Posted in Animals & Critters, Laughing, Nature, Personal, Photography, tagged anthromorphizing animals, Baby the bullsnake, bullsnake, pet bullsnake on May 15, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Baby was up and at it the other day. She almost seemed to be posing for me. She’d eaten a rat a few days earlier, and the sluggishness from winter had all but worn off.
Do you ever look at your animals and wonder what’s going on inside their heads? I do, especially [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Nature, Photography, Place, Seasons, Things That Fly, tagged bee hives, bee keeping, bee sting therapy, bee swarms, bee venom, Elvis sightings, honey bees, New Mexico, Rio Grande Valley on May 6, 2008 | 29 Comments »
Elvis in a Bee Swarm, bees annoint a new queen in the Rio
Grande Valley, photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
I know. It’s a stretch.
No way the bee swarm in the above photo is formed in the image of Elvis Presley’s head. The chin is all wrong. Jay Leno with dark sunglasses, maybe, but definitely [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Doodling, Family, Haiku, Poetry, Seasons, Writing, tagged children's poetry, images of dogs, images of pugs, limericks, poems about dogs on April 23, 2008 | 40 Comments »
Sony Pepperoni, pen and ink on graph paper, doodle © 2008
by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Em, my youngest daughter, has been reading and writing poetry all this month with her third-grade class. She wrote two limericks and one haiku, and she carried in her Poetry Book a poem called “My hobby” by Shel Silverstein. She read all [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Bones, Culture, Dreams, Nature, Personal, Place, Practice, Recall, Seasons, Silence, Skies, Wake Up, Writers, Writing, Writing Practices, tagged Ali Selim, March full moon, spring in Minnesota, Sweet Land, Will Weaver, Wind Moon, writing about the moon on March 29, 2008 | 10 Comments »
All is quiet in my home. I am staring out at wind rocking the trees. Mr. StripeyPants curls up on the wool blanket beside me. I connect to something wild in him. I’m reminded of my March practices – mandalas and writing about the moon. Where has she been hiding? I don’t remember seeing her this [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Growing Older, Laughing, Life, Nature, Personal, Place, Practice, Relationships, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged bugs, doodlebugs, humans & nature, insects, memories of bugs, the practice of writing, writing about bugs on March 25, 2008 | 10 Comments »
There is a lot I don’t know about insects, spiders, and bugs. I do know they are connected to memories, sometimes traumatic memories. I had no idea my family had so many connected memories about bugs and creepy crawlers until this Writing Topic was posted and I started reading their comments. Memories are part of [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Nature, Personal, Practice, Topic Writing, Writing Practices, tagged arthropods, bugs, insects, writing about bugs on March 24, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I don’t know much about bugs. Not their scientific names nor which ones are considered to be insects and which are not. I think insects are a subset of a larger group called arthropods, of which spiders are also a subset. And I think there is something about a bug’s body — how many sections [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Haiku, Holding My Breath, Nature, Photography, Poetry, Practice, tagged creepy crawlers, home remedies, spiders, the practice of haiku on March 21, 2008 | 37 Comments »
big spider, Rock Creek Regional Park, Maryland,
photo © 2008 by R3. All rights reserved.
bugs, bugs everywhere
why do we invade their world
swirling stick circles
4 or 5 inch legs
webmaster spins silken tales
spider sense prevails
-posted on red Ravine, Friday, March 21st, 2008
-related to posts: haiku (one-a-day), WRITING TOPIC - INSECTS & SPIDERS & BUGS, OH MY!, and My Totem [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Nature, Photography, Seasons, Things That Fly, Writing Topics, tagged bugs, Child of the Earth, image of ants, images of Jerusalem Cricket, insects, spiders on March 19, 2008 | 38 Comments »
Child of the Earth and Me, a Jerusalem Cricket in the Rio Grande Valley on a March morning, photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
The weather is getting warm, which means insects and spiders are coming out.
I almost burned the sausage the other morning on account of running outside to look at an unusual creature [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Haiku, Nature, Photography, Seasons, Wake Up, tagged Baby the bullsnake, pet bullsnake, snake on March 14, 2008 | 17 Comments »
Baby Bath, Baby the Bullsnake taking a bath the first day she comes out of hibernation, photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
coiled in water
baby awakens with flair
winter has ended
-related to posts: haiku (one-a-day), Meet Baby!
Posted in Animals & Critters, Haiku, Photography, Poetry, Practice, tagged paw prints, raccoons, the practice of haiku on February 20, 2008 | 14 Comments »
Printmaking (Raccoon), Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 2008, photo © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
inhaling the cold
raccoon paws melt into prints
fall between the cracks
-posted on red Ravine, Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
-related to post, haiku (one-a-day)
Posted in 25 Things, Animals & Critters, Family, tagged pug dogs, pug owners on February 17, 2008 | 46 Comments »
Sonia Wise Eyes, Sonia adjusting to her new home, February 11, 2008, all photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Her full name is Sonia.
She came to us via a friend who loved her but couldn’t keep her; the friend’s father was dying.
Sony is 10 months old.
She doesn’t come when you call her. She forces [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Bones, Culture, Nature, Photography, Practice, Things That Fly, Wake Up, Writing, Writing Topics, tagged feathers as symbols, feathers throughout history, light as a feather, Shield of Courage, writing about feathers on February 11, 2008 | 12 Comments »
Let’s talk feathers. Light as a feather, feather in your cap, feathered pillows, feathered hair. I’ve been collecting bird feathers since 1984. I find them on long walks through the woods; I find them in the sidewalk cracks along city roads.
Feathers have been used in every culture since the beginning of time. In South American [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Practice, Random, Seasons, Things That Fly, Topic Writing, tagged dogs, dogs who kill birds, No Topic, roadrunners, writing on No Topic, writing without prompts on February 7, 2008 | 17 Comments »
Sitting here with my down jacket on. It’s lilac-colored, the wrists dingy and the patch on the sleeve coming off. It will be years, though, before I buy another. My desire for fashion as far as coats are concerned – long gone. Melted with the snow.
That was cliché. Melted with the snow, and here I am [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art of Rebellion, Haiku, Holidays, Laughing, Photography, Place, Politics, tagged famous Pennsylvanians, get out and vote, Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil, Smith Lake Jake, the politics of groundhogs on February 2, 2008 | 94 Comments »
Walking The Susquehanna River, Central Pennsylvania, taking a walk with Mom on on her 70th birthday weekend, November 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
forget politics
cast your vote for the real deal
Punxsutawney Phil
-posted on red Ravine, Saturday, February 2nd, 2008, Groundhog Day
-related to posts, haiku (one-a-day) and The Politics Of Primary Season 2008 [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Essay, Family, Love, Personal, Practice, Relationships, tagged black widow spiders, love of spiders, totem animals on January 29, 2008 | 36 Comments »
By Sharon Sperry Bloom
QM and YB got me thinking about what my totem animal might be.
I’ve always had cats, my whole life, and I’m uncomfortable without one in the house right now. I think we probably have exchanged a few traits along the way, like a love of solitude and sleep.
I love dogs, especially the [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Nature, Personal, Practice, Writing Practices, tagged prayers answered, Raven the wolf, Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, Wolf Moon, wolves on January 24, 2008 | 8 Comments »
I didn’t notice the moon last night, too busy being sick, too busy eating coffee ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery, too busy looking on the internet for a chair.
Reminds me. Dad said his brother called with a story the other day. His brother, N., had wanted a new pair of Dockers but not tan [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Body, Bones, Death, Dreams, Gratitude, Life, Personal, Practice, Seasons, Wake Up, Writing Practices, tagged Bat medicine, feeling frozen in my tracks, January Full Moon, January in Minnesota, realizing your dreams, totem animals, winter, Wolf Moon on January 23, 2008 | 23 Comments »
The January Wolf Moon was wide and full, smeared across the morning sky the way an artist rubs a chalky finger across gray charcoal on paper. It was Liz that pointed it out to me, half asleep in the kitchen making coffee. By the time I got to the window, she was already out the [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Food, Laughing, Personal, Random, tagged mouse in the house, Mr. StripeyPants, totem animals on January 20, 2008 | 42 Comments »
Mr. StripeyPants bolted off of his gentle resting spot, purring and catching some z-z-z-z’s on Liz’s side this morning. I knew he’d heard a noise. With the frigid, stony, -24 degree skies, and all the creaking and popping ice on the roof this weekend, I got up to see what the fuss was. The kitchen cabinet [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Laughing, Random, tagged humor on January 19, 2008 | 9 Comments »
Posted in Animals & Critters, Culture, Photography, Spirituality, Vision, tagged bullsnake, images of snakes, totem animals on January 19, 2008 | 65 Comments »
Baby Back, Baby the Snake active one day in mid-November 2007, photo © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Last night at a friend’s birthday dinner, after we’d finished off the Nuts & Birds, curry chicken, wasabi shrimp, and several scoops of green tea ice cream, the question came up. What is your totem animal?
One person’s [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Body, Bones, Books, Death, Growing Older, Holding My Breath, Home, Life, Love, Photography, Place, Poetry, Practice, Quotes, Relationships, Silence, Structure, Writers, Writing, tagged December (Christmas Box), Fitzgerald Theater, Galway Kinnell, Josephine Dickinson, MPR Talking Volumes, Silence Fell, Strong Is Your Hold, Where Were You When I Came In From The Evening Milking, Writers Hands, Writers reading their work, writing through grief on January 9, 2008 | 28 Comments »
Writers Hands VI, Josephine Dickinson, Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 2007, all photos © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Josephine Dickinson read her poetry at the Fitzgerald Theater last April, sharing the stage with her mentor, Galway Kinnell. She met Galway at a poetry reading at Morden Tower in Northumberland. She was drawn to [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Body, Bones, Laughing, Photography, Quotes, tagged Deborah Butterfield, horses, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, sculpture, The Horse Colors, Woodrow on January 6, 2008 | 8 Comments »
Woodrow, Deborah Butterfield sculpture, bronze, 1988, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 2008, all photos © 2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I was thinking of Novelty Pets when photographing this Deborah Butterfield sculpture at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden yesterday. When she created the sculpture in 1988, she named the horse, Woodrow.
The inscription on the plaque [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Photography, Things That Fly, tagged novelty pets, pets, tiny turtles, turkeys on January 4, 2008 | 24 Comments »
Azul in the Corner, the turkeys strutting in the new year and Azul giving Jim the eye, photo © 2008 by Jim. All rights reserved.
I remember spending Easters at my grandparents’ farm in northeastern New Mexico. My cousins who lived nearby invariably got among their chocolate rabbits and Peeps those live pink, blue, and green dyed chicks and [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Family, Holidays, Personal, Relationships, Seasons, tagged Christmas, gift-giving, pig collections, pigs, shopping for others on December 21, 2007 | 49 Comments »
Pig in a Cornfield, Christmas card from 1993, linocut and ink wooden spoon print © 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
My poor mother-in-law. For years and years, she received pig-everything for Christmas. Pig statues, flying pigs, pig art, pig earrings, pig containers. Jim and I single-handedly contributed to at least a fourth of her vast [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Holidays, Seasons, Things That Fly, tagged Christmas card art, First Day of Christmas, linocut print, partridge in a pear tree on December 19, 2007 | 14 Comments »
Sitting Pear-ty, Christmas card from 1993, linocut and ink
wooden spoon print © 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, On the Road, Photography, Things That Fly, tagged cell phone photography, cranes, non-poetry, technology on December 11, 2007 | 16 Comments »
Cranes in Cornfield, cell phone photo ©
2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Actually, I saw a crane yesterday
from seat 9F (window, over the wing)
of my US Airways flight into San Jose,
California.
I wondered if it was
the same crane
I saw last time I was in San Jose.
Last night I was at a restaurant
Pappizani or something Italian,
work colleagues.
Talk turned to [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Culture, Doodling, Family, Love, Personal, Place, Relationships, Spirituality, Things That Fly, Vision, tagged drawing of a hummingbird, hummer, hummingbird image, hummingbird landing on a person, hummingbirds, messengers on November 30, 2007 | 22 Comments »
A Message for Jim, pen and ink, November 2007, doodle © 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
The first time it landed on Jim, he said he thought it was his brother David.
David was 15 months younger than Jim. His little buddy, his pal. David died of leukemia when Jim was seven.
No one talked about David’s [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Food, Gratitude, Holidays, Life, Photography, Seasons, Things That Fly, tagged blueskydesert, Frank Reese Jr., heritage turkeys, Jana L'Esperance, pet turkeys, raising turkeys for food, Thanksgiving Day, turkey lovers, turkeys on November 22, 2007 | 26 Comments »
Happy Turkey Week, Mama Azul on the plum tree, November 2007, photo © by Jana L’Esperance (blueskydesert). All rights reserved.
Last Saturday my friend Jana L’Esperance, who goes by the Flickr moniker blueskydesert, came to the house to shoot the turkeys. “What’s she gonna shoot ‘em with,” Jim asked, “…her huntin’ rifle?”
We — Jim and I [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Bones, Culture, Family, Life, Personal, Practice, Writing Practices, tagged kindness, kindness toward animals, ranching culture, writing about kindness on November 19, 2007 | 12 Comments »
Some topics draw me in right away, there’s no hesitation, no staring at the lines on my page. Not so Kindness. If the topic were Demanding or Disappointment, would it pull me into its loops and swirls, take me down with it, down to the grit behind my elbow?
Ah, elbows and grit and the dirt. [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Gratitude, Growing Older, Laughing, Love, Personal, Photography, Relationships, tagged animal lovers, birthdays, cats, Mr. StripeyPants, Pants turns 10 on November 17, 2007 | 21 Comments »
When Liz woke up this morning, she mumbled something about Mr. StripeyPants’ birthday.
“What?” I said. “I missed his birthday?” I strolled into the kitchen and checked out the refrigerator door where Liz has the cats’ birthdays posted.
There (in Liz’s neat artist block print) was the following:
Kiev - ‘Kiki Bell’: Jan. 1, 1995
Chaco - ‘Wooley Pokes’: [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Nature, Personal, Photography, tagged Baby the bullsnake, bullsnake, pet bullsnake, snake on November 16, 2007 | 30 Comments »
Ever notice how some animals have a good energy about them, others not so good?
Dogs = good.
Snakes = bad.
The other day, our Evangelical Christian neighbors were out walking their dogs.
“Do you ever find any ssserpentsss in your field?” the woman asked.
The way Jim tells it, she hissed the word serpents. “As if she couldn’t stand the thought [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Food, Home, Laughing, Seasons, Things That Fly, tagged bunches of turkeys, raising turkeys, Thanksgiving, turkeys, turkeys for sale on November 8, 2007 | 8 Comments »
Hey, look, it’s Mom, she’s home for lunch!
Hi, Mom, d’ya got anything for us? What d’ya got?
What d’ya got there, Mom? D’ya got anything??
She dudn’t got anything, let’s get the flock outta here.
Posted in Animals & Critters, Art, Family, Holidays, Home, Laughing, Photography, Things That Fly, tagged amazing turkey tricks, famous turkeys wallenda, turkey drumline, turkeys, who ya callin' "turkey"? on November 4, 2007 | 19 Comments »
Um, hel-loooo… can someone let me in?
They’re lining up to do a drumline.*
Don’t leave me out here alone with ‘em.
OK. Everyone into formation. Not you, duck.
Quacky idea…stupid turkeys. Hmmph!
Line ‘em up, turkeys, straight and narrow!
Watch this…they’re fluffin’ up for the finale…
Woo-hoo, show some tail! Duck, get out!
We’re done…let’s get the flock outta here.
Wait a sec, is there any food?
*Drumline [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Culture, Family, Life, Love, Personal, Relationships, Writing, tagged animal ailments, cats, dogs, love of animals on October 18, 2007 | 23 Comments »
My friend and blogging partner, QuoinMonkey, has for the past two days been agonizing over her very sick cat, Mr. Stripeypants. Liz, QM’s partner, is also exhausted after nights of staying up, rushing Pants to the emergency vet, and monitoring his intake of food and water. So far, the veterinarians haven’t been able to figure [...]
Posted in Animals & Critters, Authors, Body, Family, Life, Love, Money, Personal, Practice, Recovery, Secrets, Topic Writing, Wake Up, Writers, Writing, Writing Practices, tagged Animals & Critters, Ann Patchett, cats, Practice, Truth & Beauty, Writers, Writing, writing practice on October 9, 2007 | 17 Comments »
Sleep, the Temptress and the tempted. She doesn’t come easily for me these days. There were times when sleep was a blessing, refuge of the depressed. Then there are dreams. I don’t always remember them. But lately, they’ve been restless and disturbed. The things in which I’ve put my trust are rocky and double-edged.
Last night, [...]
|
