Wednesday, May 27, 2015

And the rain, rain, rain, came down, down, down


From April 2015


That would be two Fridays ago on the 3rd of May.  The rain had started Wednesday or Thursday.  Steady.  Not overly impressive.  But, on Friday, every time I went outside the rain had gotten heavier.  I took the day care supplies to the car.  I took Zupe to the car.  I took everything into the day care.  I came home.  I went to work.  Still, that was nothing.  Mid-afternoon it let loose.

We live on the north side of Brisbane.  I work a bit farther north.  A little farther north - less than 30 min drive away (I've read recently that people from Ohio identify distance by driving time - there you go; it must be true!) was the place it rained the heaviest.  Let me check the stats.  I saved them.

About 4 PM I got a call from day care that the kids were being evacuated.  I left.  It was maybe 4:10.  I remembered the way the little cut through road I usually take flooded earlier this year and chose the highway- where I sat unmoving for almost 30 minutes.  Unmoving and without a phone to call to let the school know I was trying but unsuccessful.  Five minutes before my "give up" time - the time I was going to stop the car and GET OUT INTO THE DOWNPOUR to beg a phone from one of the other dozens of stopped cars, the traffic started moving again.  I drove through almost a foot of water, I'd guess.  There and then again on Beams Road.  I turned the little "u-turn" on Beams that is required to get to the day care and saw the lane into the center.  Well, not really.  There was no seeing that lane it was sincerely under water.  As the evening was getting dark, very dar.  I returned up Beams and took the left at the round-about to attempt the back way into the center.  It was a good drive, until the road dipped down and who knows how deep the water was there!

I ended up parking in a high lot and wading the block to block and a half to the center.  As I waded through knee deep water I thought about the new shoes I was wearing that I had to buy for work and I watched the unmoving traffic on Beams Road.  I decided it looked very unlikely that I would succeed in driving home and that I would need to carry Zupe home.  Or, maybe Kevin could.

I borrowed a phone at the center, after stripping out of my coat, my shoes and my socks, and called Kevin.  He said he'd bring the stroller.  I said "Do not bother."

He came through water over his knees and his knees are pretty high!  Walking home it was even deeper than walking TO the center.  The water washing across Beams was moving - that was fun!  But, at least the deepest bit - in the train station parking lot - mid thigh on me - was still.

I left the car overnight.  By morning the water was mostly someplace else.  The photo above shows all that remained in the lane at the day care.

I am so thankful that we live close enough that we can walk to the day care and that Kevin is/was working from home.  Carrying Zupe on my own, particularly where the water ran fast or those times I stepped into deeper holes, could have been treacherous.

My free lesson to you - socks really help keep your feet warm.  I couldn't face putting my soaking socks back on to make the walk home and so I had only my nylon running shoes between me and the flood waters.  Nylon = breezy in a watery sort of way.  Breezy and cold.  Yikes.

Request - Yes, I'm asking you

Every year I think I'll enter a photograph in the state fair here in Qld.   And, it never happens.  It is that time again, I think.  I'd really appreciate your input - have you seen a recent photo on my blog(s) that grabbed you.  You know, in a good way.  Thanks.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

How many times

can you read "The Silence of the Lambs" - in succession - before people start crossing the street to avoid you?

Just asking.

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Happy Birthday to me!

From April 2015

Ohio April 2015 - Happy Birthday Dear Zuperfliegen

HOW COULD YOU BE FOUR YEARS OLD?  Mommy and Daddy love you.  Thank you for the best birthday gift - YOU!  And, learning to say mama on the 7th was pretty great, too!



Monday, May 18, 2015

Ohio April 2015 - Spring springing

There is no green, like a spring green!  A breath of fresh air!  A promise!  A hope!

And, then there are the flowers.

From April 2015
Wheat field, St. Peter's Church of St. Peter's Road.


From April 2015
Stillwater River, Webster.  (November 2014 - Stillwater River)


From April 2015
Church in Webster, Ohio.  See this same scene in Autumn.  (November 3, 2014 - Thoughts about home)


From April 2015
My favorite stream - at the corner of SR 185 and SR 48.


From April 2015
And then there are the flowers....


From April 2015


From April 2015

Ohio April 2015 - Post 3

From April 2015


The third photo series - though I am now remembering previous series ideas (The Stillwater and Ohio Barns - that's a really old one from when I was driving back and forth between Versailles and Urbana University) - so - the third series - "Outstanding in their field".  I know I've already written about how fascinated I've always been with the way whereever you look in the Ohio countryside, you see the edge of some forest.  It has been beaten back to make our acres and acres of fields, but the primordial forest of Ohio still peeps out.  (Perhaps, primoridal is overstating the issue - but don't you wonder how long those little miniwoods have stood?)  In addition, at very regular, irregular intervals you'll see a tree or a small collective of trees at the edge of what may have been or may still be a fence row or where a home once stood or who knows?  I love these brave trees standing alone or in small groups hoping to recapture the fields and take Ohio back.  (You can see some of this in Post 1, too.)

Here are a very few sending their love and speaking their courage.

From April 2015



From April 2015



From April 2015

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Ohio April 2015 - Post 2

From April 2015

Well, what do you know?

At home I imagined three different photo themes.  The first one I shared in Post 1 - the open road.  The second one is Harrison Street.  Being home.  Being home and looking out at the world.  I am not sure why this tiny corner of the world inspires me with so much awe.  Maybe it is love.  Maybe if you are completely comfortable in a place you (or I) can stop hiding inside and really look out at the world.  Or, maybe it is just a function of time.  There is so much time in Versailles.  There are no movies.  There is no job.  There is no cable tv.

I shared a photo from our visit last Christmas looking out onto Harrison Street (and East Wood) and one from our last visit in October.  Here are more - including early on a foggy morning, and a stormy spring evening... not to mention the photo at the top - morning in the new bedroom.
From April 2015


From April 2015

From April 2015

Ohio April 2015 - Post 1

&
From April 2015


There may not be a post 2, but you never know.

I am so thankful that I got to spend another spring in Ohio.  When we arrived, my mother's day lilies were only peaking out of the soil.  By the time we left, almost a month later, they stood at their full height (being only Stella del Oro) with a bud tightly wrapped and presented on a stalk.  Leaves unfurled.  Grass greened.  Daffodils bloomed.  And, trees bloomed.  (Not the crab apple - it took another week - nor the lilacs.)

Many evenings I would put Zupe to bed then jump in my mom's car and just cruise the local roadways.  My goal ostensibily was to photograph the field of daffodils that bloom on Versailles Southeastern Road at the corner of Kelch Road.  I should give up that idea.  It is not an easy task, especially when you are a bit shy and don't want people wondering what you are doing, let alone asking you to maybe not walk through their yard.  And, where to park?

What I discovered on my sojourns was how liberating it felt to be driving along open fields.  I spend way too much time in the city here... or at least the suburbs.  There are houses and trees and high grassy plants closing in on me everywhere.  The jungle is green AND concrete.  Ah, to catch one's breath on the open road!

Your mileage might vary.  Here are a few photos that I took celebrating space and light.



From April 2015


From April 2015

More for Maeve

More of Mighty Maeve

Mighty Maeve, Mighty Maeve, what will you make?
An splendiferous house made entirely of cake!
Or maybe a bus that is fueled by dog farts,
Or a salve that will mend all the world's broken hearts.

Mighty Mave, Mighty Maeve, what will you dance?
A little soft shoe with a mime straight from France!
A two step, a waltz, a cha-cha-cha-cha!
I will dance every dance for my precious Mama!

Mighty Maeve, Mighty Maeve, what will you sing?
A green dragonfly with a gossamer wing
He will buzz past the pond while the bull froggies croak
With a wee little fairy wrapped tight in his cloak.
Tadpoles and cat tails
Fireflies glow
Giant moon moths
Soft breezes blow.


The mirror

Mermaids at the seaside
Fairies at the brook
Ogres under bridges
Come on, take a look!

Rhinos playing croquet
Lions playing jacks
Llamas knitting sweaters
Monkeys playing sax

Zebras running circles
Cars are stalking moose
Mice are dancing waltzes
Cows on the caboose

Look into my mirror
What wonders you will see
Imagination miracles
Your mind can set you free

Lily's playing dress-up
Mommy's sipping tea
Daddy's taking photos
What would you like to be?

Close your eyes and see it
Hear, touch, smell the day
The journey to your future
Beings in just this way.






Tuesday, May 05, 2015

Two poems for a little friend - neither one with a title - also in need of illustration!

Mighty Maeve, Mighty Maeve, What will you write?
A fanciful tale on the tail of a kite!

A girl with a bow on a horse by a hill
A dragon, a fairy, an elf named McGill!
A shiny white pig
A dog with no hair
A small purple cat and a pink dancing bear!




Mighty Maeve, Mighty Maeve
Mighty Maeve is mighty brave!

She's not afraid of witches.
She's not afraid of brooms.
She's not afraid of shadows
That lurk at night in rooms.

She's not afraid of tigers.
She's not afraid of bears.
She's not afraid of bogeymen
Who live beneath the stairs.

She's not afraid of ghosties.
She's not afraid of ghouls.
She's on afraid of monsters
Who swim in deep, dark pools.

She's not afraid of chickens.
She's not afraid of cows.
She's not afraid of lumberjacks
With extra shaggy brows.

She's not afraid of doctors.
She's not afraid of shots.
She's not afraid of octopi
Or cocoa that's too hot.

She's not afraid of darkness.
She's brave all by herself.
She doesn't need a pirate,
A dragon, or an elf.

She's braver than a lion.
She's braver than a kite.
She's braver than an astronaut,
A diver, or a knight.

She doesn't run from danger.
She stands and sets her eye.
And everything that's scary,
Just seems to pass her by.