My name is Katherine J. Krein. I lost my father in June of 2013, and then I lost my mother in November of the same year. After they both died I went through a mind-warping number obsession that has taken me years to control. This is my story. It is now 2025. I still use this site to post some poems and thoughts. My obsession has faded, however, I still notice the numbers. Faith, hope, and love is what guides me now.
A collage of Swallowtail butterflies in my garden.The barn swallow also has the distinct forked-tail.
I found the swallowtail butterfly collage I put together long ago. I no longer do collages. Where does the name 'swallowtail' come from? I read somewhere that it is named after the barn swallow bird because they both have a forked-tail. I cannot vouch for the validity of this, however, I like this explanation.
I decided this post needed an audio addition. So, I went looking for an appropriate tune, and discovered the traditional Irish jig fiddle tune named, Swallowtail Jig.
After looking at the Ricola bag again I realized that I grew another edible and flavorful flower in my garden. The leaves of the mallow plant are eaten around the world and cooked in various ways, often stuffed and wrapped around meat and other foods. I found several foragers who wrote about being overjoyed finding mallow in the wild and harvesting it for food. I grew it because I thought it was a beautiful plant. There are several types of mallow. I grew the Zebrina mallow for its lovely flowers.
Looking through my files looking for the mallow I remembered growing, I found this good picture of a soldier beetle also known as a leather wing beetle. It is considered a beneficial bug in Virginia. It is a pollinator. The flower that the soldier beetle is enjoying is a peony.
Black Lace Elderberry's scientific name is Sambucus nigra. The picture on the left is from my garden in 2009. It needs more sunlight than it had in my garden to achieve the beautiful dark, maroon-colored leaves. My picture was taken before its bloom time. The picture on the right is from the Proven Winners website. They are well-known in the garden business world.
In the nightstand next to my bed I keep a supply of Ricola cough drops. You don't have to have a sore throat to enjoy one. I had one this morning. The reason I mention this is because one of the medicinal herbs used to make the Ricola drop is Elderberry flower. It is a well-established medicinal plant.
Evidence of Ricola consumption this morning.Ricola website picture.
On the package you can see the elder flower shown as one of the ingredients. On the wrapper the elder flower is the white one in the bottom left hand corner. I do not have a sore throat. I simply enjoy the flavor.
I did not copy the whole WebMD article because you can look it up if interested.
The elderberry is not only used medicinally, it also can be made into wines, cordials, and other food items.
The website The Spruce Eats is full of information and recipes.
I found this picture in my files. Here is my Black Lace’s flower.
My daughter likes to watch the Anne of Green Gables collection of movies based on the books by L. M. Montgomery. The picture I have featured here is from a Canadian government website. This house is a National Historic house based on the book. We visited this house on Prince Edward Island when my daughter was young. Her love of this story is still strong today.
Recently I overheard Anne ask Mirella if she can imagine being in the depths of despair. Mirella responded, "No I cannot. To despair is to turn your back on God." Hearing this got me to thinking about whether I agree with this.
Curiosity got me to thinking about other famous fictional characters' ideas about faith and belief in God. The Charles M. Schulz comic strip titled Peanuts came into my mind. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the whole gang are so famous that they have their own museum. https://schulzmuseum.org/ It is well documented that Charles M. Schulz, the creator of this iconic comic strip, did not shy away from including faith, spirituality, and theology in his comics. Here is one that I think is appropriate when thinking about Mirella Cuthbert's quote that is mentioned above.
I admire his open-mindedness and willingness to discuss religious beliefs. I think many people want to be considered “good” religious people. The trouble arises when we all have differing opinions about how “good” should be defined.
My personal opinion is that there are many roads that can lead you to God and salvation. Religions set-up their own system of beliefs and theories to point us in the direction they think we should follow. Reflection is all about considering your beliefs compared to other beliefs. This opens the door to modification if necessary and it can help foster a peaceful co-existence among us all.
(Today 8/09/25) I found the picture of my daughter in the carriage and my mom standing beside her. You can see the Green Gables house behind them. This picture was taken around 1995-1997.
A thorn bush generated using AI. I have never seen one like this in real life, however, it captures the essence of what thorns can do if touched or carelessly handled.
This morning I made some hot tea to soothe a dry throat. Attached to the tea bag string was a label with the quote: “One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.” – James Russell Lowell (1819-1891)
I decided to look this poet up at Poets.org. Here is one of his poems that I thought captured a small child's delight with finding golden yellow dandelion flowers scattered in the grass. *Innocence and a wise appreciation of all God's creations. I remember as a young child being told to blow the feathered tops and make a wish, unknowingly spreading seeds for future golden flowers (considered weeds by many.) 🙂
Very prolific flower. Easy to grow. No problems. Honeybees love its scent.
Above you can see a black swallowtail butterfly and carpenter bee enjoying a blazing star. The middle picture shows my pond in its heyday. The third picture shows a clearwing moth enjoying a butterfly bush. The screenshot of the significance of hyssop according to E-Bible taught me something new today. I grew hyssop in my garden for many years. I loved it, and many butterflies of all sizes loved it. Interestingly, I saw very few hummingbirds around it, and this possibly was because the red cardinal flower held their interest (not pictured here.)
I have been reading up on the benefits of eating various nuts. With the idea of making oatmeal walnut cookies, I went searching through all my pantry boxes looking for walnuts which I thought I had in abundance. It turns out I was wrong. I found an over abundance of pecans, including some I bought just the other day.
What should I do? Nobody in my house needs cookies. I decided to do something with just the pecans, and I thought of candied pecans which is a healthier way to satisfy a sweet tooth. I frequently make oatmeal for breakfast, so adding chopped candied pecans will give more protein and fiber, and it will substitute the little bit of maple syrup that I am currently adding.
I went looking for a recipe. Surely, I could find one in my Treasury of Christmas cookbook with over 750 recipes. Here is the recipe I found that appealed to me.
Modifications needed to be made to the recipe due to available ingredients. I had no whole almonds. I used 3 cups of pecans. I had no grated lemon peel so this was omitted. I had everything else. I did use 2 egg whites. The picture above shows the end product. They taste pretty good, especially with the touch of citrus flavor. Adding a few chopped up ones to my morning oatmeal will be a delicious way to use up some of the excess pecans. They might also be good adding a few chopped up ones to a salad.
Old songs continue to be on my mind. My parents were not album or music collectors, though they did enjoy music. So, when I received as a birthday gift in 1971 a Sugarloaf Green -Eyed Lady 45 rpm vinyl record from my friend Judy Moreau, it was a big deal to me. Above you can hear the song. I will also post the lyrics here.
I did not get the album as a gift. I only got the small record of this particular song. I was floored when I just read above that Jerry Corbetta wrote the song about his girlfriend, Kathy, who had green eyes.
The heat wave has been broken. Today is overcast, a lot cooler, and damp. I now plan to get outside and get some work done. Until later…
The other day I was reading something and playing with numbers when I was reminded of a TV series that was on during my late teens (1976-1981). Do you remember the original Charlie’s Angels? I do. I even tried to make my hair look like Farrah’s hair. I never quite pulled it off, not to mention I looked nothing like her. Anyways, this morning I looked at what happened on this day June 25th in history. I was surprised to see that Farrah Fawcett died on this day in 2009. Her death was a little overshadowed by the death of Michael Jackson which happened on the same day. This coincidence with thinking of the TV series, and then seeing that the anniversary of Farrah’s death is today, made me look up the series opening soundtrack. Listen to it above.
The weather today is still too hot and humid for me. I am busy inside with other responsibilities, and when given the chance I still like to enjoy my favorite past time of looking at old garden pictures. It serves as a motivator for me. Look above at a picture from my past. I don’t have too many pictures of damselflies because they were shy and not as noticeable as the more flamboyant dragonflies.
I hope you are staying cool and refreshed. Don’t read the news if you want to stay in a good mood. This is my strategy when I can muster the willpower. The weather needs to get a little cooler and less sauna-like for me to get outside in the garden.
Since I am avoiding the heat, I did some more looking in the same folder where I had found the other pictures in my last post. When I focused in on the katydid pictures I noticed the backside of its abdomen was dark brown. My first question to myself was “is it depositing eggs? I did a little research and learned of the word “ovipositor”. I found this word here on this video https://youtu.be/IRG-zCDS9iI?si=Djgo13btr1ugw24q . Since my katydid from my garden did not have an extended ovipositor, it must not have been laying eggs. Still I learned this new word today! Thank you to Bug of the Week.
I was curious about the man who posted this video, and I was curious whether he had any new 2025 videos. I saw that he had a Fireflies 2025 video posted. This reminded me that I have seen a few in my garden recently, and last night I saw several of them lighting up. Fireflies always remind me of my grandparents that lived on a farm in Plattsburg, MO. My grandfather once took the glowing spot off of one and stuck it on my ring finger. I still have this memory 50+ years later. It was a magical memory in my childhood brain.
movingforwardslowly 