I know when I wake to see my lawns and garden coated white, the growing season is gone. The killing frosts that make it so are often so beautiful it helps with the transition. And after all, by this time I'm ready to put the work of the growing season aside and let nature---and me---enjoy a season of rest.
I share some photos taken by me on this frosty morning.
R.A.T. (Rose About Town) hopes you enjoy them.
(Direct comments to randrmoore@gmail.com)
Friday, November 13, 2009
A BIT OF GOLD ON A FROSTY MORNING
At my walkway, even as the spirea is losing its seasonal life, a succession of heavy morning frosts has turned the leaves to gold. They look almost like flowers.
Monday, November 9, 2009
FRAGILE IN LOOKS BUT TOUGH!
Last Rose of Summer? Far from it! Not even the last rose of fall!
This Knockout Rose is one of several that have lived in my garden for years, and they never fail to bloom through the first few snows and sometimes send out a few blooms when you're sure they're done for the year. This photo was taken today in Northeast Ohio, in a valley where we've had many cold days and night-time killing frosts. It was one of the earlier versions---pre-patent, I think, before it bore the Knockout brand. It was a gift from a nursery executive.
Here's to the flowers in your life... be they people or plants.
Here's to the flowers in your life... be they people or plants.
(Good wishes all year, whatever the season, from Rose About Town, a last Rose of Summer herself, one of whose passions has always been flower gardening. I receive your thoughts and comments at randrmoore@gmail.com).
Sunday, November 8, 2009
SYCAMORE VALLEY:NOVEMBER NIGHT
A stoic honor guard of ghostly sycamores
stands gleaming in the dark November night
in silent, curving rows along the river course,
bleached arms upraised,
and fingers twisting to the sky,
unmoved by winds or frosted mist
or bitter cold arising from the waters;
impassive sentinels, they stand
like guards at Buckingham,
listening as the river sings
a plaintive song of pending winter.
---R Moore's "Valley Songs"
Nov. 1992
stands gleaming in the dark November night
in silent, curving rows along the river course,
bleached arms upraised,
and fingers twisting to the sky,
unmoved by winds or frosted mist
or bitter cold arising from the waters;
impassive sentinels, they stand
like guards at Buckingham,
listening as the river sings
a plaintive song of pending winter.
---R Moore's "Valley Songs"
Nov. 1992
ZERO TOLERANCE FOR ZERO TOLERANCE...
This morning on the TV news, I followed a discussion about the all-year expulsion of an elementary school child who poked a teasing classmate with a pencil. Under zero tolerance policies, the pencil was deemed a weapon. Never mind that weapon-known-as-pencil was required for the student's classes, and therefore the school might be seen responsible for allowing, encouraging and requiring that weapon to be brought onto school property.
Yesterday on the news, I followed a discussion about a school that gave some flu shots without parental permission, and at least one of those children whose parents had withheld permission developed a reaction that sent her to the emergency room. The school pleaded the shots to that particular child were accidental, but in the growing number of silly zero-tolerance cases, "accidental" hasn't been acceptable as an excuse for students.
Is zero tolerance a one-way street that does not apply to staff? Can a hypodermic needle be a weapon? Is it sharper than a pencil? Could the affected parents expel the SCHOOL for allowing the hypodermic needle to be carried onto school grounds?
It's a foolish world and getting more so.
NOW... don't get me started on suspending little kids in school for giving a spontaneous hug and consequently being charged with sexual harassment!!
GRRR-R.A.T. (Rose About Town) thinks she lives in a ridiculous world.(Comments, ridiculous or otherwise, can be addressed to randrmoore@gmail.com)
Yesterday on the news, I followed a discussion about a school that gave some flu shots without parental permission, and at least one of those children whose parents had withheld permission developed a reaction that sent her to the emergency room. The school pleaded the shots to that particular child were accidental, but in the growing number of silly zero-tolerance cases, "accidental" hasn't been acceptable as an excuse for students.
Is zero tolerance a one-way street that does not apply to staff? Can a hypodermic needle be a weapon? Is it sharper than a pencil? Could the affected parents expel the SCHOOL for allowing the hypodermic needle to be carried onto school grounds?
It's a foolish world and getting more so.
NOW... don't get me started on suspending little kids in school for giving a spontaneous hug and consequently being charged with sexual harassment!!
GRRR-R.A.T. (Rose About Town) thinks she lives in a ridiculous world.(Comments, ridiculous or otherwise, can be addressed to randrmoore@gmail.com)
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LOVED ONES?
Not to diminish their grief, but... Am I the only one who watches the "loved ones" gathering for vigils and interviews outside the serial killer's house in Cleveland, and wonders why these missing women's disappearances were mostly unreported? What am I missing here?
R.A.T. (Rose Around Town) comments received at randrmoore@gmail.com
R.A.T. (Rose Around Town) comments received at randrmoore@gmail.com
COMEDY IN CONGRESS
Is there a monkey in the house?
There are lots of monkeys in the house!
The comedy was unintentional last night on C-Span as the legislative children bickered in their health reform negotiations.
Trouble was, among us watching citizens, it was too important to laugh.
R.A.T. (Rose About Town). Comments to randrmoore@gmail.com
There are lots of monkeys in the house!
The comedy was unintentional last night on C-Span as the legislative children bickered in their health reform negotiations.
Trouble was, among us watching citizens, it was too important to laugh.
R.A.T. (Rose About Town). Comments to randrmoore@gmail.com
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