The Petunias & the Milkweed

I was told hummingbirds like red petunias.

This year, the petunias are redder than red.

It is good to see something going well for something else. 

I might have seen a hummingbird this year wiz by. As yet, none have been seen by me at the petunias. I expect there will be more butterflies this year with more flowers blooming.

I am glad to report the milkweed plants I nearly flattened last week when I fell are all doing well, even the one that had a small break. 

To protect them on a very windy night, I was pushing a small section of wire garden fencing in the ground to protect them. The wire hit stone and bent. I saw a mass of green ferns coming at my face. Not going that way!

Instead, I rolled over to the side onto the sidewalk. I got up real fast. 

The funny part is that next door there were EMTs chatting at a stretcher on the porch. The hydrangeas are so high they probably wouldn’t see the blur of an old lady rolling out of the ferns, it happened that quick. Makes me laugh when I think about. It felt like a comedy skit. 

Rolled from upper right to sidewalk on left

The knee that hit the concrete has a spot of discomfort, shooting pain sometimes, no broken skin. I didn’t see the bruise until this morning, right on that spot. Weird it would take days to show up. 

Anyway, lesson learned to not put one’s weight on a flimsy wire fence. Use arm muscles not body weight. 

Big Dreams

 If a very precious big dream falls apart, then does the mind go with it?

No, the mind is created to continue dreaming.

That’s what I do when life brings me sorrow. I tend my wounds with lovely dreams as I mourn the loss. Giving yourself permission to face reality in grief, I feel, is healing.

Dealing with this horrible spell check program is another story! It is crucial to read your text before publishing because words can be changed in sometimes hideous ways. For example, I was appalled when a simple reply I wrote read like a disgusting page from a porn novel because the spellcheck program added guessed words. 

The guessed words part of spell check needs an off button. Better yet, go to the Browser settings>Languages and find the button to shut off spellcheck. 

Good luck

Name Development

Ah, so it goes! Who are you in name presented to the world as a blogger, influencer, personality or business? Titles count.

Developing a name, as I see it, is a mix of your vibe vision and practicality. What feels good to you that the world out there will also be attracted to. 

Based in my name development process:

• Begin with words that you feel connected to, like ocean, woods, canoe, cabin, nature. The words are starting points for brain storming, not necessarily to be used in a name. Use a thesaurus.  
• List several to search online if the name is already being used or means something that does not express your vision. Add keywords like blog, website. book, podcast.
• Search the US Trademark register and your state business register
• Search domain name availability on a trusted domain host website. Add the, s, a and such in your searches. 
• Sketch possible logos
• Rest the name for a few days or longer. Do Not Share it online, in an email or text. 
• Once you are sure you like the name/title, know it is not in use already or too similar to a name in use, then buy the domain name adding the privacy feature. 
• Set up your blog, your website unpublished. 
• Adding-Buy the US trademark. 
• Ducks in a row, go for it. 

I highly stress to do thorough research to make sure your name is unique and not in use. And now that I’ve been sent into shock, 

Buy the US Trademark! 

Summer Photographs: Fields & Shade

 Each week, a select photograph that depicts the season of Summer will be posted here on Mondays. The image can be any subject from an arranged still life to one simple scene that speaks Summer. 

Here is a favorite from Summer 2024.

Route 17 Addison Vermont

There is something about hot sun, farm fields and the shade of a large tree that brings me to thoughts of a perfect summer day. I can almost hear the loud buzzing of June bugs.

Fairness For Blogs?

Advocating searching in various forms, your name and blog name as well as buying the domain names for both has been posted on this blog for years. *

In 2012, (there about) when this blog’s name became Salty Pumpkin Studio, Internet search top pages’ results didn’t show use of the name, Salty Pumpkin, aside from food recipes.

That has changed as now there are people using and/or plan to use Salty Pumpkin as their business name.

https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html

In other words, all the years You put into building your blog name means nothing unless maybe you can register it as a trademark. I state maybe because I don’t know US Trademark rules.

Is it fair for bloggers to not have legal protection for their blog name? 

I believe it is not fair. 

I want to see copyright laws keep up with the times by adding a rule that protects blogs from people who try to capitalize on that blog’s years of publishing. 

If an active blog with a unique name has been publishing weekly with the same title for 5 years or more, has an active comment feature, and posts images, then that blog’s title should be protected by copyright. 

I believe using a blog’s unique name is a form of impersonation. 

*This post has been edited to make it shorter

Also, Internet search results for salty pumpkin are not the same as hours ago. Now the results show this blog on top (as it use to).

 

Bird Sighting: Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren
February 2025 Vergennes, Vermont

Would you look at that!

A first time sighting of a Carolina Wren is quite exciting. There were a few of them there scurrying around at the birdseed. 

That is the best photo I have. When I set up the camera to hide my movements, they were nowhere to be seen. Birds. 

Pondering the Quality of Life

Addison County Vermont

 

The day after the recent snowfall, the sun is shining brightly on 3 or 4 inches of snow. The weather map has no snowflakes in the forecast until Saturday night. I and the hood of my vehicle are pleased as we warm to the glorious light of our planet's only Sun.

My bad knee is a little better. I'm keeping the cane handy. Having such difficulty walking makes me ponder the days ahead when age will be the swollen bad knee.

Aging in the upper years comes with worry for just about every little thing, what it means to the quality of life. It is there like dark clouds and a chill on a sunny day at the beach. Well, I say so what! There are a lot of wonderful quotes about not allowing negatives to spoil the day. Better to read them to uplift one's spirits than sit and worry about something like a shooting pain in my thumb as arthritis or did I bang it on the water faucet. 

This subject feels like I've posted about it before, a same old kind of thing. What makes it feel new (er) is how badly the bad knee limits my ability to walk. Scary it is.

There are plenty of things I can do to make me feel happy, refreshed, pleased with how I spent my time. They are too numerous to list but here are a few.

🌲 Christmas ornaments 

All that felt, fabric and bit of trim I've saved for years* can be put to good use in a plastic shoebox kept beside my yarn stash for a handy do something while I ponder the meaning of life.

💟 Greeting Cards

Glue, scissors, trims, paper and imagination are all that's needed to create simple and pleasing designs. Paper can be made from junk mail.

🎵 Music appreciation

Listen to music for a few hours for an in the recliner concert. Think about each instrument as it plays. Remember the old school days class for music?

In all that, I have stories to edit, paintings to finish, and the very pout producing task of not sitting in a chair daydreaming or staring into space for hours on end.

 P.S.

I got Wordle in 2 today!

* I have fabric that is over 50 years old. 

A Slim View

American Robin

It is snowing steadily here in upper western Vermont (11:28 AM EDT). It is one of those snowfalls that gives me reason to shovel the deck for the birds. Thus far I have shoveled twice. It is time for another clear off but I'm pacing myself. 

You see, yesterday I ate too many salty crackers as in water retention as in my bad knee is swollen from the saltiness issue thing. 

About the bird feeder area. I add branches for the birds to have more cover and places to sit. I imagine that if I was a bird, then I'd be very pleased with the cozy area to snack and chat with my fellow feather friends. The dry area under a lawn chair is a favorite.

On the downside, this year the birds fly off at the slightest movement from inside. I have to sneak around my own home to keep from startling them. I put up a barrier piece of plywood. There is a slim space where I can see them through the floral sheers. I haven't tried to pull the curtain back to take pictures.

Unlike myself, the birds are out there very busy pecking away, flying by and getting out of the way of a territorial mourning dove.

Viewing area
Sparrow on the right

P.S. There's more bird activity out there now at almost 5 PM EDT than I've seen all day!

The Night Sky, Energy & Dancing

A planet at 7 PM EDT
over Vermont

This winter is presenting as a winter’s winter, cold freezing temperatures with snow squalls and storms passing through the beautiful Champlain Valley of Vermont and Upstate New York. I be pleased. It is a relief to not see white sky dull light day after day, week after week.

The energy to continue blogging is nurtured by the sunshine I am grateful to see on many days this winter. Catching up on reading the many lovely blogs I follow is slowly returning as well. 

Engaging in social interaction online through blogging or the other social media platforms is important, I feel, to ones’s mental health when it is balanced with exercise and in person experiences. 

Exercise. It is not easy to be enthusiastic to layer up and get outdoors in freezing cold weather. Dancing, even in a chair, is the indoor fun that makes me smile.

The Night Sky

Earth’s satellite, the Moon 
7:00 PM EDT Vermont
facing up westward above Vermont
stars? lower left under Moon

 Last night I hurried out to empty the trash (forgot earlier). Coat zipped up. I braved the cold by the glow of the parking lot lights and scurried across the network of might be icy spots.

On the way back, I notice a very bright star in the West. It isn’t a star. The bright planet is Venus! Or is it? To the southeast, another bright object. It is a star called Jupiter, Mars or Sirius! 

Browsing online for night sky stars and planets is frustrating. Often I struggle to plot what I see with the information and photos that are posted online. I’m such a grump lately. (I shall not post on the subject of why.)

😎

Anyway, the night sky is full of marvelous lights. If you can get outside, and have clear skies, then consider having a look. 

Plot your location and the hour when taking photographs. Later, draw a night sky map to label the stars and planets. Note that some planets and stars are visible after sunset and before sunrise. 

Thoughts in February

 

A View Out a Winter Window

Well, here we are in the first week of February in the Northeast aka New England, maybe wondering when a blizzard will show up. I’m feeling late this month or mid March. 

Silly me.

Convoluted. An interesting word that has been showing up in my thoughts the more I watch television dramas. In acting, trying too hard, lines that are stiff like a first grader learning to read is uncomfortable to watch. Maybe the months of my not watching TV brings it out more now that I’m watching more. Some story lines regurgitate dialogue like too much sweet birthday cake sloshed down with tequila shots.

On the other hand, the television sitcoms I’ve viewed are of a much better quality. Monday night’s CBS comedy, “Poppa’s House,” is hilarious! I might use closed captions to read because I laugh so much I sometimes miss what they are saying. 

Any time if year is good to explore things for laughter and rewarding mental health opportunities. Community events can be especially comforting. Reading an in hand paper newspaper has a special feeling as does a visit to the local library.

I think we all need someplace to go besides the grocery store and dumpster to take out the trash. Our minds need other places as well.

I’ve even watched a fun game shows like “Hollywood Squares,” and “Rage the Cage.”