Four Days

Four days without any news.
Four days without any politics
Only gardens and flowers,
Photographs and restaurants.
Sleeping late, staying out late, planting and weeding

Gosh, I really needed that!!!

Farm Pond at Dawn

Good Planets are Hard to Find

I've had a great time posting the Good Planets Carnival this month, all of these gorgeous pics! So, lets get right to it...

From Linda and Denny Braun:

I forgot the Good Planet entry for this past weekend, plus we were traveling from Arizona to New Mexico. So I thought I'd send a couple of pix early so I don't miss the next Good Planet post.

Two sunsets that only the desert could provide

Rarely do we think about Cactus and Snow at the same time!

From Wrenaissance Woman:

Portrait of a Wood Poppy in Bloom

From River Sider, who blogs at The Ribble Cycle Diaries

"We let a river shower its banks with a spirit that invades the people living there, and we protect that river, knowing that without its blessings the people have no source of soul." ~ Thomas Moore

There are lots more gorgeous river pics at the link!

From Yankee Transferred:

I stepped outside to go to my car one evening and looked west toward downtown. Here is the sky over the city at dusk.
Cheers,
"Yankee T"

From C Corax:
Again, Robin encouraged me to send these photos. I'm dedicating them to her, because I took them on her birthday.

I set up a folding stool and tripod, and watched this flicker for almost an hour as she enlarged her nest hole.

I'd hear the tap tap tap, then see her poke her head out, wood chips in bill, then she'd shake her head and let the chips float away on the stiff breeze that was blowing.

Two from Susannah at Wanderin' Weeta (With Waterfowl and Weeds)

These were taken in the BC Interior, near Chase. We stayed in a cabin deep in the bush for about a month and I set up a makeshift table on the deck and put out water, sunflower seeds and peanuts for the birds. We had chickadees, nuthatches (who spent most of their time ferrying away seeds to hide, barely taking time to eat), a gray jay or two and this Clark's nutcracker.

And the chipmunk, who, like the nuthatches, was extremely busy all that month collecting for the winter. He would stuff his cheeks until nothing more fit, then dash off to stash them and come back for more. It looks like he did a fair amount of swallowing; by the end of the month, see how fat he was!

This one's from Dave Dorsey at the Bird Treatment & Learning Center:

My wife Ruth took this at Moose Pass, Alaska this past Sunday. A beautiful day with a beautiful view.

Dave blogs at BirdTLC


From Liza Lee Miller :

Near Big Sur, Central California Coast. Cows, wildflowers, cliffs, ocean. Does it get any better than this?


From My own trip yesterday to The Garden in the Woods, in Massachusetts:

Spring is in full bloom here in New England, with temps in the eighties yesterday, a simply beautiful day in the woods.

The Bullfrogs were creating a symphony when we dallied near the pond.

From Robin Andrea At The Dharma Bums:
Here are two pics for Good Planets. I couldn't choose between them. The first one is a true view of how we see the world.

I like the minus-tide and the eagle far off on one of the pilings. It's what Fort Townsend often looks like when we get down to the beach. The second is a close-up of probably the same eagle, taken a few days before.

*Remember, click the pic for a larger view

We had been walking along, my sister was trying to get a shot of some herons far off in the shoreline, when I turned around and this eagle was in a tree not 100 feet from us. We were stunned. It let us take several photographs before it flew off. Closest we've ever been to an eagle. Both views capture the essence of our very good planet.

Susannah of Wanderin Weeta has very generously offered to host Good Planets for June. Her email address is susannah AT dccnet DOT com

Another fine pasture pond

Dems, GOP claim victory with Iraq funding bill

The White House initially was cool to the idea of imposing consequences against the Iraqi government for failing to meet benchmarks, even though the president would be allowed to ignore the restriction if he wants.

Shorter on Iraq bill:

Republicans: Ha ha, You Blinked!

Democrats: Nya unh, we packed it with funding the pretzeldent didn't want!

Prez: "Now congress, don't you throw me in no Briar Patch!"

Misty Morning

First, the birdies:



These little Robin chicks are rooming at my son's house, just for the next few weeks.



I don't know what this guy is called, but he was hopping all over the dirt road in front of me.



Maybe he has a nest in here... As I walked over to take this pic, another one flew out of the bushes



I will be hosting the Good Planets are Hard to Find this weekend, please send your pics to SBGypsy at hotmail dot com.



*as always, click on the pic to open a larger view

What I did on my Weekend

There I was making a Chicken pot pie, and this lil' bugger was flaunting his bright plumage right across from my kitchen window. I finally got to a place where I could dash off and grab a camera. After letting me snap off a couple of shots, he flew away. Sweet little guy.

This plant was looking dead this spring. I was so sure the ice storm got to it that I went out and bought a new one - a little pinker with a stronger stripe. I went to plant it, and noticed that this one was budding on all the old wood that I thought was dead. So, instead of pulling it out, I planted the new one in back, so it will hopefully grow up through this one and I'll have two colors in one.

And at last: the main plants that grow in my shade garden - bleeding hearts, trillium, violets, and lily of the valley.

*click on the pics for a full sized view

** This weekend I will be hosting another
Good Planets Are Hard To Find
picture extravaganza! email your pics before Saturday morning :

SBGypsy at hotmail dot com

Dear Mr pResident

"To the cadets and midshipmen who are graduating from a college or university that believes ROTC is not worthy of a place on campus, here is my message: Your university may not honor your military service, but the United States of America does," he[George W Bush] said.

For someone who went AWOL during the Vietnam Conflict, your words ring hollow. Is it honoring our military personnel to send them into battle with no plan, no goal, and no end in sight?

Our colleges and universities are there to educate our youth and prepare them for life, not for death in some city on the other side of the planet. Let our young people live to solve our problems instead of sending them off to die, all the while making our problems worse.

The choice is between Life or death - and you seem to have chosen death for our young people.

Shame on you.

As for Mr Guiliani...

Giuliani said he would leave the distinction between enhanced interrogation techniques and torture to "the people who do it," according to a report on the National Review Online. He described water-boarding simply as "aggressive," the report said.

Who would Jesus torture?

ROUNDUP

I've never done a Blog roundup before, but today here are a few that have new info, are great reads, and I highly recommend :

from Democratic Underground Alberto Gonzales' Harvard class "82 send him an open letter about his lawless behavior. 56 signatures. hattip: Crooks & Liars

And another by John Dean about the Attorney General's Scandal.

From Specious Reasoning Bush shows his love for the troops, says they don't need no raise in pay, and refuses to buy American first. hattip: Democratic Underground

And finally, though I do not support his run for president, Mr Ron Paul has something to say to Mr Guiliani:

Woah - Tornados in Connecticut????

Yesterday afternoon as I drove home, we had a terrific storm, with three areas of tornadic winds. Unheard of weather for CT! Yes, we get hurricanes, about every 20 years one howls up the coast and strafes Long Island before it grinds up the Connecticut River Valley. And we get snow storms that sometimes dump snow measured in ft rather than in. But, I've never heard of tornados here.

Oh, rest assured we didn't get damage of the magnitude of what tornado alley endures every spring. A barn was imploded, trees down over power wires, a couple towns without power. No big deal, really. I'm just wondering what's in store for us as the atmosphere warms up...

John Edwards : Work for Peace

John Edwards has a call to work for peace on this coming Memorial Day - good read, over at The Huffington Post

Good Planets

...Are Hard To Find

From Yankee Transplant:



I took this picture in the Botanic Gardens in Montreal in 1998 when I was vacationing with my daughters.


From Liza Lee Miller:



Sometimes the smallest things are filled with beauty. These are the flowers on my glorious Maple Tree. Tiny and hidden but just last weekend, I found a tiny Maple tree seedling in my yard so I know they are filled with power.



From KerrdeLune:

I am attaching two images for Good Planet. The first image is of willow catkins in our woods in the Lanark Highlands,



...and the second is a red trillium from the same place.




From Pam in Tucson:



Here's my favourite pic of this week. I've already posted it on my blog, ( Tortoise Trail ) but I really wanted to share it with Good Planets. I don't know what kind of cactus this is. The plants are only about 3 feet tall and are growing in a front-yard planter in our neighbourhood. There were five of these enormous flowers on one plant and three on another. They were in bloom for only two days before they shrivelled up.


From C. Corax:

With encouragement from Robin, I'm submitting my photo of two fox kits. Good Planets tends to leave me in such stupefied awe of others' photo-taking abilities, I'm somewhat embarrassed by this, but it was the best I could do, and the critters are so danged cute! Kit #2 is directly below the obvious one.



I'm also attaching a photo of a lovesick wood frog (though not so lovesick that he didn't have time to check out my dog and me). I think it's been awhile since there's been a photo of an amphibian.




From Robin Andrea:



Here's my pic. It's not the clearest photo of a Great Blue Heron, but it captures the absolute grace of this beautiful bird. Funny how the photo looks like a black and white pic. It's not, but that's the pacific northwest for you, shades of black, white, and gray. (if you're here, you probably already know that Robin Andrea blogs at The Dharma Bums )


From Evan,

The Japanese cherry blossoms on the mall in DC.

From Susannah over at Wanderin' Weeta's

I don't know if you have a theme this time; I couldn't find any mention of one. So I am sending two "twisty" trunks.

The first one is at the Van Dusen Gardens, in Vancouver, BC. A strong, ancient vine that holds up the porch as much as it climbs on it.

The second, a dead pine, is on the hills above Chase, BC, in the dry interior. Laurie, especially, loved this pine; he photographed it over and over. In death, as in life, it is the centre of a thriving ecology. Every time we stopped, it was a-twitter with dozens of tiny birds, about the same size as the cones they were feeding on. Chipmunks make piles of seed coverings at the entrances to their holes. A hawk (Swainson's?) sits on a snag across the road, watching for stragglers. And of course there are beetles and ants up and down the trunk, and lichens starting to gain a toehold.

(I am having trouble deciding which dead pine photo to send you, so am sending two; take your pick.) *I picked both*


From Tara Crowley:

A glorious summer day in a garden, captured. As the
sun beat down and others were gathering flowers, I
walked with my camera and marveled at this tranquil,
bountiful space. The world in microcosim.

And that's the Good Planets Are Hard to Find post for this week. And what a luscious collection it is. Wonderful gorgeous photos all, and thank you for sending them. If you sent a pic and it's not posted, please send it again for inclusion in the May 24 posting. SBGypsy at Hotmail dot com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*People have asked if there's a theme - I'm a no-holds-barred kind of person, so the basic rules apply: Show the beauty of our good planet, in all it's abundance and glory - try not to show people or houses, unless of the picturesque variety.

**as always, click on the pic for a larger view