Friday, May 13, 2016

Lesson 418: Red

This Friday night blog post is dedicated to Red Robin,
my favorite mother bird I've ever watched here at the Lamp Post.



Her eggs hatched on Mother's Day weekend.


In seven days time, they went from this, 


to this!


There's four babies in there--
they are hard to capture at the same time.



The one who hogs the north side of the nest hatched first
and is the hungriest.



I love this bird family so much because the father bird is around--
a lot!
He brings worms faithfully every day at 4:30.


When Momma was threatened by a nearby Baltimore Oriel,
she knocked her babies down in the nest,
fluffed herself out extra fat,
and sat on top of them guarding them with the loudest cry.


Other bird news of this Red Week:

Found a Red-Winged Blackbird!


I hollered to Sam's team not to lay down in the outfield,
or these nearby vultures would make a bloody mess of them.







My ball players suffered puffy eyes thanks to nature's release of the seasonal 
white fuzzies!







Pollen can be a real bitch to some,


but in keeping with nature,
bitches are usually really pretty.




I found this rare red trillium at the Envirothon on Thursday.


It's a great learning activity for kids.


You get to handle cool things,


Put on some hip waders,



and when someone yells, "Snake!"
kids run toward it instead of away from it.


Speaking of running,
We have been red-cheeked here at the Lamp Post
from all of the outdoor exercise we've been getting.






We usually quench our thirst with straight H-2-Oh!
but once in awhile we grab one of these.

Love the Coca Cola marketing campaign this summer!


The familiar red labels have song lyrics!


Northwestern High School rolled out the red carpet for Natalie and her friends
for the Special Needs Formal.






At school we rolled out the red carpet for the incoming Kindergartners!


Mother Eloise was flushed red with emotion on Mother's Day,
with the displays of appreciation from some people I love.

A card just from the girls?



Sam insisted on getting his own card this year.


It's a musical card and the pig farts classical music.


I loved the awesome bracelet from my sister.


According to Alex and Ani,
the Keys to Life are:




Despite the unpredictability of May weather,
and May calendars,
the month has come with a comfortable familiarity.

Red morning skies,


Old, red trucks,


and Grandpa sitting by his red garage.


Happy moments--
blessings of fresh, new babies,


And the discovery of the thirteenth citizen of my Paper Town,
Hawkingville,
on Friday the 13th, nonetheless!


All of us here at the Lamp Post wish you a happy May weekend


It's goodnight for tonight.
Eloise is very, very tired.

XOXO
Good night kisses,
and say your prayers.

ELOISE




Friday, May 6, 2016

Lesson 417: Green


Oh me, 
oh me,
oh my, Readers!
IT'S MAY!!

This is kind of what May looks like for me and my friends 
in the
 middle aged,
middle income,
middle of a hurricane household.


May also looks like this:

Art Shows





The spirit lives!
The glass artist returned!


Blow torch,
here I come!


Spring Sports take center stage.




And most importantly, spring weather!
The fresh air feels so great on the lungs


and smells so great on fabric.


The pastures are greening up.


That's worth a kiss


and a nuzzle.


The horse nuzzle was a fun capture,
but by far,
the wildlife winner of the week
was the discovery of a nest of baby squirrels,
thanks to the keen eyes of my parents.







All the time spent out in the great outdoors
gave Eloise a very Green week.



Why not transfer some of that green-time to school hours, too?




My students participated in the Pennsylvania Envirothon.


What a great opportunity to learn about the natural world around you!



Cramming all I can into the daylight hours post sunrise,
force me to shift my slow jogs,
which I have renamed slogs,
to the crack of dawn.


It's worth the early rise to experience skies of this magnitude.



Morning slogs really do help with morning fog.



Well, kind of.
Dropped my favorite coffee cup in the driveway on the way to get the newspaper.
Drat!
One thing to know about Eloise--
she's clumsy.


To try to balance a crazy life with little to no down time,
I try to occupy my mind with something different,
and a little complex.
Something I can get lost in.

My friend Heather recommended "the mystery box"--
a mystery experience mailed to your home every month.


Eloise decided to give it a whirl,
and I cracked the May box open to see what was in it.


Hmmmm...
A newspaper with a headline about a haunted doll.


Well, isn't that enough to make you drop your coffee cup!


Ack!


After perusing the creepy photos
and skimmed the story about the death of a child,
I knew this challenge was not for me.

When I got to the package of mysterious white powder,
it sealed the deal--


Subscription Cancelled.
Reason for discontinuation:  Too Scary!


I do still have the complete box,
and am willing to give it to the first person who 
requests it under the facebook posting for this blog.
It's all yours--
white powder and all.

The mystery I am going to work on is this one:
Where are my cats?!


I haven't seen them for days.
Ran away---
no way.

I think they were catnapped!
Any information leading to the return of Stealth and Sometimes
is worth a special Lamp Post reward.


It's not easy being green, Readers,
but do take the time to care for the Earth.
It's is your home.

ELOISE