“Snowflakes of ash fell so lovelily you were tempted to stretch out your tongue to catch them, taste them. Only, they would have scorched your lips …” ~ Young adult book author Markus Zusak from The Book Thief Last week the Crescenta Valley was awash with amber-colored light as an ominous plume of smoke rose […]
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means waste of time.” ~ John Lubbock, “Recreation,” The Use of Life, 1894 This past weekend found us on […]
“I have discovered four new planets and observed their motions … Jupiter, like Venus and Mercury and perchance the other known planets, move about the Sun … I shall send to all the philosophers and mathematicians an announcement … I shall send an excellent spyglass (to) verify all these truths.” ~ Galileo On July 4th, […]
“It was a splendid summer morning and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.” ~ John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer Summer always seems long in coming. Although once established its weather lingers forever; day after day of relentless heat marks the forecasts. Usually I sing the praises of the season … […]
“Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, Sun, sun, sun, here it comes …” ~ George Harrison, music & lyrics As the week began, forces of cataclysmic proportion came together … good, bad and/or otherwise. As expected, June came loaded with events – graduations, weddings, the end of school and the start of summer […]
“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.” Kin Hubbard, American cartoonist Wow! We can really “start a conversation” as the weather did really change. In fact, the last two weekends had temperatures that differed by a little over 40 degrees. The first […]
“April showers bring May flowers.” ~ Origin unknown, but most likely from Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” The spring bloom is in full display across the local foothills and outlying areas. As expected the first flowers opened long before the beginning of May and will continue to do so in one variety or another throughout […]
Such vast quantities of water … held suspended in the air in clouds so light, fragile, and evanescent … How is the water-dust suspended in the atmosphere? … Sometimes we see a dense heavy mist lying so thickly over the fields that it seems as if nothing could dissipate it, yet it is so thin […]
“Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again.” ~ Gustav Mahler, Austrian 19th Century Late-Romantic composer No doubt the sentiment expressed in the above quotation reflects the joyous feeling as springtime arrives to the Austrian Alps. The location of which it speaks […]
“The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson The Easter Bunny has come and gone. Hopefully the rain has not taken the same path and disappeared down the “rabbit hole.” One would assume only the homes of small children would be on the Easter basket delivery list. By some fortunate […]