Fall Colors

Seen migrating through the library of late.

Also, tiny pink Chucks on a very small girl, but no camera handy.

Another sighting in library:

And a whirl of color from a late September birthday party for J and J:

Butterflies

An unusual butterfly was on the rue one day. Dusky brown wings with giant vees of buff, not one of the everyday visitors. Investigation found it to be the Giant Swallowtail. Since I didn't get its picture, this one will have to serve.

The purple morning glory vine seen here sent a bud over the top of the opened window to bloom indoors on the back porch, my treehouse.

Most days tiger swallowtails, black and spicebush swallowtails, monarchs, and white sulfurs come to the front yard. I found out that the hatchlings of the cabbage butterflies feed on nasturtiums. That explains a lot, but i never catch the butterflies laying eggs. They must wait till everyone's in bed.

Like Housman with his cherry trees, I think there's little time to watch the butterflies, so I keep an eye out when I'm near flowers. Te porch is a good place to sit quietly when it's too hot to sit out in the sun. And as long as the black and white cat's not under the bird feeder, you can see the chickadees and finches too.

Over at Reading Life, there's a note about a book to help anyone enjoy the seasons, even if you can't tramp through the rolling English landscape. As Cosmo Dogood showed us in his late, great Cosmo Dogood's Urban Almanac, all we have to do is to look out and up and around us. Nature is everywhere.

Anatolian Shepherd rescue! Adopt a Giant Sweetdog!

Puppy Brody, from Flickr shared photos

Wanna see a Good Dog? "A Good Dog?" Wanna fall in love at first sight, and, like Opus and those late night TV offers he can't resist for Roncorini Spaghetti Busters Only $19.95* Sign up now!, you want to finger the touchpad and sign up now for adoption, restrictions apply please see information first about this breed from the National Anatolian Shepherd Rescue Network

Chapter One: "Do You Really Want an ASD?: Ask Yourself These Questions before Bringing One Home."

Oooh, I'd put a Good Dog picture here right now, but my respect for the conventions of copyright prevent me. But there are lots and lots of pictures out there. Start anywhere.

http://www.nasrn.com/doyou.ht

If your breaking heart knows that you do not have a yard large enough for your shepherd to run laps at will and securely fenced you will still go on to read the second chapter, "10 Reasons NOT to Get an ASD."

Some of the available dogs are pups, some are older. Some are nearby in NC or GA or SC, others all over the US. Some are Urgent! dogs. All look sweet and smart -- and really BIG. 100 lbs. or so at adulthood. Wow. That's a dog that could keep your feet warm -- or numb -- on winter nights.

La luna pasa, sabe, canta, avanza y avanza sin descanso.

-- Vicente Aleixandre, "No existe el hombre" in World Alone: Mundo a Solas

15th Sunday after Pentecost. Madeleine L'Engle has entered the Church Triumphant. as they say in RI.

My brother's company had a lovely celebration Friday, the dedication of a Japanese garden in front of the building in Cranston in his memory. Over 100 employees came, as well as family members from the area. Many people spoke of David, of his warmth and quiet friendliness. One woman is reported to have said that she took a walk with him every day at noon in the parking lot. Another said every day at two he would walk around the two-story building, and say hello to people in the company. He was well liked and is clearly missed by everybody there.

His burial site in a quiet cemetery tucked away in Barrington, is now marked with

a granite stone, that says

LUTHER

David S.

with dates

My mother (David's mother) wishes it said

David Simmons Luther

The old slate stones are the best. You can see them at St. Mary's Churchyard on the East Main Road in Portsmouth, where most of my family is buried.

Time to ride my bike down to the boatyard. See you later.

Labor Day 2007

"Philosophers have explained space. They have not explained time. It is the inexplicable raw material of everything. With it, all is possible; without it, nothing. The supply of time is truly a daily miracle.... You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions....

"You have to live on this twenty-four hours of daily time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and the evolution of your immortal soul. Its right use, its most effective use, is a matter of the highest urgency and of the most thrilling actuality. All depends on that. Your happiness--the elusive prize that you are all clutching for, my friends!--depends on that. Strange that the newspapers, so enterprising and up-to-date as they are, are not full of 'How to live on a given income of time,' instead of 'How to live on a given income of money'! ...

"We shall never have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is."

-- Arnold Bennett, How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, 1910

Notes: 1) Photo: Labor day sunrise, Sweeten Creek Rd. 2) I am profoundly grateful that none of my family members were injured in recent accidents.