Tag Archives: river

Drifters’ Cove

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Drifters’ Cove created by Marvin Haltzer
photos by Barbara Rodgers

Ebb & Flo, a brother/sister faerie team live in this riverside home made of driftwood.  These faeries control the tide waters of the Lieutenant River.  Every six hours, Ebb is busy pulling the salty waters into the marsh and then it’s Flo’s turn to push them back out into the Sound again.  This keeps the water always in motion and the marsh a dynamic and beautiful ecosystem for birds, fish, insects, and more.  The many shades of green keep the painters busy mixing their vibrant and sunny hues.
(Wee Faerie Village: Land of Picture Making)

Today I baked spaghetti squash for the first time, and served it with a grass-fed ground beef marinara sauce.  Mr. Logic thought it tasted good, and so did I!  And so the paleo culinary adventure continues…

Zoë and Olga, sweet little carnivores, are on a grain-free diet, too, and seem pleased with it for the most part, as pleased as cats will allow themselves to admit.

Olga is still giving Zoë a wide berth, and hissing occasionally to remind Zoë about how things stand between them.  She spends her evenings close to Tim on the couch, purring loudly.  We’re being patient and encouraging with her.

Zoë provides us with morning entertainment – playing with and pouncing on pony-tail elastics, preferring them to all other toys.  And she talks to us all the time.  :)  My little shadow.

Autumnal Fortress

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Autumnal Fortress created by Kristen Thornton
photos by Barbara Rodgers

Faellan is the faerie for colorful autumn foliage.  His name comes from Old English and means an abundance of leaves, aka the fall!  The many colors and textures of the leaves inspire the painters in so many ways.  As the leaves turn from green to gold, they capture the creative imaginations at several stages.  Whether held aloft in the tree top, dancing fancifully through the autumn air, or carpeting the ground below, Faellan’s leaves are the season’s showstoppers.
(Wee Faerie Village: Land of Picture Making)

Blind folk see the fairies,
Oh, better far than we,
Who miss the shining of their wings
Because our eyes are filled with things
We do not wish to see.
They need not seek enchantment
From solemn, printed books,
For all about them as they go
The fairies flutter to and fro
With smiling, friendly looks.
~ Rose Fyleman
(White Magic)

Deaf folk hear the fairies
However soft their song;
‘Tis we who lose the honey sound
Amid the clamor all around
That beats the whole day long.
But they with gentle faces
Sit quietly apart;
What room have they for sorrowing
While fairy minstrels sit and sing
Close to their listening heart?
~ Rose Fyleman
(White Magic)

The fairies have never a penny to spend,
They haven’t a thing put by,
But theirs is the dower of bird and of flower
And theirs are the earth and the sky.
 And though you should live in a palace of gold
Or sleep in a dried-up ditch,
You could never be as poor as the fairies are,
 And never as rich.
~ Rose Fyleman
(Fairies & Chimneys)

Marsh Light Manor

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Marsh Light Manor at Lookout Hollow created by Lori & Edward Lenz
photo by Barbara Rodgers

Luka built this manor house for his wife Inza and their family of light fareies at the base of this tree from the river rocks and marsh grasses.  He created porches and windows to view and capture the light as it dances across the water.  Mirrors and magic help Luka and his wife to “bottle” the light.  Each of the children take turns delivering a month of special light to the plein-air artists who capture its distinct glow in paint.
(Wee Faerie Village: Land of Picture Making)

Now that some of the excitement has passed by, at least for us, I hope to share a few more fairy house posts in the coming days…

Auntie was transferred to a rehab center last week, a day or two after the storm.  She’s able to walk a little and is making some progress in physical therapy there.  We finally got up to see her yesterday and were grateful to know that she had some visitors in the hospital and at the rehab center.

Dad is on antibiotics now for bronchitis and we stopped by to see him, too, and showed him our storm pictures on the TV screen.  He was somewhat impressed, but decided that the 1938 hurricane he survived when he 16 was far more destructive.  He wasn’t feeling too well, but it was good to visit with him anyway.

We are overflowing with gratefulness for the gift of a wonderful young woman named Chelsea, who was hired to help out with Dad and Auntie’s care in September.  What an awesome blessing she has been to our family!  She has sat with Auntie in the hospital and at the rehab center, and darted back and forth between those places and the house, to give attention to both of the ancient ones.  She has been a cheerful, hard-working, kind, calming and pleasant presence to have around and has gotten us through this difficult stretch, even coming in the evening and on the weekends.  Thank you so much, Chelsea!!!

Mihashirano’s Tea House

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Mihashirano’s Tea House created by Anita Walsh
photos by Barbara Rodgers

Mihashirano, the faerie goddess of green-growing things, works hard alongside her mom, Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, to help things grow along the river.  The plants work hard purifying the air and water as well as supplying food and shelter for many creatures.  Their work also benefits the artists in many of the same ways, including natural beauty that inspires their paintings.  The location for Mihashirano’s tea house was chosen by a bird.
(Wee Faerie Village: Land of Picture Making)

Janet, all bundled up to brave the elements, located the mystical bird and Mihashirano’s sailboat at the tea house out on the water by using binoculars provided by the fairies on the shore.  It was a very wet, raw and windy day especially down by the river.

We didn’t feel anything here in southern Connecticut, but last night at 7:12 pm there was an earthquake centered in Maine, 4.6 on the Richter scale, which was strong enough to shake homes as far south as northern Connecticut.  Auntie is supposed to come home from the hospital today – I wonder if they felt the tremor up north there last night…  And today would have been my mother’s 81st birthday – Happy Birthday, Mom!

Summer Nights

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“The Mystery of a Summer Night” by Edvard Munch

Whichever road I follow, I walk in the land of many gods, and they love and eat one another.  Walking, I am listening to a deeper way.  Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me.  Be still, they say.  Watch and listen.  You are the result of the love of thousands.
~ Linda Hogan
(Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World)

A friend posted part of the above quote on Facebook this morning and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.  I put the book it comes from on my “to-read” list.  Perhaps I will have more time for reading this winter.

My ancestors have been calling to me strongly since May and most of my time since then has been spent doing online research, and planning a research trip in the fall.  It’s actually one of Tim’s ancestors who is calling the loudest and most persistently – I have discovered a clue that might lead me to her parents, who I have been looking for, off and on, for thirty-seven years!

It’s a struggle for me to balance research, blogging, gardening, housework, preparing healthy meals, de-cluttering, visiting my dad, enjoying the summer…  Summer days are so long and mostly hot and humid, although we have had a few wonderful days here and there to enjoy onshore breezes and open windows.  I quickly grow weary of the drone from the necessary air-conditioning…

But summer evenings are the best!  Going to plays (Shakespeare-in-the-Park) and concerts (Dave Matthews Band) outside, seeing sunsets and starlight and the moonrise - the stuff memories are made of…

This past Sunday evening we went to Summer Music Sundays at Mystic Seaport for the first time.  We dined and had drinks under a huge maple tree outside of Schaefer’s Spouter Tavern (named for the tavern in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick), with a view of tall ships moored to the dock on the Mystic River, and smaller boats sailing by while the sun set across the river.  We thoroughly enjoyed the music, guitar-playing singer Bruce Foulke, who treated us to some covers of old favorites by James Taylor, Carole King, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton…  It was a lovely, perfect evening!

What do you love best about summer?

Fort Griswold Battlefield

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So far this winter has given us only very cold days alternating with unseasonably warm days.  Without a blanket of snow, everything looks barren and oddly exposed.  Last January was the snowiest month ever in Connecticut history and it made for some very nice pictures!  But now that we have a new camera there is no inspiration to get out there and put it to good use, but we decided to give it a try anyway.

Close to home is Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park.  War is not my favorite subject, but this is the site where, on September 6, 1781, the traitor and Connecticut native Benedict Arnold led the British on a raid during the Revolutionary War.  About 150 colonial militia and local men under the command of Col. William Ledyard were outnumbered.  The British demanded surrender but Ledyard refused at first.  There were heavy losses on both sides.  The last picture tells how it ended.

The first picture was taken outside the dirt and stone wall surrounding the top of Fort Griswold.  The second picture is Tim standing in a trench leading up to the top of the fort.  The picture above is the entrance to a tunnel leading in to the highest part of the fort, and the picture below was taken inside the tunnel.

Through the tunnel now, in the picture below we are standing inside of the stone and dirt wall, which is taller than us, looking toward the Thames River and New London.

In the next picture we have climbed up the wall and are looking down at the Thames River and New London on the other side.  British troops had set most of New London on fire, and from here the men from Groton must have seen all the fires burning and the British ships in the river…

It was a gruesome battle – aren’t they all?  The British made it to the top in spite of many casualties…  It’s sobering considering what happened here.

I took all these pictures with my gloves on – it was cold! – and I can’t remember which settings I was using on which shot.  Clearly I am going to have to wait until spring to practice with the camera outside.  Will have to see what I can learn about using it inside while I’m waiting for warmer weather!

Along the Lieutenant River

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It’s snowing like crazy outside, after four hours of rain.  The changeover has occurred a lot sooner than predicted, so I’m happy we got up early and finished our errands before the October nor’easter made it here.  I bought new slippers while we were out and my feet are delightfully warm and happy now.  Time for a few more fairy tale birdhouses!

The Florence Griswold Museum sits on the banks of the Lieutenant River, pictured above.  As you can see, the grass is still a summery green and the colors have not changed on all the trees yet.  And it is now snowing – three seasons all in the same week.  Janet has decided that the Lieutenant River will be a good place to have my first kayaking lesson in the spring.

#7. “The Sea King’s Palace” by Susan Zirlen & Mahady Makrianes (in honor of Pete, a prince among men), based on The Little Mermaid.

#9. “Neverland Adventures” by Kristen Thornton, based on Peter Pan.
London, where Peter, Wendy, Michael and John are searching for Peter’s shadow…

Captain Hook has captured Tinkerbell…

#10. “Up a Tree” by Sue Chism, based on Sinbad the Sailor.
Giant birds wrecked Sinbad’s ship…

and kidnapped him…

#12. “The Troll Bridge Saga” by Sheila Wertheimer & The Museum’s Garden Gang, based on Three Billy Goats Gruff.
Of course this is my favorite fairy tale because it’s Norwegian…

That was a freaky hungry troll “under” the bridge!

Tomorrow we’re having a Going Away/Halloween party for Nate & Shea and the gang.  Cooking two vegetarian slow cooker dinners.  Maybe there will be a goblin or two who aren’t camera-shy…