Songs from the Little Bird

... budding musician in the apartment complex across from my home office is learning to play the clarinet.

I approve of musicians and understand that drills are necessary, but I am rapidly becoming less fond of "Sakura, Sakura" than I was a day ago.

Also, I have rather frequent headaches now due to eyestrain, so... rrrrrgh.

That "Rivendell Bed" I kept going on about. Recycled iron, rubberwood = fast, renewable tree.

Finally got some sheets/blankets for it other than my old Pennsic sheets.

This new microfiber stuff is soooooooft.



It matches Nana's chair (almost). I have a strong desire to find some kind of wall hanging with leaves and stuff, possibly Art Noveau. The ceiling light is screamingly Art Noveau -- it's glass lilies -- and the bathroom (just past the altar beyond the foot of the bed) is all full of ironwork with leaf finials.

The crappy photo does not really catch the fact that the walls are a soothing, light green in the Eucalyptus range, as is the incredibly squishy comforter. The room's colors are white, dark honey, very pale green.

I bit the bullet and got a tree trimmer out to work on my patio, because that Eucalyptus had a lot of deadwood up there. But OW, and OW, they hack the top off eucalyptus trees for safety's sake, and it hurt!

They took off my favorite branch... I had told the boss but should've told the guys working for him... that's the one that made a canopy over the patio which I had my wind chimes hanging from.

It will grow back, but now the music I could hear all the time is silent, and there's no thin branches left down low enough for me to hang it (I had a really long sweepy branch that swayed in the wind; the chimes don't tend to ring unless what they're hanging on is moving.)

Next time, I need to look into finding someone who's more like a bonsai master. There has to be some way to trim the dead part without hacking off so much of what gives a tree its shape. I know eucalyptus presents a special problem, though, because it's so fragile and prone to dropping big chunks on houses.

I guess I know I've anchored to a spot when I'm crying over the tree. Never would've thought I'd feel that way about a eucalyptus; they're like sassafras, so transient. But I love the red furry bark on this one; it's like a eucalyptus trying to be a redwood, and it's got these lovely aspen-shaped leaves all different colors, mostly blue-green but also salmon pink and orange.

I have growing in my very modest garden:

-- Asia pears, most of which are refusing to ripen, but I've got a few ready.
-- Something that is producing profuse quantities of what I take to be miniature plums, and I need to verify this with someone who knows fruit better before I consume too many. They TASTE okay, a bit underripe.
-- Basil, rosemary, two types of thyme, oregano, sage, chives.

On their way:
-- two types of cherry tomatoes, and a Czech tomato of a variety I've never tried before but "small, almost cherry tomato sized, sweet" sounded like the mutant crossbreed my Mom and I invented by accident back in Pennsylvania when I was a kid.

And the jasmine is looking perky, though I'm not sure if it will get another crop of flowers this year or not.

Thank you, goddess.


Now, the question is: what should I cook with these herbs to celebrate? The basil and oregano are the most prolific right now.

There are many, many, many baby ducks. As soon as I can find my camera adapter, I shall post fuzzball pictures.

My aunt came up on the train today-- there is a train station a few miles away-- and we went to investigate a restaurant on a lake in the neighborhood. The lake is pretty. It is full of baby ducks and MONSTER KOI that are (literally) the size of one to two adult mallards.

As a member of this neighborhood, I may take canoes, paddleboats, small saiboats, or rowboats out on the lake! Some of the paddleboats are bicycles on double pontoons, so I may bike to the lake and then bike ON the lake. There are also sailing classes.

And there's an eerily realistic-looking artificial beach with a separate lagoon, kept shallow for safety and warmth.

The lake has a very small island in the middle of it with a few trees and a cozy bench.

I am very tired from walking halfway around the lake.