Green Way

California Quail Spotted

This morning, Karen spotted a few of these California Quail (Phasianidae Callipepla) in our backyard.  We don not see them too often. 

"The California quail is a small, plump bird with a short black beak. The male has a gray chest and brown back and wings. It has a black throat with white stripes and a brown cap on its head. The female has a gray or brown head and back and a lighter speckled chest and belly. Both the male and the female have a curved black crown feather on their foreheads. The male's crown feather is larger than the female's. The California quail is sometimes called the valley quail.  The California quail eats seeds, plant parts like buds and sometimes insects. They feed in flocks in the early morning."

Nature Works: California Quail

Our Backyard Bird Spotting LIst, Red Bluff, California

Hail Flora!

"In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of flowers and the season of spring.  While she was otherwise a relatively minor figure in Roman mythology, being one among several fertility goddesses, her association with the spring gave her particular importance at the coming of springtime. Her festival, the Floralia, was held in April or early May and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, marked with dancing, drinking, and flowers.  Her Greek equivalent was Chloris.  Flora was married to Favonius, the wind god, and her companion was Hercules.  Due to her association with plants, her name in modern English also means plant life.  Flora achieved more prominence in the neo-pagan revival of Antiquity among Renaissance humanists than she had ever enjoyed in ancient Rome."
-  Flora (Mythology) - Wikipedia

Detail of Flora from Primavera by Botticelli, c. 1482

May: Quotations, Poems, Myths, Lore

Springtime Quotes and Poetry

 

 

Months and Seasons Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Lore, Myths, Holidays, Celebrations, Facts   Links, Resources, Gardening Chores
Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
January	April	July	October
February	May	August	November
March	June	September	December

 

 

 

Water Sustains All

"Water sustains all!"
-  Thales of Miletus, 600 BCE

Very little rain has fallen since February.  Typically, we would have had 4" to 8" of rain since February.  Consequently, most of the open fields are dry and the grasses are brown.  All the fields planted with Winter wheat have been mowed, and the bales stored away for the year. 

Daily watering of our gardens is now required because of the dryness, warmth, growth demands, and intense sunshine. 

"Yes, I will spend the livelong day
With Nature in this month of May;
And sit beneath the trees, and share
My bread with birds whose homes are there;
While cows lie down to eat, and sheep
Stand to their necks in grass so deep;
While birds do sing with all their might,
As though they felt the earth in flight."
-  William Henry Davies, In May 

Embrace the Sun

"The earth has received the embrace of the sun and we shall see the results of that love."
-   Hunkesni (Sitting Bull)

"At first a small line of inconceivable splendour emerged on the horizon, which, quickly expanding, the sun appeared in all of his glory, unveiling the whole face of nature, vivifying every colour of the landscape, and sprinkling the dewy earth with glittering light."
-   Ann Reacliffe

When May Was Young

The Goddess Flora
Painting by Evelyn De Morgan, 1894

"I cannot tell you how it was,
But this I know: it came to pass
Upon a bright and sunny day
When May was young; ah, pleasant May!
As yet the poppies were not born
Between the blades of tender corn;
The last egg had not hatched as yet,
Nor any bird foregone its mate.

I cannot tell you what it was,
But this I know: it did but pass.
It passed away with sunny May,
Like all sweet things it passed away,
And left me old, and cold, and gray.
-   Christina Georgina Rossetti, May, 1880

May: Quotes, Poems, Lore, Garden Chores

 

Working On

"Working out provides us with needed movements for our muscles, joints, coordination, tendons, strength, skeleton, spine, and skin.

Working in provides us with needed movements to enhance our oxygen delivery system, our blood circulation, our heart rate, our vital organs, our hormonal system, our bio-chemistry, and our consciousness.

Working with others provides us with needed social interactions, positive group dynamics, and the joyfulness of harmonious group movements.

Working through the mind provides us with needed attention to our inner awareness, our sensations, our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, our memories, our self-image, and our beliefs.

Working beyond the body-mind provides us with needed attention for matters of the spirit, for values, for our highest aspirations, for the future, for our soul."
-  Michael P. Garofalo, Valley Spirit Journal, March 2006

“What you think you are
is a belief to be undone.”
-  Gift from a Course on Miracles

Working: Quotes, Poems, Sayings

 

Many Clouds

Mamatus Couds over Hastings, Nebraska.
Photos by Jorn Olsen.
Distributed by the University of Nebraska

"What ideal, immutable Platonic cloud could equal the beauty and
perfection of an ordinary everyday cloud floating over, say, Tuba
City, Arizond, on a hot day in June?"
-   Edward Abbey

Or, how about, extraordinary clouds, but not immutable Platonic clouds,
floating over Hastings, Nebraska ...

Skies:  Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Lore

ABC's

Some letters in the alphabet are used much more than others to create words in the English language:

A  E  T  U

O  N  S  I

H  R  C  D  L

Frequencies of Use of Letters in Words in the English Language

On the Mend

After months of discomfort and tenderness in my abdomen, I decided to have surgery to repair the problem.   This morning, Dr. Taylor repaired my umbilical hernia at St. Elizabeth's Out-Patient Surgery Center in Red Bluff. 

So, for the next few weeks, I'm on the mend ... lots of reading, writing, resting, listening to music, and gentle indoor activities.  No lifting.  No teaching yoga.  No serious gardening.  No CUESD work. 

Hopefully, by next Thursday, I will be watering the garden, walking, and doing easy Taijiquan. 

I've been working lately on The Ways of Walking website, the Sun Tajiquan 73 Competition Form, and the webpages on May and June.