The Question of Soler

Here's a crossover post from a sportsblog I started over on FoxSports.com. They recently held a contest to seek "The Next Great Sportswriter." I didn't win. I wasn't surprised.

I did, however, find an audience for my sports-related thoughts, as "out there" as they might be. Like this one on a rookie's debut at Shea...

The Question of Soler.

One for the Nature Lovers

Swallowtail

Today in the garden...

The allium I got for a buck last fall!



Sage...and friend...

Perfect Wave

Waiting for the perfect wave

Misquamicut Beach

Rhode Island

They'll be waiting a long time for the "perfect wave" on the east coast, but it's all relative. When you're four feet tall, a three foot wave is just about perfect. Misquamicut Beach is just across the Connecticut border into Rhode Island. A short drive from the central Mystic tourist center, this popular family beach has a wide and extremely long beach with lighthouses on either end. It's just beyond the tip of Long Island, so the waves are decent, even better on stormy days.

There is a long boardwalk near the concessions and a very environmentally friendly (and odorous) restroom facility. The concessions lines are tortuously long, so byo-food. The kids loved the playground and outdoor cold showers. Coin-op showers are also available.

In Memory of Mom

Mom's birthday today. She's been gone for ten years, but she's still with me. = )

She loved Elvis, gardenias, roses, dancing and the Mets. And us. She taught me how to cook, well, laugh and enjoy the little things in life. Apparently, I was a needy baby, thus, the attachment to mom's hip. I also liked to be rocked to sleep, so they rigged a temporary hammock across the archway in the living room. Mini-me reminds me of my daughter. From birth until two and a half, she was my appendage, which at times, I'll admit, was exhausting. But I wouldn't have traded a moment of that cutie-pie spending quality time with me. And I bet my Mom would've said the same thing.

Me and Mom

Peekskill, NY

1967

Postcards from...D.C.

Jefferson Memorial & Cherry Blossoms

Photo courtesy of my sister

Morning

Morning Light

Hyde Park, NY

Silhouette Sunset

Boston Skyline Sunset

To plant or not to plant

That is the question. Every year, in early May, I toy with the idea of planting my tender annuals and vegetable starter plants before the frost date has passed. Dutchess County planting time usually coincides with Mother's Day. I remember because plants were our standard Mother's Day gift for my mom. That's all she ever wanted. Plants, flowers, roses vegetables and some soft, rich soil to plant them in. We got her the plants. We dug the holes. That was our Mother's Day. That and a meal made by the kids or dad, or takeout, if we actually wanted to enjoy what we were eating. It made her happy.

My Mother's Days are just about the same. All I want is my family and garden stuff. Plants, flowering shrubs, bird baths and a little, weedless stone path through my 10 x 10 perennial garden. I want my lilacs to bloom (Mother's Day gift 2004). My azaleas finally did (2003). I want the deer to find their own Mother's Day brunch to nibble from. Little things.

So, here I am, with a few moments to plant and I'm torn. Last year, I planted early and a hard frost hit that night. I've never been a weather hound. I had to dig out most of the vegetable garden I had planted (with the neighbors looking on in confusion) and loaded it all into a pile of soil in my wheelbarrow. There it sat, parked in my garage, waiting for sunshine and warmer temps.

This week's forecasted lows are mid-40's. No frost there. I think I'm safe to plant. But now I've spent the time typing instead of planting. They'll wait one more day in their tidy flats. And I'll just have to dream of sweet lilacs (maybe next year) and the sweet corn I'll have in August (my first attempt at corn).

I Am A Cloudspotter

Hello, my name is Carolyn and I am a Cloudspotter. Officially, I mean.

My good friend, Kathleen pointed me to a site that has interesting cloud photos featured. She suggested I send this one in:

"

(click to enlarge)

I took it on Election Day in 2004. I thought it looked like a giant peace dove, descending from the heavens, holding an olive branch. Ah, me. Ever the optimist. Well, the election didn't turn out the way I wanted (cleansing breath) but the photo made it into the Cloudspotter's Guide.

From their official site:

A humorous and instructive tour of the sky, the book introduces each of the different characters in the cloud family in turn. It tells of clouds being used to predict earthquakes and of one in Australia that glider pilots surf like a wave. It also settles such pressing questions as which variety of mackerel is it that lends its name to the ‘mackerel skies’ of the cirrocumulus stratiformis undulatus? And, more hypothetically, who would win in a fight between a cumulonimbus and a nimbostratus?

Besides numerous diagrams and illustrations, the book also includes over fifty photographs, kindly contributed by the fantastic cloud photographers swelling the ranks of The Cloud Appreciation Society. It also has a colour ‘Cloudspotting Diploma’ section in the middle, with which you can test your new-found understanding of the skies.

I got my courtesy contributor copy last week. Kind of neat to see my photo in there. It's a crazy, funny book. And, let's face it, it's nice to spend some time looking up.

Far cooler clouds than mine spotted on their website.

Paint High

Paint High

Main Street

Poughkeepsie, NY

Soccer Saturday

A day at the fields

Lagrange Soccer Fields

Jackpot of a Story

Running around being kiddie chauffeur today, plus we've got a communion, a birthday party and something else that, at the moment, has escaped me. I'm sure it's written in tiny, cryptic lettering on the calendar. I'll decipher it soon. But for now, check out this piece by Dan Barry, "About New York" columnist from the New York Times. It's an ace.

Swimmingly

(click photo to enlarge)

Three ducks

Lagrangeville, NY

These little guys scared the heck out of me, if you can imagine ducks having that effect. They were hiding in the thick brush in the (cropped) foreground while I was trying to frame a shot of the pond. Out they came, quacking, so I refocused and snapped them quickly before they went on their way. These are shy ducks. Not the kind that come to you if you feed them. They want nothing to do with humans. I have to admit, I don't blame them.

Looking Up

Ice cream shoppe

Route 17

somewhere on the way to Binghampton, NY