It's Spring Time.

I thought I would add an addendum to this entry. Today 26-Mar-08, it began to snow!! Yesterday looked more like Spring with the intermittent showers but today, the snow shower made me run (no; walk. I do not run.) for my camera to capture this Spring folly.




To my friend Cooper, and all those who actually have real footage of snow annually , this wee squall is much ado about nothing. Our history will show we have had our blizzards and snow fall that will stop us in our tracks, especially up in the mountains where we have had record snow falls over the years.



The storm seems to have passed through this area and it is now back to lightly raining. I should say that we usually do not see snow in the winter months where we live save, one or two small storms of snow. Today's storm took me by surprise so, I thought I would add them to the rest of the Spring pictures.

(Now, back to your local stations.) ;-)

It's Springtime and between the intermittent showers this afternoon I went out into the front and back yards to have a closer look at our plants, bushes and trees preparing themselves after the Winter standing dormant. The first picture is our Magnolia tree with blossoms just about ready to open. Unfortunately, they don't last very long before they wilt and fade away.



These "Blue Beauties" are always the first plant to bloom in the Spring and they share space with my mint and thyme herbs.




The "Wedding Tree is on the left, a "weeping cherry tree" that seems to love that spot. Down the hill is the lichen and moss covered Maple tree with last year's leaves ready to be removed when the soil is dry enough for working in the yard. ( Seán is just coming around the deck. )




Here is another picture of the "Wedding Tree." We were given this tree as a wedding present from my sister, her husband & and old friend. We are presently, trying to get rid of the moss growth that was immense this Winter. It was surprising how much area it took over and how much grass was displaced by it. I plan on retaking these photos as the plants and trees bloom. The Rhodie's bloom a wee bit later but are well worth the wait.



I leave you with a verse and a chorus of this little dittie from William Shakespeare's "As You Like It," Act V, Scene III.

Song

It was a lover and his lass,

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,

That o'er the green corn-field did pass

In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,

When birds do sing, hey ding a ding,ding:

Sweet lovers love the spring . . .

It's Spring time.

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(ah, yes, it is, indeed!)

Second Class Citizen

We were married a few years ago on the 19th of March when Oregon law had a loophole in it that essentially allowed gays and lesbians to marry. We normally celebrate our anniversary in the latter part of February as the date we met and became partners.

A lesbian couple we know and love went down from Olympia, Wa. to Portland, Oregon to get formally hitched with us. At the time, they had been together for about six years and we had been together well into our twenties. What a wonderful feeling that finally we too, were going to be legally recognized as a married couple. On the drive down to Portland I was starting to experience a feeling I have not felt in a long time, butterflies, and after all this time together this feeling was back.

We arrived at a court house expecting a long line to file the appropriate paperwork and take it to a priest, pastor, or another official sanctioned to perform the final ritual the same day. Not being religious, it didn't matter who officiated and my partner, Steve felt the same way. As it turned out, the line was very short and we moved along in anticipation of being married and the euphoria of the whole event.

When we were finally, standing face to face, holding each others hands, looking into each others eyes, the emotion of the seriousness of this decision , and the genuine love of your partner looking back at you, humbled me and made me silent and in awe of this beautiful person standing in front of me loving me as much as I, him. "Do you take this man ...?" That did it. Tears were building in my eyes and I tried to say, "I do," but all I could summon was a croak, sniffle, a wipe of a tear and trying not to make a fool of myself. I did manage to say, " I do," and all the seriousness of taking this oath came flooding to me all at once. "To love, ( with all my heart, and have been for 27 years now. ) To honor, ( you bet I do, I take this very seriously. ) To obey, ( OK . . .now wait a minute, that's going a bit too far. LOL! We are in this for the long haul and our "taking the helm, is a mutual responsibility. ) Until death do you part?" ( This has been my plan and over time we started functioning as one. One unit. Not only do we love each other, but he is also my best friend. ) Well, my emotional status didn't help my love out at all. Him seeing me in what looked like pain, made him follow me off the cliff not unlike the lemming. Tears swelled up in his eyes and he croaked out an "I do, as well." Looking into his eyes and really seeing him, couldn't have made me love him more.

We were legally married for one year whilst the Reich-Wing Haters gathered money and, no doubt, favor. One year later a judge in one swipe of his pen annulled 3000 gay and lesbian couple's marriages. The day we were married was the happiest day of my life .

The Powerful Beauty of Nature

Many of us at one time in our lives, have experienced the power of nature in the form of tornadoes, hurricanes, wind storm, dust devils or what have you. The Tacoma region of Washington state had a bridge collapse due to the forces of the wind blowing through a narrow stretch of water where the tide ebbs and flows feeding and taking away water in the south region of Puget Sound. The bridge was affectionately named "Galloping Gertie," and if you have never seen the movie footage of it bucking and rolling with an automobile still parked on it and finally breaking apart falling into the water, try finding it on YouTube.

The bridge was rebuilt and made to withstand the changes in the weather through "The Narrows," Due to a city in constant growth and the greater traffic crossing from the mainland to the Kidsap peninsula, it was decided that another bridge needed to be built along side of the older one. This was completed this year and has helped significantly with traffic flow. The reality is that now a fare is charged coming back from the peninsula.

Above, are two pictures of the newer bridge being hit by lightning. Thunder and lightning are a rare sight in this area. It appears as though the lightning rod did its job in grounding this force.

Credit for the photographs go to Reed Skyllingstad.

Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig

Here's wishing everyone an Happy St. Paddy's Day.

History has taught us this Welshman drove the snakes from Ireland, no small task, but in reality, Ireland never had snakes so perhaps, the task was easier than first thought. ;-) It is also said that he taught the masses the concept of the Trinity by using the three leaf clover as his model. In Ireland of the recent past, the celebration of the Patron Saint of Ireland required fasting and going to Mass, then home to eat or the nearest pub depending on your fancy. The Irish immigrants to the Americas changed it eventually into what we know of the celebrations here with parades, drunkenness, turning the Chicago river green with food die that actually lasts a few days, and the food staple attributed to the Irish; Corned beef and Cabbage. In reality, the Irish lifted this food from Jewish immigrants who would prepare this meal in the New York urban tenements which were home for many different groups of people adjusting to their new home. One can imagine all the different culinary smells wafting from these buildings. What was part of the staples of the Jewish immigrant's home became the same for the Irish immigrants as well. Eventually, this meal became recognized as Irish. Traditional Irish cooking would have involved lamb or pig or some sort of a root stew if one were from an humble upbringing.

I made the "traditional" Corned-beef and Cabbage stew for us and will suffer the consequences of "the vapors" as a byproduct of its goodness.

Here's lifting a glass to your health and wealth in the coming year!

( Tonight, will be a "pub-crawl" with the other Irish musicians where I live. I'm not as young as I used to be and I may be calling it an evening at a proper hour rather than howl at the moon with my younger friends. ;-)

Welcome to My Blog and My First Entry.

First of all, welcome! I would like to thank my dear friend, Nicky Cooper from Cooper's Corridor for encouraging me to start a blog. I look forward to his blogs and check them daily.

Where to start? A part of me wants to say, " It was a dark and rainy night...", but after coming to my senses, I thought I would begin with my entrance into this wonderful world which happened at 3AM, on a night in May, in the year of 1947. To borrow a line from Victor Bruno, " It was a normal birth, besides a few hysterical shepherds.";-) I was born in a Catholic hospital in Detroit, Michigan where the nuns still wore their "black & whites." I was told the nuns aided in my father's selection of my given name. ( Phillip ) I was a large baby and was much bigger than the others in the nursery which led my grandmother (father's mom) to give me my nickname of Butch because of my size. When I was ready to start school, my other grandmother decided they should start calling me by my given name to save me from the confusion of not recognizing my name when called upon at school. ( we know someone else in the blogger's world who actually had this same problem but will remain nameless. ) ;-) What was interesting was some of my relatives called me by my given name and others stayed with my nickname. Perhaps, there was a wee bit of undertow going on, of which I wasn't aware. When I started visiting "the blogs," I decided to go back to using my nickname, which was not unlike getting in touch with an old friend and I have done so ever since.

I should like to cover many topics, some relevant, and some just blather. I hope you'll join me in the banter.