Audiobooks..."Wrinkle in Time"

Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle.  This audio book was read by the author and she had such wonderful inflections in her voice.  Love that. I felt like she was reading to ME!

I travel 40 minutes to work and 45 minutes home everyday.  Instead of listening to the radio, I have been listening to audiobooks.  Now that I have discovered that I can download books from the public library, I am in heaven!

Great book published in 1962 before cell phones, before computers, before the explosion of cyberspace.  Yet, here the author explores time travel, relationships between father and daughter, siblings, working mom, and extraterrestrial beings.... things still relevant.  

One of the biggest tie-ins for me was the realization of the girl in regards to her father.  She wanted to find her father because she thought he would do everything and make it right.  Oh but I want to do everything, says the father.  Yes, as a parent, we want to do everything for our children but we can't.

Bug Eating Plant...

Venus Flytrap!

As mentioned before, BF loves carnivorous plants.  This flytrap was repotted into a very small and very old aquarium.  50/50 peat moss and sand.

It has such a beautiful flower on such a long stem.

They are quite fascinating plants.  They have these clam shell like traps with "lashes" on the edge.  The fringe or lashes help trip the closing mechanism of the trap. 

On the picture below, if you look directly in the middle of the trap, there is a dark bulge.  Bye bye gnat!!

And these last two pictures... well if it was a silent movie, I could just imagine the creaking of a door..... and then snap!  the trap closes, and the gnat is left inside.

the end!  

Carnivorous Plants.... Round Leaf Sundew

Round Leaf Sundew... blooming away!!

....Blowing off the dust.... 80's flashback!

I certainly don't think the 80's were really that long ago.

What started me thinking about my aging musical tastes was when the daughter said something about a game that is played via the computer involving Rick Astley  it was called Rickrolling.  ACKKK... I have one of his albums...you know, that black vinyl??

I finally dusted it off (literally)!

Published in 1987, the title of the album is "Whenever you need somebody" by Rick Astley.  Oh, wait a minute, the record needs to be turned over!

One of my favorite songs besides the title track is TOGETHER FOREVER.
And the lyrics at the end are great:

So don't stop me falling

It's destiny calling

A power I just can't deny

It's never changing

Can't you hear me, I'm saying

I want you for the rest of my life! 

So I wanted to know what he was doing now.  I first found him singing at 80's get togethers.... I found that horrible!  Then I found this YouTube video.  It's not too bad.  Click on the link below and hear him singing with Rumer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSK2ebkV35U

Oh, go ahead, indulge the 80's child within!

K

Moss World

Looking into the moss growing on this rock, it is easy for me to imagine a minute little world.

Carnivorous Plant - Butterwort

This plant is so deceiving

...at least to me.  Pretty lavender flowers

with small rounded leaves growing in a tight rosette.  But they are menacingly sticky to those small flying gnats!

Garden Expo, Harrisburg PA - Bonsai

BF and I went on the coldest day in February to the Garden Expo in Harrisburg PA.  The Susquehanna Bonsai Club had a display of some beautiful bonsai behind a wonderful bamboo fence.  Majical!  Then went through the vendors at the Expo and bought some pre-bonsai.  This is a wonderful precursor to the Spring....

2 Hellabores... look at me!!

Two out of the three Hellebore made it through the flood (September, 2011).    My first Hellebore was the Lenten Rose, the greenish/whitish Hellebore.  Then I found this pink one that I can not find the tag for nor can I remember its name.  Ahhh ... this means that Mother Nature is waking up on the East Coast!!

Play from your heartstrings

Rather than becoming tangled up in all of the disturbances which endlessly and infinitely present themselves in the field of our worldly life, please let's consider the preciousness of this life.  Swami Chetanananda

I took this picture with my camera phone on January 6, 2012, my daughter's 17th birthday.  It was such a beautiful morning sunrise.  Today is quite the opposite.  Rainy, wet, and gray. 

I wanted to give a 'soulution' from Dr. Bernie Siegels' book, "365 Prescriptions for the Soul."  I like this book because it is very uplifting, motivating, and inspirational.  I use it to quote from when writing comments on notes or cards.

Yesterday's 'Soulution of the Day" was:

"You are a Stradivarius.

Play from your heartstrings."



Cooper Hawk

Yesterday, we were headed out to the Garden Expo in Harrisburg, and there was a Cooper Hawk in the dogwood tree.  The dogwood tree is diagonal to the bird feeder.  Of course, my camera batteries weren't functioning as they should, so this picture is not really focused.  I was just so excited to see this raptor!  They are much smaller than a red tailed hawk, but still intimidating to its prey.