Crow's Nest

Advent Calendar - Open on December 4

2009-12-03T23:49:00.003-05:00

Blow up Christmas decorating is lazy. These are essentially the steps you take: 1) Drop wad of multicolored nylon about eight feet from the house. 2) Plug in. Then, while your electric motor spins around thanks to the short ton of bituminous coal you just bought through a middle man that answers to a board of directors in Germany, all the ice melts away from the poles leaving Santa with his train stuck in the mud. Meanwhile, and because we are a nation addicted to cell phones, there is no money to be had through pay phones anymore so the only one in town gets ripped out without even the courtesy of removing the rest of the corporate litter that held it above the ground. That of course means that Santa can't call out to tell some undeserving little brat with a sense of entitlement that he's not going to get Mega Death Four under the spruce fir that was cut and trucked in from 500 miles away from somewhere near Peoria because he, Santa, has been delayed. Delayed? Hell...he's stuck. And with CO2 levels going higher, not lower as everyone keeps imagining as a possibility without doing anything to make it so, there isn't a snowballs chance in hell he will ever deliver toys by train again. Ever. And since the reindeer all came down with that swine flu thing...hell, it's bad out there. Bad I'm telling you. Worst chance for a merry Christmas ever.

That's what Christmas means to me.

Advent Calendar - Open on December 3

2009-12-02T20:26:00.002-05:00

The reindeer crew received good news. Santa got some rocket shoes.

Advent Calendar - Open on December 2

2009-12-01T23:12:00.001-05:00

Were it not for twisted lights and bags of baubles.

Advent Calendar - Open on December 1

2009-11-30T21:34:00.004-05:00

I peered upon the globe and found it peered upon me.

[I will attempt this but will not make promises. Open Crow's Nest every day between now and New Years Day and I will do my best to have a picture under the little flap. But because almost no one sees this it will be a secret subversive kind of advent calendar. Shhhhhh.]

Oh the Fallness of it All

2009-11-23T20:34:00.007-05:00

All these shots from October 22, 2009. A few days before peak fall color in my neck of the woods.

Nine Days Later

2009-11-22T22:35:00.004-05:00

The top picture of this maple was taken on 10/21/09.
The bottom picture was taken on 10/30/09.
A big wind on the 30th undressed her.

Ruby in Leaves

2009-11-22T22:27:00.004-05:00

The maples along the entrance allee at Cavehill Cemetery provided this place for miss Ruby to play. I love that a place dedicated to death can bring such life to our lives.

Domestique

2009-09-26T00:16:00.006-04:00

These were shot on iPhone/CameraBag/Lolo setting.
Back yard at the Professional Porch Sitters Union Hall
July 26 2009

Guess Who Built a Hoop House

2009-09-25T23:59:00.012-04:00

They did.

Toots Toys - First Year

2009-07-26T15:57:00.004-04:00

These five portraits of Toot's toys are a new project I have started to document my daughters life. None of these toys were purchased new. They represent the aesthetic we are looking for in things that we think are proper in a young child's life. They have each brought her joy. More than once. That's all a toy need do.

One Porch-Five Views-Cool July

2009-07-22T17:55:00.006-04:00

If you can't come sit on our porch with us, which would be an option, perhaps you can just look. Or, use this as a seek and find activity when you do come.

Grasping Water

2009-07-10T23:05:00.005-04:00

Children must surely have a right to play in clean water. I sometimes wonder if Toot will grow up in a world where she will have a reasonable expectation to have children of her own that will be able to play in water. And I do mean play. Will clean water be plentiful enough for play? Let us hope so and then work to make it so.

The Sock Monkey and the Weasel

2009-07-06T23:57:00.003-04:00

I've got a sock monkey that lives in a box.
He only comes out when the weasel goes pop.
Now a box is not a box if it hasn't a top.
And a sock is not a sock till it's been to the hop.
But a weasel's a weasel from start up to stop.

When I Grow Up

2009-07-06T02:40:00.004-04:00

When I grow up I wanna be a sycamore tree. Or a crow. Or both at the same time.

Mop Junky

2009-07-06T02:29:00.002-04:00

Toot has a thing for hair. Can't go to sleep without being in contact with it somehow. These are my girls as I'm leaving the house most mornings.

Poly Culture

2009-07-06T02:08:00.007-04:00

It is increasingly clear to me that we would be well served to consider plants in "community" more than in single species plantings. And although I know this is a design aesthetic opinion, I think that community plantings look much better. As climate change rears it's ugly head I think that monoculture will become the luxury of fools and the childless.

New New Harmonists

2009-07-06T01:48:00.006-04:00

On the way back from St Louis we stopped in New Harmony Indiana on the banks of the Wabash River. It was a Sunday so most shops were closed up but that may have been for the best. The roofless church was an interesting part of the visit. Would love to create something like that out at Bernheim. The town had an odd feel. Everything felt like it was just shy of wonderful. Great ideas that nearly came together perfectly. From what I can tell that might be the history of the New Harmonist communal experiment. Nearly came together. Toot loved playing in the fountain near the labyrinth.

Finger Lickin St Louis Food Tips

2009-07-06T01:25:00.005-04:00

We were in St Louis of recent for the American Public Gardens Association conference and had an opportunity to check out some restaurants. Quite luckily we stumbled upon a little Vietnamese place that boasted "the best spring rolls in St. Louis." A few friendly locals inside the joint confirmed it. It's the Vietnam Kitchen of St. Louis. It's called Bahn Mi So #1 and it's located at 4071 S. Grand Blvd. Try the Palestrinas Delight (#27) or the Tofu Xao Xa Curry (A4) Even if you are not that fond of tofu. Then we had Ted Drewes frozen yogurt which was a little further south down Grand Blvd. Next time I'm getting the black walnut. The next day, following a tip from some locals we met at the Bahn Mi So we tried a persian restaurant called The Majestic. Don't think we could have done better.

Mindful of Mycellium - Rain in May

2009-05-08T22:23:00.006-04:00

All found in the mulch under one Chinese chestnut tree on May 6th.
Can you imagine the interconnection of mycellium running around beneath the surface. We give little credit to these things but I am convinced we work for them somehow. Not the other way around.

Water after Planting

2009-05-08T22:14:00.003-04:00

Parenting has afforded me a few new gardening tricks.

1. Plant seed.
2. Place daughter astraddle planted seed.
3. Wait for five minutes of drool.
4. Repeat.

Gardening is slower this way. But the water content of drool is sufficient for initiating the germination of newly planted seed.

You may need to click on the picture to see the quantity of drool provided.

Hornbeam - October 08 to May 09

2009-05-08T21:47:00.007-04:00

In chronological order:
October 1
November 9
November 23
January 29
April 12
April 19
April 27
May 3

Thawed But Bent

2009-05-08T21:38:00.004-04:00

A heavy load of ice on January 29th has this birch still bent on May 7th. Likely a storm it will never recover from. The character of a tree is shaped by moments in time. That is surely true for us as well. But character is what defines us.

Mobility Envy

2009-03-28T23:06:00.004-04:00

For the first time today at a family gathering I could really see Toot contemplating mobility as she watched an older cousin cruising around, showing off, entertaining the adults assembled. I could almost hear the notions in her head, thinking to herself; "I could do that. Look at how all those big people get a kick out of her. Just cause she gets around. I'm gonna do that too one day and then she won't be the bees knees. I can take her."

Tres Ojos

2009-03-28T16:45:00.004-04:00

Tres Ojos sits on the ocean floor.
His three eyes seeing one-third more.
But just which third he will not say.
It’s a secret for some other day.

(Another in the slowing growing series of Ruby's toys in front painted canvas.)

Playin with the Toot

2009-03-26T22:55:00.001-04:00

Workin on crawlin. But not quite there yet.
Drooling? Got that down.