#sometimes we get hummingbirds at the tall bush

[p1x1e-sims]

Fall, 1939

  “Faster!” Maggie yelled. “Swing me ‘round faster!” 

  Benjamin sighed, looking to Sam for help. His friend shrugged and smiled, already busy with Peter on his shoulders. It wasn’t like he would be much help anyway, Maggie was ten now and full of more energy than a hummingbird. 

  Ben groaned. “Alright, kid, here we go, but this is the last time, I mean it.”

  Maggie laughed in victory. She was always laughing these days. The weather was nice, which meant she could be outside as much as she pleased, as long as she finished her chores, of course. School was still a drag, but she supposed it could have been worse. At least she got to see Joseph and Jack every day, and race them home after they were let out. Maggie even supposed her little brothers were becoming more tolerable. She found she didn’t mind too much when Peter followed her around, asking questions as she milked Betty and fed the chickens. 

  She didn’t know too much about life, but Maggie supposed it was all right. 

  “Again!” She yelled as Ben slowed down from his swinging. 

  “That’s enough, Maggie!” Her mother called from across the yard. “Let poor Benjamin rest a while.”

  Ben shot Gwendoline a look of thanks as he flipped the girl over his shoulder and set her on the ground. 

  The wild redhead huffed and went over to her twin. “Say, let’s go swimming in the pond, Ginny.”

  “No thanks. Miss Theresa said she’d help me with my cross stitch. I’ve been trying to get it right for weeks.” 

  Maggie huffed again and scrambled off to find a tree to climb. Ginny, meanwhile was perfectly content to sit in the shade with the ladies. 

  She didn’t mind climbing trees or swimming in ponds, of course. She was still a farm girl. But Ginny hated to dirty the skirt her mother had just ironed, or let her neat braids get all tangled and full of twigs. Sometimes she just liked to sit and observe. 

  Gwendoline used one hand to hoist up Charles, another to tap her daughter’s shoulder. “Ginny, dear, go and wrangle that chicken over by the tree line. I think Peg got loose again.”

  “Alright, Mama.” Ginny skipped over to the bushes, herding the old chicken back into her coop. As she walked back, she swore she could hear voices in the trees. They must have been coming from the path. 

  “Pa!” She called. “Are you expecting visitors?”

  “Huh?” Sam scratched his head. “None that I can recall.”

  Ginny walked a bit further, trying to see the strangers. Eventually they came into view, their voices carrying into the yard. 

  “Are you sure this is the place?”

  “Yes, I swear. We went here all the time as kids.”

  “Well, you had to ask that man in town for directions-”

  “It’s been a while, alright.”

  The Townsends and Zimmermans caught sight of the two wandering women as they walked into the yard. One tall and dark, wearing trousers instead of a dress. The other a bit shorter, looking around nervously. They bickered with one another, but affection in their voices was obvious. Sam could hardly believe his eyes. 

  “Eleanor?” He called out. “Leah?”

  The women’s heads perked up. They laughed and hurried on over to Sam and Benjamin. The men caught their cousins in a fierce hug. 

   Once they saw the women’s faces, they were sure it was them. Neither Sam nor Ben had seen either of the women in years. After Leah’s trip to Selvadora, she immediately began her work as an archeologist. Her adventures all over the world had left no time for trips back home, though they made for exciting letters. Eleanor had bounced from city to city, working on poems and novels and journals. Sam had read some of them, most of the poems were lovesick little sonnets that were obviously about Leah. A bit gushy, but he could appreciate the bittersweet sentiments of two lovers being separated. 

  Though it seemed they had finally found their way back to one another. 

  Sam pulled back from hug, grabbing his cousin by the shoulders. “You should have told us you were coming!”

  “Oh, I know, I’m so sorry,” Eleanor wrung her hands together. “It just happened so suddenly. I hadn’t planned on any of this until just a few weeks ago.”

  “It’s my fault, Sam.” Leah patted her old friend on the arm. “I only just returned from Europe last month. Once I found Ellie and the subject of our dearest cousins came up-” She smiled and nudged Ben. “We realized that you lot have been quite out of the loop lately.” 

  Gwen sighed. “You’re right about that. We only hear news when we go down to the village, and even then it’s old and insignificant. So tell us, dear, I’m dying for some gossip.” 

  Leah looked around, awkward all of a sudden. “Uh, Sam,” she pulled him to the side, talking in low tones. 

  “What’s wrong, it can’t be all that bad, right?” Sam gave his usual smile, trying to perk his friend up. But Leah wouldn’t budge. 

  “Sam, there’s a reason I left Europe so early. You might be secluded, but I’m sure you’re aware of what’s brewing overseas.”

  “Oh.” It all clicked in Sam’s mind. 

  He looked over to his family. Maggie was sitting on a tree branch, laughing as she dropped leaves on her sister’s head. Ginny hadn’t noticed yet, focused on her cross stitching. Peter was stomping around the mud barefoot, and Charles was clinging to Gwendoline’s leg. Lovely Gwendoline, who hadn’t ever known real hardship. Or heartache. 

  “We should go inside,” Sam called to the others. “Girls, stay out here and watch the little ones.”

  “What’s wrong, daddy?” Maggie called from her branch. 

  “Nothing you need to worry about, darling. You’ll be all right.”

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[titaniumplatedspine]

Tagged by the lovely @paxohana to show my desktop background. I really hate having a cluttered screen, so I keep my computer and phone screens pretty empty. 

I’ll tag @ladyskyblue23 @thoughtsappear @outoffcks @ded-i-am-just-ded @tehlastunicron @oxnerds @punktsuki and @jesusasahi

[sigyn-obsessed]

Springtime Surprises (Loki x Sigyn)

It was a usual day in the household of Loki and Sigyn. It was springtime, Sigyn’s favorite time of year. The flowers were in bloom, there were birds chirping. It was the season of rebirth. Everything was bright and colorful, boosting everyone’s moods. The boys were outside for as long as they could, getting into every mischievous situation they could.

So, this shouldn’t have been surprising for Sigyn. She was sitting on an old knitted blanket, made by her mother, bouncing Ragna up and down as she giggled, trying to grab Sigyn’s hair. Loki came out moments later, smiling as he picked up Ragna, peppering her with kisses. They sat together, in the quiet. They’re life was very chaotic, so quiet was strange.

They watched the boys run, barely able to see them over the tall grass. She saw them looking on the ground, for bugs most likely. They had brought spiders, centipedes, caterpillars, moths, and worms inside. It shouldn’t have been shocking, as mischief was in their blood. Sigyn would look over at Loki, with a look of ‘you started this, you finish it.’ It was a look Loki had to admit was entertaining. What wasn’t entertaining was sitting the boys down to say, “stop bringing strange creatures inside the house, it’s scaring your mother.”

Sigyn laid her head on Loki’s shoulder, cuddling up to him. His hair was long, to about his shoulders, and it curled at the end. When Loki was younger, he always slicked it back, and Sigyn would nod exasperatedly because they way his hair curled was adorable, but he couldn’t have been seen as adorable.

Now the boys had his curls that scrunched up so tight. It framed their chubby little faces. While they looked so much like Loki, Sigyn’s bright blue eyes shown clearly on them, with Vali’s cheeks littered with freckles. Narvi’s cheeks were rosier, while Vali’s were very pale, like Lokes.

She looked down at Ragna, who was laying in Loki’s lap as he gently ran his fingers through her blonde curls. She was a spitting image of Sigyn, with the rosy cheeks and freckles, but she had bright green eyes, identical to Loki’s. Sigyn felt calm, rubbing her hand down Loki’s back. She was awoken from her thoughts when she heard the boys yell.

“Mommy, daddy look!” Sigyn looked worriedly at Loki as they quickly got up, running towards the boys. They were in the forest, in a dirt area. The boys were kneeling near a bush. Sigyn had no clue what they were looking at, then she saw Narvi’s hands.

There was an egg, only about the size of a grape, cradled in Narvi’s hand. Sigyn knelt next to Narvi, cupping his hands.

“Where did you find this?” It was so unbelievable small, Sigyn felt her eyes were playing a trick on her. Eggs couldn’t be that small?

“It was laying near that bush. All the other eggs were broken and cracked. He’s the only one left.” Sigyn looked over at Vali, who had a sour expression on his face. “What do you think got the others?”

“It was likely a mongoose or a fox. It’s in their nature buddy, nothing could’ve stopped it.” Loki ruffled Vali’s hair, trying to cheer him up.

“Mommy, can we keep it? Please.” They both pleaded. Sigyn rolled her eyes, looking over at Loki, who just had a grin on his face. He had already given in; she knew their big begging eyes had already melted him. She knew because when she gave him those eyes, he melted the same way.

“Alright, we can keep it. But once it hatches, we have to release it.” The boys nodded quickly, moving towards the house, Loki and Sigyn trailing behind the rambunctious kids. Sigyn put the egg near the fire to keep it warm in a knitted blanket. The boys sat staring at it, muttering quietly to themselves. Ragna was asleep on Loki’s shoulder as he patted her back, listening to her soft snores. They both smiled as they grew curious at what the boys were discussing.

“What are you guys arguing about?” Chuckled Sigyn, looking at the boys disgruntled looks. They sat for a second before Vali muttered, “I say it’s a baby hummingbird, while Narvi says it’s a lizard.”

“Both are acceptable answers.” Loki replied. “Personally, looks like a gecko, but it could be anything.”

As the days went by, Sigyn felt herself checking up on the egg, seeing if it was okay. It must’ve been her maternal instincts. Loki looked occasionally. It was about a week later that Narvi yelled.

“Something’s happening. I think it’s hatching.” Everyone crowded around the egg, Ragna asleep in her bassinet. They looked down. Surely enough it was hatching. Narvi and Vali’s eyes were glued to it, staring intently at the tiny egg. Slowly, a small green reptile slithered out.

“It’s a baby snake.” Muttered Loki. Sigyn was shocked. The snake looked just like Loki’s seidr.

“Wow, I didn’t expect a snake to be so small.” Narvi and Vali hovered over it, gently petting it. Sigyn felt her heart strings pulling seeing her boys paying so much loving attention on the little snake. “What should we name him?”

Everyone looked over at Sigyn in shock. She wasn’t one to keep pets, especially wild snakes. The boys smiled widely as they pulled their mom into a hug, thanking her repeatedly.

“I think we should call him Jor, short for Jormungandr.” Muttered Vali, holding the little snake in his chubby hands. Loki looked at his son, shocked that he remembered the name of his brother, one he would never meet. Loki nodded, huddling his boys together.

“I think that’s a great name for him. It’s just perfect, like you two.” He mumbled as he kissed them both on the forehead. They set up a little glass house for him, with branches and vines for him to climb on. They set it up in the boys’ room, feeding it insects and giving it water. The boys loved him so much, and Sigyn and Loki loved seeing their boys dote on the tiny reptile. They would hold him and talk to him about their days. Narvi would take him outside to search for bugs for Jor, while Vali would set him in his lap on his bed while he was reading. Sometimes he would read to Jor.

As they got the boys tucked in, Loki noticed the reminiscent smile on Sigyn’s face. They kissed the boys’ foreheads and whispered goodnight to them. They told them they loved them, and they whispered goodnight to Jor too, for good measure. It made the boys smile.

Sigyn and Loki laid in bed, Loki with a book in hand, Sigyn working on knitting. She stopped, looking over at Loki and smiling. Loki saw it from the corner of his eye and realized the curious gazes he kept getting from her.

“What’s that look for?” He smiled as he leaned towards her, beginning to kiss her cheek, trailing down her neck. “It’s the look of remembering when you used to turn into a snake just like Jor and slither into my room and curl up with me. You would show up everywhere I was, just doing your thing. You’d crawl into my bag in the market to explore. You know, when we were still courting.” Loki laughed as she laid on his chest.

“Or when the boys would cry, and I’d change so they could sit in awe and look at the pretty colors. Always got them to stop crying.” He felt Sigyn’s body shake with laughter. “I haven’t changed in a while, have I?” Sigyn shook her head as they both lulled themselves to sleep, remembering the times when they were young and curious.

It was a few days later that Sigyn felt a little snake slither up her shoulder, curling up near her ear. She felt its tiny tongue on her cheek. She grinned as she stroked its emerald green scales, a gold tint to them. The snake cuddled up on her shoulder.

Great, now she had two snakes to take care of.

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Garden Walk

Genre: supernatural horror

Words: 3.7k

Summary: a young woman sees a figure strolling the gardens making an odd sound.

Ko-Fi ⭐Patreon ⭐ WordPress⭐Twitter

Content warning: slight blood and injury

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There’s something eating the bees.

You read about the bees disappearing all the time in the papers and on the news every few years in big investigative reports. Usually, it’s all the same alarm and studies about colony collapse and human pesticides and disease spreading rapidly through hives. I know all that and I’m sure it’s real and dangerous and one of the many ways we’re hurting the planet.

But this is different. I know it is, I feel it in my gut and under my skin and throughout my nerves with this itchy burn.

I like to go to the library on my days off. I work in a Bath and Body works shop so my hours are pretty random and my days off vary from week to week.

Still, I usually managed to make time once a week to hop downtown and go to the Fairfield Public library. I either walked when it was nice out or took the bus or Georgia used to drive me when we were together.

I went a lot more often that spring. I was in the process of getting over a nasty breakup and it was hard to be alone in my apartment. After you live with someone for so many years being alone in your own home can feel almost… like a punishment. You have to kill your own spiders in the corner and unclog your own drains and feed yourself old Mac and Cheese with no one to really care.

It was a difficult breakup to say the least and left this ache in my chest that I couldn’t get rid of, but managed to ignore most days. Distractions helped, so I went to the library.

Fairfield Public Library is this massive place that they renovated a couple years ago with new wings and a fresh paint job and better air conditioning. The bathrooms still had weak hand dryers and there was never enough chairs, but they did install some gorgeous immense windows in the central seating area. They’re ceiling-to-floor panels that let in gallons of sunshine that soak the floor and give the whole plan an almost enchanted feel. Some days I would just go in and walk beside them for long minutes with my hand trailing in the light.

The windows weren’t my favorite part of the library though. The inside still smelled a little dry and musty and they kept the temperature too cold for my liking. My favorite part of the library were the gardens outside.

There was a river that ran behind the library and a good acre of land spanning from the back of the building up to the edge of the water. In between the two was a complex public garden. Macy Dickson was one of the librarians and she would talk my ear off about how they used native Iowa plants and local plant fertilizer and set-up hummingbird feeders and plants that ladybugs liked.

I nodded along, but I wasn’t exactly an outdoors kind of person in the way Georgia had been. Most plants looked the same to me, and I was prone to stepping in poison ivy and itching for weeks and accidentally pissing off local Canadian geese and being chased.

These gardens were friendly though, easy. The bushes were low to the ground and the plots held sturdy herbs and a few flowers popping up depending on the time of year. A path wound in and out of red oak trees and honeysuckles and bird feeders until it made its way to a rock garden with stone benches facing it. I would take a deep breathe there, sit, and attempt to feel whatever it is you’re supposed to feel when you’re outside surrounded by tweeting birds and wildlife sounds. I was never very good at being calmed by ocean noises or wind in the trees or anything like that, but to be fair I was never really calmed by anything. I had nervous habits like washing my hands too much and picking at my skin and applying hand sanitizer every few hours like clockwork. 

Maybe those were all the things Georgia couldn’t stand. I didn’t know.

Either way, sometimes that long walk out by the red trees and shrubbery did me good.

It was on a Wednesday in the middle of the week and the dreary weather had broken out into warm air and thin blue skies, I finally got to wear my strappy sandals again and walked all the way to the library. I was going through a reading period that my therapist might classify as “regression.”

One day I had been crying in the nonfiction aisle next to a true crime series and the next moment I found myself inching to the kids section. I crept into the bright wing as if in a sleep-walk and looked over the colorful covers of dragons and a boy and his dog and kids running from spooky shadows and little witches and I picked up a handful of kids chapter books.

I started reading all the books of my youth: Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys.

I read through them like you shake an old friend’s hand and there was something comforting about the non-threatening stories and consuming words of my youth. Of course, being a grown woman who was almost thirty reading children’s books… didn’t make me feel great.

I dashed into the kids section of the library that Wednesday and picked out two stories: Ella Enchanted and the Princess Academy. There was something so sweet and feminine about the titles that had me swiping them up and carrying them off like a burglar in the night.

I visited the nonfiction section next and picked out a book called “The Knife Man” about historical surgeries and went on my way. I had been padding my check-outs with serious books so the librarians wouldn’t give me funny looks.

In all honesty, the librarians and patrons and everyone I passed probably didn’t care in the least. But I was a nervous person. And sometimes my brain played tricks on me and told me that everyone was staring or thinking thoughts about me and noticing everything I did.

I didn’t make eye contact with librarian as she checked-out my “princess” texts and I slipped outside to the gardens to read in private. I may not have found solace in nature per say, but I did find solace in being alone there. I wondered up the white gravel path past the daffodils and beds of sage.

I sighed into the sweet air and turned to go to my favorite bench with a chunk missing from one of the arms. And then I froze. There were three teens loitering at my bench and they were all on their phones and sometimes glancing up at me.

I clutched my books a little tighter and, as if attached to a string, turned fluidly away from my usual bench and walked up toward the river. I didn’t know where I was going, but I just didn’t want to seem like I was lost or put-off by the teens.

Teens were the worst. They always looked like they knew things and were always exchanging whispers and furtive glances- none of which helped my state of mind. I did feel silly, being scared away like that, but the river was full and glittering and it almost felt worth it.

It took me a second but I found a large stone to sit on and got out of one of my books. I told myself this was better and it was good to switch things up. The afternoon passed in slow honeyed hours as I ate up one book after the next in a way that finally let my nerves rest. I could get lost there, forever, in those other worlds.

I only stopped when I noticed that the sun had gotten low on the horizon and the shadows were winding and long, and I realized I was very hungry.

I dusted myself off, stretched my stiff legs and arms, and turned back toward the library and the gardens. That’s when I saw him.

“Him” is the wrong word, but so is every other word for it. 

He stood on the path several feet away with the sun at his back. The path runs right beside the river and the area is usually empty since it’s at the very back of the garden and tends to accumulate trash like empty soda cans, lost plastic bags, and coffee cups and is not as pretty.

It was just me and the tall figure.

He was skinny, and gaunt and I squinted at him for a moment because he seemed even taller than my father who was 6’4. The figure wore a long jacket despite the nice weather and had a wide-brimmed hat that made his face disappear entirely. It was the type of hat you might see on farmers or adventures, beige and stiff and there was a loose string hanging beneath the chin. He had long, tangled brown hair that fell past his shoulders and hung lankly by his face in greasy clumps.

The fellow was slowly ambling forward, taking loud thunking steps down the path with these hulking dirty boots that were even larger than the rest of him. Something about him unnerved me deeply. He was too tall and he moved too slowly, too clunkily, as if he was gradually moving some great weight. I would even say he was limping, but there were no visible signs he was actually staggering or missing a beat. It was just off.

He wore gloves and I couldn’t see an inch of his skin.

My shoulders rose like the haunches of a cat as I realized he was moving closer and I quickly turned to leave. I heard it as I was striding back toward the building: whistling.

A noisy and bombastic whistling that drilled through me into my core and left a smear there. It was an un-melodic messy tune I couldn’t place. I picked up speed and nearly fell all the way back to the nearest parking lot and other people.

At the time I didn’t know why I thought “other people,” because the man was obviously just someone out on a stroll. But I thought it all the same.

-----------------

I was able to put the man out of my head for a good while. Our stores general manager position opened up and I was up for consideration, though I’m not sure I really wanted it. I was busy taking on extra hours and making sure my cashiers and floors people actually showed up for their shifts and lady’s in floral dresses didn’t make my workers regret showing up.

That sort of thing.

It must have been a month into proper spring when I finally returned. I got a day to myself and my apartment still didn’t feel welcoming or soft. It was always missing something and the ache was just as hungry as before.

I thought about her often. I wondered if Georgia was still making her famous quiche and bragging about her latest road trip she had planned but would probably never take and coloring her toenails a brilliant red color. I had hated the chemical smell of that nail polish during her weekly retouch, but now I missed it in a way you miss snowstorms in the lean months of summer. The hole in my chest gnawed at me and I entered the library and collected three titles: The Girl Who Swallowed the Moon, Julie of the Wolves, and a medical text detailing the history of malaria.

My eyes darted around to check that no one thought this was weird and then I slipped outside so I could breathe properly. I found my usual bench unoccupied and took a seat.

I ate the books up like a hot meal at your family’s house and was even smiling into the glaring sunlight when a whistling came. It was noisy and tuneless and entered my head space like a sharp thorn.

I jerked my head up and looked left and right to find a tall man with a long jacket and dirty lank brown hair standing in the gardens. 

My mouth became very dry and the light was slanting in just the right way so that I could see his face this time. He was wearing these thick, black sunglasses and had a haggered look and very stiff expression.

The worst part about him beside the hellish whistling though was the faint color of his skin. I had seen it in medical texts. Ever since I was a little girl I had a fascination with illness and germs: I hated them, reviled them, detested stink and mess and the idea of tiny creatures that could wiggle inside me unnoticed and change my body in ways I couldn’t control.

But something drew me to stare at pictures of illness over and over again as if maybe looking alone could protect me. That if I read enough about smallpox and studied enough pictures of dengue fever that I could break their power over me.

I’m not sure if it ever worked, but I had one thought as I stared at the man and his yellowing frayed complexion: jaundice. It was the exact same off-yellow complexion that no healthy human being sports. 

I scooted to the edge of my bench in order to get up and quickly hurry along, but the figure stopped in place. He was still out of reach and I had time to leave, but somehow I couldn’t tear my eyes away, in the same way I couldn’t look away from bubonic plague depictions.

He was standing by this wooden lattice work that held vines working their way toward the sun. He was humming his same terrible song and looking down.

I didn’t notice the bee until he put his hand out and the fat yellow creature was scooped into his palm. I didn’t usually notice the bees flying around with their complex paths and busy work that filled them with this determination to be on their way. I liked bees in that way, not just in the “helps the planet” way but how they always looked like they were on a mission.

Me and the man stood there and stared at the fuzzy yellow creature for what must have been a whole minute.

And then the man’s jaw dropped open and he crushed the tiny bee into his mouth and swallowed. I say “dropped” because his jaw shouldn’t have opened like that and it shouldn’t have closed like that either.

It was far too wide, his cheeks too concave, the skin too thin, and there was something crooked about the angle- as if the jaw wasn’t connected in a solid way. He had just gaped open his mouth into a black hole and ate the bee.

My heart squeezed painfully in my chest and eyes went huge. His head slowly tilted up as if to look at me and I didn’t stick around for him to really stare. I turned and fled down the path and as far away as I could possibly get.

I tried reporting it to library security and told the guard some man was eating things he shouldn’t outside, but the statements were dismissed and I could tell were not going to be followed up on it. I went home with that same eerie droning whistle playing in my head.

I had seen something eating the bees.

----------------

I tried to be rational.

It took several days, but I eventually smoothed out the jitters and settled into a type of shame-faced guilt. I wished I could have talked the events through with Georgia, but we had agreed on a “no communication” policy for the first few months. 

I decided it was just another case of my nervousness and over imagination messing things up. The man at the library was obviously a very sick person who needed help. He was eating bees from a garden after all and his skin was an unnatural yellow. I kept replaying in my head how a “proper” adult would have handled the situation: how I should have went over to gently talk to him or called some sort of hospital.

I gave myself a good talking-to and two weeks later I resolved to visit the library again. It was one of my favorite places and I figured if I saw him again I would try to reach out or get one of the staff to intervene.

It was a proper weekend for once and after I got my three books I went outside and my normal bench was taken by a family. I edged away, shuffling past the wild ginger and squirrels high in a tree and the disturbed rock garden and up the hill to the river.

The path by the river was empty and sunny until I reached the water itself. The figure was there. He was turned away, low to the ground, and facing the plants.

I gulped with great effort and any thought of trying to do the “right” thing went out of my head as I heard the horrible whistling tune once more. He was kneeling next to a Goatsbeard bush, Goatsbeard is a wide thick plant that holds several long white plumes of tiny flower heads.

His gloved hand was hovering over a resting bee on one of the white flowers.

It struck me at that instant that I knew what was about to happen and I really really didn’t want it to. The thought of his thing opening it’s gaping mouth and swallowing that bee was too much for me and prospect of watching it happen again was even worse.

I didn’t think. I just acted.

“Sir!” I used my voice even though it sounded too loud and too forceful in the still air and the quiet whistling still shivered through my spine. “You don’t have to do that. Sir!”

He ignored me and brought his face closer to the insect. My books dropped from my hands to the path. I was running, my hand out and heart pounding as he had scooped up the bee and I couldn’t stand it. It’s bright yellow body was stark against his brown glove and he held it in place as his lips started to part.

“Stop.” I must have stumbled because I lurched forward and fell toward him. I caught myself with the toe of my shoe, but my fingers brushed against his cheek. I’ll never forget the way his skin felt.

My fingers just barely touched the flesh. It was hard though, like cement or marble, there was no give and was cool to the touch. Most of all it was bumpy, bump after bump of puckered skin like running your hand over a warped building wall or a terrible pustule-ridden rash.

The sensation of the bumpy skin was just for moment before one of his enormous hands darted up with quick efficiency and took my wrist in a hard grip. I gasped and he stood up to his full impressive height and grinned.

It wasn’t a grin with his teeth and I still couldn’t see his eyes behind his dark black glasses, but that smile was all I needed to confirm the worst. “Mmph!” I yelped, but not very loudly. I was never very good at yelling, even when I was a child and found a dead raccoon in the backyard or needed to shout at my dad when to turn on the road.

It just yelped once and then stared in rapt terror as my stomach dropped and whole world compounded into that second.

My hand looked tiny in his and the whistling hadn’t stopped. I was close enough at that point that I belatedly realized there was no way he could have been using his mouth to make that noise.

His mouth opened ever so slightly and the sound erupted from inside him and it wasn’t whistling. His thin yellow lips peeled back to reveal rows of sharp teeth, but not blunt teeth or canines or incisors. They were all sharp white shards- like that of broken glass or pieces of bleached wood chips.

They were all slightly different sizes, thin and long and coming into narrow points that hurt just to look at. As he opened his jaw in that unhinged crooked way I heard the sound clearly: a buzzing coming from within him. An unmistakable, low buzz that you hear from TV static. And bees.

It seemed to surge from somewhere deep inside him like a nest of tangled angry sound flooding from his core. It had a frantic quality. Like it was trying to escape.

The waves of humming grew louder and louder as his mouth expanded and I barely registered as he brought my hand up. I broke out of my stupor at the sight of his needle teeth leering toward my skin and tried to pull back with all of my force. I furiously kicked him in the shin, but he didn’t so much as flinch and my toe stung from contact with that same unyielding hard flesh.

He held my wrist firm and his face drew closer and closer with those those same slow deliberate movements. The points of his teeth delicately dug into my fingertips, the ones that had touched him, and a bright spike of pain crashed over me. I think I finally managed to scream.

It was a sticky blur as I lost those fingertips. I do remember the blood running down his yellow chin and spilling down his neck in a steady trickle.

I fell to the ground in shock and my next memories were waking up in a hospital with bandages over the middle and pointer fingers of my right hand. The pad of each was gone.

I shook violently and called Georgia without hesitation. She came right away and drove me home in silence, not forcing me to talk or bring up the future police reports and descriptions I might have to give. We might even be friends again after that first week, I’m not sure.

The police investigated but found no man with that description by the library. The only evidence I had was that the librarians had records of less and less bees visiting their gardens recently.

But nothing more.

I think I’m moving out of Fairfield soon. I think I’ll move somewhere with less gardens and more cement and people everywhere and get a roommate and big dog and start renting my books from online.

There is something eating the bees.

--------------

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[austinpanda]

Dad Letter 040520

5 April, 2020

Dear Dad--

Seems we have survived another week of the plague! Zach just got back from the grocery store, and every time one of us goes to the store, the other gets to ask, “What were they out of this time?” This time, apparently, they were just about out of pasta. I guess everyone decided the best defense against the coronavirus is a big ol’ pot of spaghetti. Also the Hamburger Helper section was decimated. Carbo-loading for the apocalypse! They had just about everything we needed, so it seems the only thing we’ve had to give up semi-permanently is non-terrible toilet paper, because terrible toilet paper is all they got! I look forward to getting our Charmin back, once it happens. 

Since we’re not supposed to leave the house except for groceries, I’ve taken a lot of pictures of stuff going on outside the trailer. We have lots of birds here, so they get photographed a lot. We have honking geese flying overhead, seagulls and crows, mourning doves, and little chickadees, and now with spring, some robins. Every time some seagulls stage a rumble over some hot dog buns they found in the trash, I get pictures of it. I take pictures when it snows, or when the cat does something cute. Normally I’m fine, but being quarantined is so profoundly boring sometimes. 

Other things I’ve done to entertain myself: I got on Amazon and ordered some new socks and some sugar-free Life Savers hard candy. (I am inappropriately excited about this, even with the fact that I’m going to have to disinfect everything once it arrives.) Also I gave myself a haircut! I have to say, it looks pretty good. Going outside to throw birdseed on everything. Looking up facts about native birds. I learned that mourning doves make shitty nests. It actually says the nests are well known for being “of flimsy construction.” I checked online for pics of mourning dove nests, and sure enough, their nests look like shit, like someone came along and barfed up a little pile of twigs, and called it a nest.

Oh! I got a call from my new job at Penquis. I was supposed to start work tomorrow! Based on the fact that the governor has ordered everyone to stay home, and the office is closed, it seemed unlikely that I was actually going to be required to show up at the main office in downtown Bangor to begin my training. Finally, at 7:30 on Friday night, my boss called and she told me that I may start in May, but certainly not before then, and possibly as late as August. This is good! If the crisis is over, I’ll work a few weeks in May and get my training done. If not, I’ll (presumably) start up in August, and I can look for something else between now and then if I want to. Doesn’t make much sense to start my job, helping people with their heating bills, right as the summer starts. This works well with my plans to heed the governor’s order to stay home.

So, since we have a couple dozen square yards’ worth of yard, we’re going to plant a garden. Actually, since we’re stuck here, and since we wanted to anyway, and since it’ll help supplement our diet with healthy vegetables, which I normally find abhorrent, and since my new friend is a plant scientist, and because we love making our space a sanctuary for birds and bees and whatever the hell else wanders along, we want to make a nice small garden with bird feeders. We’re going to grow tomatoes and other eating-type things, some herb-type things, some catnip for the kitties, foreign and domestic. You may be astonished to learn that we don’t plan on growing pot, even though the law allows us to do so! There are a few reasons why I don’t want to grow marijuana in my yard, but the main one is this: in a best-case scenario, I grow, say, one plant. It gets all the rain and sunshine it wants, and grows into a huge bush that is 15 feet tall. Suddenly, I’m no longer living in a trailer in Old Town. I’m THE guy who lives in THE trailer next to THE huge-ass marijuana tree, covered with fat, really valuable buds, ripe for stealing, right next to THE McDonald’s in Old Town. Kids walk through our space to get to the school bus. Well, they used to. 

So we’ll grow stuff to eat, and stuff to add flavor to the stuff we eat, and lots of local native wildflowers. My new friend Bryan, the plant scientist fellow, has already given us good information about our typical last frost, and when planting can start. We also have some bird feeders and I’m going to see what kind of hummingbirds I can attract here. I’m slightly worried that I’m just creating a delicious buffet for the local stray cats, with all the birdseed I’m scattering about, but I’ll deal with murder kitties if they occur. 

Oh! I just thought of something that isn’t so boring it will make you long for death: I saw a kinda good movie yesterday! I saw it on Amazon Prime, so I don’t know if you can see it too. It’s called Soyuz 7, or Salyut 7. And it’s about shit that happened when I was in high school, that I never heard about till now. The movie touts itself as Russia’s version of Apollo 13; a mission that went horribly, terribly wrong in 1985. 

In case you don’t remember from when it happened, The Soyuz was a temporarily-unmanned space station that went out of control and started tumbling. And it looked like the Americans were going to be able to get to it with a space shuttle and possibly steal the whole thing, since it was small enough to fit into the shuttle’s payload bay. So the Soviets launch a rocket with two guys who are supposed to dock with the Soyuz station, and fix it, at least well enough so that they can prevent it from falling out of orbit onto a bus full of innocent American school children, and making the USSR look bad. 

Just docking with a spinning dead space station is hard enough, but the Soviets manage it. The two cosmonauts set about fixing the Soyuz. Several things go enormously, spectacularly wrong. They manage to avoid dying several times. Finally it comes down to a situation where, if they keep hitting this part on the outside of the Soyuz with a hammer, until this one specific malfunctioning piece breaks off, they might live. And if they can’t break it off, they’re probably going to die. Then the Americans will show up, steal everything, win the space race again, and cause icky democracy and freedom to start spreading across the Soviet Union. It was a good movie! It was in Russian, with subtitles, and starred no one I’ve ever seen before, so it won’t ever be a popular movie here, but it was good.

More next week. Stay safe, and lots of love to you both!

[marybromley]

Brian Minter: The garden as a place of comfort

Suddenly, it’s a new reality in our world, our country and our neighbourhoods.

We need to rethink how we do almost everything due to the COVID-19 virus. The key is to be thoughtful and respectful of others by following ever-changing guidelines set out by our health-care officials and professionals.

Social distancing, keeping ourselves and our families healthy, washing our hands frequently, shopping selflessly and being considerate of those who serve us in retail and professional environments are all things we must do. As Canadians, we have values as a nation, and by working together, we can minimize the infection rate to assist each other and our medical experts who deserve so much credit for their dedication and their courage to help all members of our society.

During this challenging time, we all need some personal comfort, especially if we are staying home, either voluntarily or by order of quarantine. For many folks, a garden, indoors or out, a small balcony or a big backyard can provide a zone of relaxation and solace.

Little escapes may be closer than you think — maybe even just outside your door. We need a special place to “get away” from a very busy, and sometimes scary, world and to experience serenity. The concept of an outdoor “room” has been around for some time now, often paralleling our living rooms.

In an increasingly pressurized world, we have a need to be outside enjoying fresh air and nature, while doing the things we would normally do indoors. Leading-edge home designs feature outdoor kitchens, bars, entertainment centres and relaxation areas — in short, complete outdoor living all year long.

Despite what you’ve heard, size does not matter. There are some amazing small, outdoor rooms that are very intimate, private and spectacular. By applying some amazing design techniques, even tiny rooms can seem very spacious. Well-placed plants, mirrors and water features can transform small outdoor spaces into cozy corners. Because we don’t all have perfect backyards, sometimes the front yard is the ideal spot. If you live on a quiet street with some good design elements, it may be the best location for an outdoor room.

Many folks are concerned about the year-round use of outdoor rooms, particularly in the cool, damp West Coast weather. By covering outdoor rooms with solid, complementary, innovative roofing, such as tempered glass, you can create an almost year-round comfort zone. Well-designed skylights can offer quite a delightful effect, and lighting can play a very important role in outdoor living rooms.

To combat cool, damp temperatures, strategically placed heaters can solve this problem nicely. It’s also more common now for outdoor rooms to have an exterior wall designed as a fireplace. I must say on a cold October night the juxtaposition of the outdoor fireplace and warm, comfy chairs creates an ambience hard to match.

Water can be another key element of an outdoor room.  It creates atmosphere. Whether it’s an elegant fountain or a stream gurgling over stones, water is calming and serene while at the same time adding an element of interest and magic to an outdoor room that can seldom be duplicated indoors.

Plants, as always, put the finishing touches on an outdoor room. Fabulous vines, which can add perfume, privacy and colour are absolutely essential. Tall, narrow vertical trees can add delightful screening, as well as frames for lighting at night.

The pièces de resistance, however, are containers. Not ordinary containers, but extraordinary ones with great design elements.

Even on a small-space apartment balcony or existing patio, colourful containers bring it to life. Today’s containers are far different from those in the past. They must contain five elements in order to provide that much-needed serenity:

First the colours. Use your favourites, of course, but any colours you choose should not only blend in with your patio but must also be analogous colours — those tints and hues that are next to each other on the colour wheel. These combinations are powerful.

Second, what do you have that actually moves in your container when a breeze comes up? Soft, supple grasses, like Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima), gently sway with the slightest air movement.

What about perfume? Of all our senses, it is one that moves us the most. From the winter sarcococca, scented jasmine, “eternal fragrance” daphne to heliotrope and the new compact sterile butterfly bushes, the list of garden plants that bring fragrance into the garden seems almost endless. A subtle, lingering perfume can be the antidote for a great deal of stress.

Pollinators, like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, should all be welcome to visit our containers. By providing plants with both nectar and perfume, you will be sharing your patio pots and the tranquility of your outdoor room with some of nature’s best friends.

Finally, when it gets dark outside, do you have LED mini-lights wound around twigs and branches to create that touch of magic that makes your special place a relaxing escape?

It’s a difficult time for all of us right now, but even in small spaces we can create an outdoor area that is a refuge.  It will make a big difference in your life.

Related

More about gardening

Everything you need to know about spring gardening

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Brian Minter: The garden as a place of comfort published first on https://weedkillerguide.tumblr.com/

[chocolaterebelfun]

Nature Photography – Five Tips for Great Rainforest Photos

Walking amidst heavenly fragrant lush-green bushes echoing with the melodies of birds, looking out for beautiful animals, and capturing them in a photograph makes the photographer feel like a veritable paradise. Nature never fails to fascinate us and thus, photographing among these vivid life-packed habitats is a satisfying art in itself.

Nature photography is a beautiful yet skillful art. Rainforests are dense habitats with a low amount of sunlight penetrating through the tall tree crowns and thus require photographic knowledge and skills. If you too are planning to go to one of these vivid tropical habitats, here are some useful tips for capturing some amazing photographs. 

Strategic use of natural lighting and camera flash

Rainforests are uncertain with the weather changing in from minute to minutes. A cloudy, windy weather makes it difficult to capture pictures with natural light. In such a scenario, the photographers use diffused flash as the low ambient light influences the exposure. The diffused flash allows the photographer to work capture a picture-perfect shot. Sometimes, photographers also combine natural light with flash to yield a beautiful picture. The technique is known for a better object focus giving a sharp, clear picture.             

Using off-camera flash 

Though you get an on-camera flash with a professional DSLR, using an off-camera flash can yield mindblowing results. The preinstalled flash can suppress the texture of the beautiful bushes in the picture. On the other hand, using an external flash will give a sharp picture with clearly visible details. 

Use shadows for aesthetic pictures

The sunlight penetrating through green canopy creates a dramatic effect which is the most favorable lighting condition for capturing an aesthetic picture. The sunlight illuminates every detail of the plant or insect and also creates a shadow and that’s the perfect movement to capture! The advanced photography course teaches you the perfect use of natural lighting and shadows to yield mesmerizing results.    

Correct aperture setting

Whenever we talk about macro photography, we usually associate it with low apertures. The smaller depth of field requires apertures less than or equal to f16. But resorting to higher apertures in shallow depth of field focuses on one part of the subject and blurs the rest giving an aesthetic effect to the picture. 

Capturing movement 

Capturing motion can be a great idea. This technique is known for yielding outstanding effects especially in the case of insects and birds like butterflies, honeybees, hummingbirds, etc. Besides, keeping the background out of focus can portray this motion much more sharply.        

Photography crash course in Mumbai

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Rainforest photography can yield world-class pictures if captured professionally. Use these tricks to capture spellbinding shots and spam your social media handles with mesmerizing photos.

[rilenerocks]

I’m obsessing about being immersed in water. At this time of year, every year for almost 45 years, I would be in this very pool for at least an hour a day. When I wasn’t working, maybe more. Actually this isn’t entirely true. For a wretched three summers, the original pool where I swam was closed down because of dangerous electrical problems and ultimately, its age. When they shut it down, I went into mourning. Ironically, when it was emptied, the park district workers found a pool pass I’d lost years earlier, stuck in one of the drains. Great symbolism, I thought. I pulled myself together eventually and adapted to indoor swimming. But as soon as the replacement pool opened, I was back there from the first weekend of summer to the last. I do a very modest, rhythmic breaststroke, up and back, up and back. And then I float. I’m a very good floater. I remember when I was a kid we used to practice the dead man’s float, lying on our stomachs with heads in the water, holding our breath as long as we could. I was decent at lasting a fair amount of time. But I really excelled at floating on my back. I could sprawl out as if I was making a snow angel and just drift. Or I could bunch myself up, one leg crossed over the other as if sitting in a chair and bob like a cork. In a family of non-swimmers I was a miracle.

I married a swimmer. Michael swam in high school and had the most beautiful strokes. I loved watching him plow through the water doing the freestyle and the butterfly with his broad shoulders creating a draft and leaving a  wake behind him. He was one of those guys who could do a couple of laps underwater without drawing a breath. Lovely to watch. But he couldn’t float for beans. Face down or face up, if he wasn’t kicking his feet, he just sank like a rock to the bottom of anything, pool, lake, ocean. We used to talk about how if we somehow were on a boat that failed in the middle of nowhere, I’d survive because after tiring from swimming, I’d just roll over on my back and take a nap until I was ready to go again. Absent too many shark bites or jellyfish stings, it seemed like a plan. Although I was slower than Michael, I always had more endurance. He’d finish his few laps while I just kept going. Somewhat of a metaphor for how our life worked out.  In recent weeks, my little kiddie pool has provided a measure of solace for the hole where swimming is in my life. But I can’t float in it. I swam last in March. Whatever endorphins got released in me back then are long gone.  I’m having trouble finding an alternative way of getting flooded with those restorative feelings. What will substitute for water?

Of course there is the solace of my garden and the daily spectacle of the creatures who visit the spaces I’ve developed for their pleasure. While I sit with my feet slowly kicking in the pool, I’m scanning the yard for visitors who give me little bits of joy. I scramble for my shoes when the hummingbirds come and occasionally am fortunate enough to snap a few quick photos before they zoom away. But I’m also frustrated by my diminishing speed when they’re gone before I’ve gotten three steps from my watery perch. I hardly feel floaty. I feel leaden. I know that part of this is due to a restlessness that’s popped up lately. August is coming. Maybe school will start in person and maybe it won’t. If it does, my life will narrow even more than it already has as my daughter’s family will be more off-limits than what we’ve enjoyed during this quarantine. In a few months, the outdoor respite will be replaced by indoors. Indoors almost all the time unless something magical happens. As the saying goes, I’m not going to bet the ranch on that.   I try to pump myself up by muttering the Muhammed Ali mantra to myself. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” I have to float internally right now. The stinging like a bee part is still operative as long as I have access to words. So I look around outside to see what I can give myself, to remind myself that I can float figuratively, if not literally. Sometimes a little fluke will make me feel buoyant, rising up instead of sinking.

I have a pair of cardinals living in my yard. They’ve been around for a couple of years – I know because I have lots of photos of them taken over that time. And the female has distinctive markings with a cream-colored chest and tinges of reddish rusty brown. She’s exceptionally beautiful and of course the male is the customary brilliant red. I see them every day. When mating season began, they were usually together, hunting for just the right nesting materials, or so I imagined.

  I listen to their various sounds and think they’re saying things like, “see anything sturdy over there?” or “do you think this piece will go well with the others?” In fact, I’ve unconsciously gotten quite familiar with their language, more so than I’d ever have thought. The other morning I was getting ready to set out a sprinkler to water my front garden. I was aware there was lots of bird racket going on and that there was a frantic tone that wasn’t part of the usual ambient chatter around me. Astoundingly I knew it was my cardinal pair. I went to investigate. I saw a large cat lounging on the front steps of my neighbor’s front porch. Both the male and female birds were hopping madly between the porch roof and the tall shrubs which ran across the face of the house. I shooed the cat away but it simply ambled under the bushes and laid down. Meanwhile my friends were ratcheting up the cacophony. I walked around trying to see what was happening and then saw a very new fledgling clinging to a bush.

  I quickly squeezed myself between the bushes and the house so I could chase the calculating cat away. It was pretty dismissive toward me initially but I got some good hostility going and it scampered away. Meanwhile the little fledgling attempted to fly away and wound up doing a face plant between my neighbor’s place and the next house door. I stood protectively over it, the poor exhausted little thing. I called my son, the bird biologist, to hurry to me to see what we should do. I’d snapped a photo of the baby just in case he couldn’t get to us in time.  The little guy caught its breath, turned slowly, looked at me and managed to loft itself back into the taller shrubs. Both parents were clicking encouragement and my son, having arrived and looked at the photo said, “you just did a good thing – that baby is very young.” We backed away from the area and within a few seconds, the noise level went back to normal. Did I feel like I was floating? Yes, indeed. I realized that those birds are like part of my family. Inviting animals into your space isn’t just about personal entertainment. Responsibilities go along with the good times. Recognizing that I really knew them well enough to be tuned in to their daily survival battles and trying to help them buoyed me right up. The connections I’m making with the world around me are meaningful and will go a long way to helping me stay afloat in this bizarre world. Later in the day, each parent showed up at my birdfeeders for some truly necessary replenishment after expending so much energy.

To them, it’s simply life. Nothing existential about it. They just keep on going. Luckily for me, they’ll overwinter here so I’ll get to enjoy them even when I’m locked in. But I’m not locked in now. I decided to take a little drive over to my pool.  It may be empty but I’m not. I’m so glad I stopped by. Yes, there’s no water. But the beautiful surroundings are still brimming with life, the serene space that always made me feel that I was getting away from life’s problems for at least a little while. The natural areas are bursting with bee balm and coreopsis, milkweed and black-eyed susans. Even the weedy grasses and Queen Anne’s lace were swaying in the light breeze, while bees were everywhere and birds skittered through the dense plantings. I left there feeling like I was lying on my back, looking up at the sky, floating in time. If  you try hard enough, you can bend reality to meet your current needs. At least for awhile, anyway.

Floating I’m obsessing about being immersed in water. At this time of year, every year for almost 45 years, I would be in this very pool for at least an hour a day.

[elsielewi5]

Native Shrubs from Across America

The single biggest trend in gardening over the last couple of decades has been the growing of native plants. An interest in the environment, concerns about the spread of alien species – these things have made gardeners look again at plants from their own country to decorate their gardens. These are replacing some of the traditional plants used in gardens, which often come from around the world, introduced by home-sick Europeans or by plant collectors in previous centuries. Instead, they are choosing beautiful but often neglected plants that grow wild right here in America.

In a previous blog, Native Trees from the Four Corners of the Country, we look at some shade and flowering trees that bring native interest to any garden. This time around we will look at some shrubs that grow wild, perhaps in your state, perhaps somewhere else across the country. These plants are often better adapted to the climate and introduce natural ecology right into your garden, linking your home to the wild world around us. Many of these plants have great charm, and are easy to grow, so let’s get down to some native gardening.

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Nearly everyone can recognize a hydrangea – or at least a Chinese one, usually called a mop-head hydrangea, with big, rounded heads of flowers in shades of pink, blue or white. Far fewer people realize that North America has several hydrangeas that grow wild in wooded areas around the country. From Florida to Louisiana, and up to North Carolina and Tennessee, you can find growing along streams a large shrub that is highly regarded as a garden plant in Europe, but much less so at home.

This is the Oakleaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, which is especially notable for its large, lobed leaves that do indeed look a little like gigantic oak leaves. Unlike mop-heads, whose leaves turn boring brown and shrivel as soon as it turns cold, the Oakleaf Hydrangea puts on a brilliant fall show, with reds, purples and bronzy tones stealing the show. In summer it produces huge broad spikes of white blooms, as much as 12 inches long, making a great show. It grows into a large shrub, between 5 and 12 feet tall, and thrives in sun or shade – ideal for any spot in your garden. If you can find it, an improved selection called ‘Alice’ was introduced by the famous plantsman Michael Dirr, and this vigorous plant is certainly worth seeking out. Another colorful variety is called ‘Ruby Slippers’, which has flowers that begin white but quickly turn deep red. It too has colorful fall foliage. Easy to grow, especially if you have a good supply of water, the Oakleaf Hydrangea is a native shrub that deserves a place in every American garden.

American Cranberry Viburnum

Not a true cranberry at all, and much easier to grow, but also laden with edible red berries in the fall, this plant, Viburnum trilobum, is a great native addition to your garden, especially if you live in cold districts. It’s hardy all the way into chilly zone 2, so no need for winter protection for this handsome bush. It grows 8 to 12 feet tall, making it perfect for background planting, or as a very attractive informal boundary to your property. In spring it is covered with flat heads of small white flowers, looking very handsome against the fresh foliage, and then by fall, clusters of brilliant red berries develop, which look even better once the leaves fall. If you leave them your local birds will love you, but experiment, as the pioneers did, with some jams or pies, and you will benefit from free food too. As a bonus, this species – found all across the colder parts of North America – is more pest resistant that the European forms of Viburnum often found in garden centers.

Spice Bush

A very effective way to support local wildlife is to plant a Spice Bush. This plant is a specific food source for beautiful Swallowtail butterflies, so you will be helping those special insects to thrive. The price of a few chewed leaves is well worth it. Anyway, this handsome rounded shrub, called Lindera benzoin, is a perfect choice for those damp, shady parts of your garden, that are often hard to fill. It will grow in sun too, if the soil stays reasonably moist. In fall it turns glowing yellow, and in spring there are curious flowers with twisted yellow petals all along the branches. The Spice Bush doesn’t stop at being the perfect addition to any informal garden, it is useful too. As the name suggests, all parts are aromatic. Fresh leaves, or twigs in winter, make a pleasant tea. If you grow several you will get a crop of red berries (pick them as they ripen, or the birds will beat you to it) with a seed that tastes like all-spice. It’s a novel addition to spicy cakes, or as part of a barbecue rub. This bush grows wild all through the eastern states, and usually reaches 6 to 10 feet tall in gardens.

Oregon Grape

The fruits may look a little like grapes, and they do make a spicy substitute for grape jelly, so this is one more reason to grow a plant that is packed with terrific garden virtues. It has bold evergreen foliage, divided into spiny leaflets, and its glossy tone makes it stand out, even in the shady spots where it thrives, and where it is most useful as a garden plant. Called Mahonia aquifolium, and sometimes called ‘Grape Holly’, for its spiny leaves, it’s a native plant of real garden value. In spring bold sprays of yellow flowers appear, which turn into clusters of dusky-blue berries. Growing all across the northern states, this is another plant that is more admired outside the country than in it. Nothing else grows so well in shade, making a spreading mound about 3 feet tall, yet it is not so often seen in gardens. If you want to ‘go native’, this is an ideal way to start, because this tough plant will grow under adverse conditions, and even deer leave it strictly alone.

Button Bush

What better way to ‘button down’ this introduction to native shrubs than with the amazing Button Bush. If you think native plants are boring, then think again. The Button Bush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, grows wild along streams all the way from Florida to Nova Scotia, so it will grow in almost any garden. It does need moisture, but otherwise is totally undemanding, growing 5 to 10 feet tall over time. The big event is flowering, when all along the branches 1-inch wide balls of buds appear, opening into a floral explosion, with spiky flower-parts growing out in all directions like a sunburst. These are produced all summer long, and attract everyone, including native insects, as well as hummingbirds. So forget the plastic feeders, and plant a Button Bush instead. You will help preserve native plants and wildlife, as well as adding a real novelty plant to your garden display.

Native Shrubs from Across America published first on https://www.thetreecenter.com

[cameronf24]

Native Shrubs from Across America

The single biggest trend in gardening over the last couple of decades has been the growing of native plants. An interest in the environment, concerns about the spread of alien species – these things have made gardeners look again at plants from their own country to decorate their gardens. These are replacing some of the traditional plants used in gardens, which often come from around the world, introduced by home-sick Europeans or by plant collectors in previous centuries. Instead, they are choosing beautiful but often neglected plants that grow wild right here in America.

In a previous blog, Native Trees from the Four Corners of the Country, we look at some shade and flowering trees that bring native interest to any garden. This time around we will look at some shrubs that grow wild, perhaps in your state, perhaps somewhere else across the country. These plants are often better adapted to the climate and introduce natural ecology right into your garden, linking your home to the wild world around us. Many of these plants have great charm, and are easy to grow, so let’s get down to some native gardening.

Oakleaf Hydrangea

Nearly everyone can recognize a hydrangea – or at least a Chinese one, usually called a mop-head hydrangea, with big, rounded heads of flowers in shades of pink, blue or white. Far fewer people realize that North America has several hydrangeas that grow wild in wooded areas around the country. From Florida to Louisiana, and up to North Carolina and Tennessee, you can find growing along streams a large shrub that is highly regarded as a garden plant in Europe, but much less so at home.

This is the Oakleaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, which is especially notable for its large, lobed leaves that do indeed look a little like gigantic oak leaves. Unlike mop-heads, whose leaves turn boring brown and shrivel as soon as it turns cold, the Oakleaf Hydrangea puts on a brilliant fall show, with reds, purples and bronzy tones stealing the show. In summer it produces huge broad spikes of white blooms, as much as 12 inches long, making a great show. It grows into a large shrub, between 5 and 12 feet tall, and thrives in sun or shade – ideal for any spot in your garden. If you can find it, an improved selection called ‘Alice’ was introduced by the famous plantsman Michael Dirr, and this vigorous plant is certainly worth seeking out. Another colorful variety is called ‘Ruby Slippers’, which has flowers that begin white but quickly turn deep red. It too has colorful fall foliage. Easy to grow, especially if you have a good supply of water, the Oakleaf Hydrangea is a native shrub that deserves a place in every American garden.

American Cranberry Viburnum

Not a true cranberry at all, and much easier to grow, but also laden with edible red berries in the fall, this plant, Viburnum trilobum, is a great native addition to your garden, especially if you live in cold districts. It’s hardy all the way into chilly zone 2, so no need for winter protection for this handsome bush. It grows 8 to 12 feet tall, making it perfect for background planting, or as a very attractive informal boundary to your property. In spring it is covered with flat heads of small white flowers, looking very handsome against the fresh foliage, and then by fall, clusters of brilliant red berries develop, which look even better once the leaves fall. If you leave them your local birds will love you, but experiment, as the pioneers did, with some jams or pies, and you will benefit from free food too. As a bonus, this species – found all across the colder parts of North America – is more pest resistant that the European forms of Viburnum often found in garden centers.

Spice Bush

A very effective way to support local wildlife is to plant a Spice Bush. This plant is a specific food source for beautiful Swallowtail butterflies, so you will be helping those special insects to thrive. The price of a few chewed leaves is well worth it. Anyway, this handsome rounded shrub, called Lindera benzoin, is a perfect choice for those damp, shady parts of your garden, that are often hard to fill. It will grow in sun too, if the soil stays reasonably moist. In fall it turns glowing yellow, and in spring there are curious flowers with twisted yellow petals all along the branches. The Spice Bush doesn’t stop at being the perfect addition to any informal garden, it is useful too. As the name suggests, all parts are aromatic. Fresh leaves, or twigs in winter, make a pleasant tea. If you grow several you will get a crop of red berries (pick them as they ripen, or the birds will beat you to it) with a seed that tastes like all-spice. It’s a novel addition to spicy cakes, or as part of a barbecue rub. This bush grows wild all through the eastern states, and usually reaches 6 to 10 feet tall in gardens.

Oregon Grape

The fruits may look a little like grapes, and they do make a spicy substitute for grape jelly, so this is one more reason to grow a plant that is packed with terrific garden virtues. It has bold evergreen foliage, divided into spiny leaflets, and its glossy tone makes it stand out, even in the shady spots where it thrives, and where it is most useful as a garden plant. Called Mahonia aquifolium, and sometimes called ‘Grape Holly’, for its spiny leaves, it’s a native plant of real garden value. In spring bold sprays of yellow flowers appear, which turn into clusters of dusky-blue berries. Growing all across the northern states, this is another plant that is more admired outside the country than in it. Nothing else grows so well in shade, making a spreading mound about 3 feet tall, yet it is not so often seen in gardens. If you want to ‘go native’, this is an ideal way to start, because this tough plant will grow under adverse conditions, and even deer leave it strictly alone.

Button Bush

What better way to ‘button down’ this introduction to native shrubs than with the amazing Button Bush. If you think native plants are boring, then think again. The Button Bush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, grows wild along streams all the way from Florida to Nova Scotia, so it will grow in almost any garden. It does need moisture, but otherwise is totally undemanding, growing 5 to 10 feet tall over time. The big event is flowering, when all along the branches 1-inch wide balls of buds appear, opening into a floral explosion, with spiky flower-parts growing out in all directions like a sunburst. These are produced all summer long, and attract everyone, including native insects, as well as hummingbirds. So forget the plastic feeders, and plant a Button Bush instead. You will help preserve native plants and wildlife, as well as adding a real novelty plant to your garden display.

Native Shrubs from Across America posted first on https://www.thetreecenter.com

[allcheatscodes]

red dead redemption ps3

http://allcheatscodes.com/red-dead-redemption-ps3/

red dead redemption ps3

Red Dead Redemption cheats & more for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Trophies

Get the updated and latest Red Dead Redemption cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, trophies, guides, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for PlayStation 3 (PS3). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

Use the links above or scroll down to see all the PlayStation 3 cheats we have available for Red Dead Redemption.

Check Xbox 360 cheats for this game

Genre: Shooter, Third-Person 3D Shooter Developer: Rockstar Publisher: Rockstar Games ESRB Rating: Mature Release Date: May 18, 2010

Hints

Cheats in the Newspaper

Cheat codes can be found in the bottom right hand corner of newspapers so buy them when you can.

Leg Work

This best works in armadillo. If you have the throwing knives, throw one knife using dead eye at the persons leg then see if he pulls out a gun. If he does throw another knife at his other leg from farther away he will sometimes drop on his knees and shoot at you with his gun. Then kill him however you want. I prefer a knife to the eye but do what ever you want.

Easy Skin Animals

When you have shot an animal of any kind and do not like to wait to collect the “reward”, just simply park your horse over the animal, hop off, and hit triangle to skin the animal. This saves alot of time.

Tackle A Bull

First, get in a fight with anyone who will fight back at Macfarlen’s ranch. Go to the cow pen (wile in the fight)and then set up a ground tackle and when the bull charge’s ground tackle. YOU WILL GRAB THE BULL AND THE BULL WILL FALL AND YOU CAN PUNCH HIM!

Homing Dynamite

Select dynamite from your weapons and then go into Dead Eye aiming mode. Position the orange arch so that it passes through or comes into contact with your target. Press R1 to lock onto your target and then press R2 to send the dynamite chasing after the intended victim. The dynamite won’t stop flying after the target until it’s dead. (Also works with firebottles a.k.a. Molotovs).

Make Money

Go out to the mountains and shoot bears, cougars, bighorn up in mountains cougars claws are worth $24 and bears are worth I think $18.

How To Get In The Villa House

In the misson where you kill bill there are some men with axes chopin th door down and you have to use the gatlen gun if you stand inbetween the door and the man you should be spawn inside the house if you want to get out you can just trow a fire bottle at the door and it will say you assalted one of Reyes men.

Early Access To Mexico

Go to “Frontera Bridge.” and ride quickly to the end of the bridge and get off the horse. Let your poor horse fall into the water. Do NOT call a new horse. Next, walk backward until the railroad track starts running into solid ground – it’s not very gar. Next, turn left and go down the steep slope all the way to the riverbank. There are a bunch of small bushes by the river and the music should also switch to Spanish music. If you don’t hear the new music you’ll have to start over. Finally, set up a campsite when you hear the music and you will then be on the Mexican side of the river. The “Romita de la Baya” bridge will take you back across the border, and you’ll have to do the same thing with the horse here, let it fall into the river and set up a campsite on the island. The campsite should be near the edge of the island to the north, either to the left or the right of the bridge.

Hint

If you go to the shallows, you will get a volcanic rifle, by defeating the gang members.

Location Of Survivalist Flowers

Survivalist 1Collect 6 Wild Feverfew: Found in Hennigan's Stead and Cholla SpringsSurvivalist 2Collect 6 Desert Sages: Found in and around Gap-tooth RidgeSurvivalist 3Collect 4 Red Sage Plants: Found in and around Rio BravoSurvivalist 4Collect 8 Prickly Pears: Found in and around Punto OrgulloSurvivalist 5Collect 7 Wooly Blue Curls: Found in and around PerdidoSurvivalist 6Collect 8 Butterfly Weeds: Found in and around Diez CoronasSurvivalist 7Collect 10 Hummingbird Sage Plants: Found in and around Tall TreesSurvivalist 8Collect 12 Prairie Popies: Found in and around the Great PlainsSurvivalist 9Collect 15 Golden Currants: Found in and around the Great PlainsSurvivalist 10Collect 10 Violet Snowdrops (collect 2 more of every herbavailable): Found in and around the snow-covered parts of Tall Trees

West Dickens Takes A Break

Begin a mission with West Dickens that requires driving or shotgunning hiscarriage. When you are a few hundred yards away from the mission’s beginningpoint, press Triangle (on PlayStation3) or Y (on Xbox 360) to jump free. Remainidle and do not get back on the carriage. Eventually West Dickens will jump offthe carriage and begin urinating.

Make Easy Money

Buy the house available in Armadillo, then after you did that, go to the bank and go in, DO NOT KILL THE GUARD, go to the back room and simply break the safes just like you use a combination lock for real and check the boxes in the same room as the safes and you should have 180-200 dollars.

Master Level 10

To kill all 3 rare animals, go and steal a stage coach. just sit in the drivers seat and shoot the rare animals. the animals can’t reach you. It’s like shooting fish ina barrel.

Buy A Mule

You can buy a mule in some general stores in Mexico but they are slow and will not jump over anything.

Sheep

You can find a sheep in the pens in armadillo and sometimes in the MacFarland ranch (can only be found in the day time and are rare animals).

Warning When Using Cheats

If you use a cheat code you will not be able to unlock trophies or save the game.

Easy Money

Hi RDR fans, I know how to make easy money. Some ways a good person might are:jobs, bounty hunting, help people who are being robbed, if a band of thugs (people who ride in on their horses shooting pistols in the air) shooting them, looting dead peoples bodies (they wont need it where they’re going), and hunting. Evil ways are:gambling, robbing, cattle and horse rustling, murdering then looting the body, winning duels, aim at people with your gun because they’ll pull out their gun and shoot you and that gives you the right to defend yourself and hit and runs.

Cheats

Gun Set 2

Enter: I’M AN AMERICAN. I NEED GUNS

Unlimited Ammo

Enter: ABUNDANCE IS EVERYWHERE

$500

Enter: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, WE THANK YOU

Infinite Horse Stamina

Enter: MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES

Infinite Dead Eye

Enter: I DON’T UNDERSTAND IMNFINITY

Spawn A Horse

Enter: BEASTS AND MAN TOGETHER

Jack Attack

Change John into Jack, enter: OH MY SON, MY BLESSED SON

Lewis And Clark

To unlock all areas, enter: YOU GOT YOURSELF A FINE PAIR OF EYES

Invincibility

Enter: HE GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEAK

Diplomatic Immunity

To remove your wanted level, enter: I WISH I WORKED FOR UNCLE SAM

Unlock Suit

Enter: DON’T YOU LOOK FINE AND DANDY

Complete Fame

Enter: I AM ONE OF THEM FAMOUS FELLAS.

Gun Set 1

Enter: IT’S MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.

Decrease The Bounty

Enter: THEY SELL SOULS CHEAP HERE

Full Cheat List

All Guns : WE NEED GUNS JOHN! Always drunk : I’M DRUNK AS A SKUNK AND TWICE AS SMELLY Become a nobody. : HUMILITY BEFORE THE LORD Decrease Bounty : THEY SELL SOULS CHEAP HERE Diplomatic Immunity : I WISH I WORKED FOR UNCLE SAM Enable the Sepia filter. : THE OLD WAYS IS THE BEST WAYS Fame : I AM ONE OF THEM FAMOUS FELLAS Get $500. : THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, WE THANK YOU! Good Guy : IT AINT PRIDE. IT’S HONOR Gun Set 1 : IT’S MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT Gun Set 2 : I’M AN AMERICAN. I NEED GUNS Infinite ammo : ABUNDANCE IS EVERYWHERE Infinite Dead Eye : I DON’T UNDERSTAND IMNFINITY Infinite Horse Stamina : MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES Invincibility : HE GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEAK Man in Uniform : I LOVE A MAN IN UNIFORM Play As Jack : OH MY SON, MY BLESSED SON Sharp Dressed Man : DON’T YOU LOOK FINE AND DANDY Spawn a horse-drawn coach. : NOW WHO PUT THAT THERE? Spawn a horse. : BEASTS AND MAN TOGETHER Unlock all areas. : YOU GOT YOURSELF A FINE PAIR OF EYES Unlock All Gang Outfits : YOU THINK YOU TOUGH, MISTER?

Complete Honor

Enter: IT AINT PRIDE. IT’S HONOR.

U.S. Uniforms

Enter: I LOVE A MAN IN UNIFORM.

Become A Nobody

Enter: HUMILITY BEFORE THE LORD

Enable Sepia Filter

Enter: THE OLD WAYS IS THE BEST WAYS

Unlockables

Avatar Items For PS Home

Gentleman’s Attire :Beat the Rockstar Games Social Club “Skin It To Win It”challenge Lady’s Finest :Beat the Rockstar Games Social Club “Skin It To Win It” challenge Posse T-Shirt :When the community reaches an unspecified amount of money in TheStrike It Rich! Rockstar Challenge this will be unlocked Red Dead Redemption Logo T-Shirt :Open a chest northwest of Riley’s Charge in aburnt down building Rockstar Logo T-Shirt :Open the chest in the attic at the Marston Farm house atBeecher’s Hope Sombrero :Shoot the hat off of an enemy on expert aim mode

Level Unlock For Weapons

Repeater Carbine Level 2Throwing KnivesLevel 3Volcanic PistolLevel 5Winchester RepeaterLevel 8Schofield RevolverLevel 9Pump ShotgunLevel 11Springfield RifleLevel 13DynamiteLevel 15Double-Action RevolverLevel 17Sawed-Off ShotgunLevel 18Rolling Block RifleLevel 20Fire BottleLevel 22Semi-Automatic PistolLevel 24Semi-Automatic ShotgunLevel 26Carcano RifleLevel 28Henry RepeaterLevel 32High Power PistolLevel 35Bolt-Action RifleLevel 40Evans RepeaterLevel 43LeMat RevolverLevel 46Mauser PistolLevel 49Buffalo RifleLevel 50

Unlockable Pistols

Cattleman Revolver – Unlocked from the beginning Volcanic Pistol – Clear out Twin Rocks Hideout; for sale at Armadillo Gunsmith ($100) Semi-automatic Pistol – Clear out Fort Mercer Hideout; for sale at the Escalera Gunsmith ($300) High Power Pistol – Given to you during “Bear One Another’s Burden” Mauser Pistol – For sale at the Blackwater Gunsmith ($800) Schofield Revolver – Becomes available during “The Gunslinger’s Tragedy” Double-Action Revolver – Clear out Tesoro Azul Hideout Lemat Revolver – For sale at the Escalera Gunsmith after the Revolution ($1250)

Unlockable Rifles

Repeater Carbine – Given during “New Friends, Old Problems” Winchester Repeater – Clear out Tumbleweed Hideout or complete “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Bandit;” for sale at Armadillo Gunsmith ($350) Henry Repeater – Clear Nosalida Hideout Evans Repeater – For sale at Blackwater Gunsmith Springfield Rifle – Clear Gaptooth Breach Hideout, given during “We Shall Be Together in Paradise;” for sale at Thieves’ Landing Gunsmith ($300) Bolt Action Rifle – Given during “The Gates2 bing Red Dead Redemption Cheats of Presidio;” for sale at Escalera Gunsmith ($750) Buffalo Rifle – For sale at any Gunsmith shop when you become a level five Master Hunter ($475) Rolling Block Rifle – Given during “Empty Promises” Carcano Rifle – For sale at Blackwater Gunsmith ($1100)

Unlockable Weapons

Double-barreled Shotgun – Given during “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Bandit;” for sale at Armadillo Gunsmith ($150) Sawed-off Shotgun – Clear Pike’s Basin Hideout; for sale at Thieves’ Landing Gunsmith ($250) Pump-action Shotgun – Give during “And the Truth Will Set You Free” Semi-auto Shotgun – For sale at Escalera Gunsmith ($1000) Dynamite – Given during “Father Abraham;” For sale at various stores Throwing Knife – Given during “The Great Mexican Train Robbery;” for sale at various stores Fire Bottle – Given during “The Demon Drink;” for sale at various stores Lasso – Given during “Wild Horses, Tamped Passions”

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for Red Dead Redemption yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Currently we have no glitches for Red Dead Redemption yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Guides

Currently we have no guides or FAQs for Red Dead Redemption yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Trophies

Trophy List

High Roller – Win over 2000 chips in a hand of Poker No Dice – Complete a game of Liar’s Dice without losing a single die What about Hand Grenades? – Get a ringer in a game of Horseshoes Austin Overpowered – Complete Twin Rocks, Pike’s Basin, and Gaptooth Breach Hideouts in Single Player Evil Spirits – Complete Tumbleweed and Tesoro Azul Hideouts in Single Player Instinto Asiento – Complete Fort Mercer and Nosalida Hideouts in Single Player Fightin’ Around the World – Knock someone out in melee in every saloon in the game in Single Player Strange Things are Afoot – Complete a task for a Stranger People Are Still Strange – Complete 15 tasks for Strangers Buckin’ Awesome – Break the Kentucky Saddler, the American Standardbred, and the Hungarian Half-bred Clemency Pays – Capture a bounty alive Exquisite Taste – Purchase a rare weapon from a gunsmith Bearly Legal – Kill and skin 18 grizzly bears He Cleans Up Well! – Obtain the Elegant Suit More than a Fistful – Earn $10,000 in Single Player Frontiersman – Obtain Legendary rank in any Single Player Ambient Challenge The Gunslinger – Score a headshot on any enemy using Expert targeting mode Man of Honor/Chivalry’s Dead – Attain highest Fame rank and either highest Honor rank or lowest Honor rank Gold Medal – Earn a Gold Medal Rank for a combat mission in Single Player On the Trail of de Vaca – Uncover every location on the map in Single Player Friends in High Places – Use a pardon letter with more than $5000 bounty in Single Player Redeemed – Attain 100% in the Single Player Game Completion stat Mowing Them Down – Kill 500 enemies with a mounted weapon in any game mode In a Hail of Bullets – Kill 500 enemies with any pistol or revolver in any game mode Long Arm of Marston – Kill 500 enemies with any rifle repeater, or shotgun in any game mode Bullseye – Get 250 Headshots in any game mode Unnatural Selection – Kill one of every animal species in the game in any game mode Have Gun Will Travel – Complete all Hideouts in a single public Free Roam session Slow on the Draw – Get 10 Assists in a single Hideout in a public Free Roam session Hit the Trail – Get from Blackwater to Escalera before sundown in a public Free Roam session Posse Up! – Create a Posse and get the maximum number of members The Quick and Everyone Else – Be the top scoring player in any three consecutive FFA games in public matches How the West Was Won – Reach the top rank for multiplayer experience Go Team! – Be on the winning team for four consecutive victories in any team based game in public matches Most Wanted – Become a Public Enemy for 10 minutes and escape alive in a public Free Roam session Red Dead Rockstar – Kill a Rockstar or someone with this trophy in a public multiplayer match

Secret Trophies

That Government Boy – Complete “Exodus in America” Land of Opportunity – Complete “The Assault on Fort Mercer” Sons of Mexico – Complete “The Gates of El Presidio” No More Fancy Words – Complete “An Appointed Time” A Savage Soul – Complete “At Home With Dutch” The Benefits of Civilization – Complete “And the Truth Will Set You Free” Into the Sunset – Complete “The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed” Nurture or Nature – Complete “Remember my Family” Manifest Destiny – Kill the last buffalo on the Great Plains in Single Player Heading South on a White Bronco – Evade the U.S. Marshals while riding the Hungarian Half-bred horse Strange Things Are Afoot – Complete a task for a stranger Dastardly – Place a hogtied woman on the train tracks, and witness her death by train