An Olive Fire - Robert Service (this is from April 2017)
An Olive Fire
An olive fire's a lovely thing;
Somehow it makes me think of Spring
As in my grate it over-spills
With dancing flames like daffodils.
They flirt and frolic, twist and twine,
The brassy fire-irons wink and shine. . . .
Leap gold, you flamelets! Laugh and sing:
An olive fire's a lovely thing.
An olive fire's a household shrine:
A crusty loaf, a jug of wine,
An apple and a chunk of cheese -
Oh I could be content with these.
But if my curse of oil is there,
To fry a fresh-caught fish, I swear
I do not envy any king,
As sitting by my hearth I sing:
An olive fire's a lovely thing.
When old and worn, of life I tire,
I'll sit before an olive fire,
And watch the feather ash like snow
As softly as a rose heart glow;
The tawny roots will loose their hoard
Of sunbeams centuries have stored,
And flames like yellow chicken's cheep,
Till in my heart Peace is so deep:
With hands prayer-clasped I sleep . . . and sleep.
Somehow it makes me think of Spring
As in my grate it over-spills
With dancing flames like daffodils.
They flirt and frolic, twist and twine,
The brassy fire-irons wink and shine. . . .
Leap gold, you flamelets! Laugh and sing:
An olive fire's a lovely thing.
An olive fire's a household shrine:
A crusty loaf, a jug of wine,
An apple and a chunk of cheese -
Oh I could be content with these.
But if my curse of oil is there,
To fry a fresh-caught fish, I swear
I do not envy any king,
As sitting by my hearth I sing:
An olive fire's a lovely thing.
When old and worn, of life I tire,
I'll sit before an olive fire,
And watch the feather ash like snow
As softly as a rose heart glow;
The tawny roots will loose their hoard
Of sunbeams centuries have stored,
And flames like yellow chicken's cheep,
Till in my heart Peace is so deep:
With hands prayer-clasped I sleep . . . and sleep.
Top of Propane Tank Saga - Empty Nest
I never did positively identify the birds that built and familied this nest, but today it was empty. Needless to say I was a bit worried about whether the hatchlings had matured enough to fly away or if a predator such as a snake had raided them. Although not identified I knew they were smallish birds, wrens or such ilk, so I checked the photo dates from when I first saw and photographed the three white and brown spotted eggs (24Jun'19) and of course this photograph today (21Jul'19) - and making minor assumptions, such as I probably did not see and photograph the eggs the day they were laid, and looking at about six or more bits of information on from small bird eggs to leaving the nest and using a rough rule of thumb that the time range was 4 to 5 weeks in general, I decided YES they did mature and fly away. (I like happy endings you can see!!)
Countries Perusing The Blog Recently - running update of 09Aug'19
in alphabetical order
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Belgium
Bulgaria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Brazil
Cambodia
Cambodia
Canada
Columbia
Columbia
Estonia
Ecuador
France
Germany
Greece
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Greece
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Japan
Kenya
Norway
Pakistan
Kenya
Norway
Pakistan
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Singapore
Singapore
Spain
Thailand
Turkey
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Vietnam
?? Unknown Region ??
Vietnam
?? Unknown Region ??
I
have decided to update this post with any countries that are
looking at the blog that have not yet been mentioned - and also to show
this latest update date in the Title with the updated country itself being in red
(there are also visitors which Google simply indicates as 'Unknown Region')
(there are also visitors which Google simply indicates as 'Unknown Region')
Thanks for stopping by
A Few Countries Looking At The Blog Recently - running update of 20Jul'19
in alphabetical order
Argentina
Austria
Bangladesh
Bulgaria
Bangladesh
Bulgaria
Brazil
Cambodia
Cambodia
Canada
Columbia
Columbia
Estonia
Ecuador
France
Germany
Greece
India
Indonesia
Greece
India
Indonesia
Japan
Kenya
Norway
Pakistan
Kenya
Norway
Pakistan
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Singapore
Singapore
Spain
Thailand
Turkey
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Vietnam
?? Unknown Region ??
Vietnam
?? Unknown Region ??
I
have decided to update this post every few days with countries that are
looking at the blog that have not yet been mentioned - and also to show
the latest update date in the Title with the updated country itself will be in red
there are also visitors which Google simply indicates 'Unknown Region'
there are also visitors which Google simply indicates 'Unknown Region'
Thanks for stopping by
Page Views Looking Good
Getting a nice number of page views today, not big time but still many hundreds of same - love it, NorvellHimself
Cooling Out By The Creek
I usually do not post many people on the blog - basically because of face recognition Apps and invasion of privacy etc, unless I know that this is not a concern of any given individual - but today I saw this family of four - 2 children and 2 adults doing a family thing by the creek in North East - and did a view through the finder, while waiting in traffic, to check out the the detail, then only got these two shots that show the fun but not the faces too distinctly - Cheers to you guys and your lovely gathering.
Wood Chuck
Groundhog, Marmota monax, also known as woodchuck, is a
terrestrial mammal described under the Order: Rodentia and Family:
Sciuridae. They naturally range from Alaska through whole Canada towards
Atlanta and other Central and Eastern States of the United States. They
are a very important group of animals, being the largest sciurid member
of North America with body weights ranging between two and four
kilograms. Their body size is very conspicuous, with a length measuring
more than half a metre. Groundhogs have a pair of short forelimbs, which
are distinctive with thick and curved claws. Those claws are strong and
useful to dig burrows to make themselves homes. The common name
groundhog has been used to refer them because of their ground living
behaviour. In fact, they have proven their excellent ability to make
burrows with an average digging speed of more than 14 metres long at 1.5
metres under the ground level. These tunnels sometimes pose a great
threat to large-scale buildings and agricultural lands; hence, the
possibility of an economic damage would be high due to a habitation of
groundhogs
A Few Countries Looking At The Blog Recently - running update of 19Jul'19
in alphabetical order
Austria
Bangladesh
Bulgaria
Bangladesh
Bulgaria
Brazil
Cambodia
Cambodia
Canada
Columbia
Columbia
Estonia
Ecuador
France
Germany
Greece
India
Indonesia
Greece
India
Indonesia
Japan
Kenya
Norway
Pakistan
Kenya
Norway
Pakistan
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Singapore
Singapore
Spain
Thailand
Turkey
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Vietnam
?? Unknown Region ??
Vietnam
?? Unknown Region ??
I
have decided to update this post every few days with countries that are
looking at the blog that have not yet been mentioned - and also to show
the latest update date in the Title
there are also visitors which Google simply indicates 'Unknown Region'
there are also visitors which Google simply indicates 'Unknown Region'
Thanks for stopping by
Another Tiny Tick
After chainsawing the downed tree debris and showering, I noticed the tick on my wrist - even though I had been wearing gloves most of the time - the tweezers give some indication of just how small they can be in the early stages of their life
Red-spotted Purple, family Nymphalidae
thanks to a Michael Reisset (Geomancer) from Canada, when I did an online photo up-look - he described it so neatly that I was able to confirm my own Audubon Field Guide guess
Clean-up - III,
I worked today to fairly well have this section of back yard accessible for the riding mower - just need to move most of the oak, both the dry dead wood, and the green wood to the wood rick, in separate stackings for the winter. I have been working away at the task a bit on odd days as it was an unappealing job with oak limbs and leaves all a jumble mixed in with the Elk Neck Pine that was a crappy mix of tangled limbs etc as left by the tree trimmers as per our pre-cutting agreement. Today was in the low 90s in the shade and very humid with sweat running in rivulets from my head and arms - so a few small 4 to 8 foot limbs left to saw to stove length and the three or four piles of same to move to the wood rick. But it is presentable and there is access for the riding mower to keep things in trim. Many thanks to my son, Calum, for hauling unending piles of pine top limbs down in the back to compost away in a few years.
A Few Countries Looking At The Blog Recently - update 17Jul'19
in alphabetical order
Austria
Bangladesh
Bulgaria
Bangladesh
Bulgaria
Brazil
Cambodia
Cambodia
Canada
Columbia
Columbia
Estonia
Ecuador
France
Germany
Greece
India
Indonesia
Greece
India
Indonesia
Japan
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Spain
Thailand
Turkey
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
I have decided to update this post every few days with countries that are looking at the blog that have not yet been mentioned - and also to show the latest update date in the Title
Thanks for stopping by
