Some Wildflowers Along the Way

Anemone

Asphodel

Bladder Campion

Poppy

Cuckoo Pint

Grape Hyacinth

Purple Irises

White Irises with Julia

Blue Periwinkle

Pimpernel

Pink Sorrel

White Rock Rose

Wildflowers

Some of the Wildflowers Along the Way

Bikes and Boats -- So It Begins

The Tourist Season is Imminent

Wednesday

8.9 kilometers walk today.  Whew!   Julia says it was invigorating.   I have another word for it!

Roberto and Maria showed up on our street today direct from their home in Italy so it is a little less lonely at night.

What Brač Is This?

Under the olive grove
Purple hyacinth
Endless pimpernel
A friendly sun
And rain upon the wind?

Bella

Here's a photo of Bella Bijela  (Baka)*  (in front) waiting expectantly on the Riva in Milna for her next big adventure. 

*Beautiful White Lady -- (Grandma)  aka Bella Bijela 2

Walking the Narrow Road to Osibova Cove

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Julia Hurd <julia@qsoup.net>
Date: Apr 12, 2016 8:18 PM
Subject: photo
To: "'JRH (John Hurd)'" <jhurd@qsoup.net>
Cc:

Slavko sends haiku from Solin

A bug spills it's life
Under the boot --
Scent of magnolias

And

Grass's green.
River's calm.
She's feeding ducks,
Weeping willow

Sunday morning with figs and towel

Beneath My Fig Tree

Each day
Being filled
With nothing
But sky.

Flower update

A couple new wildflowers spotted:

Manna plant
Anemone
And second species of grape hyacinth

And behind my house,  while clearing grass:

Blue periwinkle
Holly hock
And a bird of paradise, escaped from the neighbors garden

I want to plant some of these in my garden but I can't dig them up!   My trowel has gone missing somehow in the past year and none of the hardware stores in Milna,  Supetar, or Nerezisce have anything like it for sale.   Strange.

Friday

Friday, 2nd week already!

Today,  I was a plumber.   In previous days I was an electrician,   a wall painter,  and a gardener. (And a house cleaner,  of course. ) Tomorrow I will be an auto mechanic.   Then I think a gardener again.

The joys of home ownership are constant the world round.

Today,  we also found a modest olive oil museum in Skrip, the oldest village on the island, next to the islands history museum.   It was started by a man whose grandfather owned the village press and who wanted to try something other than building an apartment to rent to tourists. He did a fine job of presenting how the olive harvest used to be when a hand powered village press produced 350 litres of oil a day, working two shifts,   compared to modern presses which produce 5000 litres an hour.

My Garden

Since I am on the subject of flowers, I thought I'd inventory our garden here.

My two favorites:

Fig tree
Rusty back (small fern growing in my stone wall)

Some others:

Peach tree
Papyrus
Prickly pear
Spearmint
Cuckoo pint
Lavender
Capers
Pink Sorrel

And a few other plants that I can't identify yet.

I love them all EXCEPT the wall pillatory which I have torn  from my walls for years,  even before I learned how allergenic they are!

Spring walk 3

Since we have landed in the middle of the Springtime bloom, we continued our wildflower walks today. New flowers spotted on the hill behind our house:

Hares Thistle
Lotus
Pimpernel (White)
Bladder Senna
and some Vetch and plantain.

Also a beautiful deep purple flower which I can't identify yet but may be a type of Love-in-a-Mist.

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to Tim and Lynne,  a perfect couple!

Charles Hangs More of his Wonderful Garden Paintings

New Flower Today

Fringed rue, on our walk by the beach.

Sunday April 3rd 2016

We identified five new flowers on our 5 km walk around the loop to Osibova today:

Grape hyacinth
Hollow stemmed Asphodel
Mallow
Sawbread
Bladder Campion

All identified thanks to the gorgeous little booklet, "103 Wild Plants on the Island of Brac."

Later, I drowsed by the sea:

Murmurs,
Ladies light laughter --
Sea laps stone.

My Garden's Smokva

Arriving in Dalmatia After Two Years Absence

Green figs swell
Winter's black branches --
Bok!

Warm Afternoon, Three Days After Arriving

In a day
Someone has painted
My fig tree green.

(Ed:  "Bok" is a current version of the formerly pervasive greeting, "Bog," derived from "Bogom," or 'God be with you.'  It means Hello.)

Irises Haiku

Ogawa Shūshiki (1669– 1725)

mishi yume no / samete mo iro no / kakitsubata

Even after waking
From the dream
I’ll see the colors of irises.

-- Translated by Alex Kerr

"This was Shūshiki’s death poem, meaning that when she awakens from “life’s dream” she will see radiant irises. Kakitsubata or rabbit-eared iris, is another five-syllable word favored in haiku. The intensely purple petals were used as dye-stuff, their color being associated with young girls. Bashō’s contemporary Ogata Kōrin (1661– 1716) painted a screen of irises that became as internationally famous as Monet’s water lilies."

From

The Classic Tradition of Haiku AN ANTHOLOGY EDITED BY FAUBION BOWERS

I still like this poem (from the POETRY mobile app)

You May Leave a Memory, Or You Can be Feted by Crows

By Allen, Dick

Three years, Huang Gongwang

worked on his famous handscroll,

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.

As he put successive applications of ink to paper

over the “one burst of creation,” his original design,

it is said he often sang like a tree frog

and danced on his old bare feet.

One day, he adds one hemp fiber stroke,

the next a moss dot.

What patience he had,

like a cat who comes back season after season to a mole’s tunnel.

Honors may go to others.

Riches may go to others.

Huang Gongwang has one great job to do.

And he sings like a tree frog,

and he dances on old bare feet.

Thank you, Little Ranger. My name is. ....

Sorrel

Arriving in Dalmatia, I Find My Garden Full of Pink Sorrel

--As identified in Blamey and Grey-Wilson's  "Wildflowers of the Mediterranean"

'Short.
Hairy.
Tufted. . .
With
Swollen
Rhizomes.'

Before I knew, I thought them
'Very pretty.'

Now I scarcely sleep at night
with them
outside my door.

Easter Sunday, Bayview, 2016

On the Hunt!!

Baskets full!

Charlotte took this photo of Mommy (Kyra)

Easter painting on Sliding Doors

Charles Hangs Some New Paintings

These look pretty dramatic on his wall in Ann Arbor!

Spencer and Sally at Home

Just a couple of more months . . .

Katsumi, Katsumi!

Unlike Basho I am drowning in katsumi.
I don't need to travel to find it.
That stuff spreads everywhere.
Every year I am digging and digging and digging.
My friends don't answer my calls in the Springtime.
Oh the glory!
What to do?
Is it possible
I wonder
To have too much

Beauty?

Charles and the Irises

Charles writes:

I am almost afraid of  

This painting !    

Jesus Christ who  

Let me near this   

Exquisite painting with   

A wet paint brush in  

My grip and the brush is loaded  

Up with light ultra-  Marine blue paint 

and I'm standing awfully close  

To this greater than me  

Perfect painting and hey  

Let's see what I can do with this paint 

on my paint brush just now you know  

And let's find out where  

This ride is going        

Lori's New Filly -- Flirt!

Lori and 8 day old Flirt!

Magnolias: Cross-Posted from Lynne's Blog

Lynne says, of her inspiration for her gorgeous painting, "Magnolia blossoms are popping out all over the town!"

Equinox Now

Good-bye Winter!  Welcome Spring!!  Hip-hip-hoo-ray!!!!

A tall tale hulla-balloo!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDJ45ICAYSs/


Go to link, then play the movie.

Uli Day Sends Floral Grace

52 weeks of nature art - blossoms

"Gifted and photographed by my wonderful husband"

(Copied from Uli Day's blog of beautiful things.)

Charles Sends: Today

Charles is writing and painting, writing and painting . . .

And now it's Springtime!

Charles's Good Friend JP Woodcock Writes: Preface to Trouble In Candy Land

Charles!  The Great Hall has just received a major grant from some crazed software engineer in San Francisco who is from Michigan and he is funding The Great Hall to send me to his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan (just exactly where is Michigan?) to write about the culture and the political climate in his hometown of Ann Arbor.  The software fellow read a few of my little observation pieces after his girl friend found them; I think her name is Lolita, on the Internet.  (Are you the one who leaked my stories out to the Internet?)  And after reading my pieces, while laughing out loud to each other, they both agreed that my ironic little observational voice would be just the perfect fit for reporting on the culturally unique scene that Ann Arbor, Michigan is.  Ann Arbor where?

Well the Great Hall is crazy about the idea and they want me to leave right away and I was kind of excited thinking I could just write about what I was experiencing all of the time and say whatever I was feeling without the bother of being min-economically correct all of the time.  Could this really be true?

 I went home and told Rita and she was thrilled as punch and with all of the extra money we will be making (and the software guy is funding a research chair at the university in town, for Rita, as well) it would mean we could buy a little house there in Michigan (again where exactly is Michigan?) and be as happy as two peas in a pod, you know.

Well alls well that ends well and let's hope this adventure does just that and that is that it ends well.  And I certainly hope it does as we are leaving my life-long home of Nottingham so quickly Rita suggested to me last night that she felt we were being shot out of a circus cannon and being sent across the ocean to Michigan.

And I woke up the next morning worrying about the circus part of Rita's observation, but I'm hoping the circus part doesn't surface.

We really don't want to be part of any kind of circus at all.  Why do I keep having this funny premonition anyway?  Oh well, I hope that this worry will just pass away as we have to pack and get ready for the new world order.

Charles please come and visit us once we get a little house with a small garden and we'll fix up the guest room just for you.  I am so excited about being in America and all and I think my mother once told me about some Woodcocks I am related to in Philadelphia, America so maybe I can meet them someday and see if they are just as stiff as the rest of my family.   I am sure our new neighbors, wherever we land, will just love seeing you as much as Rita and I will.

Until then,

JP

Charles's Good Friend JP Woodcock Writes: Trouble in Candy Land

Trouble in Candy-Land

Chapter 1.         The state of affairs here in America

Well, I want you all to know that I am so happy the Great Hall of Mini- Economics sent me to the United States from my hometown of Nottingham, England (or Snotingham as our critics used to call it).

The great mini-hall has sent me over the pond to the mid-west part of the American republic to report on the cultural gestalt here in this state of Michigan.  And I have been employed to write stories about my life here and report back to the Great Hall on politics, the taste of food and beverages and just the over-all mood of the living here in Michigan and probably I will build stories around just what people have on their minds here in Michigan or even stories about what ever words should fall out of their mouths.

And from the moment the lovely Rita and I first set foot in our new home here in America it became very clear that all sorts of politics were brewing here in Michigan and it became clear to me that my first report back to the Great Hall was going to be a political observation story and I am here to report that the presidential election of 2012 is the backdrop for my first report on the cultural gestalt here, in a mini-economical sort of way, and the Great Hall has sent me over here in America to write about the cultural mood of the mid-west part of the country politically, you know, out here and yes it struck me that one could positively begin to imagine that a national election on this large of a scale and in this great nation of America had the potential to make things better for everyone and you would certainly expect that this big of an election effort would reflect a positive difference afterwards to the citizens, you know, once the election was concluded and really for god's sake you would expect that there would be some small satisfaction for the people of the US especially after all of the money that was spent by everyone for everything that you could ever imagine in an American election . . . 

Read the rest of Chapter 1 here!

-- JP

Kukutali

Eason and I go beachcombing at Swinomish Native American preserve, Kukutali.  Eason, finding lots of treasures washed in by the wind and waves, says "this is a lucky homeless persons beach."

Lori's New Filly

Lori's mare Allie had a new little filly yesterday after a long exhausting wait by Lori and a tough birth.  But the filly looks really pretty.  Here's a link to her sire too.

Grandparents Day at Eason's School

This is Eason's first grade class and that's Eason singing his heart out below the blue arrow.

Julia writes: Heart Rock

Julia writes: 

"On Saturday I was walking in the park down the road from our house with Charlotte. It was lovely and sunny! We were talking about moss a lot, there is so much of it there, everywhere. Toward the end of the looped trail someone had placed a heart-shaped rock on some moss at the base of a tree. I was taken aback and strongly felt Denise. In fact, I felt like she was saying hello, similar to when "You are the Sunshine of My Life" was playing at the bank for Tom. What are the chances of someone placing a heart-shaped rock in that park at that time?

 It was a very special moment and I am most grateful for it - and am grateful to Denise for the visit.

 So I put the rock in my pocket, thinking to send it to Tom for the heart rock garden in front of the house. But life being what it is, I can't find it. The day was chaotic and one example is that Charlotte was collecting small pine cones which I put in our pockets and it must have gotten mixed up with them and somehow disappeared. So only the photos remain, attached, just as the rock was found. (Plus a tree that Charlotte liked.)"

Eason's Missing Tooth

Fwd: Byron does scallops!

Farfalle noodles and fresh deep sea scallops, with garlic, butter, and cream.     The Chef says "extraordinaire!"    We agree!    -- The PAhurds   

Eason's "Jedi Academy" Birthday Party

Happy 7th Birthday, Eason!!

Fwd: White Light 1954

Chas is museum and gallery hopping in New York

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: charlesgrimes9@gmail.com Date: Feb 25, 2016 8:02 AM Subject: White Light 1954 To: jhurd Cc: > The last Pollock painting.  Pretty good for someone who could not overcome a painters block. > > Sent from my iPhone

Denise's Celebration of Life

Front door with some hearts in evidence.

Small ceremony by a nephew, with anecdotes shared by many.

Most of the immediate family that attended.  Spencer and Sally had just left.

So here they are too.

Catered table with Marilyn in th backgrounnd.

One of two photo boards of D's life.

A few shots of family at Denise's celebration last Sunday, Valentine's Day.   Well done and well attended by D"s family and by friends from as far back as high school and as far away as New Jersey.  Tom had the event catered and also had valet parking, which made it much more enjoyable for everyone.  Brandon put together an extensive slide show of Denise's life which ran continuously downstairs and up.  Spencer created the memorial card.  The theme was hearts, and there were hearts everywhere.  Marilyn, also one of D's favorite themes, also made an appearance.  And by the front door was a large basket of Ty stuffed dolls and Beanie Babies -- from the time when D worked as an account executive for them -- for guests to take.

Uli Day: Remembering Denise

Valentine's Day, Denise's Celebration of Her Life

Charles Shares: Down in the Furnace Room

DOWN IN THE FURNACE ROOM

 

You know you are right about

my painting studio being warm

down in my furnace room and

you know what...  it is kinda nice

and warm down here in the furnace room

especially when its so frozen outside here

and I have thought once or twice before about

how lucky I am to be painting in a furnace room 

and sometimes and really more than twice I

have dwelled on the 

idea about making Art down here in the furnace

room and I gotta say that really you can 

sometimes do a pretty good job making Art

down in the furnace room though there is

not too much room to move around down here

in the furnace room 

and sometimes I am so physically frustrated  

trying to paint down in the furnace room

and some nights the crazy painter in me

wants to start seriously painting and expressing himself

in this little studio and crazy artist starts pouting

about the cramped space cramping his style

but the practical artist in me takes control like a

yogi in control of his brain waves and practical artist

gains control of the gestalt of me and

you know the artist part of me that drives to the store and buys the brushes

and paints and canvasses for crazy artist

and practical artist thinks about practical stuff

that crazy artist needs

and he actually washes the brushes off with

water and soap over and over again night after night

for less than minimum wage

and you always know that practical artist just wants to just keep

painting and focus on the painting and not the conditions

and he is the one that believes making Art is the only important thing

to do down in the furnace room and the crazy artist type in me

can't wait to move back into the garage painting studio

this coming spring

and that's a pretty cool story too but a different story than 

the furnace room studio story you know and it's not been so bad painting in

such a cramped space right next to the hot water tank

and yeah it hasn't been so miserable

painting in the furnace room which is really 

right next to the laundry room where sometimes

I just turn around while I'm painting and take a break and

Start doing our laundry in the laundry room

Right there next to the furnace room

and you know I think it is much better to be painting in a furnace room

than being laid out in a stone and concrete tomb 

and really that's just my thinking you know

--Charles

Sick!?

One of these two little tykes is really feeling sick and one is malingering. Can you guess which is which?
(Click on photo to enlarge)

Synergy

Eliot and Spencer build some elegant desk and stereo shelves. Legs and support made by Lori and John Wolden

Lighting the Darkness

Eliot, Charlotte, Eason, Julia and I attended the annual Alger Winter celebratory evening "Lighting the Darkness."  After a potluck dinner and a slideshow on garden pollinators, we all retired outdoors, where a wood and wicker sculpture of a hummingbird and a flower were ceremoniously ignited to the beat of drums.

As the wind snapped the flames about and sent curtains of sparks whipping into the darkness, Eason asked,"Shouldn't there be some firemen here?"

His neighbor, pointing to the figures brandishing the torches, replied, "Those ARE the firemen."

Shortly thereafter a violent downpour, with the wind blowing the rain nearly horizontal, sent us fleeing for cover.

Slavko writes: It was Carnival today

It was a carnival today in Milna.

How stupid I was. Heard them singing
outside my house, and waited for them to leave so I can go upstairs.

But, all of the sudden they hurled in, all masked and with guitars and
loud voices, in a moment I was surrounded with 15-20 masked people
inside my thiny apartment.

Had to pay them something for the feast tonight in Sidro Hotel.

Later on riva there was a new mayor lady doll, burned after sentencing
her for all faults in the late year, like smelling sewage system,
empty, hollowed houses, fish factory that went away after 100 years
tradition...

Courtesy of Eason

Charles has a Dream

I had a dream last night in which I was enrolled in a writing class taught by a Russian literary giant and he was very difficult to understand and his teacher assistants were

former Russian KGB agents and they slammed their hands down on the table in front of me when I used bad grammar or mis-spelled words and if we made more than three mistakes per day we had to strip down to our underwear and as I looked around the room there were many students in their underwear.

After a few torturous sessions in this class we were told to envision ourselves on the Jersey shore listening to the Grateful Dead song Ripple and we had to write 800 words about how much we wanted to be home with our mothers.

Spencer's Place

Wanna see some of Spencer's townhouse in Fremont?

Look at this commercial which was filmed there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPX6_AvPiJ0

(Inside and out, its all Spencer's!  Dog and mannequin too!)