Category: photos

Tymczasem 1000m wyżej / Meanwhile, 1000m above

Some snow photos for all my local friends who are missing having snow this winter.

Poem: Crowning Glory

I’m pleased to announce that Silver Birch Press has published my poem “Crowning Glory” as part of their MY MANE MEMORIES series.

The link is here:  https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/crowning-glory-poem-by-joanne-corey-my-mane-memories-poetry-and-prose-series/

Besides the poem, you can enjoy a photo of me taken this month in our yard, featuring my “mane”!

Enjoy!  Feel free to comment here, at Silver Birch Press, or on Facebook.

PS  I managed to copy the photo! But please read the poem at Silver Birch Press, too.

PPS  I already did a post for Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday, but this post qualifies, too, so I am adding the pingback here:  http://lindaghill.com/2016/02/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-2016/

Another record!

I posted last week about a new record for likes.

I am shocked to report that that record, 66 likes, was shattered yesterday, setting a new record of 103 likes!

And, in the odd record-keeping of WordPress, I had only 79 views…

I realize part of that is that I allow full posts by email and in the reader, so some likes come in that don’t register as views.

I had four posts yesterday.

The first was a re-blog of gorgeous flowers from My Food and Flowers. It attracted likes and some new followers from the photo-blog sector, including one who went on to explore and like a lot of posts. Thank you, v4vikey!

My planned post yesterday was about the ever-popular subject of exercise, featuring adventures with Wii Fit.

Then, there were two spur-of-the-moment posts on my re-vamping of my blog theme, one on the new header and one on the menu.  Posts about blogging always seem to attract attention – among bloggers.  Go figure!

Part of the success of the post-likes in a single day is the time of day when the posts appear. All four posts appeared in the morning in my time zone, so it gave more hours for my readers to find them the same day.

Thanks to all my readers and “likers” – especially those of my followers who visit on a regular basis. I really do appreciate your visits, comments, and likes here at Top of JC’s Mind!

Wishing you all a great weekend,
Joanne

New header photo

Thanks to all my blogger friends for their advice on my new theme!

I looked through my photos and found one I thought would crop well as a new header image.

Boiler House Poets and people familiar with North Adams, Massachusetts may recognize the street sign. It was just outside the apartments where we stayed during the Tupelo Press/Mass MoCA residency. (If you want to know more about the residency, check my blog archive for November, 2015.)

I will leave it to my readers to ponder the deep inner meaning of Center Street being one way and what that has to do with the Top of JC’s Mind…

I still wish I could make the title/tagline font larger, but I think it doesn’t look quite so tiny with the header image breaking it apart from the larger-font post title.

It just occurred to me that my link to my “About” page got lost in the shuffle of the theme change. I guess that will be my next problem to solve.

I’d appreciate any comments/musing/interpretations on the new header image.

With thanks,
JC

 

Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

Sharing some beautiful blossoms from one of my favorite photo-blogs.

myfoodandflowers's avatarMy Food And Flowers

Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 132 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 134 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 131 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 135 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

Beautiful bulbous perennial.  Easy to grow.  Best growing in full sun to partial shade location but also tolerant light shade.   Small deep blue flowers in flower ball in spring.  Flowers attract bees and butterflies.  Good for cut flower.  USDA Zones:7-10.  Mature size:6″-1′(H) X 3″-6″(W).  Plant is toxic if ingested.  Propagate by seeds, bulb or division.

美麗的多年生球根花卉.  容易栽種.  最好栽種在全日照到半日照處但也能生長於散光處.  小朵深藍色小花聚成的花球於春天盛開.  花吸引蜂蝶.  也適合為插花的花材.  喜熱不甚耐寒.  成熟株高6吋到1呎,寬幅3-6吋.  植株全株有毒勿食.  繁殖以種子,球根或分株方式來進行.

Reference links: 參考網站資料連結:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilla_peruviana                            https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%AD%E6%B5%B7%E7%B6%BF%E6%A3%97%E5%85%92                                      http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59661/

View original post

Climate Rally!

As you may know, the climate talks in Paris have reached their halfway point.

To support their efforts, last week there were climate rallies and marches around the world. I attend one in Binghamton NY.  We shared our thoughts about climate change and headed outdoors for photos:
12304295_10205318708232693_6738223321148760801_o
A group photo which was sent to 350.org
12313797_10205318714352846_1586318014848723771_n
A close-up with yours truly in the lower left corner

And a link to us learning and singing a climate song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s__Ba9saX7E&feature=youtu.be

The COP21 talks continue to be on my mind. I hope and pray for an accord that will have the world united in rapidly reducing carbon emissions while sharing resources to conserve energy and ramp up renewables and offering assistance to those most affected by climate change, including those living in poverty, those in low-lying areas, and those impacted by drought, severe storms, and other problems brought on by global warming.

 

 

Sand: up-close and personal

Sharing the link below from Steph of Partial Ellipsis of the Sun: A Blog for Scientists who like Words and Writers who like Science.

There are stunning and fascinating highly-magnified photos of the huge variety among grains of sand.

They are all beautiful – except the frack sand, which is dangerous to breathe and can cause lung disease, including silicosis.  Those of you who know me know I couldn’t find anything about fracking beautiful.

Here is the link:  http://wordwomanpartialellipsisofthesun.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-universe-truly-is-in-grain-of-sand.html

Enjoy!

Third of a Century

B and I were not able be together for our 33rd anniversary in June, so we decided to take a few days away for our 33-and-a-third anniversary, also known as a third of a century anniversary. Well, not really known as that, but humor me…

We took a lovely drive to Lenox, Massachusetts. I had thought that the foliage might be past peak as we travelled north, but it was not. While there are patches where the leaves are down, for the most part there is still a lovely mix of red, yellow, orange, and green, both from evergreens and from trees that have not changed.

We are just back from a lovely dinner at Alta and I thought I’d share a couple of photos from Lenox.  This is the view from our balcony:

view from our balcony

This is from our walk before dinner, just down the street from Alta.
Lenox MA

Score one for Indian pudding!

I’ve spent an inordinate amount to time over the last couple of days revising one of my poems about Indian pudding for submission to Silver Birch Press’s upcoming “My Sweet Word” series and compiling and formatting the rest of the materials needed – bio, author’s note, photo with caption.

As many of you know, I often wrestle with technical issues, especially when I have to format for MS Word from my non-Windows system and when I have to deal with images of any sort.

It literally took me hours to get everything assembled properly, but I was finally able to hit “send” this morning.

And – drum roll, please! – I am happy to report that I have already received an acceptance! I think my submission must have landed on the top of the inbox on the West Coast for the beginning of their work day.

So, at some point this month or next, I’ll be able to share the link with you, featuring an ever-so-artistic photo of my hands cradling a bowl of Indian pudding with melting vanilla ice cream. I made a batch in the heat of August, just so we could do the photo shoot.

Well, truth be told, not just for the photo shoot….

While we generally don’t make something that has to bake for two hours during the dog days of summer, Indian pudding is still a delicious treat and brings back memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with family and of B’s great-aunt Gert, whose recipe we use, although I must confess that I have been experimenting with proportions a bit.

It’s always a good time for Indian pudding!