Summer Spiderwebs

". . . designs
fairer than the spider’s most intricate web . . ."
~ Denise Levertov ~

Early Summer Spiderweb ~ 2022
(one of our last days in Indiana)

Late Summer Spiderweb ~ 2021
(thanks to my sister Peggy for this pic)

Like Spokes on a Bicycle Wheel
(September 3, 2020)

Autumnal
spiderwebs ~ gossamer ~ instatoon

and all kinds of spiders:
fun ~ sinister ~ literary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walking Through A Spider Web

I believed only air
stretched between the dogwood

and the barberry: another
thoughtless human assumption

sidetracking the best story
this furrow spider knew to spin.

And, trying to get the sticky
filament off my face, I must look,

to the neighbors, like someone
being attacked by his own nervous

system, a man conducting an orchestra
of bees. Or maybe it’s only the dance

of human history I’m reenacting:
caught in his own careless wreckage,

a man trying to extricate himself,
afraid to open his eyes.

by Jeff Worley
American poet, from Wichita, Kansas
previous poet laureate of Kentucky

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This spider had invisibly expanded
her web between the two black railings
and appeared to be suspended in mid - air!
We wanted her intricate design to last forever,
but of course it didn't -- not even a week.

On the tour bus, across the seat

Summer Garden

Ellie's Yard Tools

Adding some pool toys
to the day's harvest

Gerry's Handiwork

Back Yard

It didn't rain.
And it didn't rain.
And it didn't rain.
Returning, after a month away,
from a place up north.
we saw the parched and dying yard,
the hose coiled like a snake.

As if the present were past,
I walk from this thing to that,
touching dry leaves.
Here is my daughter's herb garden
where we buried the snail.
Here is the dogwood
that bloomed when T. was dying.
Here is the sunflower, ravaged by July,
and here is the rose of Sharon
coming, in August, into its own.

Here. Here. And here.
The arbor. The wisteria.
The bamboo, tenacious as ever.
The empty swing, motionless in the heat.

I unwind the coiled hose
and turn the water on,
watching it stream into the ground.
Everything is a mouth,
thirsty and unappeasable.

With each step, I move farther
into the future wondering,
How will I ever leave all this?
How? How does one ever leave?
I am the water-bearer.
I cannot die!

by Elizabeth Spires (b 1952)
[Also: poem for autumn]

Build Back Better

We Can Build A Beautiful City

Come sing me sweet rejoicing
Come sing me love
We're not afraid of voicing
All the things
We're dreaming of
Oh, high and low,
And everywhere we go

We can build
A beautiful city
Yes we can
Oh yes we can
We can build
A beautiful city
Call it out
And call it the city of man
[woman, girl, boy]

We don't need alabaster
We don't need chrome
We've got our special plaster [coffee creamer!]
Take my hand
I'll take you home
We see nations rise
In each other's eyes

We can build
A beautiful city
Yes we can
Oh yes we can
We can build
A beautiful city
Call it out
And call it the city of man

Come sing me sweet rejoicing
Come sing me love
We're not afraid of voicing
All the things
We're dreaming of
Oh, high and low,
And everywhere we go

Ellie can build
A beautiful city
Yes she can
Oh yes she can
Ellie can build
A beautiful city
We'll call it ours
We'll call it the city of humanity!

~ music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
[edited by me and Ellie]
~ from the movie of Godspell

~ Life Imitates Life ~

Girl of Vision

"The earth is just too big, too beautiful:
I like it small, through a window, catching
the light at the day’s end. I prefer poems
haiku-size; a pair of binoculars
through which I see one bluebird at a time . . .

See what I mean? Take one small thing in hand,
open it up, and there’s another door,
and another, long corridors of views
into the heart of darkness or of light . . . "

from the poem “Small Portions”
by Julia Alvarez

Peek - A - Boo!
Ellie at Town & Gown ~ February 2022
Surprise!

Eastertime 2022

~ May 2022 ~
Getting a Good Look at Aidan,
wrapped in his special gray & white
blanket from Auntie Tina!
see Ellie's pink blankie?

Moving to Virginia
~ June 2022 ~

Apple Juice Al Fresco
~ New Years Day 2023 ~
Magic Markers En Plein Air

Girl of Vision: Eleanor
Woman of Vision: Emily

Before I got my eye put out –
( Poem #336)

Before I got my eye put out –
liked as well to see
As other creatures, that have eyes –
And know no other way –

But were it told to me, Today,
That I might have the Sky
For mine, I tell you that my Heart
Would split, for size of me –

The Meadows – mine –
The Mountains – mine –
All Forests – Stintless stars –
As much of noon, as I could take –
Between my finite eyes –

The Motions of the Dipping Birds –
The Morning’s Amber Road –
For mine – to look at when I liked,
The news would strike me dead –

So safer – guess – with just my soul
Opon the window pane
Where other creatures put their eyes –
Incautious – of the Sun –

by Emily Dickinson

Aquarium Reflections

Aquarium

The fish are drifting calmly in their tank
between the green reeds, lit by a white glow
that passes for the sun. Blindly, the blank
glass that holds them in displays their slow
progress from end to end, familiar rocks
set into the gravel, murmuring rows
of filters, a universe the flying fox
and glass cats, Congo tetras, bristle-nose
pleocostemus all take for granted. Yet
the platys, gold and red, persist in leaping
occasionally, as if they can't quite let
alone a possibility—of wings,
maybe, once they reach the air? They die
on the rug. We find them there, eyes open in surprise.

by American poet ~ Kim Addonizio, b. 1954
see also ~ “What Do Women Want?”

Ellie & Cathleen at the Aquarium
2023 (above) & 2023 (below)

Life Imitates Life

Sometimes Life Imitates Art;
other times Life Imitates Life,
as in these photos I took of Ellie,
only later noticing Ben in the background,
inadvertently making same gestures!

And here's one of Gerry and Ellie,
strolling across the yard, same gait!

And our little friend Emmy
~ born on the same day as Ellie! ~
and her dad Graham: same frisbee stance!

Plus Bonus Pic:
Graham & Ben as Little Kids!

Art Imitates Art

So many re-combinations:
Life Imitates Art, Art Imitates Life,
Life Imitates Life, Art Imitates Art . . .

Don Quixote ~ 1955
by Picasso
Not forgetting Sancho Panza

We call this one "Ben Picasso"

"Ben Cezanne"

Shades of "Picasso Taylor"
in this childhood birthday card to Sam

That time in the 1990s
when we made a pizza store:

And 3-D Handprints!

~ Helena Bonham Carter ~

[See also: Life & Art on a Bicycle!]

Time Traveling Overalls

I love what my friend Emily wrote:
"Oh my gosh what a great photo time capsule -
it’s like, Babyhood of the Traveling Overalls!"

Osh Kosh Aidan - 2023

Osh Kosh Ellie - 2021
Aidan's big sister

Above: my two grandchildren
Below: my two children
All wearing the same Osh Kosh overalls!

Osh Kosh Ben - 1991
Ellie & Aidan's dad

Osh Kosh Sam - 1994
Ben's little brother

These little overalls came to us when Ben was a toddler, as a gift from my creative and thoughtful friend Megan. I remember Megan telling me at the time that she found them on the rack at St. Vincent de Paul, so their usefulness -- and cuteness -- actually precedes their appearance in our family!

*******
Around the same time as the overalls, Ben also had these colorful little short-johns, one in blue and one in pink. The blue one got worn out, but we managed to save the pink for Ellie!

Here's Ben -- with Josef -- in 1991
&
Ellie in 2021

For even more adorable intergenerational outfits,
see
Retro Toddler
Matching British Sweaters
Easter Suit