A spot of brightness

(Brightness in the dark greens.)

This is another of the 3-generations of fisherpeople taken in July when our granddaughters and their parents last came for a visit.  I played with it in Photoshop to give it a more painting-like feel (and to blur the people a bit to respect their privacy).  I like the deep darkness of the greens in the trees and on the water and the way they contrast with the boat and the people in the boat who had the brightness of the early morning sun shining on them.  Those three people are very bright spots in my life and this is a good representation of that.

The beautiful yellow flower above appeared over at Bountiful Healing.  Since I know that not everyone who follows me here follows me there, I thought I’d post it here too.  It’s one of my favorites right now.  The lighting was just right and the rain gave the leaves and flower petals a nice shine.  I took it in the picnic area near a Ranger’s Station right after the deluge that washed our car as we were coming home from the cabin in the woods.  Everything was so quiet, the kind of quiet you get right after a good rain.

It’s quiet now as I write this.  I won’t post it until later in the day (because I like to let my posts age a little before publishing), but it’s early now.  5:00am and still dark outside. M is asleep and the cats are sitting nearby looking puzzled, trying to figure out why I’m up so early.  I can hear the washer in the background.  It’s one of those HE (High Efficiency) front-loading washers that doesn’t make much noise, just a low and dull thump-thump-thump as the laundry is twirled around, falling from the top to the bottom of the cylinder/tub.  We bought an HE front-loading washer as part of our effort to live a leaner, greener lifestyle, and to help conserve water since we have a well.  Front loading washers are mechanically simpler than their top loading counterparts.  In general, they clean better than top loaders while using less water and energy.  They also cause less wear and tear on the laundry.

The first time I encountered a front loading washer in a place other than a laundromat was in the flat we rented during our summer in London (England).  I had a devil of time understanding the settings as they were all done in what I now think of as Ikea fashion:  symbols.  With no code book (manual) to decipher the symbols, I had to guess.  Mostly I experimented and learned which cycle was which through trial and error.  About a week before we left London we located the stack of manuals for the appliances.  I had guessed (learned) correctly in many cases, but there were a few symbols that I interpreted inaccurately.  Thankfully the laundry survived my lack of talent when it comes to figuring out the meaning of symbols, and nothing was the worse for wear (or the worse for my learning attempts with the washer cycles).

(Clean laundry in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania)

I’m babbling about laundry again.  This isn’t the first time.  I’m beginning to think I need a Laundry category since I write about it so much.

The washer has finished doing what it does so well, the sky is brightening, and I should get this day started in other ways.  Just one more thing before I go for now.

Blog Business

I know it’s uncool to post about how you don’t have time to post or read and comment on other blogs.  Or it used to be uncool.  It may be a trending topic now for all I know.  Cool or uncool, I feel like it has to be done.

I have not been able to visit all of my favorite bloggers on a regular basis lately.  It’s been kind of hit or miss, I think.  For that, I apologize.  The summer months are a busy time, filled with traveling, preserving the harvest, and just getting outside and enjoying the warm weather while it is here visiting with us.  I’ll have plenty of blogging time when the cold winds of winter blow in and the snow starts to accumulate.  That said, I do try to make the rounds.  Sometimes I comment.  Sometimes I don’t.  It depends on how much time I have.

I do have blogging plans for the winter months.  Big plans.  Well, maybe not so big.  But they are plans.  You’ll have to wait, though, for those cold winds to arrive before I tell you what those plans are.  In the meantime, I will do my best to keep up with both the reading and the writing.