Picture Your Outdoor Dream

Well, it’s been a while, I haven’t been able to come up with ideas for some time now.  I feel kind of bad about it since I seemed to be providing worthwhile posts a few months ago.  You know what they say, good content is vital for blog.  So, then I started thinking, gardening is supposedly the theme of my site.  And then I remembered Halloween is here and it brought me back to one of my first passionate interests in life, monsters, horror movies and sci-fi flicks.

When I was a kid, I’d come home from school, looking forward to opening the mailbox, maybe there’d be a Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine or a Castle of Frankenstein. The anticipation would drive me crazy! Castle of Frankenstein was my favorite, the articles were detailed and well written so I could read for hours.  These were magazines of the 60′s, so not many of you may remember them.  I still love horror movies, but special effects and CGI have made things so different. It’s great ,but it’s strange…. back in the day, a great makeup job, or brilliant cinematography would scare the living shit out of you. When you’re a little kid, sitting in the dark, watching and old black and white TV it was just a different sort of experience. Yeah, and being a little kid helped.

So, as we grow up and have to deal with reality, things change. Then it becomes scary as to whether you can pay your bills, be successful and maintain your lifestyle.

Maybe that’s why we love movies that scare us.

The real world becomes scarier all the time. It seems to be madness beyond measure.

There are a lot of cool costumes out there.  A lot of them are funny as Hell, very clever, but for me, a classic creepy monster,vampire, ghoul, and stuff still take me back to my roots.  You gotta make it homemade to be real.  My favorite was Nosferatu from the 20′s classic. I would  get a latex skin head cap, make my own fangs, and fabricate long nails from white glue dried on wax paper. Then, with good theatrical makeup and a long black gown who could scare people out of their minds. And it was great fun!  Use your imagination whether it’s funny or frightening, zombies and all that stuff are great fun, but go for something really macabre and obscure, after all, Halloween is the greatest excuse for being totally nuts and having fun while you do it.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say  is, go for it!  Have an outrageous Halloween!  Kinda funny actually, way before Lady Gaga, I was a little monster.

Maybe I’ll change the theme  of my site to Godzilla fans or Honda cars, I love ‘em both.   Thanks for stopping by!

It’s ALIVE!

Well, it’s getting kind of cold and I don’t like it   time to move on and get the Hell outta here outdoors is not so nice when it turns to Winter, a word that I don’t like at all  let’s go somewhere nicer

Not sure what it would be, not this Midwest cold,dark shit. Give me sun, warmth,water,that’s more like it. Green,wet and warm,that’s what I need. temperate climates suck give me the tropics,that’s more like it

Unfortunately. And I’m kind of sad. I know a lot of people like Fall and look forward to leaves changing color and cooler temperatures, but I’m not one of them. My outdoor dream includes bright colors, green, growing plants and sunshine. Oh yeah, and clean ,flowing water. So, right now, I’m in the Midwest and dreading the seasons ahead. After a dire and depressing Summer thanks to our historic drought, most of my gardening plans fizzled out and burned to a crisp. This is a large part of why I haven’t posted in ages. I simply wasn’t enthused or inspired and didn’t feel that I had anything constructive to share. I hope that you had a more pleasant season wherever you are.

I apologize that I neglected to thank hurricane Isaac for the incredible rain that happened here at the start of September,  we got over seven inches of slow, steady rain because the storm parked over Missouri and just kept circulating for about thirty-six hours.  The picture changed instantly  Suddenly there was green grass, flowers that had been waiting desperately bloomed, and I even manged to save a few of my vegetables. Amazing! A reminder of how glorious Nature can be and the resiliency of life. 

My Zanzibar castor beans might even reach seven feet high. They should have been twelve feet at least’ And I have never seen Mexican sunflowers die before they could even flower. And of course,the effect on farmers were disastrous.

I shall  try to think of stuff to write and get back on schedule and hopefully, get my ass back to Texas where we don’t have to worry so much about being cold.

‘Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.’ – Albert Einstein 

except maybe a mudskipper..

I thought this was interesting, I haven’t posted in a while, feeling uninspired, but hopefully, you may find something of value at my website.  Since I’m not feeling like a genius right  now, I’ll just include a little artwork…later

Chicken of the Woods

“An optimist is the human personification of Spring”

Susan J. Bissonette

I remember Spring, it seemed optimistic this year, but drought is here. If you’re unlucky enough to be in it too, keep the faith. If things are normal where you live, be grateful .

Above is a photo I took Friday, April 13, 2012 of a huge polyphore mushroom commonly called “chicken of the woods” that weighed about 30 pounds and was a delicious treat harvested from nature.  They look pretty cool too. These are usually found in Summer and Fall, but the abnormally warm and wet Spring produced this specimen way ahead of schedule. It was exciting, we were out looking for morel mushrooms that day.

Dream maybe, or more like a nightmare if you’re suffering through a drought.  Here in the Midwest, it’s a harsh landscape this year.  If you live where rainfall is normal, I hope you’re having a glorious Summer.  I started thinking that I just couldn’t come up with any ideas to write about. Maybe the drought is frying my brain.  It’s reminding me of an old Texan saying, “if we could sell dust, we’d be rich.”

Well, anyway, let’s try to be optimistic, it will always have to change sometime.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking it might be time to rethink my gardening strategy.  It’s not too late to sow annual flower seeds and try for a late Summer or early Fall bloom.  If it’s in your budget, you can always buy nice specimen plants and put them into cool containers.

Dahlias are a very diverse and beautiful family of flowering plants, nice in the garden and gorgeous as cut flowers.  Depending on your climate, they could be an outstanding choice.

I’ve actually seen my agaves suffering from the drought, that’s crazy.

Let’s dream about Summertime fun and maybe get away from our growing concerns for a while.

Water sports are always refreshing.  Fishing, kayaking, canoeing and snorkeling can keep you cool while exploring your outdoor dream.  Camping is wonderful this time of year if you have warm days and cooler nights.  The farther away from civilization, the better.  Beach camping is a blast on the Gulf , Pacific, Atlantic, fresh or salt water.

Midsummer night garden  parties, entertaining and enjoying the ambiance is most excellent.

Wherever you are, enjoy your Summer,it’s gone before you know it. Thanks for stopping by!

Garner State Park, Texas

“One can only learn his powers of action by action, and his powers of thought by thinking”

John Burroughs

Alright, so I picked this one to try and motivate myself, but maybe it will help you too.  I’m trying to visualize driving to the end of this road and hiking to the top of the mountain. I’ve been here and done that.

Good morning!

“Nature has been for me, as long as I can remember, a source of solace, inspiration ,adventure,  and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion. ”

Lorraine Anderson

” If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food either.”

Joseph Wood Knutch  American Naturalist and Writer  1893-1970