Cricket

Yesterday morning this good-sized cricket was in the kitchen. I took this picture and then I managed to pick it up and release it outside. I hope it found its family in the back yard. Sometimes I think I've heard crickets in the house, but this one was very quiet. In the summer in Indiana sometimes the crickets make so much noise that you can hardly hear anything else outside.

When I was little I had a green glow-in-the dark plastic figurine that I THINK was Jiminy Cricket. But maybe it was a plastic Planter's Peanut figurine. In any case, this is the first REAL cricket I've gotten to know.

Along the River

We love to take a walk along the river. There are trains that go along the river on the other side. The best train ever was the Ringling Brothers Circus train that we saw about 2 years ago. But most of them are freight trains that are not carrying a circus. There is only one passenger train a day. Here is a picture I took the other day of a freight train going right past the station. If you click on the picture it will be big enough for you to see the train.















Now we have another sight to see when we take our walk. A new sculpture, called Fishtail Dance, was just put up this week. Today was the dedication. It looks sort of like a fish, and there are two "tails" on the top that move in the wind. Here is a picture.

African Violets

When I was little, my mother grew African violets in our sunroom. They like a lot of light. She drew several pictures of them. Here is a picture of one of the pastels she made. It hangs in my dining room.
















Recently my friend gave me an African violet. When I got it it just had leaves. Within a couple of weeks it had seven buds. Six of them have already bloomed, and the seventh one looks like it will bloom soon. Here is a picture I took the other day.