The Year in Skies

Thursday Thirteen

The part of the country where I live isn't really famous for its scenery. No tourists come driving through to ooh and aah over fields, cows, and little creek beds with muddy red water dribbling through them. So I feel a secret joy in seeing great beauty here...the sun coming up...the rain moving in...the fog surrounding...it's all delightful to me. Here are pictures I've taken of the sky: from January through December and beyond...

January--a great orange, ripple
of clouds in the early morning
















February--winds and windmills in a
white whirl of low-hanging clouds
















March--new wheat rising under cool
clouds, greening the land















April--the sweet promise of rain on thirsty wheat














May-- loud storms, bouncing hail pellets,
thunderous tornadoes















June--quiet blue skies over harvested fields,
maybe a tired tuft of cloud.



















July--the sun sinking behind the city, bronzing
clouds with a wearying heat















August--days full of rain, and the world smiled,
wonderful, wrapping mists of moisture














September--soil dry, red dirt, steel sky















October--fog on the bridges and whisper gray













November--thick clouds rolling, masses of cold
pushing the bright yellow sunlight from the fields
















December--Pink sky, very early morning...
a snowy stillness on Christmas Day.















A final picture to make 13. This one was taken by one of my students on our way to school one morning. So how did she get such a good picture of the moon from a moving vehicle? Well, truthfully, that's not the moon; that's the sun.

Princess and the Frog.

This is Mim, the princess. The video is Mim, the frog.

The scenario: They have turned the boxes from Christmas presents into "The Deep". Zaya has announced that he is a tube worm near a chimney, where the water is much too hot for Mim's frog, but she ignores his scientific limitations and swims down to pay him a visit.

Mim: Hello. Ribbett. Ribbet. Ribbet. Aaaack.
He throwed up on you. Aaaack. Aaaack.

Zaya: Ug.

Mim: Hey, don’t break him.

Zaya: OK. I think I’ll be a parrot fish. OK?

(Mr. Frog): Ug aaaaa aaaa…aaaa uuuu I throwed up on you.

Mim: (correcting her frog) It isn’t nice to throw up on people.

(Mr. Frog): It IS nice to throw up on people…especially you…because my mother frog told me it was nice to throw up on people…it really is.

Delicious

Cherry cheesecake, pumpkin pie, vanilla fudge,
Peanut brittle, gooey lemon pudding sludge
Nutter butters dipped in scrumptious chocolate stuff
Pumpkin rolls...heaven knows I've had enough.

For the cheery little cheesecake promptly settled in my chin
The vanilla fudge (I only had a taste)
And the wicked chocolate stuff
( tears are falling; this is tough)
Has been permanently added to my waist.

Our Sunday Scribblings Prompt was Delicious

Family Christmas

Well, we were all there (except for the North Carolina/Chicago seven) celebrating Christmas together with Mom and Dad. The living room was crowded; the food was much too delicious; the noise level like that of a patio cafe next to a roller coaster. It was great.



If you aren't family, you'll probably want to skip this one. I've noticed that videos about people you don't know are usually boring, and--even if you do know the people--not something you just want to watch over and over. Ah well. If you made it through this one, you might want to watch this other one, as Mim decorates an oblivious Zaya. From his reaction, you can see that he's probably used to this kind of distraction while he's reading a new book.

Zaya Plays Jingle Bells at Great-Grandparents' House

Almost two years ago, on my eighteenth post, I included a video of my three year old grandson "playing" on the piano. Here he is at five, playing jingle bells, still very concerned over the right timing.