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Back in May, I realized it was time to take down the Easter / Spring wreaths but didn’t really have anything summery or any little flags for Memorial Day, So — instead of holding out for Halloween — I jumped straight to my new black cat. After all, it’s ALWAYS Black Cat Season around here, right?
By adding a red, white, and blue bow, we were all set for Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Bastille Day and Labor Day!
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| Wendy Andrew ~ Painting Dreams ~ Winter |
The Harvest Moon
The flame-red moon, the harvest moon,
Rolls along the hills, gently bouncing,
A vast balloon,
Till it takes off, and sinks upward
To lie on the bottom of the sky, like a gold doubloon.
The harvest moon has come,
Booming softly through heaven, like a bassoon.
And the earth replies all night, like a deep drum.
So people can't sleep,
So they go out where elms and oak trees keep
A kneeling vigil, in a religious hush.
The harvest moon has come!
And all the moonlit cows and all the sheep
Stare up at her petrified, while she swells
Filling heaven, as if red hot, and sailing
Closer and closer like the end of the world.
Till the gold fields of stiff wheat
Cry 'We are ripe, reap us!' and the rivers
Sweat from the melting hills.
by Ted Hughes
from Season Songs (Faber & Faber)
[More about this poem]
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| The Waxing Harvest Moon |
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| There was also this fingernail moon back in July! |
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| And our corner in August. |
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| Red Grosgrain Silk Chiffon Dress
Summer 1932 ~ Paris by Gabrielle Chanel (1883 - 1971) |
And on the other nights, did she dress up in flaming red gowns and dance the night away, carefree, silly, wild? No. She did laundry and mending, and went to bed early with an orange and a thick book with lots of close print.
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| Clo in a Bathing Suit (1937)
Einar Jolin (1890 - 1976) |
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| Land That We Love:
Fourth of July Harvest |
"I also know," said Candide, "that we must cultivate our garden."
"You are right," said Pangloss, "for when man was put in the Garden of Eden, he was put there ut operaretur eum, to work; which proves that man was not born to rest."
"Let us work without reasoning," said Martin, "it is the only way to make life endurable."
All the little society entered into this laudable plan; each one began to exercise his talents. The little piece of land produced much. True, Cunégonde was very ugly; but she became and excellent pastry cook; Paquette embroidered; the old woman took care of the linen. No one, not even Friar Giroflée, failed to perform some service; he was a very good carpenter, and even became an honorable man.
Pangloss sometimes said to Candide:
"All events are linked together in the best of all possible worlds. for after all, if you had not been expelled from a fine castle with great kicks in the backside for love of Mademoiselle Cunégonde, if you had not been subjected to the Inquisition, if you had not traveled about America on foot, if you had not given the Baron a great blow with your sword, if you had not lost all your sheep from the good country of Eldorado, you would not be here eating candied citrons and pistachios."
"That is well said," replied Candide, "but we must cultivate our garden.”
from Candide
by Voltaire (1694 – 1778)
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| Easy Zucchini Casserole:
cut in chunks, stir in olive oil, sprinkle with favorite spices, cover with foil and bake for an hour at 400. During the last few minutes, sprinkle with dry stuffing mix & feta crumbles |
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| Vintage Postcard of Lady Liberty
with Phrygian Caps |
Delayed acceptance: Berlin wrote "God Bless America" during World War I but set it aside, thinking it wasn't quite right for the times. It didn't gain popularity until World War II, when it came into its own as Kate Smith's signature tune.
1920s Cancel Culture: Initially, the song was considered too sappy by the woke left; and it was spurned by the alt-right for being composed by a Jewish immigrant. Thankfully, both Berlin and his "unofficial national anthem of the United States" continue to stand the test of time.
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| My siblings all had something fun to say
when we were sorting out the old family cookbooks and came across this instruction guide / recipe booklet for our beloved ice cream maker! |
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| I went to the window to check out the full moon,
pushed back the curtain, and saw this reflection of our night-light globe & the doily -- but NOT the table on which it is sitting! |
A magical interpretation from Indiana photographer & kind friend Mark Bass: "Wow, kind of an inverted magic carpet ride. Instead of you riding a magic carpet around the world you can have the world revolve around by means of a magic carpet. That's about as cool as it gets."
Back Yard
Shine on, O moon of summer.
Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak,
All silver under your rain to-night.
An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion.
A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next month;
to-night they are throwing you kisses.
An old man next door is dreaming over a sheen that sits in a
cherry tree in his back yard.
The clocks say I must go — I stay here sitting on the back porch drinking
white thoughts you rain down.
Shine on, O moon,
Shake out more and more silver changes.
by Carl Sandburg (1878 – 1967)
[also Autumn / and more]
June Moonrise
I see them in the Evening
Go slowly, softly, through
Deep hedge-ways where the thrush sings late
And on the stile or at the gate
The coming of calm moonrise wait,
As we were wont to do.
Far up the land of brightness drawn
On dew-starred fields by that gentle dawn
Their young eyes see
Days that shall be,
And mine days that are gone.
from The Crowning of the Year (1937)
by Loyd Haberly (1896 – 1981)
[also May]
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My favorite Donny Osmond story is one that he told Rosie O'Donnell, maybe 20 years ago, about riding on an airplane with one of older sons, and the stewardess said to the son, "Has anyone ever told you that you look exactly like Donny Osmond?"
And Donny is thinking, "HEY, I'M Donny Osmond, the REAL Donny Osmond!" But the stewardess is completely focused on the handsome young man and isn't even making the connection that the "old" guy sitting right beside him is, in fact, Donny Osmond!
Then, last year, in an odd reversal, one of Donny's younger sons nearly went unrecognized as an Osmond!
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