My Most Wonderful Favorite! Award

Earlier in the month, on May 20th, I was very pleasantly surprised by two of the very best bloggers I follow. They each awarded Sunflower Ranch with the Most Wonderful Favorite! Award. I was just stunned and honored to be recognized and awarded! One award from Glynis Sym or one from SquirrelQueen would have been wonderful but both of them? On the same day?? That was simply happiness times two!! And again, I say thank you so much! You are both just sweethearts!

These are the rules in accepting this award:

Deliver this award to eight bloggers who then must choose and deliver the award to eight more and include the following text into the award.

"These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers."

So, I am blending the two presentations together to represent both copies of the award, eight blogs for each of my awards plus one [for luck] for a total of seventeen! They deserve your attention and a closer look. I hope you'll find them as interesting and intriguing as I do. These bloggers reflect all sorts of view points and interests. I love to read all of them! I've enjoyed their creativity and talent -- every opinion and comment is delivered with passionate sincerity. The writing is outstanding! That's what draws me to them. I hope you will enjoy them, too! You're invited and encouraged to follow all the blogs linked in this post. You can't go wrong!

In no particular order, but all equally deserving of further attention, I proudly pass this award on to the following bloggers:

1. 52 Books in 52 Weeks http://read52booksin52weeks.blogspot.com/

2. Izzy's Gumbo of Poems http://izzysgumbo.blogspot.com/

3. Double P in the Place to Be http://doublepintheplacetobe.blogspot.com/

4. The Orientalist Gallery http://theorientalistgallery.blogspot.com/

5. Raising Eden http://raisingeden.blogspot.com/

6. Before I am Famous http://beforeiamfamous.com/

7. Joy Magnetism http://www.joymagnetism.com/

8. ...This Time Tomorrow... http://www.woodstocklily.com/

9. Superganny's Musings http://supergrannysmusings.blogspot.com/

10. Grouchow's Weblog http://grouchow.wordpress.com/

11. Hey, I'm Trying to Write Here http://noveliststhoughts.blogspot.com/

12. The Holdfast Seeker http://holdfastseeker.blogspot.com/

13. Mystical Poetry, Prose, and Political Viewpoints http://www.mysticalpoetryandpolitics.com/

14. Fleapirate's Plunder http://fleapiratesplunder.blogspot.com/

15. Patty Dooley Independent Shaklee Distributor http://pattyindependentshakleedistributor.blogspot.com/

16. Off The Record with Debbie & Tony http://www.delovesto.com/

17. A Well Timed Rant http://welltimedrant.blogspot.com/

Thank you again, Glynis and SquirrelQueen, and Congratulations to all the newly awarded blogs above!

Keep up the great work, everybody!

Mencken, Moonshine, & Zen

We are here and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine.

~H. L. Mencken

Find your own bit of moonshine in the here and now. Check out the Sunflower Ranch store for books and collectibles at fantastic prices.

Thank you!

Writer's Challenge: #5

Click here to enlarge.

Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work! Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

For Memorial Day: the Gettysburg Address

President Lincoln, 1863

In keeping with this weekend's solemn Memorial Day observations, and in conjunction with the story of my Great-Great Grandfather in A Civil War Soldier, and the boy soldier in Writer's Challenge #4, I have chosen a famous speech by Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, to commemorate this day.

From The History Place:

The Battle of Gettysburg occurred over three hot summer days, July 1 to July 3, 1863, around the small market town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It began as a skirmish but by its end involved 160,000 Americans and effectively decided the fate of the Union.

On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln went to the Battlefield to dedicate it as a national cemetery. The main orator, Edward Everett of Massachusetts, delivered a two hour formal address. The president then had his turn. He spoke in his high, penetrating voice, and in a little over two minutes delivered this speech, surprising many in the audience by its shortness and leaving many others quite unimpressed.

Over time, however, his speech with its ending words - government of the People, by the People, for the People - have come to symbolize the definition of democracy itself.

Read President Lincoln's handwritten text of The Gettysburg Address.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

These stirring words truly define our nation and honor all Americans who "gave the last full measure of devotion" and died for our freedom. Bless them all! And to you who served us in the past and who wear the uniform of the United States today, defending our Constitutional rights and liberty from enemies foreign and domestic, we say Thank You and Bless You!

Writer's Challenge: #4

Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters. Click here to open a jumbo version of this photograph in a new window.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work!

Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

Sunlight in the Garden

Female Rufous Hummingbird

Our freedom as free lances
Advances towards its end;
The earth compels, upon it
Sonnets and birds descend;
And soon, my friend,
We shall have no time for dances.

~Louis MacNeice
from Sunlight in the Garden

The other day I was watering the fuchsia and geraniums at the end of the front porch when all of a sudden a hummingbird buzzed up and after helicoptering for a moment, began to feed on one of the plump purple and red blooms. I froze. I didn't even blink! I was so in awe of the little darling at arm's length. I had an excellent view of her, too, with the sunlight illuminating her iridescent feathers. I heard the buzz of her wings, the soft clicky-click of her song, and returned her gaze as her tiny glittering eyes examined me. I was simply thrilled!



This female Rufous didn't seem afraid of me in the least. She darted from bloom to bloom, hovered over the railing for a bit, then turned around and darted off toward one of the fir trees to the West of our property. Perhaps she felt the need to protect a tiny nest in one of the thick branches?

Her determined, confident movements and fearless attitude made me think of my own personal freedom. Would this little creature stand for her freedoms to be curtailed or legislated away or seized by an enemy foreign or domestic? Somehow, I don't think so. She'd fight to keep her freedoms!

Irish poet Louis MacNeice wrote frequently of his strict and humane opposition to totalitarianism. He advocated standing up to anyone or any entity who would take away personal freedom. His poems resound with it! Somehow, I thought this little Rufous hummingbird was an excellent example of one small and seemingly weak member of society who is in reality very strong. She wouldn't give into her fear of me, and I have no doubt she'd have attacked if she thought I was going to harm her. (Of course I never would!)

Since that afternoon, I've seen her several times when I've looked up to watch the activity at the fuchsias. She usually has the whole row of fuchsia baskets to herself, apparently having chased away all the other hummingbirds. She's a little darling with a heart of steel. And today, she's my own little ray of sunlight in the garden, my own little symbol of personal freedom.

Long may she fly!

A Civil War Soldier

Union and Confederate soldiers

With Memorial Day coming up, I did a little research on my Great-Great Grandfather, John P. Butler, who like the men in the drawing above was a soldier in the Civil War. Family lore, passed down through the generations was really all I had to go on, and frankly, that wasn't much. I remember stories one of his grandsons [my Grampa Arthur, who was married to my Grandma the Flapper] told me when I was very small. Arthur was the youngest son of a middle son of John's and was born 35 years after John's death. So Arthur never knew either of his grandparents, only a few facts his own father told him. There are no pictures of John in his uniform, no artifacts or mementos to know him better.

The war broke up John's family. Arthur's father, Edwin, one of John's sons, still in his teens, had moved west to Washington Territory, years before it was admitted into the Union his father had died to preserve. Edwin left his widowed mother in Iowa. She never remarried. John's other children provided for her. Several started their own businesses, one took over the family printing business. Some of John's children moved to Texas, some stayed in Iowa.

The most important thing my Grandpa Arthur told me was that his Grandfather John had died in the Civil War in 1863, on the birthday of Arthur and his older sister Maud, who were born 13 years apart. It's kind of strange that May 17 should be so important to this branch of the family, but it is -- one date of death of the grandfather and the births of two of his grandchildren, decades later.

Big Black River area in Mississippi

John had enlisted in the 26 Regiment of the Iowa volunteers as a private. He died from dysentery just before the extended siege of Vicksburg got underway, in a place called Big Black River. The family always said he had been promoted to sergeant, but his service records do not show that, only that he was promoted to corporal. [I'll stick with family lore.]

Decades earlier, in private life, John had tried his hand at farming, but soon quit that to start a printing business. As a printer, he made up handbills, business cards, personal stationery, theater programs, and Wanted posters for the town sheriff. His firm also printed several of the local newspapers. His business had thrived, his family grew and he was fairly prosperous. He had trained two of the older boys to help him, and had made plans for them to follow in his footsteps as the town's premier printer. But when the war broke out in 1861, John pondered his course of action.

As a descendant of heroes of the American Revolution, John had always believed in the American ideals of individualism, freedom, and equality. He was a strong abolitionist, and it was the twin concepts of keeping the Union together and ending the horrors of slavery that caused him to put aside his printer's apron, leave his home and family and take up a rifle to fight for his country. Not a young man, he could have easily remained in his home and let someone else do the fighting. Or he could have bought a commission and have been an officer. But he wanted to be in the fight, not sitting behind the lines pushing papers. His conscience and strong sense of duty won out. As a man of impeccable integrity, he chose to fight for his ideals.

But like many in his regiment, he died, not by a Rebel's bullet on the field of battle against an equally strong minded and skilled opponent, but by one of the diseases that stalked the camps. I remember my Grampa shaking his head, and calling it, "...a supreme irony." I didn't know what that meant, but he continued, "Go fight for your country and die of the --" and then Grandma would shush him in silence and whisk me out of the room. Arthur never minced his words and usually always seasoned them with plenty of spice -- but I'll write about him in the future.

Grandma explained, "Great-great Grampa had a terrible stomach ache and it hurt to eat and drink and without food, he died." That was good enough for me, though very shocking to a youngster of a tender age. It would be a few years before the concept of death would really sink in, when my own beloved Grampa died.

The Civil War was a terrible waste of life. The common thinking now is that the American Revolution was the conception of the United States and the Civil War was its birth -- bloody and terrible but a nation forged in blood that would rebuild itself and be the stronger for it.

Thanks to John and the hundreds of thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives down through the centuries, our liberty has been preserved. They are an example our fat, dumb and happy nation should heed today. Every generation must make the choice to preserve our freedom or stand back and let it slowly slip away. I choose freedom, thanks to John and all those we honor on Memorial Day.

Thank you John for your unyielding convictions. You are a hero!

Writer's Challenge: #3

Click here to open a jumbo version of this photograph in new window.

Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work! Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

Rotten Reviews: Emily Dickinson

An eccentric, dreamy, half-educated recluse in an out-of-the-way New England village -- or anywhere else -- cannot with impunity set at defiance the laws of gravitation and grammar ... Oblivion lingers in the immediate neighborhood.

~Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Atlantic Monthly, 1892

Emily Dickinson is one of the most influential poets of the last 150 years. For more information on her life go here and here, and for a complete collection of her works online, go here or here. Here is a link to the previous Rotten Review. And finally, one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems:

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played
At wrestling in a ring;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then't is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses' heads
Were toward eternity.

Thanks for visiting today.
Your comments are always appreciated!

Caption This Photo, #1

Please add your caption to the comment section below. Have some fun with this and thanks for visiting!

Are You Addicted to Coffee?

Have a cup!

I've been a coffeeholic since I was a teenager. I found the quiz below at one of Argentum Vulgaris's blogs and of course had to take it. It actually came out better than I thought it would. Try it yourself! Just click on the graphic.

I am 85% Addicted to Coffee

It's easy to fuel my addiction without leaving the house. Sure, I will drink a little espresso laced with milk and over-sweetened with Italian syrup -- once in a while. But my favorite brew is pure, unsweetened, milk-free, and so strong a spoon can stand up in it. I use a French press pot by Bodum, my favorite dark beans and very cold filtered water. Follow the directions that come with the pot and you can't go wrong.

The only variable I employ is the type of beans. French roast is good for a quick short kick-start to the day. But for a jumbo sized satisfying mug of coffee any time of the day, I love the Sumatra Mandheling beans roasted dark and coarsely ground. As you can see from the chart, it's low acid and heavy bodied. Sumatran coffee is simply perfect any time of day -- especially with something sweet, chocolaty, or your favorite fruit-based dessert.

If you haven't tried this particular variety and roast, it's available in regular, Swiss water process decaf, in light roast or dark. I prefer the dark roasted beans for espresso, French press, very strong drip, and even iced coffee. Try it -- I hope you like it!

For more information: Coffee Bean Direct, Starbucks, coffee information

Under the Greenwood Tree

"Under the Greenwood Tree"

Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And tune his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat --
Come hither, come hither, come hither!
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun
And loves to live i' the sun,
Seeking the food he eats
And pleased with what he gets—
Come hither, come hither, come hither!
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

~William Shakespeare

My friend sent me this picture from a recent trip to the Oregon Coast and it made me think of Shakespeare's rollicking little ditty from As You Like It.

Let's hope each and every one of us has a perfect week ahead to lie about under our favorite tree and listen to the birds.

Ah, that's the life for me!

For additional information: Poet's Corner, William Shakespeare, As You Like It. Photo credit: "A tree in Oregon," © 2009 by David Roberts

Gardening For Mom

Hydrangea Basket

Here in the misty, marine climate of Western Washington state, the traditional date to begin gardening in full Spring mode has always been Mother's Day. True, we plant peas on Washington's Birthday [February 22 if there is no snow on the ground] and depending on the freezing temperatures, we prune, pamper, and propagate fruit trees, early rhododendrons, winter flowering bushes, and other perennials. Our greenhouses are busy! But if you want to sow seeds directly into the ground for your annual veggies and summer flowers, Mother's Day is the time to get to work!

Your soil can be worked throughout April, sweetened, fertilized and made weed free. Then, once the temperatures are above freezing at night you will be ready to plant directly into the ground. If there has been a lot of heavy rain, delay planting until the rains abate. One year I planted my entire garden three times between Mother's Day and June 1st because unexpected heavy rains with lower temperatures followed a week of warm, sunny weather. My squash, beets, radishes, and beans were washed out twice before they could germinate! It is possible to plant during June and still have some "early" vegetables by the end of July, but later vegetables often aren't ready until Labor Day. If you want sweet corn in August, don't wait until June. Mother's Day is ideal.

Help your Mom in her garden today. Depending on your zone and soil conditions, it's a good bet she could use a little help with weeding and watering. Or help her harvest some greens for your salad. Make this Mother's Day a Gardening Day for Mom!

For all the Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunts, Sisters, Nieces, Cousins and Friends -- Happy Mother's Day and Happy Gardening!


For more information: hydrangea

Gather Ye Rosebuds...

Here's a little generational humor for you today to lighten your mood and help make your gardening tasks pleasant and undemanding. Enjoy!

Roses & Hanging Baskets

A teenage granddaughter came downstairs for her date wearing a see-through blouse but no bra. Her grandmother threw a fit, telling her not to dare go out like that! The teenager said, "Loosen up Grams! These are modern times. You gotta let your rosebuds show!" and out she went.

The next day the teenager came downstairs, and her grandmother was sitting in her rocker, but not wearing a top. The teenager wanted to die. "Grams!!! I have friends coming over! That's just not appropriate!"

"Loosen up, Sweetie," her Grandmother said. "If you can show off your rosebuds, then I can display my hanging baskets."

Happy Gardening!

Writer's Challenge: #2

Click here to open a jumbo version of this photograph in new window.

Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work! Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

"Viola and Her Doll Family"

Viola and Her Doll Family

Go, songs, for ended is our brief, sweet play;
Go, children of swift joy and tardy sorrow:
And some are sung, and that was yesterday,
And some unsung, and that may be to-morrow.

~Francis Thompson
from his poem, "Envoy"

My Grandmother snapped this picture of her eldest daughter, my Mom, one fine Spring day in the mid-1920s. She titled it, "Viola and Her Doll Family." Grandma's remembrance of the incident always made her smile. "Viola hated that roly-poly clown," she'd say gently.

Then we'd all laugh. Sometimes Mom would blush, other times she'd fume and sputter, "Well, I did! I just HATED that ugly thing!" And we'd all laugh louder. Kids were funny, in whatever era they lived. I wish I'd known her when she was this age, with her little flapper bobbed hair, button-up boots and favorite armless doll. Grandma said she had been a good little girl and never gave them any trouble.

How I wish they were both here! What fun we'd have this Mother's Day!

But they're both just memories now.

Thank you Grandma for the sweet photo.

For more information: Francis Thompson's "Envoy", more online books

Amazing Photo Discovery

Air Force One terrorizes citizen
in "publicity" photo-shoot.

In a statement yesterday, the White House said it would not release any pictures from last week's Presidential jet fly-over of the New York City area. The official publicity photos are "Classified."

We obtained this photograph from tourist Ada Mae Turnipseed as she raced ahead of citizen Cary Grant across a rare patch of New York City farmland. Air Force One roared overhead, perilously close. When asked about how it felt to be buzzed by a 747 on a joyride, Ms. Turnipseed replied, with wide-eyed candor, "Well, I ain't never seen nothin' like this back home in Diviton Corners!"

With apologies to: Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, North By Northwest.

The Light of Setting Suns

sunset on the Oregon Coast

And I have felt ... a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things.

~William Wordsworth
Tintern Abbey, 1798

For more information: Oregon Travel Guides, Zen to Go by Jon Winokur

Vespa Blogger Friendship Award for YOU!

Thank you very much, Mystic Dave at: http://www.mysticalpoetryandpolitics.com/
for bestowing this award on the Sunflower Ranch blog!! I am thrilled to accept and proudly display it here. I have admired the poetry and commentary on your blog and have enjoyed our blog friendship since my very first week of blogging!

In turn, I would like to award the Vespa Blogger Friendship Award to the following people who have shared their friendship with me:

Supergranny: http://supergrannysmusings.blogspot.com/

Fleapirates Plunder: http://fleapiratesplunder.blogspot.com/

Metzy Mom: http://metzymom.blogspot.com/

Grouchow: http://grouchow.wordpress.com/

Glynis Smy: http://www.glynissmy.com/

Milli Thornton: http://screenwritingintheboonies.blogspot.com/

Kava: http://thewrittenartstudio.blogspot.com/

Izzy: http://izzysgumbo.blogspot.com/

Poddy: http://www.delovesto.com/

Mark Webster: http://blog.websterwebart.com/

Curiocache: http://curiocache.wordpress.com/

Silent Majority: http://silentmajority09.blogspot.com/


If you would like to pass this award on to some of your blogger friends, then here's how to do it (as passed on to me):

1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you [http://sunflowerranch.blogspot.com/]
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Add links to those blogs on your blog
5. Leave a message for the nominees on their blog

Thank you to all my blogger friends, present and future! Enjoy your award and surprise your blogger friends with their own award, from you!

Life is good!

Writer's Challenge: #1

Click here to open a jumbo version of this photograph.

Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the new month with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work this weekend!

Your comments are always welcome, too!