Check out spectacular geologic images from Steph at this link: http://wordwomanpartialellipsisofthesun.blogspot.com/2017/03/smoking-smoke-rings-mount-etna-sicily.html I especially appreciate the Mount Etna photos because I visited there when the Smith College Alumnae Chorus toured Sicily. Be sure to check out the bonus images in the first comment from Steph, aka Word Woman. Enjoy!
Category: photos
March 17th
Happy Evacuation Day!
B’s dad, who was a very long-tenured elementary school principal in western Massachusetts, used to do an announcement every March 17th about what an important day it was because, in 1776, the British were forced to leave Boston, which had been under siege since the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19th, 1775 (which is commemorated as Patriots’ Day). In the days of dot-matrix printers, he even had little greeting cards printed for Evacuation Day, which, of course, involved a Minuteman and cannon.
He used to use Evacuation Day as an excuse occasion to gift his wife with flowers.
After he passed away in 2005, B and I took up the tradition of giving Evacuation Day flowers to Grandma, first having them delivered from their favorite local florist, and then choosing and delivering them ourselves after she moved here from Vermont.
Last year, daughter T, who was home on spring break from grad school, and I chose a planter instead of cut flowers. Grandma loved them and put them in the center of her dining room table, as she usually did.
We didn’t know that Grandma would succumb to a heart attack less than a week later.
We kept the planter there for a remembrance and a splash of color as we did the necessary work to clear out her cottage. Then, we brought the planter to our home.
Over the summer, T, who had just finished her MPS in conservation biology of plants, took over plant care and broke the planter into separate pots, as it was becoming too crowded. The African violet stayed in the original green basket.
When she left in late January for her Missouri job-on-the-prairie, the plants were looking healthy and a few weeks ago, the African violet started to bloom.
So, this week it has many blossoms to remind us of the happy occasion of delivering flowers to Grandma for the family tradition of Evacuation Day.
Oh, and lest I forget, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, too!
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One-Liner Wednesday: record snow
What our backyard shed looks like when the wind picks up after over thirty inches (0.8 meters) of snow yesterday.
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A few more snow photos
A few photos from shoveling part six, following up from my post with photos from earlier in the day:
The snow is supposed to continue until at least midnight and the wind has started to pick up. I am about to go out for shoveling session seven. We are all hoping that we don’t get heavy winds. Big snowstorm is preferable to blizzard.
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One-Liner Wednesday: videopoem link
As promised, here is the reactivated link to our Boiler House videopoem: https://vimeo.com/187387583.
This (somewhat atypical) post is part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday series. Join us! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/02/22/one-liner-wednesday-rock-is-dead-yippie
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Phoenix Project
I haven’t been using most of the available-but-not-mandatory prompt words for Just Jot It January, but I was struck by the word “detritus” which is today’s last-day prompt.
I used “detritus” in a poem that I read recently. The poem, which I can’t share because it is unpublished, is about the Phoenix Project by Chinese artist Xu Bing. 
Two giant phoenix sculptures were created by Xu Bing, using the detritus from construction sites. Part of my Facebook comment on this photo, which is from September, 2013, reads, “They are also a political statement. When Xu Bing went to the Beijing construction site of the fabulously expensive buildings, he found workers being poorly paid and exploited, making shelters for themselves from the construction debris. He decided to make a pair of phoenixes, which in China denote power and wealth, from the debris, to call attention to the plight of the workers. At some point, the building owners decided they would not pay for the completion of the commission, but the artist was able to finish and Mass MoCA is their second venue for display. Next they will go to the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in NYC.”
I had been planning to write on the latest news from the fallout of DT’s travel ban/refugee executive order, but I didn’t have the heart. Detritus may be all that is left of the US government soon, too.
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It’s the last day to join in with Linda’s Just Jot It January! Many thanks to Linda and all her blog community who made it such a great experience! If you want to add your voice on this last day, you can find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/31/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-31st17/
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taking down Christmas
Yesterday, our church celebrated Epiphany. This is also the day when we usually take down our Christmas tree.
Because this Christmas was somewhat subdued for various reasons, we hadn’t taken any photos.
I did, however, ask B to take the above photo. The carol singers are ones that Grandma, his mom, who passed away in March, had made for us when we were newlyweds to match her own set. B made the church from a kit over thirty years ago. The little Irish church mice are of a similar age.
The barristers and tea cup collection are also inherited from Grandma, with some of the cups originating from prior generations.
The wintry photo is of Main Street in North Adams, Massachusetts and was taken by a shopkeeper sometime in the last decade. We purchased it from him and Grandma displayed it in her cottage at the local retirement village. All four of B’s and my parents came from the North Adams area and he and I grew up near there, too.
It seemed fitting to commemorate Grandma and our family roots in this special corner of our dining room this Christmas.
I expect it to be a new part of our tradition.
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Join us for Linda’s Just Jot It January! It’s super fun, easy, and flexible. Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2017/01/09/jusjojan-daily-prompt-jan-9th17/
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SoCS: Steph’s blog
I knew Linda’s prompt this week was “pretty” and I wasn’t sure I would write a post, but this morning, this link: http://wordwomanpartialellipsisofthesun.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-corundum-conundrum-sapphires-rubies.html landed in my inbox.
Steph writes a blog that is a cross between science, often geology, and wordplay. She often has pretty photos of rocks, electron microscope patterns, geologic formations, and today, some very pretty gems.
Her blog is not on WordPress, so it is hard to re-blog other than by link, but I hope people will pop over to Steph’s blog and see some beautiful corundum in various colors.
Thank you, Steph, for sharing pretty pictures and words with us!
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Join us for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-2616/
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Fall foliage
For some great photos of fall leaves in Colorado with a bonus science lesson about the colors of aspen leaves, follow this link to Steph’s blog, Partial Ellipsis of the Sun. Steph always has a great mix of science, photographs, and wordplay, so you should definitely visit and follow her!
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Hooked on Phononics: Spider Silk Sound and Heat
Steph has another fascinating post, this time discussing newly discovered properties of spider silk. There are beautiful photos of spider webs, too, but not any close-up photos of spiders themselves for those of you who prefer not to view magnified arachnids. Check it out here: http://wordwomanpartialellipsisofthesun.blogspot.com/2016/07/hooked-on-phononics-spider-silk-sound.html
Joanne Corey 