Elizabeth Ann Pierce

As the seasons change, I wanted to share a favorite haiku with my friends here:

A spider web appeared in the corner of the back porch doorframe during the night – complete with spider! Unfortunately, my little “Charlotte” isn’t a writer – or at least, I can’t make out any inspiring words in her web. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have stories to tell.

Guess I’ll just have to do the writing for both of us!

The original Charlotte’s Web (by E.B. White) was a childhood favorite, and a favorite of my children’s. Of course, that rapscallion, Templeton (the Rat, in case you don’t remember) was *my* favorite character!

Anyway, no pigs or rats or other barnyard critters around here. Just a spider, sharing the morning with us, inviting us to read what we will in her web.

I’m sort of Goblin-like when it comes to hot air balloons – no matter how many times I watch them take off, I still love the variety of colors and patterns different balloonists come up with. So when I had the opportunity to go to a balloon festival over the holiday weekend, I’ll got up early and went with my friends to watch them fill and rise just after sunrise.

(Because I’m Goblin-like when it comes to hot-air balloons, I thought I’d also link to this cool video of Hot Air Balloons on YouTube.)

Enjoy!

There’s a row of poplars along the back fence. They’re probably too close to the fence – the original owners of the house planted them, not us - but they’re an excellent screen between us and the neighbors.

Sadly, one of the trees took some serious damage over the winter, and didn’t survive. It was, of course, the one that was perfectly positioned to shade the back porch from both the afternoon sun and the neighbor’s yard. Much as we regret doing so, we’ve had to take it out to prevent the dead, dying, and drying branches from breaking off and landing on something (or someone).

I’m going to miss that tree – both for the shade it provided, and the sound of the wind blowing through the branches and rustling the leaves.

Bye-bye big tree.