Marcy, dyou believe I lost my pink camera again?
When I got home, Scott had found my camera and put it on my laptop. Whew!!!
I left for a lecture at the Upper Moreland Library - I was half an hour early cuz I can't follow directions.
The talk was called
DESIGNING WITH NATIVES: BACKYARD CONSERVATION DESIGN BASIC TRAINING
A Roadmap to Backyard Conservation Design and Stewardship Using Native Plants
John Rogers of Keystone Conservation Trust was our very knowledgeable easy-to-listen-to speaker.
View the spectacular Designing with Natives website here.
There were ONLY two people there - me and an older retired gent who, with his wife, are StreamKeepers with Pennypack Trust.
Isn't it great how so many people wanna do right by our land?
I mentioned to John that I don't feel right saying "My backyard tree" - well, it is mine to keep healthy - but it belongs to nature. "Only God can make a tree."
Three years ago, the backyard maple just got a trim - not at Hair Cuttery - but with Willow Tree Company.
Oh no! Just got an idea to ask John Rogers to come speak at New Directions. See, I've always wanted ND to be involved in an important project. Thing is, what would we do? Next Saturday is the Pennypack Trust Creek Cleanup.
Below is a group of us from several years ago.
John Rogers is author of a couple of books.
He gave us a Pop Quiz. Oooh, just the memory of those chills me to the bone.
In what ecosystem do we live? I think it's the Atlantic Seaboard.
In what flyway do we live?
What canopy trees are natural to this region?
How much rainfall do we get?
John said that every year we get as much as if our Library Room filled with water up to his waist. We get
plenty of rain for all of our needs. I forgot to brag that me and Scott have a Rain Barrell.
Make it a goal, he said, to reduce your lawn by 25 percent.
Lawns look so boring, I said.
Put in Beds over your lawn.
We need 60 percent native plants in our yard.
Why native?
This is where they belong, where they've been growing for 14,000 years.
I was really psyched when I left the library.
Told John I was gonna do something really terrible when I left.
And I did.
I sat in the parking lot of DQ and shot up - 10 units - the most I ever do.Then I studied the menu and selected the Caramel Moolatte.
Fantastic! Very very freezing cold. With tiny ice crystals inside that I didn't particularly enjoy. You've gotta crunch on em, like crunching on gravel.
Twas so chilly outside I had to sit in the car. I usually like to stroll around. I parked my car so I could stare in the dark at some houses on the hill.
Merry sounds of laffter.
A woman came out of her house and walked down to the DQ.
You know what I did? When I finished my drink I walked up to her as she was ordering.
She was wearing PJ bottoms.
Isn't it tempting, I asked, to come here every day bc you live so close.
I DO come here every day, she said.
On her tray was some sort of Orange Smoothie and a dreadful looking cone with colorful worm-like jimmies.
This definitely looked good. They also have Orange Julius, a fab treat I used to have many times a week when I was my dad's secretary in Manhattan at Majestic Specialties, Inc.I wrote about three poems today. The first is about our compost heap
THE DEMING-SHERMAN COMPOST HEAP
Opposable thumbs are
over-rated, says Pavoratti
the Badger, as he drags
over 2 daffodils for
their midnight party
Milly the Possum cries
Nothing more delightful
than the inside of these
organic brown eggs
Who does Sherman think
he is, tossing nana-
banana peels on our
table, says Spunky
the Skunk.
We loves em, says
Dilly the deer. Yikes
what an itch, as he
moves over to the
blue garage to rub
his velvet antlers on.
Boat-like half moon
shines on the little
party, as the food
continues its
remarkable journey.
Online photo
To thank the folks at Tom Sawyer Auto for quickly fixing my flat tire, I wrote em a poem
JUST ANOTHER SUPERHERO IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
My car sagged on the driveway
Weeping for a nail that pierced
its rubber flesh
Scott divorced it
from the shiny rim
rolled it like a chocolate
covered doughnut
and lifted it into his
trunk. We pulled into
Tom Sawyer on York Road
George in his spiffy royal-
blue shirt took charge
a master mechanic
Impatient, I walked over to
the DQ, imagined I was eating
a hot dog with mustard
washed down with a thick
chocolate milkshake
leaving a mustache
on my upper lip
George, you hero you!
God bless you for your
dextrous hands, your ability
to bend your knees and
spring back up like
a volleyball player
making the final catch
to victory!
On FB, I'm in a group called I Grew Up in Shaker Heights, where Al Rosen just appeared.The final poem was to thank a fellow who is helping to do my taxes.
I was missing some credit card statements, so I emailed him my user ID and passcode so he could retrieve them.
If you'd like to see how much I spend, feel free to use my user code Ruthie123 and my password JimmyPiersallFan.
A SIMPLE MAN
Modest
kind
handsome as
a baseball player
tagging home
He helps me
with no thought
of reward
Doing my bidding
from his office tower
in New York or
is it Paris or Rome?
I have sculpted a
statue for him
which we'll place
on the grassy lawn
On West Street Road
A huge bronze of
an antlered deer
tail uplifted in pride
to show the weary world
goodness comes easy
easy as the name of
Michael.
AND I think we should read this post about MJ from NPR.. 
