A Fairy's Favorite Flower: The Fritillary

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to enjoy full-fairy's eye view details

What do you mean how do I know where the fairies hang out at Windy Hill?


You only have to look.

Spring in my Driveway: Days of Bees and Wisteria

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to fully enjoy the bee bounty

The bees that patrol the wisteria in my driveway, are actually bumble bees. But those girls zip back and forth too quickly for my camera to catch. I wonder what bumble bees do with the pollen if they don't make honey. And do they help pollinate they way their apian buddies do? I'm sure there's an answer out on the web if I wanted to google all day. 

That sounds like a song doesn't it? 

Google in the mornnin'

Google in the evenin'

Google at suppertime.

Cuz of my bumble bee darlings I'm googlin' all the time.

The bees I included here (much-altered from the original) originate from an obliging honeybee I found in the park near my house.

Hail to Jennie and Forgotten Fairytales

Cradle Songs and Distant Melodies, the Simple Romantic's April Episode of Unpolished Performances,  has been published in the iTunes store.  

Click on download the show from the iTunes store or just search on the phrase 'unpolished performances' if you already have iTunes up.

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In a journey to fairytale land

I'm working on learning to play the first of the four pieces that make up Edward MacDowell's "Forgotten Fairytales". My current practice sessions involve the  two page piece called "Sung Outside the Prince's Door".

At this point, I'm working on developing some comfort with the first four measures. Sung Outside the Prince's Door is a lovely tune. I have no idea when I'll be able to play through even the first page, but it's a nice relaxing thing to do after a day of thinking about Objective-C's classes and objects.

I learned to play MacDowell's To a Wild Rose a couple of years ago. In fact it's the lead in piece I play for my iTunes store podcast, Unpolished Performances. I know I play it more slowly than it's usually performed. Still, I feel elegant and very turn-of-the-twentieth-century parcticing MacDowell on Jennie Strong's (my grandmother-in-law's) 1903 Chickering parlor grand piano. That lady died in the 1930's and her piano was a little lonely until we inherited it a couple of years ago. 

We have a lovely larger-than-lifesized photo of Jennie up in the dining room, on the other side of the wall from her piano. I hope that she enjoys listening to me working on MacDowell.  Very likely she played To a Wild Rose, as it was one of the most popular pieces in the country at the turn of that century. From all the heavily annotated music that turned up in her piano bench, it's clear she was a very regular piano practicer.

Thanks for a turn at your piano Jennie.

......

Cradle Songs and Distant Melodies, the Simple Romantic's April Episode of Unpolished Performances has been published in the iTunes store.  Click on download the show from the iTunes store or just search on the phrase 'unpolished performances' if you already have iTunes up.

Crocodile Dreamin'

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to get up close and personal with this denizen of Costa Rica

Aqui Hablamos Time Travel

Period Pilots

La Ultima para sus necesidades Time Travel

An Die Musik (Tribute to Schubert)

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to enjoy all the musical detail.

I've been working on learning to sing Schubert's An Die Musik. 


Gee, it looks so simple!


Har, de har har.


It's a lovely praise of art itself, and the pleasure it gives us to simply be caught up within the music.

Soup's On: Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, Half Moon Bay California

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to fully enjoy the soupy details.

Soup's On!

People aren't actually allowed to collect algae or seaweed at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, in the northern outskirts of Half Moon Bay, California. On my recent tidepooling trip there, the vegetation reminded me of many a plate of japanese-restaurant food with my friend Kim. 


During these mid day work escapes, I  happily slurped down the, what always seemed to me to be, exotic miso soup. Kim, on the other hand looked at it with total disinterest. She grew up in Hawaii with her mama telling her to, "Eat your miso soup, it's good for you."


Kim's living back home, on the Big Island of Hawaii now. I visited her one day for lunch when I touristed nearby, three springs back. Homegrown macademia nuts, white pineapple and  home-smoked turkey.


Not a drop of miso soup.