S is for Second Look

How lucky is this? S falls on Wednesday, my regular Second Look day. I've had to be creative with my letters to work a Second Look in each week, but this week it was easy as pie. Thank goodness, because A-Z blogging fatigue is starting to set in.

For new visitors to this blog, you can check out my Second Look tab, but basically I explore my yard each week, to see what is going on. During this, I am hoping to see the flowers and not the weeds and see what the critters are up to and not the grass that needs to be mowed. So without further ado, here are some things I saw this week during a Second Look.

The peach tree seems to have a fair amount of blooms on it this year.

Different varieties of daffodils continue to bloom. At first glance these two kinds look the same, but notice the difference in their bells.  The daffodils in the next three pictures are new this week also.

Daffiodil

Daffodil ( Bonus points if you can find the spider on the bloom.)

Daffodil

Grape hyacinth

The bluebird almost finished a nest this week.

Red-bellied woodpecker

R is for Reading

or What I'm reading now
or What's on my nightstand

I think that I am like many and read several books at the same time. I like to have one for every mood. Well, maybe not every mood, but I do like to have a few to choose from depending on what strikes my fancy at any one point in time. Or maybe what I'm trying to say is I can't always make up my mind. Or I don't know. Maybe I'm saying its time to look at the books. In the post that is.

Currently on my nightstand:

From bottom up:

A Gardener's Weather Bible by Sally Roth
I have not seen a book quite like this before. It describes different kinds of weather systems, how they form, and how to garden in them.  For example, there's a chapter on wind that starts with wind currents around the earth, how storms form, etc. and then moves on to how to build a wind break for your garden. I am finding it quite interesting reading.

Off the Beaten Path--Utah by Michael Rutter
This is one of the areas we're considering for our next vacation. I think the rest of the books on this subject are downstairs.

Why Did The Chicken Cross the World? by Andrew Lawler
This is a book that Wally gave me because he said it was my kind of book. And I think he was right. The book looks at the evolution of the chicken with a historical perspective. It is really quite fascinating and I had no idea how important chickens have been throughout time. I've learned some really interesting facts from it. Too bad, I can't remember any to share with you right now.

The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook by Joyce Lankester Brisley
These are read aloud stories about a little girl's everyday life with her friends and her family. I first heard about these books from Sarah at Everyday Life on a Shoestring. And one day out of the blue, they showed up in the mail from her. :) When I want a very pleasant, calm story to go to sleep by, I read from Milly-Molly-Mandy. I've also shared them with some of my younger friends.

A bit of trivia about Milly-Molly-Mandy. This is from a comment I found on Amazon by the author's granddaughter.
This book has been a staple in my family for generations, as I am the great-grandaughter of the author! I am thrilled to be sharing it with my OWN child. What a pleasure it is to see these wholesome tales (based on the adventures of JLB's daughter (my grandmother) as a young girl in Holland) stand the test of time. I would highly recommend these stories. Milly Molly Mandy was originally published on the Children's Pages of the Christian Science Monitor in 1925. It was assumed by many readers that the stories take place in England, because of the book's first mass publishing in Great Britain. I am very proud of my Dutch heritage (as well as my famous relative), & wanted to be sure the readers knew where the stories originated from.


Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
This is a mystery in which Chris, who is grieving the death of his wife, decides to get away from it all and buys a large house back in England where he grew up.  Sixty years ago, a man died there and his wife was convicted and hanged for the murder. Chris becomes curious (obsessed as other's see it) to find out what really happened and if the wife did indeed commit murder. This book is for my book club and I haven't quite finished. If you've read it, don't tell me the ending.


The Best of Archie Comics featuring Betty & Veronica
When I saw this book, I was feeling a bit of nostalgia, so I checked it out to read. I didn't realize it, but they've been writing Archie comics since the 1940's so I imagine that there are a lot more people out there who read Archie comics in their youth besides me. In addition to the comics, different writers comment on the comics and the stories that have been told with Betty and Veronica. I am enjoying my trip down memory lane, but does any one else wonder what Betty and Veronica see in Archie? Also, I've wondered this for a while. When did comic books become graphic novels?


Maybe next time, I'll show the pile of library books that are in the den. :)

Q is for Queens, Princesses, and Royals

Okay, I admit it. I follow the British Royals. I'd like to say that I'm not interested in such an unimportant thing, but that wouldn't be telling the truth. I don't know if it's because they are a fairy tale come to life or if it's just because they have way better clothes than I do, but I read most of the stories I see about them.

I can tell you that Princess Kate (or Duchess of Cambridge, I think) shocked the fashion world when she wore panty hose during her trip to Canada. I can tell you that Prince Harry has served in Afghanistan and his father might be Diana's groomsman. I can tell you that the Queen rules the family with an iron hand and likes brightly colored, tailored suits. I can tell you that Camilla has always been Prince Charles's love and that he champions environmental causes. And I can tell you that Kate is due to have her second child any day now. Which brings me to my story.

The other morning Ward and I were eating breakfast. He was checking his work email to see what disasters were waiting for him when he made it to the office, and I was watching one of the morning news shows. At one point, the show did a teaser about how the hospital was preparing for Kate's imminent delivery. Ward poked his head up and said, "She's popping them out really fast, isn't she?" I know he didn't follow the details of the royal life, so I said, "You don't mean a third child, do you? She's only on her second." I proceeded to question him and found out that he had no idea that Kate was pregnant and ready to deliver the second in line to the throne. Not that he didn't know when she was due or whether or not she had morning sickness this time, he had NO idea that she was even pregnant.

And here's why I found that so amazing. This man can tell you every world situation and the backgrounds behind them. He can tell you the latest medical study and the pieces missing from the research. He can you about every presidential hopeful and their views on important issues. All of this means, that he does pay attention to what's going on in the world. It amazed me that somehow while he was paying attention to what was important, he hadn't noticed the constant stories about Kate's pregnancy. He said that he wasn't interested in that sort of thing. I totally understand that. What amazes me is that he was able to filter out the stories totally. (OK, maybe not totally. He did know who Kate was.)

Are there any others of you out there who didn't know Princess Kate is pregnant with her second child?
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And as long as we're on the subject of royals, a book recommendation:

The Uncommon Reader: a Novella by Alan Bennett

The is a fun little story about the Queen after she borrows a book from a bookmobile in front of the palace. That book leads to another and she starts reading a wide variety of books that change her views on life and the world. I don't know if the descriptions are correct, but it also gives an idea of what it must be like to be a royal and always on display.

P is Politeness

Polite or Not-So-Polite

When you talk about politeness, I think the first thing that comes to most people's mind is saying, "Please" and "Thank You." Those are the basic things we try to teach our kids when they are young and build upon that as they get older. While what people consider polite behavior can vary from culture to culture and person and person, I think that most would agree that being polite is showing respect to another person during your interactions with them. However, that doesn't always happen. I think we all have examples of the indifferent sales person as well as a friend that says something insensitive. I know I, myself, had been guilty of this from time to time. Sometimes even with the best of intentions, the foot gets inserted into the mouth, and some not-so-polite things come out.

Have you ever said something that you wish you could take back or had something said to you that crossed the line into the not-so-polite area? I asked a few people for examples of not-so-polite behavior and here are some that they gave me.

I was wearing drawstring pants and on an elevator when a person said,
"When are you due?"
"I'm not pregnant."
"Yes, you are. I see your belly button."
"That's not my belly button, that's the tie from my drawstring pants. I'm not pregnant. I'm fat."

My mother had a brain scan because of visual migraines and when it was over, the doctor said,
"You have a beautiful brain for someone your age."
"What does that mean?"
"If you were in your 20's I'd be concerned, but for someone in their 60's, it doesn't look too bad."

To a coworker, "You are thin except for your hips."

Cheerleading sponsor to high school cheerleader, "I can't get over how bowlegged you are. Did your mother ever give you cod liver oil?"

Now for one of my own unfortunate foot-in-mouth stories.
I was back at work after having my first baby, not sleeping well, and overwhelmed with the new parent thing. I was talking to a coworker who said her mother had seven kids. I said, "Wow, how did she keep from going crazy?" She replied, "She didn't. She jumped off the Mississippi River Bridge."

After she said this, I was embarrassed and felt horrible because I hadn't meant to make light of a very serious subject. But sometimes it just happens even when there are the best of intentions.
(BTW, her mother survived and was able to get help.)

So tactless and not-so-polite things are going to be said. When one of them happens, I always think about what my mother told me when I was in school, "Remember the source and move on." Then I try to remember the polite and nice things that happen every day.

.

O is for Orange

I Spy Something Orange

Can you find?

--A smiling magnet holding up a "pileated woodpecker"

--An excellent biography about a woman who lives on and on

--The seed we use to feed real pileated woodpeckers and other visitors to our feeders

--Some candy we're saving for National Jelly Bean Day on April 22

--A tea kettle that helps with dry air in the winter

--Wally and Theo's sleds that are now used mostly to carry mulch

--The fringe on a classic flower of spring

--A book about a girl in a singing group with her sisters and who appeared often on the Lawrence Welk Show

--A fruit that would be hard to work into a rhyming poem