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The Gentleman Farmer

~ Found somewhere in a part of the country known as north Florida and south Georgia…

The Gentleman Farmer

Category Archives: Passages

Time Does Have a Way of Going By…

23 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Living, Passages, Time

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

calendars, days, hours, minutes, seconds, weeks, years

Has it really been that long?

The total number of days between Monday, February 1st, 2016 and Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021 is 1,849 days.

This is equal to 5 years and 22 days.

This does not include the end date, so it’s accurate if you’re measuring your age in days, or the total days between the start and end date. But if you want the duration of an event that includes both the starting date and the ending date, then it would actually be 1,850 days.

If you’re counting workdays or weekends, there are 1,321 weekdays and 528 weekend days.

If you include the end date of Feb 23, 2021 which is a Tuesday, then there would be 1,322 weekdays and 528 weekend days including both the starting Monday and the ending Tuesday.

This is equivalent to 2.662,560 minutes.

You can also convert 1,849 days to 159,753,600 seconds. 

Today is 2/23/2021 and 2/1/2016 is exactly 1849 days before today. 

February, 2016 calendar

SuMTuWThFSa
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
2829     
That was then…

February 1st, 2016 was a Monday. It was the 32nd day of the year, and in the 5th week of the year (assuming each week starts on a Monday), or the 1st quarter of the year. There were 29 days in this month. 2016 was a leap year, so there were 366 days in this year.

February, 2021 calendar

SuMTuWThFSa
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28      
This is now…

February 23rd, 2021 is a Tuesday. It is the 54th day of the year, and in the 8th week of the year (assuming each week starts on a Monday), or the 1st quarter of the year. There are 28 days in this month. 2021 is not a leap year, so there are 365 days in this year.

Over the next few, if doesn’t turn out to be years, I’ll give a small hint as to what kept me busy over all this time, time being relative, time being arbitrary…

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Not A One…

01 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Living, Passages, Seasons, Time

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

ennui, goals, lists, reading, resolutions

a not started, not finished, bedside read...

a not started, not finished, bedside read…

For quite some years now, I have had a goal of reading sixty books a year, which averages, you know to five books a month.  As you would expect there are years that I read a bit more, a bit less, just right.  However, this year, January will come and go without my having read nary a one.  The flabbergasting thing is that I cannot put my finger on any particular reason why, other than perhaps a general sense of ennui, a word I absolutely love.

 

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Spring Done Sprung…

23 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Family, Living, Passages, Relationships, Seasons, Time, Totem Hall, Vacation

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

beach, boarding school, children, classes, college, empty nesters, life, savannah college of art and design, spring break, tides, woodberry forest school

last sunset...

that last sunset…

Perhaps, I should say, spring sprunged.  My youngest returns back to his boarding school later today, and in Savannah my oldest returns back to the college grind today, which all means that today at Totem Hall we return to life as empty nesters today, not a bad life mind you, but a life nevertheless…

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Due to Technical Difficulties…

11 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Business, Gardening, Gentleman Farming, Living, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

apple blossoms, apple computer, macbook, motherboard, spring, technology, technophobe, troglodyte, video card

new boss meets the old boss...

new boss meets the old boss…

In case you were wondering where I might have been all these days, well, did you know that on older MacBooks the video card attaches to the motherboard and that when the video card goes bad, the motherboard though still good is now worthless? Yep, I did not know that either, though I have since found out about this and much other arcane trivia regarding both my now old and now new computers.

meet the new boss...

meet the new boss…

same as the old boss...

same as the old boss…

To be honest, the Gentleman Farmer does few things well and computers are not one of them. Slowly, but surely, while my face basks in the glow of computer light, I am making friends with the newest addition and expense to Totem Hall.

Somewhere, someone promises improved productivity and instant enlightenment, right?

I just noticed the blurry image of my old and now very defunct computer, which is somewhat apropos, no?

just because it's spring and I love apple blossoms...

just because it’s spring and I love apple blossoms…

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Gosh…

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Gardening, Nature, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall, Weather

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

camellia japonica, camellia sasanqua, christmas camellia, christmas day, christmas presents, fried egg flower, matilija poppy, romneya, weather channel, winter storm gorgon, yuletide camellia

Not long ago, I looked up from whatever little task I had at hand and realized there were no flowers blooming here at Totem Hall, anywhere, anyhow.

christmas camellia...

christmas camellia…

That is so unusual, since we have an abundant blessing of blooms year round, which of course I absolutely love, since it gives me a reason to go outside, and make my picks of the day.  I blame November.  There was a brutish cold snap followed immediately by a deluge of biblical proportions and then another bit of nasty cold weather.

fried egg flower...

fried egg flower…

Those absurdly sweet harbingers of winter flowers, the Romneya, Tree Poppies, or Matilija Poppy, and the Camellia Sasanqua, the Christmas Camellia, the Yuletide Camellia, said “see ya, outta here, done”.

or yuletide camellia..

or yuletide camellia..

or matilija poppy...

or matilija poppy…

And so we were, that is until Christmas Day, when miracle of miracles the Camellia Japonicas, which had been promising, burst forth in all their single, semi-double, irregular semi-double, formal double, elegans, and informal double glory. Spectacular stuff, kid you not, simply one of the best Christmas presents ever.

camellia japonica #7

camellia japonica…

camellia japonica #4

more camellia japonica…

camellia japonica #8

camellia japonica once again…

camellia japonica #5

penultimate camellia japonica…

camellia japonica #1

the final camellia japonica

Now as I type this out, Winter Storm Gorgon has come and is now slowly leaving the scene.  Before I go any further, can I ask when we started naming winter weather patterns, honestly, what is up with that?  Is this a Weather Channel conspiracy, a new way for marketers and t-shirt makers to sell “I survived Gorgon” kitsch?

Anyway, the damage to my precious winter blooms was extensive, all the flowers freezer burned, and, as for the buds, time will tell.  Thankfully, the camellia is a hearty plant and our winters mild, so I fully expect to enjoy bringing flowers into the home sometime later this winter.

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From the Old English writha…

01 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Living, Nature, Passages, Seasons, Totem Hall

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

crowns, daydreaming, doorways, entries, etruscans, fieldwork, greeks, harvest, old, olympics, owls, power, romans, tractor, wealth, wikipedia, wise, wreaths

harvest wreath...

harvest wreath…

I came back from the Woodberry Parents Weekend to find the front door of Totem Hall all decked out with a brand new wreath, courtesy of my mother in law, celebrating the best of fall.

one view up close...

one view up close…

Later on my tractor, working a field, I started thinking about wreaths, the whole who, what, when, and where.

another view up close...

another view up close…

So I turned to Wikipedia; I mean, after all, who doesn’t? Did you know that wreaths appeared during the Etruscan era, worn as crowns? After that, the Greeks and Romans appropriated the wreath concept, wearing them to celebrate, for instance, Olympic achievement, or to designate wealth and power.

wise old owl up close...

wise old owl up close…

Of course, wreaths on the head are all good and wonderful, but how does one get from the dome to the door? Well, by way of Wikipedia, one again turns to the ancient Greeks. It turns out the Greeks enjoyed hanging a harvest wreath by their door, just like mine.

one more look...

one more look…

before you come on in...

before you come on in…

And there you go…

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Football

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Family, Living, Passages, Seasons, Sporting Life, Time

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

bulldogs, college football, dawgs, dreams, georgia bullogs, hedges, heritage, sanford stadium, season opener, southern boys, tradition, uga 1

For me, the high holy season of college football begins this Saturday when my school, my team takes to the field.

started young...

me and uga one…

It is an acquired taste, not for everyone, though very important in my part of the world.

We start young, us southern boys, playing and dreaming as long and as far as our playing and dreaming will take us.

Throw in the generations of family men who played and dreamed before and will play and dream to come.

Mix in the atmosphere, the pageantry, the tastes, smells, drinks, sights and sounds.

Add the excitement, the energy, the contact, controlled violence.

Then you can see why it is in the blood.  Then you can see why it is who we are.

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Flat

26 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Blogs, Living, Passages, Time

≈ 26 Comments

Tags

back pain, bed making, bloglovin, books, contemplation, iphone, reading

As in, flat on my back, as in back pain, as in immobile, as in how the heck does this happen when making a bed, for God’s sake…

view from a bed, flat on my back...

view from a bed, flat on my back…

another view from my bed, flat on my back...

another view from a bed, flat on my back…

a final view from a bed, flat on my back...

a final view from a bed, flat on my back…

Oh well, at least I have an iPhone and a good book, or two, or three.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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Moving On…

12 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Family, Living, Passages, Relationships, Time, Totem Hall

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

dodge, lexus, memory, moms, moves, moving, nissan, packing, pathfinder, poodles, ram 2500, roommates, rx400h, scad, sons, u-haul

Our oldest made his return to college Saturday. This was not our first fond farewell, having over the years sent him off to summer camps, boarding school, and the first year of college, but somehow yesterday was different, he was moving into his own home, well, own home with four other roommates.

folding sheets for the first and last time...

folding sheets for the first and last time…

boxed up and ready to go...

boxed up and ready to go…

The whole process was most entertaining and it brought back a flood of memories.

i'll just stuff this...

i’ll just stuff this in…

it doesn't take me long to pack...

it doesn’t take me long to pack…

To begin with, all our carefully thought out plans fell by the wayside. The big Dodge 2500 is still in the shop. She was going to be the workhorse of the move. So, you say, no problem, I am sure you have a Plan B. Well good old Plan B did not work out either. Since my son’s Pathfinder did not have wiring for the trailer lights, there was no U-Haul for us, not rentable. Surely, we can use one of the open-air trailers here at Totem Hall, right? Ooh, too bad, the Lexus, choice three, with tow package and harness, is no good, faulty wiring.

The end result: ah, stuff it in the back of the Nissan.

packed in the back...

packed in the back…

packed on the side...

packed on the side…

packed on the other side...

packed on the other side…

and packed in the front...

and packed in the front…

He is definitely my son.

How crazy time is, really. We move through it, try our best to hold on to it, swimming upstream, you know.

bye moms, bye poodle...

bye moms, bye poodle…

Was it just the other day that I was making my own moves, possessions stuffed into a trash bag, or two? Or how about renting the first moving truck, enlisting a couple of friends with offers of beer and lunch, forgetting to tie down everything in back.

bye totem hall...

bye totem hall…

Then came children, just the births alone seem long ago, though, in the grandness of time, not too far away, remembered, just not able to be captured again, the first words, the first walk, off to school, off to university.

bye son, fare thee well...

bye son, fare thee well…

Life is such a funny game…

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Stuff of Dreams, Stuff of Boys…

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by thegentlemanfarmer in Family, Living, Passages, Relationships, Sporting Life, Time

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

archery, avon old farms school, bait fish, boarding school, fishing, golf, hiking, hunting, lacrosse, landlord, quail, roommates, savannah college of art and design, tadpoles, woodberry forest school

Do you ever think that life shows you, gives you, just what need, when you need it, as you need it?

stuff of boys, stuff of dreams...

stuff of boys, stuff of dreams…

Case in point, entering every day into the world of gentleman farming at Totem Hall, I pass a little corner in my home.  Until yesterday, I never paid it any mind.  It was just stuff.  But for some reason, for some reason, yesterday was different; I sat down and, as if for the first time, I saw the stuff of dreams, stuff of boys…

gotcha...

gotcha…

Blessed, our family has always lived surrounded by nature.  Nature has all sorts of bugs, butterflies, tadpoles, and baitfish that need catching by young boys.

boys and bows and arrows...

boys and bows and arrows…

My two sons and I like to hunt and fish.  After summer camp one year, one of the little rascals, maybe both got the idea of bow hunting and fishing.  So we bought an archery set.  Now the only thing left is the bow, the arrows are long gone.

walking and talking...

walking and talking…

I take long walks on our land.  Because of the possibility of running across a rattlesnake or water moccasin, just about all the time I’ll carry a stick with me.  For me, it’s better than a machete, which is too close quarter.

get up and fly, dagnabbit...

get up and fly, dagnabbit…

My part of the world has quail.  Sometimes even if your dog sets and holds, the bird might be a bit reluctant to get up and fly.  The boys use this strap to beat the bushes in hopes of getting the bird to move along.

full count...

spring sports…

Both the lacrosse stick and baseball bat are relics of the past.  My oldest son earned a varsity letter playing lacrosse at Avon Old Farms School.  My youngest tried baseball when he was much younger, maybe not even ten, in the end deciding the sport was too slow for him.

I did not even talk about golf, or tennis, or squash, whose tools of the trade you can see in several of the pictures.  And there is no way I can possibly describe how much fun I had teaching and then getting bested by my two, just a great way for me to grow up and stay young at the same time.

all gone now...

all gone now…

Okay, I staged this scene, but still, why not a bit of poetical license, after all we are all adults here.  The oldest is off to college in Savannah by the end of the weekend, moving into a home with four other roommates.  God help the poor landlord.  Then our youngest son leaves for Virginia and the start of his boarding school career next week.

Time moves along downstream like a river, always present, always changing, always there, never there…

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← Older posts

Recent Background Noise

Perhaps my ennui stems from David Bowie's death. I read somewhere that we should consider ourselves lucky to have lived at the same time he did. I do. Many years ago, there was a girl in my secondary school, Debbie P., who was very hip, very groovy, and very pretty. Now I attended Catholic schools and so, as you might imagine, we had to wear uniforms, except, of course, for after-school activity, and that's where I get to the point of the story. Our school was putting on its big play of the year, I had a small part, Debbie was working backstage. One evening during rehearsal she showed up wearing a Ziggy Stardust tee-shirt. I was young, naive, not hip, not groovy, and not knowing who the ambiguous Ziggy might be. During the weekend that followed that rehearsal, I went to a record store and discovered just what David Bowie was all about. It was a transforming experience. Now some forty years later, I farm, David is dead, and Debbie is into Christian rock bands. Did I say ennui...

Recent Bedside Read

Granny's Wonderful Chair is still my bedside read for reasons discussed nearby...

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