Books and Movies, Hosta and Deer

Today I watched a documentary on Judy Blume, author of children's books for people much younger than I. Her books written and published in the seventies and eighties shocked many adults because she covered themes that girls and boys wanted to know about, and had questions about, but didn't feel they could ask about. The iconic, best-selling author crafted heart-warming tales for younger children that are filled with humor and honesty and reveal what it's really like to be a little kid figuring out the world. She became very popular. She went on to write adult novels in her later years. She is 85 years old now.

I was not familiar with Blume but I did know she was a popular writer. The documentary is extremely interesting. I always enjoy reading or learning about why or how someone becomes a writer and especially how they become a famous writer. The movie, based on one of her books, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is playing at our local movie house this weekend. I wonder if the children, now grownups, who read her books, will see the movie. 

I wish Blume's books had been around when I was a child. She covers many of the things I wondered about but didn't know how to ask a grownup. I have not read her books but heard in the documentary that she wrote about sex, menstruation, breast development, bullying, and other things that parents seldom discuss with their children. Most kids are left to learn from other children who don't always know the correct information. 

I plan to go to the movies Sunday afternoon, but I want to see Air with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. I like both these actors but I don't see them in many movies because I don't like most of the shows they play in. Modern movies with all the special effects, violence and gore don't interest me, but I have been told Air is about relationships and that will be interesting to me. I have seen some interviews with both of the main stars and enjoyed them. 

Life has been quite busy since I got back to Hayesville. I am trying to save my hosta plants from the deer. They got three of my pretty ones, but I have purchased some deer repellant and sprayed the others twice and so far the deer have not eaten them. I think I might need to spray again tomorrow since we are having rain tonight and in the morning. 

Hosta

If the hungry deer eat my hosta I have more potted on my deck. The deer can't get on my deck. When I got back from Georgia, I found the deer had eaten the lower half of my rhododendrons, my ground cover in front of the house, and stripped my rose bushes of all greenery.  

I love to watch the deer as they pass by on the ridge every day, but I don't want them in my yard. Some people say they eat our bushes because they are overcrowded in the woods and don't have enough to eat. But my deer have a big farm with green pasture next door to my place. Maybe I need to put up a sign that says: Attention deer, green grass this way> and point it to Mr. Hindman's farm.

Lexie says it is time to go to bed now so I guess she is right.  I need to go to sleep before 1:30 AM. so I can get up tomorrow and go to the movie. 

Until next time, hope you enjoy spring and all mother nature brings into your life. 

Thanks for reading my posts. I enjoy hearing from you.

Back Home Again

I'm back. As I sit here in my mountain house living room, in my recliner with Lexie sleeping in her bed on the sofa, I see a herd of deer running down the ridge. Usually they meander slowly eating along the way. My bird feeders are filled and in no time my birds were back. Tomorrow I will fill the hummingbird feeders. 

Gay and Stu moved me back into my house using two cars to pack and haul everything. What a blessing those two people are to me. Lexie loves them so much she cried when they drove away today. She has never done that before. Dogs know who is good, kind and loving. She will miss both Gay and Stu. 

The trees are just budding out with so many spring colors and the dogwoods all over my property are in full bloom. Down in Roswell GA where I spent the last six months, so many trees and flowers are in full bloom. Roswell is a very pretty town and well-cared for. I learned to really like living there, but it is a very expensive place to live. Groceries are extremely high and the Publix stores seem to only carry the most expensive products. 

A brief visit to our local Ingles here cost me less than one hundred dollars. I never left Publix for less than 100 dollars. City life has much to offer and I see why folks like to live there. So many good restaurants, theaters, parks including dog parks which we don't have. Lexie loves the dog park in Woodstock, a large place for small dogs and another large place for the big dogs. She pays no attention to other dogs, but visits all the people sitting on benches. If I miss her and look around I find her on someone's lap. Once I heard a total stranger call out, "Oh, look. There's Lexie!"

When I left here to go to live at my sister and BIL's house, I was in a sorry state of health, both mental and physical. Caught up in a medical nightmare after being told I had a serious heart problem, I was convinced I had to move to be near my family and have someone care for me. 

After six months of worry and tests, I was finally told I did have a problem, but not serious enough to have the surgery that I had been told would solve it. So I had the knee replacement I had been needing for some time and now I walk without a limp and have no pain in my knee. Thanks to the best caregiver in the world, the doctor says my recovery from the surgery has been extremely good.

It was tempting to stay in my nice little apartment where I felt so safe and secure. Gay and Stu said I am welcome to come and stay when and as long as I want. I enjoyed going out to eat with them and going to the movies with them. Having long lunches with Gay and my niece, Lee, were so much fun. Having Dave, Lee's husband, willing to come over and help me assemble shelves, put up hooks and offer to help me any time I needed him, was wonderful. 

Well, the deer, so much the color of the leaves on the ground, are slowly moving back up the ridge now. I think they come down to get water and then mosey up the mountain again. Although a herd traveled through the wooded yard in Roswell, it was usually at night. Lexie went out and barked at them, but I seldom saw them.

One of the lovely animals is close to my house now. I hope they don't come and eat my Hosta like they did last year. My flowers and plants are bursting out with greenery. 

I am bursting with love for my family and friends. I look forward to seeing my writer friends soon now that I am back. I will be posting on this blog more than in recent months. I love my blog readers who live in distant countries as well as distant states in the USA. I will be visiting your sites more in the coming weeks.

 

With Easter approaching, my memories of my family, my church friends of the past, and all that is good in my life come to me in quiet times, those times when I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my wonderful life.  

Stu and Gay Moring

Thank you all for reading my thoughts today and for sharing your thoughts with me.

If you can't comment on this blog, please email me. glendabeall@msn.com  

I love to hear from you.

www.glendacouncilbeall.com 

Where are my deer?

I am sad to see my deer are gone. I call them my deer, the three adults and three young ones less than a year old. Over the years the size of the herd varies, but the trail they walk past my window stays the same.

I wrote about Flag recently, the one youngster that dawdled along the way until he saw his mom had gone far up the mountain side. Then he took off like a scared rabbit. He reminded me of The Yearling, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. 

For the past couple of weeks, I have only seen one deer – one of the young ones. Where are the others? It is hunting season. I know because I saw two photographs of big burly men in our local newspapers holding the dead heads of bucks they had proudly killed. 

I haven't seen any bucks in my deer herd, but I wonder if the does and young ones were shot. I know many of the people in this area eat the meat of the deer and it is no crueler than killing a cow for the beef. Still, I enjoyed the little herd passing by my window each day. Unlike people with gardens, I did not find them to be nuisances. 

On one snowy winter day, I caught them feeding in the snow. I made a shaky, amateur video and posted it on You Tube. You can see it by clicking on the link below.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAROJp7iWkU

Yearlings

Summer is certainly winding down here in the mountains. Every morning I find leaves on my deck, and I see some color developing around the borders of my yard. The early morning temperatures are much cooler. It is time to throw open the windows. Let the crisp fresh air inside.

Looking out my living room through double windows, I often see herds of deer on a trail that only they know as they move up or down the mountain. Sometimes I see two or three or maybe as many as ten as they quietly make the trek past my house. Today I happened to be looking out when I saw slight movement. As I watched, a doe made her deliberate way through the trees, barely noticeable because her brown coat blended so well with nature. I waited to see if others would follow and, sure enough, a young one, probably born in May or June, followed her. 

Just as I had decided there were no more deer, another young one appeared. He reminded me of a curious little boy, stopping to investigate anything that caught his eye. He nibbled from the ground, probably finding acorns. It could have been he heard an unfamiliar sound or he had just realized his family had gone on without him. His little head flew up, and he bolted up the ridge, his short tail held aloft like a white flag. 

This image brought to mind one of the first movies I saw as a child, The Yearling, based on the wonderful book by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I fell in love with that orphaned deer, Flag, and it broke my heart that he would not be tamed and behave himself so he could be kept safe. Like the young one I saw today, Flag was curious and mischievous. He would not stay out of the corn field, and no matter how hard the boy tried, he could not save the wild animal he loved so much. 

That is the way with some young humans, isn't it? Their curiosity, their daring and adventurous spirit will not be harnessed. They defy caution. They climb mountains, they jump motorcycles, they drive fast cars, they test the waters in every way they can. 

Sometimes they end their lives before they have lived. Sometimes, we who love them, hold our breath and say to ourselves, "If we can just keep him alive until he's grown."

DEER FEEDING IN THE SNOW

Cold Snowy days can give us cabin fever when we think the weather will just never change so we can get out of our house and down our driveway, so we can go to the grocery store, have lunch with friends, and shop.

I tend to enjoy the enforced isolation for a while.

One of the reasons I do enjoy being shut off from the world is what I can see in my woods without leaving my house.

See below the video I made early one morning. My camera work is amateurish, but the scene is lovely.

Click on the link below, my video on You Tube, and see what I saw from my living room when five of these beauties buried their heads in the white stuff to get to acorns under the six or seven inches of snow.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAROJp7iWkU



I hope you like it and if you do, please leave me a comment or send an email. Thanks.