The City Planted a Tulip Tree
Ten years ago, I lost the giant sycamore in front of my house. It must have been 100 years old. I even called in a tree doctor to see if it could be saved. It was a sad loss when in was cut down. I applied for a new tree through the city,
Last Saturday, volunteers planted a new tree in front- Liriodendron Tulipifera. A tulip tree. A yellow poplar. The leaves are the shapes of tulips. It is a beautiful looking tree and I am so grateful to have it planted. I read it is the state tree of Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee and may grow to 170 feet tall.
Email instructions arrived on how to water it deeply by using a big bucket with holes in the bottom and how to not put mulch touching the bark so fungus doesn’t grow on the bark are a couple of tips.
Does anyone remember the television commercial encouraging the planting of trees? There was a quote – It’s a mature man who plants a tree under whose shade he will never sit. I looked it up and all I could find is a Greek proverb…
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
How about my crop of dandelions?
Flowering Pear Blossoms Fall Like Snowflakes
There were thunderstorms and heavy rains. then it cleared a bit.
As I pulled out of the school parking lot, a strong wind came up and the blossoms swirled and fell like snow.
April Showers, Richie Havens and Here Comes the Sun
It was MIXED BAG (vinyl) in my dorm room in the early seventies. Over and over. Richie Havens sang Dylan better than Bob.
Here’s an email in response to the one I wrote in December.
Subject: A Message of Gratitude
Last Christmas Matthew was back from Croatia and we were sitting in Mark and Erika’s living room in Ohio, remembering the first Richie Havens concert I forced him to go to as a teenager. We saw him together years later in New York City at the Knitting Factory, too. Matthew and Aunt Mary braved a Connecticut snowstorm to see him together and sat right under him.
——————————————————————-
Hi Ruth
Thank you so much for taking the time to send along such kind thoughts. I will make sure Richie sees your email.
Best wishes for 2013!
Leslie
Stormy Forest Productions, NYC
—–Original Message—–
From: ruthehendricks
To: stormyforestprod
Sent: Sat, Dec 29, 2012 3:50 pm
Subject: Message of Gratitude
This is a message for Mr. Havens as I sit with my 32 yo son tonight (home from Croatia where he lives) listening together to RH on youtube. When Matthew was 14 I forced him to go listen to a Richie Havens concert in Pittsburgh Pa at the Carnegie Music Hall. Oh he was mad cause who wants to go anywhere with their mother at that point of their life? We waited in the corridor afterwards and met Mr. Havens and my son said he emanated positive energy right out of himself into him. Matthew saw him in concert at least six times after that and he said tonight that Richie Havens was able to communicate to his soul. We saw him together at the Knitting Factory years later. So powerful and I wanted to express gratitude for his musical gifts and these wonderful loving memories we share of listening to Mr Havens music and energy. Xxoo Ruth Hendricks
Weekly Photo Challenge: Change
Have you ever tried to?
Change your mind about something or someone?
Change-the only constant of our lives.
Oh, you changed your hair.
“You’ve got to change, baby”
Change trains.
I have a friend who can change the subject on a dime.
Many people don’t enjoy change.
I can change a diaper. Four quarters for a buck. Switch directions in the car when necessary. Change lanes.
But change?
Really truly change. Change my ways. Change my habits. Change my thinking?
Lots of people are worrying about Climate Change.
Subtle change, drastic change.
Here are some suggested change illustrations-
Hot Dog Vendor checks his supply of change.
Architecture changes over time.
The window dresser changes the window.
Waiting for the red light to change.
And you can always count on the weather to change,
the seasons to change-
although sometimes the pace is agonizingly slow.
Thanks to everyone who sent good words for the milestone 1300th post. Now what? Can’t change it up now, so here’s #1301.
This is a sad change- what it looked like about 7 years ago
On the way into school Friday morning. Steeler umbrella, daffodils, new green grass and a Spring rain NOT snow! A change for the better.
Black Pussywillow Branches Cast Wall Shadows
When we lived in Germany, we’d get Pussywillow with fuzzy gray shapes along the branch and hang wooden eggs and rabbit ornaments to make an Easter Tree.
Add MediaI’d never seen Black Pussywillows until Wednesday night at my friend J’s home. I was to take a photograph over to her and the evening turned into an impromptu supper. My crazy part is I went over without the picture I was to take. J followed me back to my house after we ate and got the photograph to take back to her own home but she didn’t seem to mind.
A great blog post about this unusual looking plant is here. The Latin name (Salix gracilistylus ‘Melanostachys’)
I can’t remember the name/type of ceramic vase holding the branches. (Taken with the iPhone)
Thinking Spring. Seriously!
Even though the weather is NOT cooperating, we won’t speak of w#&*#r, cause it is SPRING!!! (Dear Groundhog Phil, You were wrong wrong wrong)
March 20 was Mr. Rogers’ 85 anniversary of his birth and Pittsburghers were sporting sweaters to remember him. And sweaters were just what everyone needed in the city- Yesterday AND today! Not sure about the sneakers.
When I looked out and saw snow coming down I was glad I’d baked apples in the oven to warm the kitchen.
After supper the family called on Face Time and I got to participate in Jack’s birthday and the other grandma (and Pap) were on another iPad FaceTime so we saw each other watch the birthday boy open his gifts. It got pretty wild when Matty called in on SKYPE from Croatia onto his brothers device He joined in the fun and we all watched as Jack opened up the No Stress Chess his Uncle Matthew had sent to him. It was a deviceful family event this evening as Jack turned 6 today.
Helps to have all these communication possibilities available when you live out of town.
The wooden rabbits are from Germany when we lived there. I took them to school and some of the students arranged them to take pictures, make a card. And I saw them set up on a wooden stool at the front of the classroom and I took a quick photo myself as they were looking at me as I got ready to go home.
You can see the pull down screen behind them. They look Spring-like to me!!! (Just don’t look out the window.)
Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere- 7:02 AM
Spring!
We are eager for it to begin. In earnest.
Monday there was a two hour delay due to ice, snow and sleet. It was unexpected and I heard it on the radio as I was already driving to school.
Can we trust the groundhog? Phil said it would be an early Spring. Well Phil, it’s Spring tomorrow on the clock and calendar but it feels like WINTER today. Chilly and gray. We are ready for blossoms, muddy earth, warm breezes. Saturday I saw my first robin in the back on the porch post.
Now I know, no one reads the blog for the weather report but the change of seasons is significant. We just want to be reassured that a true Spring is coming and will warm us up. SOON. (Florida readers- I saw those photographs of you in short sleeved shirts!!)
Before school I stopped in at the Giant Eagle and bought this bouquet. I took the daffodils to school for the students to photograph. They were buds in the morning and by the afternoon they had opened.
You can see the set up with the background of folded white paper to eliminate clutter. When I was ready to go home and the lights were off, this is what I saw.
Just received from a Florida friend who is visiting friends in Boston-First Day of Spring.
Thanks Kristin
Guest Blogger’s Response to Yesterday’s Waiting for Spring Post
Okay Aunt Bobbie (the one who gave Anna the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls). Bobbie saw my almost Spring post of the flowering pear trees and then sent me a photo for the blog today. YIKES!
I was so hopeful. Just when I was thinking of how the earth will warm up and the buds and blossoms will burst. I was counting the days until Spring, ready for the winter to be OVER!
I love it when someone is inspired by my photos on the blog, though. Even if it is a snow photos. Well more that just any snow photo.
21 inches of snow in Kansas City in a week!!!
(Chicago John, this one is for YOU, too!) For everyone shoveling and plowing and hopeful that it will just all go away….and SOON.
(Rob, you must be so glad you moved out of Northern Illinois to Florida this year. Kristin, how was Hawaii? Sue, you enjoying Spring training in Bradenton?)
Thanks Bobbie for the photo today. Where are the crocus?
A p.s. to Aunt Bobbie’s picture
Two more responses, this time from faithful blog reader ROB
writes to
Ruth,
Brrrrrr.
Reminds me of a song that my Music Monday Maestro might find….
“Button up your overcoat, when the winds are free. Take good care of yourself, you belong to me.”
Waiting for Spring
The Spring Equinox is March 20 at 7:02 AM. Just THREE weeks to go. I checked the Old Farmer’s Almanac for the official word.
In another 5 weeks, it’ll look like this in our part of the country….I have to keep it in mind.
Blossoms and green grass, bulbs shooting up through the earth. The RedBud will bloom.
Three weeks ’til Official Spring. This photo was taken two years ago the first week of April.
March is Friday. I think I have it calculated right.
Old State Road in Columbus on the way home. (I pulled over!)
Getting Ready for Baseball Season in Pittsburgh AND Florida
Everyone has their favorite teams. Depends where you live, where you were born, where you moved, or who your family roots for, what players you like…..
some fans prefer football but the beginning of baseball means that Spring will be coming.
The Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training is already happening in Bradenton, Florida.
I know cause my friend and frequent commenter, Sue R. is headed down to watch some games. Has her tickets. Seriously. She is one proud Lady Buc!
This post is for her so she knows that the fans at home are getting ready, too.
My favorite part of the photo is that the house number is also the Pittsburgh area code. 412!
Hope you are enjoying the warm weather and that the Pirates are looking good, Sue. It’s snowing right now. Nothing major but it is gray and cold and snowy.
You can find Sue at PNC Park when the season starts. And then it will be SPRING!!!!
Easter Weekend
You want to shoot a photograph with some life in it!
I learned in a workshop, photography can be exasperating. And one thing I know-
Sometimes you are an observer and sometimes you are a participant.
You can’t capture the sound of bells ringing in the sanctuary and bell tower simultaneously, a Gregorian chant, the trumpet, everyone holding a candle in the darkness and as the lights are turned up in the dark city church, late Saturday night, you long to capture the spirit, the glow .
You can’t whip out a camera and show the three out of four grandchildren racked out in the pew, or the smell of candle wax or incense or the feel of freshly blessed sprinklings. A good place to think. Mechanical limitations. The intrusion of the moment.
You are’t on assignment from a newspaper, illustrating the occasion. The grandparents have to head back home for work early Monday so we drove downtown for the Easter Vigil. It’s an early dinner at noon. Then we’ll load the cars and drive back east and south.
The thoughts of Easters growing up, the new suits, shoes and hats. Remembering those you love and who loved you the best and have gone on before. i said to my friend, “vacation flies by’ and she said
“just like life.”
I think of unconditional love. Thanks Matthew. Missed you.
Mother Mary- Springtime NYC
Someone placed a bouquet in the crook of her arm. Today’s post remembers friend and poet Christina Murdock who passed one year ago today, a week short of her thirtieth birthday.
from Let it Be by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
When I find myself in times of trouble Mother Mary comes to me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness She is standing right in front of me Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.
April Showers
“Pansies in soft April rains
Fill their stalks with honeyed sap
Drawn from Earth’s prolific lap.”
– Bayard Taylor 1825-1875 Buried in Kennett Square PA
April Showers
The weight of the raindrops
bent the Pansy’s face to the ground.
Petals like velvet.
Pansies
It really felt like a true Spring day!
“The pansy gets its name from the French word pensée meaning ‘thought’.”
-quote from Pansyflowers.com
The forsythia is in bloom
Rooftop Grill & an Unexpected Mishap
Plans Change
Shot Friday after school. Who knew in 10 minutes my Subaru Outback (3386 pounds) would be rear-ended by a Dodge Ram Pickup (4969 pounds) as I sat in traffic on the entrance to the Bloomfield Bridge. Ouch. I was headed home to get Murphy and head out to the family in Columbus. Never made it. Ended up in Shadyside ER with a neck sprain, real sore from the jolt. Car undriveable. The paramedics were so nice. I said, could you get the gray bag, with the camera? And in the back, Could you get the green bag with my computer? oh and please, my suitcase? They took it all with us to the hospital. Oh and the knitting bag, too. I declare Friday April Fool’s my lucky day. Grateful this is not my final photo. No horses today. Glad I’m okay. Thought about posting the damaged car but decided it was unncessary. But you just never know what the day will bring. Grateful it was no worse. My mother always said, “Cars can be replaced.” Left the school bag and the lunch box and the gym bag in the car. And the white garbage bag of new Tupperware for Laura & Erika that Jenn had brought and left in my garage earlier this week. The men asked me if I was going on a trip. Well, I was…….
Hope I see someone grilling on this grill one day. Stay tuned.
Eddington Quote on Carnegie Mellon Wall
Went to see our neighbor, Terry Collins, receive a Heinz Chair for Green Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon. Teresa Heinz and her sons were there and it was a nice ceremony. Plus, he received an actual chair which was red, in addition to the prestigious post! When I left the award reception I passed by a slope of azaleas in full bloom and tried to make sense of the quote on the wall in front of me. Sir Arthur Eddington. You will probably figure it out much quicker than I did. If you want further thought on topic of entropy click on word.
Hint: You have to start at the end and read backwards. Something to think about.
Homegrown*
* Title by James W. I asked, “what do you see when you look at this photo? What would you call it?”
Is this a true green building you hear so much about in Pittsburgh?
SRRWWNRFY5BN
Watch Your Lettuce!
Steve and I picked up Dorothy to go to her daughter’s for dinner. As she got in the car, the rabbit hopped across her front lawn to her tulips. She’s planted lettuce in the back garden. It was late in the day, the light coming from the side. When I see a rabbit I think of Watership Down(click link for more info). I liked the book but not the movie.
Looks like a postcard for Spring!
3 Figures Across the River at Birmingham Bridge
Full photograph of Birmingham Bridge on the Monongahela. Detail of crop from same photo-scroll down. The shadow of the bridge on the sunlit river made a cool pattern. The people showed up when I enlarged the photo.
After dropping off Mill at Night at the Pittsburgh Technology Center on the Mon
3 Figures Across the River at Birmingham Bridge
Shoo Flies Method from Handy Tip Email-Urban Legend or Not?
Sat down for tea on Dorothy's porch and saw she actually made a fly deterrent.
Dorothy’s Back Porch Fly Control- results not in at this time
V sent an email the other day with the zip lock plastic bag, pennies and water tip. She had received it from a friend who had received it from someone else. You know how it goes around. And this particular email (SNOPES says it is UNDETERMINED)I forwarded to Dorothy and I went to Dorothy’s for tea today and what did I see? An actual zip lock bag with pennies and water, reflecting the setting sun. SNOPES has not confirmed this email as true/or false. There is a website called How to get rid of stuff, too. Click link for the info on how to get rid of flies. Will get the report from Dorothy on whether or not this method repels flies.
Rhubarb & Savoy Cabbage-Opposites on Color Wheel
How do you feel about rhubarb? People either love it or hate it. There is no in-between. The rhubarb in Joan’s garden returns every year. The leaves are supposedly poison. To me the word rhubarb is comical. A sure sign of Spring. The lighting was not great at the grocery but sometimes one is moved to photograph anyway. Click the word rhubarb for more info, recipes and how to tend it. Rhubarb reminds me of my grandmother. My sister made strawberry rhubarb preserves and we’d slather it on warm Zito’s bread when the kids and I would visit her in NYC.
Complementary colors, waiting in Produce Section.
6 1/2 Years Old on a Swing
Robert Louis Stevenson – “How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue? Oh I do think it the pleasantest thing, ever a child can do!”
"Up in the air I go flying again, up in the air and down." RLS
Morning Light, Evening Light-Flowering Pears
You hear a lot about people working twelve hour days. Every day. I feel fortunate 8 is what’s required. We made up a snow day Tuesday, staying until 7. It was a beautiful day as I saw the beginning and the end of it at school, sky clear and blue. Morning view from the East End of the school and evening view from the West End. Out for a fire drill today I heard the clock chime like Westminster and didn’t even know it had that feature. Really amazing to hear as we stood with the kids in a wiggly line, getting a headcount and waiting to be called back into the building.
Ft. Pitt School is a little over 100 years old. You can see they cleaned the brick.
Coming out the driveway on the other side I saw this angle and light.
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