While Stopping By, A Snowy Pigeon

While passing through the deep dark blue 

to somewhere far away.

I stopped to rest my black-fringed wings;

your yard a perfect stay.

A Mourning dove sits on your fence 

and in the trees are Jays.

Cardinals swooping by are wary, 

and so am I, of they.

But now, I sit upon this wire,

and wait for break of day.

My flight takes me to places far.

Weary,  here's where I'll stay.

For in the morning and at night

the flightless look my way.

They marvel at my beauty white,

of them, I'm not afraid.

This male pigeon came to visit the snow pigeon. Snowy pigeon is now called Roxanne, and the male, is called Rocky.

For Daddy

My father, Frank Alfred Barbara circa 1958 with my sister Lynn on the beach in Longport, NJ

POCKET CHANGE

Two pockets –

One stashes cash for bums and beggars.

Not a large sum, 

  just a few crinkled bills and jangly change

is all.

The other, carries two kinds of currency - 

a wad of uncounted dough in disarray

           to spend like Monopoly money

and 

carefully counted crisp bills

          money-clipped together in chronological order.

Famous faces facing left.

Fistfuls of ones,

a few fives,

   tens,

     twenties by the dozens.

One thousand dollars

  in all.

 Always silver-clipped with a

        capital cursive “F” -

Not a dollar more.

Not a dollar less.

Not just on Sunday

   to pad the passing tithing basket.

Not just Monday to Friday

    to pay the bills.

Not just Saturday night

    to spend on the boardwalk –

Not at all.

Late at night

my father,

   caught by a spotlight of the moon

left on the dinning room table

   like an empty yellow plate,

would  sit and sort his money in solitaire rows.

  Winner

   takes all.

My nephew Justin,  holding an oil portrait of Pop-Pop that my mother had given Daddy in the mid-60's.  Justin and Pop-Pop have always looked alike.

From Sun Flowers to Moon Flowers

 Moon Flower

 Moon Flower Getting Ready to Bloom

Sun Flowers Over the Top of the Fence

Fetching May's Beauty

An Earth Day Butterfly

Everyday the garden makes me smile. Today, this butterfly caught my eye and patiently waited while I captured its beautiful presence - and in a snap, it fluttered away.

An Early Bird Spring

The end of winter

Felix explores the wet earth

Bebe awaits the chance to play fetch

String beans climb and blossom

An asparagus rain forest

Flowers with promise of many more to come

Tomatoes with green suits soon to be red

Broccoli, corn, lettuce

The Flower bed

If you look closely, you can watch it grow

Corn, soon to be fenced in by chicken wire to deter the squirrels.

The other half of the flower bed

The knock-out rose, knocking it out!

A bee! A bee!

All in a Full Moon March Day

Planting the spring garden by the full moon is a tradition I look forward to every year. By the end of today, the asparagus was bursting through the dark soil, onions were blowing in the March wind, bush beans were winding around their stakes, and the waft of rosemary was intoxicating, mixing with the scent of basil and tomatoes. The peppers were plunged into the wet composted earth, broccoli and  lettuce leaves were flapping like puppy dog ears, the corn stood erect like an army waiting to battle the hungry squirrels, and the cucumbers and sweet potatoes are ready to weave themselves through the garden like threads through a quilt. 

Sunflower seeds planted last week, mixed with zinnias, moonflowers and four o'clocks are all peeking through the soil looking like rows of marching green ants.

Granny snoozed, Felix grazed, Bebe sunned and I dug my 'til my heart's content.

And, tonight, the full "worm" moon, illuminated the entire garden pulling it up by its roots to grow, grow, grow, grow. 

fresh asparagus

white spears turn bright crispy green

tender tips tempting

 bush beans spiraling

sweet onion bulbs underground

soil espresso rich

 rosemary basil

sage parsley oregano

dill chives tarragon

 ponderosa blooms

 sunflowers, zinnias, four-o-clocks, moonflowers 

 bush beans climbing

 Felix sneaking a bite of grass

 Bebe just being Bebe

 Granny soaking up the sun

 The full Moon in March is known by many names: the Worm Moon, Sap Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sugar Moon, and Lenten Moon. According to the Farmer's Almanac, the native tribes of what is now the northern and eastern U.S. named this the Worm Moon after the earthworm casts that appear as the ground thaws. The more northern tribes knew this as the Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter. 

Other northern names are the Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night, or the Sap Moon as this is the time for tapping maple trees. Europeans called this the Lenten Moon.