Radically Retired

Category: Nature

  • Trouble in the Sky

    Trouble in the Sky

    Late yesterday afternoon, a call was interrupted by the loud honking on my cell phone of an Environment Canada tornado warning for our area.

    Within an hour, the eerie calm set in and the sky darkened.

    My feature photo is looking east from our balcony. Soon, the wind picked up, and the nimbus clouds moving in from the west started attacking the fluffy white cumulus clouds, threatening the formation of the dreaded combination: cumulonimbus. The cloud formations I learned in science class so many years ago have stuck with me. That’s a testament to a good teacher.

    Thankfully, our only outcome from the ominous warning, was a ten minute episode of heavy rain, wind, thunder, and lightning; then it just carried on moving east.

    I’ll admit I was more than a bit anxious for a while.

  • Homesick

    Homesick

    Do you ever get homesick for places that aren’t home?

    I sure do.

    Since we’ve been wintering in South Texas, I’ve come to love the area around Port Isabel and South Padre Island. I think of it often when we’re back home for the summers in our landlocked Canadian province. Our summers here at home are great, weather wise. There’s just something about our winters, living so close to the Gulf of Mexico, that makes me “homesick” for the water.

  • Framing Sunrise

    Framing Sunrise

    In my world, it’s the best time of day … quiet, except for the waking birds, peaceful thinking time, and that consistently soft glowing light, illuminating everything it touches to welcome a new day.

    These days, it’s just before 5 am.

  • The Dreaded Rabbit Cage

    The Dreaded Rabbit Cage

    When I was a child, my dad worked building the first gravel roads around our small prairie town.

    He was known near and far for his CAT operating skills.

    While Dad was out on his daily work schedule, he’d often come across wounded and/or abandoned animals.

    His soft heart resulted in a great variety of temporary pets for us kids. Once they were nursed back to heath, or had grown enough, the critters were released back to their home in the fields.

    One spring, he brought home two abandoned baby rabbits. He promptly built a cage for them and all seemed rosy and filled with love of nature, until …

    Taking turns cleaning the rabbit cage became a part of the chore list for my sis and me.

    All the love of baby bunnies went downhill from there.

    If you’ve ever had to clean a rabbit cage, you’ll understand.

    *My feature photo is courtesy of Google images*

  • June “Snow”

    June “Snow”

    Mid June here sees the pure white fluff/fuzz gently drifting down from the poplar/cottonwood trees like snowflakes.

    It always amazes me that it collects in drifts – also like snow.

  • Nature’s Entertainers

    Nature’s Entertainers

    Hubs and I enjoy hours of entertainment watching squirrels, and that’s a good thing because our little prairie city houses a large population of these frolicking and mischievous little critters.

  • In Her Glory

    In Her Glory

    Our daughter wasn’t raised on a farm but loves everything about farm life. Her happiest days are when the new chicks arrive.

  • June Welcome

    June Welcome

    It’s the time of year again, when the delicate pink and white blossoms of the honeysuckle shrubs, with their sweet heady scents, welcome us to the walking paths.

  • On Hold

    On Hold

    For the past couple of days, my outdoor walks have been on hold because winds carrying forest fire smoke from hundreds of miles away have created air quality issues here.

    That brownish yellow sky isn’t normal here, thank goodness.

  • Lilac Memories

    Lilac Memories

    The sight and scent of these purple blossom clusters always take me back to our early marriage and our first home. The property was bordered by a lilac hedge.