For the Love of Dirt

Monday, April 14, 2025

RUFOUS REAL ESTATE....

They're baaacccckkk.....Rufous hum hum. Flying over 32,000 kilometres ( that's about 2000 miles), spending spring in California, summer on the Pacific west coast (here on Vancouver island), and Alaska. Until July. Autumn finds them in the rocky Mountains, zooming down to winter in Mexico.

(Smart little thing!) "I'd like to be like a hummingbird..." -Shailene Woodley

Every year they show up at the feeder on my porch. Every year they steal the nests of the Annas ( green) hummers. And Every year, they joyfully dive bomb humans, birds, cats......fearless. Buzz Buzzz Buzzzz......they sound like bumble bees.

"Furious flutter, hello, hello, hello , love..." - Meghan McCafferty

The adult male has a white breast.....female has orange feather and a dark tail....they buzz like helicopters around my head, charging for the feeder. Daring me, with their long bills.

Rufous feed continuously from May to September, Pretty AND feisty, for a little bird that only weighs about no more than 4 grams.

“A hummingbird flew up to me and just hovered there staring at me...

It’s tiny heart was pattering like a machine gun, and I thought, what a thing to have to work that hard every day just to stay alive, to be constantly on the verge of death.

And how satisfying every day must be that it survived.” – Unknown

From dawn to dusk they zoom about the garden, to the feeder , to the trees.... challenging green Annas hum hums ( as if they were Templar knights doing battle)

"I always loved those little creatures.There's a magical quality to them. I finally put one in song..." - Leonard Cohen

"Your outer beauty doesn't really matter; the only beauty that matters is the beauty of your soul.." -Unknown

Apparently, the male Rufous likes guarding large areas with lots of flowers. He wants ALL of the flowers to himself......he refuses to share! The female gets a bigger piece of the pie....more territory, maybe not as many flowers, but she has REAL ESTATE!

"May my faith always be, at the end of the day, like a hummingbird returning to its favourite flower..." -Sanober Khan

"A flash of harmless lightning. A mist of rainbow dyes. The burnished sunbeams brightening from flower to flower He flies..." -John B. Tabb

Rufous hum hums have excellent memories. They REMEMBER where feeders are located and beeline for them and will even return to places where feeders have been removed, just to check and see.

These hum hums breed as far north as southeastern Alaska. Their wings beating at 52-62 beats per second, they are determined little things, showing no fear, and can live up to 8 years of age.

"... either you take to believing in miracles or you stand still like the hummingbird. The miracle is that the honey is always there, right under your nose, only you were too busy searching elsewhere to realize it...................

The worst is ...being blind, blind to the fact that everything about life is in the nature of the miraculous..." -Henry Miller

Photographs 2025

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

VINTAGE CROCHET

"Life is like a crochet project, sometimes you unravel and start over to create something beautiful.." -Unknown

This is my Vintage Crochet wall quilt. It's created with my mother's crochet form the 1940's and 1950's, pieces she taught me to make when I was a teenager, costume jewelry that had lived in a drawer for fifty years. I had no idea what to do with all of it. So about 5 or 6 years ago I created a wall quilt, and added to it, periodically. It's a work in progress.....

Some of the beaded pieces were gifts, handkerchiefs made of fine Lawn fabric edged with lace, old costume jewelry , from the same era, dripping across the lace.

The main crochet doilies are from a tablecloth she and I worked on when I was in high school. It was never finished. I threw it into a shoebox, into storage, till 2019. The net ribbon is from her 1936 bridal bouquet. I found it in an old box, part of it rusted with age. I saved the main part to drape across the crochet with her kilt pin, Celtic cross and her seamstress tape measure she used in the 1950's. I've recycled as many vintage pieces ,as possible.

Nov 21, 1936 Nessie Shiels McConachie

In the early 1950's , my mother spent a few summer's teaching crochet to her nieces from Peachland, BC. This is an actual photo of them sitting outside the house making doilies for this Christmas Lace tablecloth. It took them a couple of summers.....

In perfect condition after all of these years. I use it as a drape over the banister.

"There is a certain magic in the rhythm of crochet..."

-Unknown

In the 70's I tried my hand at making a lace tablecloth, using a pattern from a 1951 (15 cent crochet book. ) I kind of gave up after a while, and for years, with all of our moves across country, I kept it in the sideboard, thinking someday I'd throw it out. But instead turned it into the centre portion of the wall quilt.

(Crocheting over tea in the back yard: My grandmother, Isabella Shiels, my mother, Nessie, and their dog, in 1951.)

After 2019, I found more pieces I made with my mother....the white sapphire centrepiece, and added it to the quilt....it really isn't difficult to do lace crochet. it makes perfect sense as you do the rounds. Quite addictive. Very peaceful.

"Crochet is not just a hobby, it's a passion..." - Unknown

(Nov 21st, 1936 Davy and Nessie McConachie . The simple wedding dress, veil, and bouquet with net ribbon....)

1951 Favourites crochet book.........................taped, torn, retaped .....

"Each crochet project is an adventure waiting to unfold..." - Unknown

The centre of the piece is a soft, fine piece of lawn fabric that my mother edged, before teaching me to make the surrounding doilies......It was a hot July day, and we sat on the porch while she took her finest hook and created the edging, before we crocheted lace.

"Crochet is a dance of yarn and hook; it brings joy with every turn...."

- Unknown

15 Cent crochet books, found in another drawer, under tablecloths in the sideboard.....

My mother also did a lot of Tatting, something you don't see very often anymore. Her books were marked and dog eared from years of use.

In 1959, my mother sent away for a filet crochet pattern from the Vancouver Province newspaper. Free. Only 2 cents for postage from Toronto! Still in its original envelope. She kept it inside a mason jar with her my grandmother's hooks and tatting shell. It was never crocheted. Never used.

One summer, I taught my daughters to crochet. Just like my mother and grandmother, we sat on the back porch with yarn and thread. There isn't a day goes by that one, or all three of us ,are crocheting with hooks shining away in the light of day and night....

My mother, Nessie, Grandmother and Grandfather, My dad, Davey, with an uncle and cousin. 1952. (photographs 2025 and vintage family photos)

Saturday, April 5, 2025

OUT of GREEN SLIME......

"Slime is my favourite 'go-to stress reliever!" ( slime puns)

East coast gets snow, ice , more snow and ice. We get slime. Green goobers left over from winter.

Out of those slimy green goobers comes the Cat Plant. It curls like a new fern. It's roots go deep.

"The foul slime stands for the sloth and vice of humankind. The decay of humanity. The fragrant flower that springs from it , for the purity and courage which are immortal...." -Henry David Thoreau

"You know you're a gardener when you're happy to devote three months of your life growing (rhubarb ) or tomatoes, to save $1.27.."

-Unkown

"Spring being a hard act to follow, God created June..."

-Al Bernstein

"What's a gardener's favourite song? Lettuce be.."-Garden puns

"The early bird gets the worm, but the late bird doesn't even get the late worm.." -Charles M. Schultz

Slime on the bird bath, Slime in the water basins. Scrape it, scoop it like pistachio ice cream. Fresh water. Then just a lone Towhee. Splish Splash. Takin' a bath!