Confessions of a Grandma

 Is it just me or is the "new and improved" blogger really glitchy? I guess we hang on for a bumpy ride? My reading list is not suddenly showing the blogs I read. I have a fine list of things written written six years ago. Making comments can be a gamble. If I mark a comment as spam, it gets published anyway. I don't mind change unless it is a giant step backwards and that is what this appears to be. Why, yes, yes I have.

I can't even tell you how long I just stood staring at this branch of maple leaves and the blue sky behind it. And then there was the bark on this locust tree that captivated my attention. I take a lot of random pictures by accident. I often see these little library boxes, but I was of course delighted to see this one dedicated to poetry. Residential streets were lined with these signs. Remember when cars mostly looked like this? Mercury Blues I took a picture of this hedge because it was such a mish mash of trees and shrubs and vines but someone obviously spent time to  keep it clipped and trimmed. Ducked down an alley way I love doorways and windows. The alley way brought me to the river that flows behind the town's main street. A foot bridge crosses the river. Where the Wild Things Are  was reproduced in signs along the path. And the path  lead to the Marble Works, once actual marble works but now small shops. An entire yard full of hydrangea at the museum. On the way home l

 It's now officially autumn.   I took a trip to visit Amy and my grandchildren. Since my Dane was doing online school I took the back roads and made the time to take some pictures with my phone and do some walking. It was a gorgeous day! Not a bear in sight and not a coyote to be heard. Camel's Hump, early morning I was driving down the Champlain Valley where the color is just starting to show. That bright blue sky made me happy. Huntington Falls in Weybridge, VT This area belongs to an electric company. Their power plant is hidden behind the tree above. There is a small parking lot and a nice picnic area with a couple of tables -- a family fishing spot. This knotweed is an invasive taking over river banks and wetlands. I stopped in Middlebury. This meadow at the edge of town used to be owned by Middlebury College but is now preserved. There is a walkway around the periphery. White aster New England aster Burning bush, because it is pretty, was a popular landscape shrub for a w

 This was shared with me by the Venice (FL) Interfaith Community Association. Be Careful Author Unknown Everyone PLEASE be careful because people are going crazy from being locked down at home! I was just talking about this with the microwave and the toaster while drinking my coffee, and we all agreed that things are getting bad. I didn't mention any of this to the washing machine, because she puts a different spin on EVERYTHING!! Certainly, I couldn't share with the fridge, because he's been acting cold and distant! In the end, the iron straightened me out! She said the situation isn't all that pressing and all the wrinkles will soon get ironed out! The vacuum, however, was very unsympathetic - told me to just suck it up buttercup! But the fan was VERY optimistic and gave me hope that it will all blow over soon! The toilet looked a bit flushed but didn't say anything when I asked its opinion. But the front door said I was becoming unhinged and the doorknob told me

 I have a walking buddy. We are a good match because we like to keep up a brisk pace and we like to do a good distance, usually about five miles. We have a couple of routes we routinely follow. Now Donna is younger and is still working so we have to work around her schedule. That means we are walking later sometimes. We had planned to walk at 3 p.m. on Friday but then she was asked to stay late as someone had called in sick so we didn't set out until after 6. We were taking a route near her house that we like but a great deal of it is dirt road through the woods. It was dark by 7:15. We had a flashlight and phones. We started to hear coyotes howling and Donna remembered hearing that people have been seeing bears around town. She has a dread fear of bears, even more than any reasonable person might have. She started walking faster and faster. I had to run to keep up with her for the whole middle third of the "walk." The last hundred or so yards takes us along a paved and t

 Rabbits and chipmunks -- little point in trying to grow a few vegetables for myself but we all need to eat A rainbow from my front door The condo association did a walk around and decided these over grown arbor vitae that are impinging on exterior walls have to go. Also they are annoying the gas meter readers. And then they plan to replant arbor vitae, which I don't quite understand. Is there a variety that won't be back in the same situation a few years down the road? I hacked away at the rhododendrons. The landscape committee planted these hydrangea in the front of many units. They only seem to blossom around the bottom of the shrubs so they are scheduled for replacement sometime in the future. I finally got around to washing the door that leads to the back deck. It was filthy with bird suicide bomber smudges. But the indoor potted plants seemed to thrive in filtered sun that came through anyway. I don't remember seeing so many mushrooms on the lawn. I wish I knew which