody.  I've had this song on my blog before, but I just couldn't resist.  It's long, so don't feel you have to hang around for the whole enchilada (so to speak).

If that isn't enough, Meco also did one for The Empire Strikes Back (it's a lot shorter, too.)

Here's a song of retrospection - The Pet Shop Boys and It's a Sin.

OK, maybe we are getting a little far out here, so I will rope this post back in with another 80's favorite of mine:  a-ha's The Sun Always Shines on TV.  This song always cheers me - we need some sunshine in these days.  

And now, it's time for:

What can I say?  We live in strange times.  My theme "America the Beautiful" turned more into "my neighborhood the beautiful, along with some travel memories".  But, I did find some blogs that I will keep reading, and that's been true of all my A to Z experiences (the first one being in 2015).   With that, I also thank the bloggers who visited my blog for the first time.

Some of those blogs I found due to Blogging from A to Z I've been reading since 2015.  That included some that led me to being invited to join Music Moves Me (and, later, being invited to be one of the conductors.)  So, as the saying goes, how cool is that?

Part of A to Z is visiting other blogs, and I admit to falling down in that category.   Again.  Sigh.  But this time, I had a reason - a local relative hospitalized due to COVID-19.  And, I have some good news - he was released from the hospital last Monday after three weeks in the hospital (although his recovery will take a while longer, he's on that recovery road).  Time to celebrate, and time to thank everyone who sent good thoughts or prayed for his recovery - THANK YOU.

Will I participate next year?  How about this song from The Kinks?

Definite Maybe.

Join me again next Monday for another episode of #MusicMovesMe - same time, same place.

Gardening Has Not Been Cancelled

So many things in our lives have changed.  Millions unemployed.  Meat supplies limited. Schools cancelled for the year, turning many parents into homeschoolers.

On the other hand, gardening has not been cancelled.  Where I live in upstate New York, many who have never gardened are going to attempt it.

Here are some random thoughts for this Sunday.

Here in the Northeast United States, the weather is trying to settle.  It's beautiful, sunny and in the 70's today.  Finally.  But tomorrow it isn't supposed to get out of the 40's.

Again.  When will spring come?

But today, I am declaring victory.  Victory of sorts, anyway.  I am outside.

I have planted four hanging baskets.    Thank you, curbside delivery of plants.  Thank you to the essential workers who grew those plants.  Because they also sell fruit and vegetable plants, they are open, and people are taking full advantage of their items for sale.

Our home started tomato seedlings are soaking up warmth outside today. (Pro tip - if you live in the Northeast United States, it is probably too late to start tomatoes from seeds, but it isn't all that hard.  If you wish, I can cover "how" in a future post.)

We don't have many sunny places in our yard, so have had a community garden plot (or two!) for many years.  But community gardening has its own challenges, especially if many people are there at once.  There s supposed to be a conference call at 4pm today to "orient" us to our new realities and also the organization that has taken over our garden.

A local business that sells baby chicks and ducks sold out in hours.

There was a seed giveaway yesterday at our local farmers market. We are fortunate - we had ordered back in the winter, before the virus struck.

You can do it, too, even if you live in a big city.  Although, in these times, it may be a lot harder to get out and buy materials, especially if you are in a city with a high infection rate.

In the meantime, spouse and I  are doing what we can at home.  We have several large containers and two Earthboxes.  We've never been that successful with our Earthboxes, for some reason, but are going to try again.

We also planted lettuce in a planter in our front yard, (the two pots with flower spinners above) and will also try to plant some parsley.

What would be my tips for you?
1.  Veggies, for the most part, require full sun.   What is full sun?
2.  Plants in containers dry out a lot more readily than those in the ground.  Keep your eye on them.  While we are at it, make sure these pots are close to water, or you will get awfully tired of lugging water to them.
3.  Make sure the containers  are deep enough for what you are growing.  There are charts online that give you minimum planter depth.
4.  Use soilless mix, NOT earth from your yard (assuming you have a yard).
5.  Common sense, but only grow what you like, unless it is so ornamental that you want it to nourish your soul, and you have the room for it.
6.  Make sure the plants will mature before your first frost.  Know your USDA hardiness zone (ours is 5b).  This online resource may help.
7.  Don't make it too complex, or you would have failed before you start.  Keep it simple the first year.  After that, you can branch out (no pun intended).

Let's hope for a successful gardening season, as it may be more important than ever.

Avocado Memories (And a Recipe)

Tuesday is the Cinco of Mayo, and it's going to be a strange one where spouse and I live in upstate New York.  Why?  Although we are not party people, many people are, and it's going to be just a little difficult, between social distancing and (in our state) restaurants open


So maybe I will just reminisce a little about the time I truly discovered avocados.

In 1996 my spouse, my then young son and I flew from the Binghamton, New York area  to San Diego, California for a week.  During that time, we took several road trips through the countryside and saw avocado trees for the first time. Beautiful trees with glossy foliage, we also quickly learned that there were many varieties of avocados available in local groceries.

We also visited Tijuana, Mexico and had lunch in a restaurant which served us guacamole in this device.

Not a picture from that restaurant in Tijuana - but this picture was taken by me

So, when we have our little Cinco de Mayo party (just the two of us) we will have guacamole, and here is the recipe.

It is so simple - peel ripe avocadoes, mash (we like ours a little chunky), add chopped sweet pepper (orange, yellow, red), garlic, scallions, a little salt, a touch of homemade ground chili pepper (my spouse's own secret mix, so I can't tell you) and a touch of lime juice.



In a 2013 trip to Florida, we went to Ft. Myers and toured the ECHO demonstration gardens.

Again ,we ran into avocados and I recently found this list of some of varieties we saw:

Brogdon - 8 to 14 oz black skin July Sept

Choquette 24-40 oz smooth skin Nov-Jan

Expedition 24-34 oz dark skin Nov Jan

Hall 24-34 oz, pear shape Nov Dec

Lula 14 to 24 oz, pear shape Nov to Jan

Monroe 24 to 40 oz Nov-Dec

Nishikawa 8 to 14 oz, Oval, Dec to Jan

Oro Negro 16 to 32 o pear Nov-Jan

So why am I blogging about avocados?  Because, in our upstate New York stores, an avocado is an avocado.  But, this amazing fruit (yes, they are a fruit.) comes in many varieties.  Who knew?

You learn amazing things when you travel.  Your eyes are open to new experiences.  But....

Travel, now, is lost to us for we don't know how long, although some of us travel daily now in fear.  Others travel with anxiety. Some put their trust in faith.   But you know what?  Avocadoes can also be a sign of hope, a hope that one day we will be able to live in a world where we can get together with friends for a little guacamole on the Cinco de Mayo.

It won't be this year, but I hope that day will be soon.

Rabbit Rabbit Skies #SkywatchFriday

It's May Day but you wouldn't know it, here in upstate New York.  The dreary spring festival continues.

Here and there, we had some actual spring skies.  No grand sunrises or sunsets here - just...spring.

Schools stand empty, this unusual spring season, but a beautiful school lawn attracts my eye.

Flowering trees reach for the sky.

Little sky here, but the tree makes up for it.

A stand of Bradford Pears where an old factory used to stand.

And because some will say "Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit" on the first day of the month, look what I saw yesterday.  As a bonus, Nature threw in a robin on the upper right.

Thank you, Yogi at #SkywatchFriday, for the chance to enjoy the first day of May with other watchers of the sky.

May May be brighter and healthier for us all.

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit!

Zig Zag Zoo #AtoZChallenge

It's the last day of April, meaning it is the last day of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  I've gotten through another Challenge.

Now to Zero in and create this last post.

I've chosen Zoo more than once for my final A to Z post.  I was supposed to be showing my readers America the Beautiful as my theme so I will start with a couple of art photos from the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Columbia, South Carolina.  It's closed, but I can bring you there through photos.  We are so fortunate to have the Internet.

Big cat.

"Recycled Life"

These photos were taken the day after the August, 2017 total eclipse of the sun and by mid morning, this Northern blogger (upstate New York) was quite wilted.  But the people of South Carolina know how to deal with heat they describe as being five degrees cooler than hell (yes, I heard that expression).  Every so often we would walk through misters that would cool us down.  But we didn't make it much past noon.

I want to return one day - maybe in March.

What I love is how people are coming up with imaginative ways to deal with our present situation.  The Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens is offering a pickup Mothers Day meal for four, complete with a bottle of Prosceco and an (unspecified) pollinator plant.

So what about the zig zagging?

That's what spouse and I find ourselves doing when we try to walk for exercise on our rare beautiful sunny days (usually it's cold, or windy, or gloomy, or all three). If everyone else is out, keeping social distance becomes an exercise in planning and changing directions.

Binghamton, New York

But it's worth the zig-zag, just to get a glimpse of spring.

"Z" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Thank you for following part of, or maybe even all of, my journey through the alphabet.

Yellow #AtoZChallenge #WordlessWednesday

This, I believe, is the second time I've chosen the color yellow as the focus of my Y post for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

I don't mind the repeat, because yellow, in some ways, is my favorite spring color.

Why?  Maybe because there is so much of it.  The forsythias are starting to fade, but our cold spring has kept them going since the first week of April.

And then there are daffodils.

A flower in my shade yard which I've forgotten the name of.


Or pansies.  I made a hanging basket with these yesterday.

Early tulips in my yard

This daffodil is from a past year.

Not mine

Yes, I think flowers are so beautiful, especially spring yellow flowers.  And using "Y" was a way to sneak them in, I admit.

We need a bit of yellow cheer in our lives now, don't we?

"Y" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme "America the Beautiful".

Also joining up with Sandee for #WordlessWednesday.

Only one more day to go!

Xanthine #AtoZChallenge

The last thing I ever expected was to have my vocabulary expanded in ways I never would have dreamed of back in January.

"X", for many A to Z bloggers, is the most difficult letter.  How many common words begin with X?  And we A to Zers don't want to resort to words that begin with E but people take the E off of, such as Xcite (excite).

Enter COVID-19.

Some letters, including "Q", became so easy with our current epidemic.  X was not one of them, until I ran into this term:

"Xanthine:  A yellowish-white crystalline purine base that is a precursor of uric acid and is found in blood, urine, muscle tissue, and certain plants."  Apparently, among other uses, it can be used as a dye and even a food coloring.

OK, true confession time. I didn't have to learn about Xanthine, but I suspect many of us learned medical terms we never expected to learn about over the past few months.

Like intubate and extubate. (My spell check hasn't caught up with either term, by the way.)  Ventilator. High flow oxygen, which is something my hospitalized relative with COVID-19 became familiar with.   ABX, meaning "antibiotics", which a nurse used in a text to me. Weaning. Hydroxychloroquine, which may well become a spelling bee standard. (Extra credit if you can pronounce it.  I still stumble over it, although my relative was given that drug for several days after he tested positive.

We've had to learn so much in the last couple of months, here in our beautiful United States.

So, what about xanthene?  I found out it is derived from the Greek word  xanthós, meaning "yellow".

And that, dear readers, is a hit of what I'll be blogging about tomorrow.

"X" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

 

William and other Wonderful (Angel Songs) #AtoZChallenge #MusicMovesMe

It's time for another episode of #MusicMovesMe. It's also W day on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Who are the members of Music Moves Me ?  We are bloggers who blog with music each Monday. If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only- Please post containing links to You Tube or Vimeo for actual music.  Other posts are subject to removal or labeling as "No Music".)  Every other week we have a theme and on alternate weeks we have "You Pick".  

Our conductors? First, there is XmasDolly.  Her chief co-conductor is Cathy of Curious as a Cathy. Her other co-conductors are Stacy of Stacy Uncorked, and me.  

For April, our guest conductor is Binky the Cat and his Granny at their blog Angelswhisper2011. Their theme for today: Angels in song titles or lyrics.

But this is W day, meaning I have to find at least one song beginning with W.  And I actually did that.

William the Angel is a song about an Angel trying to convince the world of God's love - something he has failed at.  This is his story.  I wasn't familiar with the song or the singer, but this man has (I think) an incredible voice.

Some of my other Angel favorites:

Angel of Harlem - U2.  I can't say this is my absolute favorite U2 song, but it's right up there.  I love the lyrics.

Johnny Angel - Shelley Fabares, from 1961.

Send Me An Angel by Real Life, originally released in 1983, but this is a later remix, I believe.  This 80's music fan loves this song.

I will end  the angel songs with this beautiful ABBA song "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room".

Time enough for one bonus song - the video of the world during the COVID-19 lockdown to Disturbed's cover of Sounds of Silence is back up!  Copyright issues are resolved and some different footage had to be inserted, but the video and song are both so powerful, it's well worth your time.

And that's a wrap.

Join me again next Monday - same time, same place, for more Music.

Chickens In These Times

This post, with some edits, updates, and additions, was first posted in August, 2010.

I never realized that Iowa is the #1 egg producer in the country. 

I lived briefly in Iowa in the 1970's and have been back several times since.  When people think of Iowa, they think of (not necessarily in this order):  Pork, soybeans, corn.  In fact, if you ask my son (who has been to Iowa several times) what he remembers of Iowa, he remembers  miles and miles of boring cornfields.  I don't think I saw many chicken houses there.

When I think of Iowa, I also think of local food, of heritage breeds, of farmers who still care.  Iowa does have at least one heritage breed poultry breeder, who we bought from several times when we lived in Arkansas:  the incomparable Murray McMurray Hatchery.

Visit Murray McMurray's website today, though and you will find a COVID-19 information page.

Iowa also has wonderful, friendly people and a wonderful place we have never been to-the headquarters of the Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa and its Heritage Farm.  

Sadly, Seed Savers has had to suspend shipping for now, due to the huge demand for seed.

It's also sad that Iowa, right now, is in the news for something totally different-COVID-19 and meat processing plants (in addition to those in several other states).   I would like to share some memories of when Iowa farming goes right.

I have fond memories of visiting the Iowa City Farmers Market.  Iowa City is a college town so, as you could expect, they had their share of organic booths.  Of course, everything was locally grown and made.  But now, in case you are wondering, their farmers market is delayed until at least July 4.

Yes, in Iowa the small farmer still exists, marketing the most delicious pork and beef (sorry, vegetarian readers), plus all the usual veggies.  In a climate hotter than ours in the northeast, one even saw okra and some other southern favorites for sale.

But I promised to speak about mail order chicken memories. Since some who have never raised chickens are interested in that now, I want to share something about raising chickens and "growing" our own eggs, all from Iowa chickens.

Back in the 1980's, when we lived in rural Arkansas and kept chickens, we would spend the New Year perusing the Murray McMurray catalog, with its brightly colored pictures of what was even then called "rare" chickens.  These are the chickens with names, not numbers:  Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorps, Buff Orpingtons, New Hampshire...and on and one-about 130 breeds total.

We would make our selection and place our order (in the mail, of course).  No internet, no fascinating website giving pictures of their operations, no instant update of stock on hand.  Rather, we placed our order and waited for the day we specified.  We did it the "old fashioned" way which, in those days, was the only way.

On the appointed day, there would be a phone call from our local rural post office.  We had to come and get them; they would not deliver.  The box, cheeping away, was rushed home.  In a miracle that we could never get tired of, the living chicks survived the trip.  Just imagine opening a box and being greeted by 25 cheeping 2 day old chicks!  We would take each one out gently, dip its beak in water, and put each precious chick in a little pen under a warm light.  The waterer and feeder were made from mason jars screwed into special "lips".  We fed them commercial but unmedicated chick starter.  After a day or so, they would be ready for supplementation with the occasional June Bug attracted by the light.

This next part is not for the squeamish.  The chicks would get hold of the unfortunate bug and chase each other, trying to snatch what was left of the large bug (it didn't last very long) in a game of chick free-for-all.  The whole while, they would be screaming in delight.

Don't ever say baby chicks are cute.  Not unless you've seen one of those feedings.

You have to love chickens to know them. You have to accept their nature.  Chickens are omnivores, and they lust for blood.  If one of those chicks accidentally got cut, it would have suffered the same fate as that bug.

Then, those chicks would grow, and about six months later the female (pullets) would start to lay their small beginner eggs.  The males?  Well, that part isn't for the squeamish either.  (I'll leave the part out about how roosters treat the hens.)  Nothing like a wonderful, thick shelled, fresh egg.  Except if you want to hard boil, in which case you want a slightly aged egg.

We never worried about salmonella.  We ate raw (from scratch) cake batter.  We even made (gasp!) real eggnog!

We moved back to urban life in the mid 1980's, and our chicken life was over. 

If you attempt to raise chickens, one thing you will learn quickly is that it's hard work.  And one more point is necessary:  unless you get pre-sexed chickens, you will have males and females.  If all you want is females for eggs:  what are you going to do with the males?

Just realize you may be entering territory you may not have considered.


You'll quickly appreciate your local farmer.  In these times more than ever:

Support your local farmer.  Know who produces your food.  Know HOW it is produced. Ask questions. Ask lots of questions, including how the animal is - to use a euphemism - harvested.

That harvesting and processing is hard work, too, and it's a national scandal that the workers in the large commercial plants put their lives at risk so that we can eat meat. So:  how is the animal harvested? Is it done by the farmer?  Is it done humanely? Is it done by a local operation that is treating its employees well?

Because, in this day and age, treating their employees well can make the difference between life and death.  And how you support your local farmer can make the difference between their operations surviving this time, or not.

Just one more detail of life in the time of COVID-19.

Victory Vegetatively

I don't even remember how I got on the topic, but my cousin in New York City brightened up when I started talking about windowsill gardens.  Apparently, this has become a "thing" during our stay at home orders.

Do you remember taking sprouting potatoes as a child and putting them in water, so you could see the shoots grow?  Wasn't that fun?  It was for me.  I did it, on my 4th floor New York City apartment windowsills, with both white potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Of course, then you need a place to plant them.

As a child, I also used to do things like sprouting apple and orange seeds from fruit I ate, but I never did get a tree out of it.  But, now, in my senior years, I am talking to my cousin about growing carrots from carrot tops (yes, you can do that) and taking scallions (what we call green onions in New York City), saving the root and a couple of inches of the white part above the roots, putting them in a glass with a little water, and regrowing the green shoots.

Or, you can go even further.  My spouse and I have been successful in sprouting ginger root and getting a harvest of roots. 

We are not alone.  It would seem that millions of people have decided to grow Victory Gardens this year.  Maybe it's the spirit of World Wars I and II.  Maybe it reflects fear of food shortages.  Maybe it's the joy that comes from watching something grow.

There's nothing like a garden, even in the best of times.  

Seeds are suddenly hard to get.  Yesterday, spouse and I took a trip about 20 minutes from our house.  It's the furthest we've been from home since around March 14.  The highlight of our day?  Going to a country store that recently reopened for the season and seeing a rack of seeds there.  Victory.  We had already mail ordered seeds before the pandemic started, but hadn't gotten everything we need for our community garden.

And then there are the people who are trying to raise chickens, because it's suddenly become hard (at least around here) to get chicken meat.  As it happens, I've been there and done that in the country - about 30 some years ago. Am I thinking of doing it again, this time in my urban home?  Not really but you never know where life will lead you.  For one thing, years ago, we community gardened in what was once a Potter's Field.

Meanwhile, we count our Victories, small and large, not just the Vegetable type.


The hospital triage tents shown in my March post were taken down yesterday.  My relative who was hospitalized with the Virus on April 7 has made large strides towards recovery in the past three days.   I hate to celebrate his recovery because of the 51,000 plus people whose families have nothing to celebrate - and few ways to mourn.

But we celebrate what we can.

And eventually, we hope for Victory over coVid-19.  It will be a beautiful thing.

"V" day on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My topic:  America the Beautiful.