Sharper Chris

@ccsharps

Rural MD to DC daily. Zone 7a/7b. Massawomeck/Piscataway. #CertifiedWildlifeHabitat MCM. Design. Nature. Research. No AI. Climate. Pets. Coffee Achiever. 🎶 Jazz Blues Funk Fusion 🎶

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Sharper Chris@ccsharps· May 30

Me in the 1960s. Clearly, I was ahead of my time.

A little girl in a frilly pale blue dress is standing in the grass next to her MCM patio. It appears that her left leg is on backwards.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· May 22

Presenting my mom for #FashionFriday #VintageStyle #BlackandWhitePhotography

In this blank and white photo, a young woman lays on her back in grass, her eyes are closed and she looks peacefully serene. Her lipstick is on point. Her thick brown hair is fanned out around her head. She is wearing a short sleeved rayon dress, dark with a light pattern, and a triple strand pearl choker. The photographer was my father, and he adored her.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Apr 17

Thank you for your effort. It’s too bad there’s not enough elected officials banding together with you. We the people are being robbed every single day.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Mar 29

As long as you don’t cover the serial numbers, use the blank spaces as you see fit. It’s time to release some of my collected favs into the wild. Here’s one.

A $5 dollar bill with a bright red stamp on the back side. The stamp reads as follows:
NOT 2 B USED 4 BUYING ELECTIONS
AMEND THE CONSTITUTION
STAMPSTAMPEDE.ORG
#GETMONEYOUT

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Mar 7

Ska cat sez checkerboard tuxies rule. #Caturday #CatSky

A study in perspective. We are looking at the convergence of a room corner and door in a random shade of off-white, a stairway handrail, and an adopted tuxedo cat sleeping atop an overstuffed couch back. Her white left paw and matching white pie-slice of neck fur are lined up in perfect checkerboard fashion. A lovely pink-lined black ear points towards the exit.

In college, an early perspective exercise was to take a photo and then expand the scene beyond the edges of the photo. Were I in college today, I would absolutely choose this photo for that assignment.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Mar 6

Swoon! 🌟✨ Calling the nightbirds…

Late Bird
Angela Narciso Torres

Count me among the noon risers who stumble, dazed and bad-haired, from the nest midday,
pecking the crazed dirt for half-torn moth, pear's white core, severed worm. I've never
been one to trill at chink of dawn, to hop, skip, chirrup before full sun. I'm better at picking over crumbs, stitching a quilt from what's left, remaindered, given up for gone. Better at betting the careless will miss the best. Count me among the nightbirds who sip starlight, a guitar's fading strains. Find me where moondust swirls in streetlamp glow and stray dogs sleep.
What clings to the bone is most sweet.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Feb 28

We are overwhelmed. We may be bombed out of existence at any time. We are no longer safe thanks to our illegal “president”. Everything we were educated for, worked for, our ancestors risked lives for, is now over because of fucking greed and ignorance, while Congress hides. Love y’all. 💙#Caturday

My long-haired black cat has buried her face in the blanket-swathed couch while we await the end of Everything.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Feb 1

I made insanely delicious soup today. Was gonna make vegetable but found turkey thighs at the store and went freestyle, just as mom did. #NoRecipe #Soup #FoodSky

We are looking at a closeup of my favorite green pot basking in late afternoon sun. It is filled with turkey, onion, carrot, celery, salt, pepper, parsley, roasted garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, broccoli, scallions, mushroom, sweet potato, tomato, spinach, and corn.

I think that’s all of it.

A green pot of soup cooling on the counter in the late afternoon sunlight. Also in the photo is my parents’ vintage Franciscan “Autumn Leaves”, which I use daily. It is earthenware with four falling leaves of teal, green, yellow, and brown, which are aloft on light slashes of green.
Made in California and oven-safe.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jan 31

Good morning. I feel like we should all be channeling Moira Rose channeling Cruella de Vil today. ☕️🖤 #CatherineO'Hara

Wonderful Catherine O'Hara as Moira Rose, standing by the coffee pot in a downtrodden makeshift kitchen, wearing a black long-sleeved dress with matching feathery shoulder pads, a wildly elaborate Statement silver-y necklace with black focal stone, and black leather fingerless gloves encrusted with some sort of glittery nonsense. She is divine. She is perfect. She is us.

📸 Ken Woroner/Cbc/ITV/Kobal/REX

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jan 31

Done! Also ordered Villager. Thank you, Tom and Blackwells. We are anxiously awaiting spring, and your books will warm our lil frozen hearts.

A longhaired black cat gazes at a male cardinal sitting on a porch railing. The cardinal is gazing at a cornucopia of seeds which I’ve tossed out onto the heavy snow/ice covered ground.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jan 26

40 years here and I’ve never seen anything like it. Check out the roof today. It looks like 100 marble raceways. 😁

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Dec 15

My dear best friend, my love of 27 years, ascended to a higher frequency on November 21. He was at home all summer, then entered hospice in October. I am lost. Time to call and see if his cremains are ready to come home. #hospice #love #eternity #broken

On a fuzzy blue blanket, a woman’s hand takes the hand of a man dying in hospice.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Nov 17

J just came out of a thick slumber to grunt and groan at the black-and-pink themed Kars for Kids commercial. He’s still in there. ❤️ #Hospice

On top of fuzzy blue bedding, a woman’s hand clasps the hand of a semi-conscious yet still occasionally aware man.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Oct 2

This girl was flipping water bowls for the first year I adopted her. Made the whole household miserable around the clock. I bought a fountain, and now everyone’s happy. 🥳

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Oct 2

Hi from Siouxsie!

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Sep 25

My morning email from Ghosts of DC revisited this gem from 2013. Were you there? I was. Yes, I’m old. 😎✌️🎶🎶🎶 #RockandRoll #Music ghostsofdc.org/2013/03/04/t...

My ticket stub from the Capital Centre in Landover, MD. As indicated in faded brown print, the occasion was An Evening With Led Zeppelin Mon.Feb.10.1975. I was in Section 6, Row S, Seat 3 for a whopping $6.50. 😎✌️🎶🎶🎶

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Sep 24

I had a lot of this:

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Sep 23

What I’m wearing to the Rapture.

Vintage black and white image of a woman from behind. She is wearing high heel pumps, seamed stockings, elbow length gloves, and big ball of fluff which resembles a spent dandelion that engulfs her from neck to mid-thigh. Her left arm is lifted in the air, and a single extended gloved finger is visible.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Aug 15

Friends, I have a question. This broken branch sticking straight into the ground is from a silver maple I planted 38 years ago. It is about 5” in diameter at the base and is about 30 feet long. Is this large-scale cicada damage? Yikes! 🌱

We are looking at a fallen silver maple tree branch. The bark is covered in a cool pattern of holes arranged in straight lines.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Aug 13

I’m looking through my old porch videos and see this. Raccoons, anyone? 😱🤣 #RuralLife

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Aug 2

The fence people are distrustful, yet totally intrigued, by this orange day lily. 🌱

We are looking at an orange double day lily, which has bloomed directly in front of a wood privacy fence in a NW DC alley.
The gray fence has two neighboring slats which, due to knots in the wood, appear to bear the faces of a couple* reacting to the lily’s sudden emergence.

*They remind me of Kitty and Red Forman, Eric’s parents on That 70s Show.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jul 31

Morning friends 🌞

A large green walking stick is just hanging out on my front door.

A cicada greets me and asks what’s for breakfast.

A lovely moth in shades of tan, brown, and rust also on my front door. Will research later.

A box turtle regards me with apprehension as I’m about to move it out of my driveway.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jul 5

The nut-tree tussock is so sweetly tabby! It’s one of my favorite blends.

A visiting tabby cat looks in the direction of an interesting noise. An old green window box of Johnny-Jump-Ups in shades of lavender and yellow is in the background. #notmycat

A visiting tabby cat stretches full length on my gray porch, with face and front paws toward the camera and rear legs in the air. #notmycat

An orange female (!) tabby is standing on an early spring bluebird box which is attached to a tree. She is sniffing the crevice between the box and its lid, inhaling the aroma of last years residents. She temporarily wears a silly pink collar. Female orange tabby cats are relatively rare (approx 20%) because they need two X chromosomes for color, while males only require one. #mycat

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jun 29

It was crazy. Three days later we were still cutting our way out.

Splintered utility pole and debris litter the roadside on July 2, 2012.

Downed trees in Bethesda, MD on July 2, 2012.

Downed trees waiting to be cleared from a road on July 2, 2012.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jun 22

In a world gone wrong, you inspire me. Thank you! Here is a Pale Beauty (Campaea perlata) found on my front porch at dawn.

A sweet lil Pale Beauty (Campaea perlata) moth on my porch. It has the palest of green wings with cream-colored postmedial and antemedial faint lines that run continuously across the forewings and hindwings, with a matching creamy body. It is so Art Deco.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jun 20

At 2:45 I was about to leave Frederick MD and the sky was looking scary. I drove 75 mph for 10 minutes until the sky opened up and a gust of wind almost blew me off the highway. 😱 We formed a line at 25 mph with flashers on for the rest of the ride. So. Much. Rain. 🌬️💨💦😳 #mdwx

We are in Frederick MD looking north toward Pennsylvania at a dark, ominous sky. Ten minutes later, the storm hit.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jun 18

Some nice storm clouds boiled up during the drive home. Thunderstorms popped and triggered flooding this afternoon. #mdwx

Puffy storm clouds move eastward over Maryland foothills. A two-lane rural road through farmlands is in the foreground. Thunderstorms with heavy rain popped all afternoon.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jun 2

I wish you could breathe in the scent of this Tropicana rose right now. ☺️

Closeup of a pinkish orange-colored Tropicana rose. The yellow in the center makes them seem lit from within.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· Jun 1

June! It’s not raining, it was 45 degrees at 5 am, and potbound plants are calling. Meanwhile, here’s a baby mantis exploring a peony. 🌱 #bloomscrolling

A tiny praying mantis explores a glorious double white with delicate pinkish edges peony flower. It looks like a Shirley Temple, but I’m not sure. Regardless, it’s a beautiful bloom. Mantis agrees.

Sharper Chris@ccsharps· May 31

Another rainy day in the DC area. We are steadily improving our drought status. 🌱