Stop the Car!

Do you see what I see? While out birding in Orange County, NY, today I was stunned to find a zebra in the same field as a herd of donkeys and mules. His camouflage is not working so well in a field of field flowers and NY autumn grasses.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Patch Boys in the Civil War

Harmon Patch Jr, 1845-1922 Co. I, 121st Ohio Infantry; Co. H. Veterans Reserve Corps, 15 Infantry Regiment. He enlisted at 17.

My Great, Great Grandfather James W. Patch was born in May 1856, the youngest of 10 children. In April of 1861, when the war broke out, he was 4. While he stayed home, three of his elder brothers enlisted:

Esley, Co. G., 17th Ohio, Apr-Aug, 1861; Co. I 121st Ohio, Sept 62-Jun 65.

Alemuel, Co. D. Regular Army, 1862-1864,

Harmon Jr. Co I 121st Ohio, Sep 62-Dec 64.

All three brothers made it through the war. Although Alemuel was admitted into the National Home for Disabled Soldiers in Dayton Ohio at the age of 52, then transferred to the Home in Marion, Indiana, where he died. I have frankly wondered about what we now call PTSD. All three of these men suffered for the rest of their lives.

Harmon Patch Sr. felt strongly about the war. This is from his obit.

[Harmon] was a patriot in the dark days of the rebellion. He not only gave of his means to clear his township from draft but gave three sons and one son-in-law to put down that rebellion to preserve the union and uphold the flag. Politically he was an Abolitionist before there was an Abolitionist, believing that slavery as it existed in the South was not only a great injustice to the negro, but also a disgrace to our nation and sin before God."

Marysville Tribune 26 August 1896 P4 c2

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Lazy Summer Afternoon

Is there anything better than whiling away the afternoon sitting on a pillow in the summer sun, watching people work? Oh, am I disgruntled? Not really. At 16 1/2, she deserves it.

Wordless Wednesday

In-Your-Face-Fern

I am not great at IDing all types of native ferns, (I had the Fern Finder booklet, but can't find it, Grrr) but some of them just scream their names. This is an Interrrupted Fern. You can see the brown fertile leaflets that interrupt the green sterile ones. The fronds were 2-3 feet high. This is a large in your-face-fern that grows along roadsides.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Skywatch

Growing up in the flatland, far from the big city, the tallest building in town was the grain elevator. You could see it for miles. Every Christmas they would put a star at the very top. Decades later, the star still gleams on frosty winter nights, a sign that welcomes home weary travelers as another star did years ago. Too see other skies check out Skywatch, a weekly meme of skies from around the world.

Wordless Wednesday

My World- Baku

Hi Lady, Want to Buy a Carpet?

A few years ago I had the opportunity to go to Baku for 2 weeks. My hotel was in the Icheri Sheher, the Inner City, very close to the Maiden Tower. As I went back and forth to work, I walked past many, many carpet shops. This is one of them. Azerbaijan has been famed for its carpets since antiquity. I never grew tired of seeing them. There were carpets hanging over railings, in windows and lying flat on the ground.

I carefully avoided walking on the neatly placed carpets set end to end in the street only to find out that is exactly what the shop owners wanted. It added value. I sorta regret not buying one, they were beautiful.


To see other parts of the world, check out My World.

A salute to Veteran's Day

My grandfather Clarence Arthur (Casey) Robertson was drafted into World War I in June 1917. He was 23. He shipped out to Europe with Co. E 166 Infantry in October 1917, fought in 3 major and 3 minor battle operations and returned after serving in the Army of Occupation in April 1919.

Here he is in a picture taken in France. Back row, left to right: Casey Robertson, Floyd Hiser, Henry Green, Willard Rogers. Front row, left to right: Fay Wolford, an unknown Frenchman, Buck Horshfield. Armistice Day was November 11, 1918.

The War to End All Wars, did not.

Yard Neglect

Yard neglect. I am guilty as charged. You remember the post on wildflower gardening by default, right? Well I can no longer turn my head or pretend I adore wildflowers (which I do) or make excuses. I have to get out there and take care of business. So loppers in hand I started in on the worst bed down by the driveway. I was just going to trim the variegated Japanese Willow away from the the other shrubs, flowers and the weeping Norway Spruce. But you know how that goes, I whacked a little off over here and a little over there. As the light flooded in I swear there was a collective sigh and rustling of leaves (but that may have been the breeze). Four hours later I leaned back to ease my aching back and I had made a serious dent. But that was in just trimming shrubs, pulling lemon balm, chocolate mint and garden loosestrife by the fistful and cutting off the old yucca flower stalks. I was in serious need of a drink of water. Heading to the house, I pulled out scissors to cut the seed heads off the out-of-control perennials on the way in. There is loads more to do, maybe by fall I'll have it back under control.

Oh, I wouldn't sit on the bench if I were you.

50th wedding anniversary

I am going to a 50th wedding anniversary party today of my good friends Carol and Larry Coulthurst. Being married to the same person for 50 years through thick and thin is an amazing thing. Good Luck and God Bless. The party should be awesome. People have flown in from across the country and there will be yodelling. Yes, you read that right. I'll let you know how that goes.

This is a picture of my great grandparents Alice Annette (Mohr) and George Merrill Romick at their 50th wedding anniversary party in 1951. My grandmother Leah Romick Robertson is in the front row far left.

Wordless Wednesday