I just planted a sixth rose bush, heaven knows why. I hope it grows, and fast, so that I'm still around to appreciate it; the spot is dubious.
When I sold Mom's house, I took with me two aged red rose bushes, old-fashioned, single-petal varieties, probably by then fifty years old, planted in my grandparents' time. One of them is still hanging on.
But to the point: All you fellow JiPers who've had cataract surgery, did your surgeon use a scalpel or the laser-assisted femtosecond weapon? I still can't fathom someone's taking a knife to my eyeball; but then again, there's no other choice, is there.
Safelite is a scam. Our local business glass installer is much cheaper and far more trustworthy. Also, bigger windows are much cheaper to replace than smaller windows. I learned this the hard way by accidentally breaking a rear windshield on a Mercedes SLK while trying to repair the hydraulic system. Anywho… flowers
About 20 years ago at Dallas Mavericks games a Lasik surgeon put his commercials on thd jumbotron as a hint that the refs could use his services. Lasik Lasik Lasik was the tagline
I had my lasik in 1998 (I waited until after the 10 year studies were completed). I basically did it for convenience in sports — and it definitely helped. I had some halos with lights at night at first, but those are long gone, and now I need reading glasses (which my surgeon warned me about at the time). Still, it’s been a definite upgrade, and my corneas are so solidly healed that my current ophthalmologist couldn’t believe that I’d ever had the surgery.
I was the first on my block to get Lasik, both eyes, in 1997, by one of the U.S. pioneers and it was the best money I ever spent (it was still experimental for eyes as bad as mine, no coverage). It didn't require anything but local numbing but they gave me a valium prior, as my demeanor was indistinguishable from full freakout. Afterwards, I told people that the only reason it seemed like a big deal was because it was happening to me. Knives were definitely used, and the scars are still visible under magnification. 'Ed does such beautiful work!' is the usual comment by other docs when the see them.
There is some anesthesia needed for cataract surgery and my request 'I want this to be amusing' didn't quite work, but I have no memory of anything that was used on me. I suspect it was the laser; it healed very quickly and my post-op instructions didn't include active measures to avoid infection (I couldn't wash my hair myself for 2 weeks after the Lasik).
The cataract surgery was in 2022, as my natural lens clouded very quickly after a vitrectomy in 2020 to pry my retina off my eyeball. I was -10/-11 before Lasik, and very nearsighted eyes have a structural risk of incomplete vitreous detachment. Lasik tampered with my cornea but didn't change the internal configuration. I should have had the cataract surgery in 2021, but it was delayed due to Covid.
My town has a fantastic guy does the cataracts. He's got like a factory, a staff of like 28 it seems. He does one eye one week, the other two weeks later. Your appointments are on an assembly line, the first stop is the accountants, and then on through a bevy of beauties for "procedures" and finally to the barber chair. He's quick and efficient. I don't know if he uses a pocket knife or a Gillette. I complemented him on his routine and speed. He answered he had four kids in college. Congrats on the accomplishment, B., at least it's over.
Here's an amusing scene to imagine, for the rest of the deal. The town I live in is Southern. Until she passed recently, there was a famous old black lady, used to bother all us old men, wanting to be our "home health care person." When I was told by the cataract people I couldn't drive myself, I asked Janice to drive me to and from the appointments. She showed up that morning in the white uniform, carrying a huge purse. She looked like Hattie McDaniel. We go into the office, me on my cane, my "Mammy," seeing me up the steps. We check in, Janice takes a seat, takes knitting out of the bag. Imagine it. I was quite aware, and started to crack up. Some of the staff immediately were in on it, it was that obvious. I was admitting I was half embarrassed, half enjoying the scene. I'm still laughing, and passing it on to you, B. Enjoy.
Mr Karg I had cataract surgery. Apparently many people are very nervous so they give you a Valium and assign someone to hold your hand and basically reassure you during the procedure. When the cornea is removed a kaleidoscope of colors flood your eyes from the rods and cones. I exclaimed, “Wow! this is cool! It looks like a psychedelic flashback!”. The nurse dropped my hand. “He’ll be fine” and left. lol 😝
Laser was $3 grand extra at Houston Eye Associates but well worth it. It shortens the
Healing time from weeks to days. I wasn’t going to use it but the surgery was in a January so at Xmas Eve dinner I mentioned it to my family. Next morning my Mom handed me a Christmas card. “Don’t argue. Use it for the laser”. Inside was a $3000 check. Very generous woman my Mom is. 💕
10 years ago I had both eyes done by knife. Worked fine, although I didn’t opt for the new lenses that provide both near and far vision, so I use readers. From what I’ve read, the laser is better but in either case you want someone with a lot of procedures in their rear view mirror.
Yours will go well and you’ll be very happy when it’s done.
My eyes are beyond corrective surgery - too much myopia, not lens enough to carve up/reshape. 25 years ago my wife did lasik. She is delighted with it.
I get an eyeball injection (!!!) every 8 to 20 months, depending on on whether there is a "bleed" into the retina. I am entirely used to it - this has been going on for about 15 years. They inject Avastin, a drug used to treat colon cancer. But it has really saved my eyesight.
I'd do the Lasik if I could. Cataract surgery has non-trivial risk with my myopia. Possible retina tears.
Hell to get old! But being conscious is the best sensation in all the universe. (Well almost the best.)
Triple exclamation points indeed! I do not know why an eyeball makes me more squirmy than, say, a kidney, but it does. We can get used to almost anything I guess.
When you say "being conscious is the best sensation in all the universe," I am reminded of that scene in "Our Town" when, is it the late Mrs. Gibbs, tells Emily, newly arrived at the cemetery, "Choose the least important day [to return home]; it will be important enough."
I'll say. The older I get . . . . I love insignificant days.
B., I'm late to reply, but want to recommend laser assisted. I had mine in 2011 and went 6 hours away to someone who was an expert. Insurance didn’t cover the extra but I'm so glad I did it. He also corrected astigmatism with the laser. Quicker healing time, more precision. I was a -11 contacts prescription and now am 20-20. My local guy said that was impossible. For most people, that is probably not an issue but for me it was critical. Shortly after, two women in my church both had significant bruising after their cataract surgery. They went to the local doc. I had no bruises.
I love gardening and so it is really hard to pick a favourite flower. One of my favourites is the Philadelphus or mock orange. I also love magnolias. David Austen roses (old English roses) are great. We tend to get a rose for pets who have died.
One of the places where they were able to get loads of old roses as root stock was the cemeteries from the California Gold Rush (eg the one at Angel's Camp), so there are some places where roses thrive in the US. Roses were hitting a height of popularity then and they were often planted on the graves of children.
Hybrid teas nearly took over the world because they are repeat flowerers and so it was about going back to before then.
Actually many types of roses thrive here in Charleston, SC. Not tea roses so much, but some of those. I have roses all around my little house, and they are show stoppers from spring to frost. Many are hybrids and bloom and bloom.
hi Louisa- I think I've mentioned before i'm planning to move from my beloved Hudson Valley to SC, and we've finally taken the plunge and bought a place about 1 hr. outside of Charleston. I have to recalibrate my gardening towards camellias and oleander!
Beware oleander as it is poisonous. My gardening grandmother loved it but wouldn’t plant it in her Georgia garden. That sort of took with her daughters and grands like me. Don’t forget tea olives. And come visit if you are down my way in Mt. Pleasant which is part of Charleston County.
Louisa I may take you up on the visit! I'll be in Colleton Co. BTW I am aware of the poisonous quality of oleander. My grandmother loved it as well! I've grown it in pots on my patio, but of course it won't over-winter up here!
I'm just outside Charleston proper--to the north off 17. You will be in a lovely area and possibly near Beaufort. It is a big change from New England, but I'm enjoying this region a lot--except for potential hurricanes in the summer/early fall. It is what it is.
The Powell article is foolish and vapid. Britain then was a very different place than it is now and the immigration Powell warned about lay in the future; it was not the recipient of the tidal wave of Islamist ghouls it is now. And the line about Powell and Trump - well, nothing more than the usual "upper class" British contempt for their intellectual and economic betters.
I know you detest Tommy but every revolution needs its firebrands. Our own Revolution would have died aborning without the Sons of Liberty, Sam Adams and Tom Paine. Something - someone - was needed to rouse the slumbering English yeomanry and Tommy provided that spark. And Britain may yet be saved as a result.
Robinson may have some fraudulent elements (his real name is Yaxley Lennon some such-there’s also a famously gay British new wave artist with the name) but he’s pretty spot on in his stalwart opposition to the Islamic invasion. From across the pond it looks like now or never over there so Godspeed to the Return of the Natives.
I detest Robinson because he is an antisemite who hates all immigrants and is given to thuggish behaviour. As an immigrant, I am never likely to like or think well of someone who tells that I have no business being in the country.
I know you like him, but honestly he is a nasty piece of work. I do have direct experience with some of his adherents and you don't.
Banners such as 'End Zionist Occupation of Britain, Stop white replacement' have been seen at his march. Unfortunately I don't think the people holding the banner got their protests mixed up. The organizers should have shut them down as many Jewish people are on that march and are grateful that people are supporting their right to love in peace. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/london/article/tommy-robinson-london-march-protest-live-palestine-latest-news-6spmhrlgn
Starmer has fallen into a trap as the policing of the two rival marches appears to be two tier. The police have refused to divert the pro- Palestine march from going past the synagogue in Westminster.
Current estimates are about 50k at Robinson's march and 30k at the pro-Palestine march.
Personally I am with those who just want to watch the FA Cup final in peace.
The Powell article was interesting as he has been so demonized.
If that is an accurate criticism of Robinson - and I do tend to doubt anything the leftist press says (remember the lies that Trump praised the Tiki marchers in Charlottesville) he needs to stop that shit. The Jews are a bulkwark against the Islamist invaders. They have ever been British patriots and Tommy is wrong to say otherwise. That still does not negate the fact that he was an important voice in the wilderness against the gang raping Islamist scum. Forever earning him the enmity of the traitors who imported them.
Unfortunately it is accurate. He apparently altered but that banner is openly being carried today in his march. It is his organization which needed to say -- okay lads, you can march but not with that banner. But they let that banner go on the march. Just as the Pro Palestine allowed banners which should not be there.
2 of the arrests today are for offensives in Birmingham -- apparently one of the founders of the 'Raise the Colours' committed GBH by running someone over with a car. It doesn't matter what your politics are, you are not allowed to run people over with a car.
I picture soccer hooligans or yobs on holiday with a “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” vibe. And correct me if I’m mistaken Michelle, but aren’t YOU technically “an immigrant” there? Much like T.S Eliot you seem so thoroughly assimilated, yet I guess to extremists, even Americans aren’t “blood and soil” Founding Stock.
Yes I am an immigrant, no technically about it. Some of the extremists involved want all foreigners gone. When they talk about children born to foreign mothers, they are also talking about my children.
'You are not from around here' or 'Why don't you go back from where you came from' have been shouted at me because they heard my accent. Once when I was talking to my daughter in a queue to buy clothes at M&S.
Some people are just insular.
I totally get the need for secure borders and proper assimilation. The problems have been a long time in the making.
They are thinking at least 75k. It would not surprise me as people are really angry at Starmer and it is a nice day. The vast majority are tired of being told that they should be ashamed of being British.
There are a few idiots and the organizers should come down hard on them. Not nudge, nudge, wink, wink but actually say -- those sorts of banners are unacceptable.
So the police are saying 60k at Robinson's UtK march and 15 -20k at the Nakba 78 one. 33 arrests across both marches which is actually quite low when you consider that at least 2 were for outstanding charges including that incident in Birmingham. https://x.com/metpoliceuk/status/2055598469197246748
It means that it will not be a number under that. I suspect it is closer to 100k.
And I suspect the Nabka rally is closer to 15k than 20.
Given that the FA Cup final is on and football is hugely popular with the UtK crowd (Chelsea v Man City with City winning 1- 0), it is a good turn out. Chelsea are a London club obvs.
I'm disappointed to learn that Robinson is a Jew-hater. Nothing has been so depressing of late than the defection of former Right-wing pundits to the pro-Islam, anti-Israel ideology.
My fascinating bit of research for today was to look up Zurayk, the Greek Orthodox Syrian who basically provided the intellectual underpinning for the PFLP and Arab Nationalism in general. He was v much a secularist. I then looked up Edward Said because I was curious. He was also raised a Christian. It helps to explain why Said etc had this huge blind spot concerning political Islam. I doubt they ever read Nuri and understood the prevailing view in the Constitutional Revolution amongst Islam jurists was that equality under the law was impossible in Islam. The thing which unites pan Arabism and radical Islam is a hatred of Israel and indeed Jews. Their visions for the ME were/are v different.
And here's Jupp on "woke" theory/practice from the other day:
"Woke refers to a set of Hard Left social attitudes and policies focused on victim culture, identity, race, gender and wealth disparities and grievances. It entails support for State led interventions and adjustments claiming to address these disparities and to provide social justice. It claims to be anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, and open, inclusive and just, but demands the reduction of the rights of the majority in favour of the rights of groups it champions. It asserts that since injustice pervades western culture, history, government and morality, only radical and forced measures to provide equity represent real justice. It consider itself rebellious and transgressive in a positive way, but demands conformity and obedience, with ostracism, censorship, and legal restriction all applied to views opposed to its own. It is anti-authoritarian by declaration and self-image, but deeply authoritarian in practice. It will claim to be addressing racism by adopting racist measures, or defending democracy by denying majority votes. The contradictions of Woke ideology are made possible by the fact that it is a radical ideology adopted by an entrenched Establishment who hold the power to enforce these radical views and present them as respectable and moderate while doing so."
Loads of fun, isn’t it? And what a relief to have a break from the relentless “inclusion” politics of contemporary TV in the UK/US. No forced gay/trans characters, no self conscious box-checking of every possible racial minority, actually showing the Muslim immigrant dominance of the heroin trade rather than pretending that the drugs business is all White people. It reminded me of what the entertainment industry *could* do if they would focus on merit rather than virtue signaling.
And I started to read the Enoch Powell article but got pissed and quit it when people who want their country to be their country and not a bunch of murderous Muslim child rapist’s country were described as extremists.
To understand about the Powell article, you have understand how he was vilified and mocked. He has been a byword for racism.
So Kemi has been called Bad Enoch in an attempt to discredit her.
The Rivers of Blood speech was spoken about in hushed tones and given as an example of one speech can destroy a career. It is interesting to see the reassessment.
Legends is great. I hope they do other series of it based on Stanton's book.
University of South Florida has a fantastic plant show in the spring and the fall. I don't think it's all that far from you. All the growers are local, selling unique tropicals not sold in the usual places. I'm enchanted with bromeliads, particularly the stoloniferous types that shoot out new pups that can grow without a speck of soil. The colors and patterns are fantastic! Another favorite is Crown of Thorns. It's kind of old-fashioned but it blooms like crazy pretty much year round.
I have lattice down the side of my carport and I really wanted a climber to enhance the look. Clematis does not do well in this climate and my climbing hydrangea is not doing well in that location.
Clematis and hydrangeas are so lovely but our weather isn't quite right for them. I miss daffodils blooming in the spring.
Maybe Bougainvillea if it's a sunny spot. You can train them to grow up the lattice. So many beautiful colors and a repeat bloomer. Jasmine is also nice for part sun but it blooms early and then it's done.
I killed one of my grandmother's transplanted rose bushes when I fastened lattice directly onto the house instead of using wooden spacing blocks to set the lattice a bit away from the siding. I'm pretty sure that's what did it. The other one reaches for the sky.
The rose hybrids are easy and very very hardy: Drifts, knock Outs, and plain old landscape floribunda. Lots of color all summer. Just need a bit of rose fertilizer off and on--and trimming back in the fall. YOu could deadhead blooms if energetic, but don't really need to do so. It is a whole new "rose" world.
Tea olives (osmanthus fragrans), hands down, have the best scent of any flower—or pretty much anything else, for that matter. And they bloom about three times per year here in Alabama. Peonies, old world roses, and frangipani are great as well. My wife’s faves are almost anything in a reddish pink.
My mom's favorite were red roses... My dad's favorite were sweet peas... I on the other-hand much prefer wild flowers... I would rather have a colonoscopy than mow grass... there is absolutely NOTHING I enjoy about that vile ground covering...pretentious doesn't even begin to describe it.
If I had the prerogative, I would have every square inch of grass bladed off of my yard and sold as sod, then have my entire yard planted in a variety of wild flowers that bloomed throughout the spring, summer and fall... Alas!...one of the few downfalls of renting is that I am unable to realize that desire... I struggle to persevere... ;P
I too love wildflowers but living in the forest means few flowers will bloom under the canopy. I gave up on my favs and resorted to painting them on the side of the cabin- wild pink pea, queen anne's lace, foxglove, ox eye daisy, goldenrod, tansy etc. now adorn the outside of the house year round, blooming even in winter! A big plus of the forest canaopy is no grass to mow.....although if a lawn is not chemicalized a number of edible wild plants will move in and coexist happily with the grass. Plus almost all grasses can be juiced similar to wheatgrass. Of course this only works if one is allowed to let the grass and edibles grow a bit before mowing.......
In the Pacific Northwest you have such interesting plants under the canopy. Trilliums. Pinedrops and snow flowers that are saprophytes and don’t even do photosynthesis, but obtain their energy from decomposing organic matter in the soil. https://www.pnwflowers.com/flower/pterospora-andromedea
Not a plant but I remember seeing a slime mold living in deep forest and which have the ability to move deliberately towards their food sources. But they are not an animal and have no brain or nervous system. Absolutely he most mind blowing sci-fi living things. https://www.opb.org/article/2022/01/03/unlocking-secrets-slime-molds/
Yes we do- under a healthy, mature, drought free forest canopy that is. Unfortunately that has changed dramatically in many places in the past decade. Our place has the mature fir and cedar and hemlock, (which are also struggling btw) but the ground below is dry now much of the year. I struggle even to keep moss growing here now and water is expensive these days, so cannot afford to water as I would basically be watering the trees which would suck up all the moisture they can get. We did have a comeback of the native starflower under parts of the canopy this year and the sweet woodruff is doing well this year too, but the trillium, bleeding heart etc I have planted over the years sadly just don't make it. The invasive non- native herb Robert is taking over much of the ground cover in the drier forest now. Herb Robert is a useful herb and I appreciate it, but I don't want to lose our beautiful native plants.
Speaking of snow flowers generally... "Snowdrops" are such “harbingers of spring,” that the Russians have a yearly event for romance surrounding their arrival... a time that is reminiscent of St. Valentines Day... and April 19 is observed as International Snowdrop Day.
Plants of Wisconsin and Minnesota as well. Trillium, ramp, solomons seal, wild geraniums, marsh marigolds, May apples. We're now seeing jack in the pulpits, one of my favorites.
I practically convulse with abdominal spasms at the mere thought of mowing grass... One of the few "services" that I employ... paying someone else to mow my grass (as it is a requirement of my rental lease).
As a side note... who doesn't know what the smell of freshly mowed grass is a result of? It's the pheromones that the grass is excreting as their individual little heads are being chopped off... OH! The inhumanity of it all!!!
So visual- made my own stomach contract in sympathy!
I do believe grass evolved to be eaten -ie having it's head repeatedly chopped off by grazing herds- but eventually it does want to go to seed and reproduce; which of course constant mowing prevents. So one could say we have neutered our lawns.....
Sorry for such a visceral experience... I tend to get a bit visual when I speak of my loathings... ;)
We have neutered so much of our natural environment that it is no surprise to me that our natural environment is in such a poor state of reproductive health... and that we, both in terms of societal as well as individually are in such a poor state physically, mentally and psychologically.
In South Texas everyone has, or had, carpet grass. Very luxuriant under bare feet in the cool of a shade tree. But with drouth watering is prohibited so we have brown crunch under foot. Many are replacing grass with river rock that flourishes in dry weather.
I stand corrected... When I voiced my disdain for grass, I was specifically referring to the commonly accepted habit of a "Well Manicured Lawn"... As I understand it, it originated from the English aristocracy in order to exhibit their social standing, as no commoner (read sensible persons) would allow that much ground space to be left unproductive for the necessities of life and welfare... ergo... "pretentiousness".
My sentiments exactly! I don't mean to be too critical of those who truly enjoy a "well manicured lawn", as often said "one man's cure is another man's poison", but with some people I've encountered (my dad for instance, who would go into our yard and dig out dandelions by the their roots with a butter knife)... I've seen it lead to what I would call obsessive/compulsive behavior... Oops! There I went again! LingOL!!! ;D btw... I LOVE dandelions!!!... I would blow the seedlings from the puffballs all over the yard at every opportunity when he wasn't looking... and still do!!!... I'm just evil like that... ;)
Tulips, peonies, hellebores are my favorites. I don’t grow tulips because the squirrels will dig up the bulbs. They are attacking my window boxes and planters currently which they only do once they’ve been planted. Not enough chili powder to keep them away.
I also love the hydrangeas, lavender, stone crop and bleeding hearts that are also in my garden.
Peonies are lovely but short-lived. And they flop without proper support. Plus there is the conundrum as to what to replace them with after they fade before summer even arrives.
I tried to move the peonies that were in our yard here to more convenient places, but they did not like being transplanted and died instead. When I suggested replacing them, Mr. Celia said NO! All because of the ants.
Yep. Suburban deer are a pestilence. They’ll invade the front porch and munch whatever’s in the flower boxes. Much more pleasant when you can smell the backstrap frying, or as roasts in the crockpot.
I cannot plant hardly anything here because the squirrels will immediately dig up and destroy whatever. I am so not a fan of the pesky rodents, which are invasive here and I wish folks would stop feeding them. I soothe myself by telling the fat little bas##^%%s that when times get really tough they will be first on my menu!
My Georgia grandmother used to call squirrels "rats with tails." She hated them. In Maine, the flying squirrels got into my house--between the ceiling and the upper floors. It was a mess to get them out. I stopped feeding all the birds to keep these rodents away.
I empathize with your grandma! The little red squirrels that are native here were not much of a problem, but they got pushed out and replaced by these big ole aggressive grey and black squirrels that are a real nusiance.
Same problem. We used to carpet the yard with birdseed and cracked corn. Flocks of ill -tempered black belly ducks were fun to watch. And the migratory song birds. But. Rats. So we’ve stopped the feeding.
I always have a battle with the squirrels when I plant my planters and window boxes. I leave them unplanted as long as possible and they don’t touch them. As soon as they are planted they dig away. Little monsters. I even did different plants this year. Chili powder helps but needs reapplication.
My favorite is the flour you make cookies and cakes with. I am not a botanist but I am a proud glutonian. And I also like flourless chocolate cake too but without too much sugar.
Yes to roses but, here in the Northeast, especially along the coast, how about a nod to the hydrangea? The mounds of beautiful blue flowers that survive and thrive in the Summer's heat and then continue to bloom into Autumn.
On another front, how about some outrage for the graft and corruption built by the Democrats that is only now being uncovered? Built to perfection by giving incredible power to the tax collectors - including trying to arm them - this mafia like organization managed to extort massive sums from hardworking American citizens. And to what end? To enrich criminals. To allow third-world parasites to defraud us and send our riches overseas to support their clans and terrorist murderers. And to enrich Democrat donors through payoffs to a web of NGOs and other partners in crime. The fraud and corruption is deep and wide. From Somali "day care" Learing Centers to Mexican hospices. All fraudulent. All spitting on our generosity and hospitality. Are these people just natural born criminals? And what of the Democrats opening our borders to them and conspiring to keep them here? Sending out their deluded foot soldiers to attack our ICE agents trying to deport the depraved and most disgusting illegals. It's all of a piece and it can all be laid at the doorstep of the DNC. Nothing but a treasonous, criminal operation and a fifth column in opposition to our American way of life.
The PTB's, for various nefarious reasons, managed to deviously and quite effectively twist the collective hearts and minds of the western world into a guilt ridden,virtue signalling nightmare; thereby opening wide the door for total invasion and destruction. That news story of the young woman refusing to file charges against her black attacker because her caring heart had been manipulated into believing that it would make her a bad person if she sent yet another black man to jail- thereby giving him freedom to then go on and kill someone- is a perfect case in point of how all pervasive and dangerous the megalithic propaganda brainwasing machine has become.
Despite reading Jupp's excellent piece on Ireland, it remains deeply counterintuitive that the Irish, of all people, would allow themselves to be invaded this way. As long as the invaders aren't native British?
On the other hand, there's a certain amount of karma at work, I think. The Irish were willing to resort to terrorism, persisting in it long after their independence was secured. Welcoming in foreigners who are just as willing to commit terrorism (against the people who have welcomed them!) has a karmic symmetry about it.
Great comment. That’s what’s behind Ireland’s all-in support for Hamas. They are making a false equivalence between their rebellion (via terrorism and violence) against the British “occupiers“, and the “Palestinians“ use of violence against Israel. I guess it doesn’t bother them at all that Gaza was given back to the Gazans in 2005, which means that they weren’t being “occupied” at all.
Some already have regrets (but they’re not the ones in power). They’ve had a few very large violent “protests” in the last couple of years — usually after an immigrant is arrested for a sex crime against an Irish girl.
My sentimental favorite is black eyed susans. These were everywhere in the meadows in Vermont. We’d stay at my grandparents farm there in the summer when I was a child. So now it’s sunflowers. 🌻 I love yellow and these flowers always make me smile. But if someone gave me some roses, that would make me smile too.
This reminds me of the rapeseed fields on Cheju Island in S. Korea. I had a vintage sweater with yellow flowers on the front, and I'm wearing it in a photo taken of me wading in a field of bright yellow rapeseed on Cheju: https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/HonoraryReporters/view?articleId=195863
So meta.
I had purple 'Blazing Star' in my window boxes. They lasted for years! However they did not grow back a couple of years ago, leaving only weeds. Since I had no disposable income during that time, the boxes have been unsightly. Today I'm going to buy something for them, but what? It has to hide the cat sitting on the windowsill to prevent some asshole do-gooder from cutting the screen to release him. Yes indeed, while we were home, someone tried doing that in to the other window. Good thing we were home to scare the person off. Imagine the nerve of some people...
I love sunflowers!! I have been planting them every year since my 17 year old brought home a sunflower plant from school. I stuck it in my flower garden and it grew to 12 feet! It looked so out of place but I loved it. I harvested the seeds that fall and kept a bunch for planting and roasted the rest. Now it’s a fun project for me every summer. Last year’s plants did not do well but I will try again this summer.
Reminds me of the marijuana plant my brother put behind the garage in the rich soil of our parents’ home in Houston. Shot up like Jack’s beanstalk. Mom, a farm girl (and naïf) was intrigued by the strange weed, and left it alone. One day it disappeared, leaving her perplexed. Of course, brother had hung it in the attic to dry.
In Russia, in the 1970's, informant-types didn't know what marijuana plants looked like and pot-heads could grow these freely in the small weedy plots outside apartment buildings. Ordinary cigarettes came in stiff paper wraps, and these were emptied and stuffed with the harvested pot. An expert could process one in 30 seconds, one-handed (source: long-ago talk by Vladimir Kozlovskii, who studied the slang of outsider groups and criminals).
I'm pretty old (almost 70) but I took a lot of Russian Studies classes when I was an undergrad; my parents were both enemies of the state under Stalin as my maternal grandfather stood trial on a kulak charge in what is now the Ukraine/Belarus border (he was acquitted because he got people to testify that his prosperity was due to labor; he also bribed the judge) while my father (from Lodz, but grew up in Kharkiv) spent some involuntary time felling trees in the Northern Urals. My Russian was once almost fluent but I didn't use it much after my father died; too depressing.
If you share these interests, my favorite instructor was Omry Ronen, who taught my class on 20th century poetry during one of his stints on the East Coast. My classmates knew somewhat more Russian than I did but I knew more English (the destiny of any Nabokovnik) so held my own when our translations were graded--I knew just the right words to make mine scan, etc.
Fascinating family history! I’ve a niece, now pushing 50, who was enchanted with things Russian, majored in Russian language/literature, ended up with a PhD in something about Russian culture, and has spent a good part of her life there and in Ukraine. Her Russian, I’m told, is indistinguishable from that of a native speaker. Sadly, due to some rift in her family, she comes to no gatherings and does not communicate with anyone beyond occasional brief contact with her sister. It would be fun to talk with her and benefit a little from her experiences.
I’m with you on wild flowers, Celia. My favorite is the trillium found in May in the woodlands of my home state of Michigan. Down here in South Florida it’s fun to discover wild orchids growing on palm trees.
The older natives here used to call trilliums easter lilllies, as they often bloom around that time. I didn't see much trillium this year which is strange as we have had an unusual abundance- I would say even an explosion of other native flowers this spring.
When I was a child my dad would take me bird watching and along the trail he would also point out all the spring wild flowers. My favorite wild flower was Jack-in-the pulpit.
I never thought a "favorite flower" would be a topic in my life, but danged if I don't have one - calla lily. I've got a bunch of them grow right up every year right outside the picture window I sit front of a few hours everyday. I've got my old, lumbersome, big grade school teachers-like office desk right up against the widow. The crimson lilies begin blooming in about ten days and go on replenishing themselves all summer right into November. The view across the road is ten acres empty of human life, half open grass, half huge trees. It's strange, I'm in the middle of this town of 10,000, it's the only empty land besides the nine hole muni. The land is well kept - somebody comes along and mows the grass every month. From my view I live in a nice little park, the calla lilies are just in front of the small porch framing the right side of the scene. I had nothing to do with planting the lilies, they were here when I got here. The humming birds love them too.
"The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower—suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died."
What I didn't know was that Hepburn had spoken these lines in an unsuccessful play called "The Lake" and then resurrected them for "Stage Door."
B. is one of the last of a breed: the cultured New Yorker. Now it’s all Kardashian flash and fake shame for one’s “privilege”; back then it required knowledge/appreciation of art, music, literature, etc. I miss the old values more than I can convey.
We were in South Africa for part of our honeymoon, where calla lilies grow wild as a weed. They called them “pig lilies”. We loved seeing them everywhere.
In "Stage Door," Hepburn gets the role through her rich father's machinations so that she'd be awful and done with acting. And she is awful, awful, until that lovely actress who should have had the part kills herself -- and then she's wonderful.
I don't remember the audition, but I remember Hepburn's accent delivering those lines -- a strident mix of Fenwick and Bryn Mawr.
Charleston must be a gardener's paradise. No matter the season, whenever we visit there's something abloom. When we saw Middleton Place during peak-season camellia time, a couple of years ago, we were bowled over with looking at everything. And the Ashley River right there. What a place to live, Louisa.
No, not just sour grapes--that what I associate them with most as well. I'm not sure why, because I've seen them in plenty of other contexts. But there's something about them that feels solemn and funerial.
Anything in bloom. I cut from my garden every week for church from March through October. I love watching the colors and shapes evolve. With the first heavy frost, all goes dark. Then, coinciding with Easter, it all comes to life again.
My favorite are hydrangeas! I love the variety of color depending on the pH and aluminum present in the soil. I also really love geraniums and impatiens.
I have a limelight. If you cut some of the heads in the fall when they are still green but starting to harden, you can put them in a vase or something as they will stay green all winter. Or most of it.
I don’t have a favorite (too many to choose from) but I told my husband when we first met that any flowers he bought for me should have roots attached. I love to grow stuff and I hate spending money on cut flowers that are just going to die.
I realized also, in an uncharacteristic burst of social awareness, that when the Suitor brings the Lady flowers, the Lady is stuck with them for the duration of the evening. Learned to be judicious...
I learned they can throw the poem away and as added bonus, if they think it’s weird, then I know we’ll never work as it’s not like I’ll stop writing poems. 🙄
As it's not the place it's the company, it's not the flower... it's the company. When I buy the flowers at church my only spec is at least one sunflower (if possible) -- for my daughter, who is what a Flower Child was supposed to be. (For years I banned lilies because of the association with my son's wake and funeral.) I've gotten over it. Hold a gun to my head and demand an answer? Daffodils. A crazy happy harbinger of spring that must have been designed by an engineer high on who knows what. They shouldn't exist. But they do.
Okay- had to look it up- here is what AI says so guess I didn't[t imagine it.
Daffy-down-dilly" is a classic, traditional Mother Goose nursery rhyme and a playful, personified nickname for the bright yellow daffodil. The short poem celebrates the arrival of spring by describing the flower as a cheerful visitor wearing a green gown and a yellow petticoat.The classic lyrics are:Daffy-down-dilly has come to town,With a yellow petticoat and a pretty green gown.
Nice story about Mr Celia as I wouldn’t know either. Carnations remind me of high school dances. Texas is renown for its wildflower season. Beginning in April, our highway sides blossom with a wide variety, most famously bluebonnets, but also buttercups, Indian paint brushes and more. Dozens of sunflower patches dot my 4 acres, so much so I thought I was in Ukraine yesterday walking to my mailbox. Did you get my email? HOMEBOUND HAIKU: Leave my lonely room/Beautiful bluebonnets bloom/Pray. Avoid my tomb.
Those Texas bluebonnets are something to see. One year I visited my mom in Waco when they were in full bloom along the sides of the roads. It was awesome!
In Maine, the wild flowers are amazing all summer. A parade of delight. I so loved the lupine. And the Dame's Rocket. And on and on, through the short summer.
That's what is so funny: All the flowering trees and shrubs and flowers that grow during Brooklyn's relatively long growing season grow all at once in Maine, beginning late and ending early. Pretty riotous.
We try to get up to Bar Harbor every year just before the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden closes for the season, because it's so chock full, it's stunning; and besides, the hummingbirds are fighting over the best flowers. Fun to watch.
Ah, I used to have a whole flock of hummingbirds at my Maine feeders--fighting like mad with each other. I've seen a few here, but in this new suburb neighborhood, they are still discovering us, though many here now have nice gardens full of flowers. I'm hearing the big garden in Boothbay gets better and better every year, and it would be on your way north.
Yes, I got your email. I have just been too ill to function.
This cold is pure evil. Jem's had it for a week and a half and shows no signs of getting over it yet. I started getting sniffly early this week, but it seems to get worse every day. I thought when it headed for my lungs that it would be over soon after that, but instead it moved back up into my sinuses.
The pressure and congestion make it almost impossible to think clearly, and I feel feverish even though I'm not. It has also kicked my fibro into high gear, so I have a double-whammy of exhaustion. Gotta say this year has not been kind to me.
Good morning.
Roses.
I just planted a sixth rose bush, heaven knows why. I hope it grows, and fast, so that I'm still around to appreciate it; the spot is dubious.
When I sold Mom's house, I took with me two aged red rose bushes, old-fashioned, single-petal varieties, probably by then fifty years old, planted in my grandparents' time. One of them is still hanging on.
But to the point: All you fellow JiPers who've had cataract surgery, did your surgeon use a scalpel or the laser-assisted femtosecond weapon? I still can't fathom someone's taking a knife to my eyeball; but then again, there's no other choice, is there.
I had Lasik in 2009 (both eyes) and it was one of the best things I've ever done! And my nervousness and reticence were proven unfounded.
I took my dad for his cataract surgeries, and his Dr. explained it as being like replacing your windshield!
Dr. Safelite?
😂
Safelite is a scam. Our local business glass installer is much cheaper and far more trustworthy. Also, bigger windows are much cheaper to replace than smaller windows. I learned this the hard way by accidentally breaking a rear windshield on a Mercedes SLK while trying to repair the hydraulic system. Anywho… flowers
Yes. We found that out recently.
About 20 years ago at Dallas Mavericks games a Lasik surgeon put his commercials on thd jumbotron as a hint that the refs could use his services. Lasik Lasik Lasik was the tagline
Yes it’s fantastic! The advances with laser eye surgery are phenomenal
I had my lasik in 1998 (I waited until after the 10 year studies were completed). I basically did it for convenience in sports — and it definitely helped. I had some halos with lights at night at first, but those are long gone, and now I need reading glasses (which my surgeon warned me about at the time). Still, it’s been a definite upgrade, and my corneas are so solidly healed that my current ophthalmologist couldn’t believe that I’d ever had the surgery.
I was the first on my block to get Lasik, both eyes, in 1997, by one of the U.S. pioneers and it was the best money I ever spent (it was still experimental for eyes as bad as mine, no coverage). It didn't require anything but local numbing but they gave me a valium prior, as my demeanor was indistinguishable from full freakout. Afterwards, I told people that the only reason it seemed like a big deal was because it was happening to me. Knives were definitely used, and the scars are still visible under magnification. 'Ed does such beautiful work!' is the usual comment by other docs when the see them.
There is some anesthesia needed for cataract surgery and my request 'I want this to be amusing' didn't quite work, but I have no memory of anything that was used on me. I suspect it was the laser; it healed very quickly and my post-op instructions didn't include active measures to avoid infection (I couldn't wash my hair myself for 2 weeks after the Lasik).
So you had Lasik and then cataract surgery too --?
The cataract surgery was in 2022, as my natural lens clouded very quickly after a vitrectomy in 2020 to pry my retina off my eyeball. I was -10/-11 before Lasik, and very nearsighted eyes have a structural risk of incomplete vitreous detachment. Lasik tampered with my cornea but didn't change the internal configuration. I should have had the cataract surgery in 2021, but it was delayed due to Covid.
My town has a fantastic guy does the cataracts. He's got like a factory, a staff of like 28 it seems. He does one eye one week, the other two weeks later. Your appointments are on an assembly line, the first stop is the accountants, and then on through a bevy of beauties for "procedures" and finally to the barber chair. He's quick and efficient. I don't know if he uses a pocket knife or a Gillette. I complemented him on his routine and speed. He answered he had four kids in college. Congrats on the accomplishment, B., at least it's over.
No, it's not over! June 15 if I stick. But thanks for the reassurance.
Here's an amusing scene to imagine, for the rest of the deal. The town I live in is Southern. Until she passed recently, there was a famous old black lady, used to bother all us old men, wanting to be our "home health care person." When I was told by the cataract people I couldn't drive myself, I asked Janice to drive me to and from the appointments. She showed up that morning in the white uniform, carrying a huge purse. She looked like Hattie McDaniel. We go into the office, me on my cane, my "Mammy," seeing me up the steps. We check in, Janice takes a seat, takes knitting out of the bag. Imagine it. I was quite aware, and started to crack up. Some of the staff immediately were in on it, it was that obvious. I was admitting I was half embarrassed, half enjoying the scene. I'm still laughing, and passing it on to you, B. Enjoy.
“Driving Mr Karg” the memes write themselves!
Darn! Wish I'd thought of that.
I can see the movie...
Mr Karg I had cataract surgery. Apparently many people are very nervous so they give you a Valium and assign someone to hold your hand and basically reassure you during the procedure. When the cornea is removed a kaleidoscope of colors flood your eyes from the rods and cones. I exclaimed, “Wow! this is cool! It looks like a psychedelic flashback!”. The nurse dropped my hand. “He’ll be fine” and left. lol 😝
I did the "lol" out loud, before the lol, Poet. Great timing. That's writing!
Laser was $3 grand extra at Houston Eye Associates but well worth it. It shortens the
Healing time from weeks to days. I wasn’t going to use it but the surgery was in a January so at Xmas Eve dinner I mentioned it to my family. Next morning my Mom handed me a Christmas card. “Don’t argue. Use it for the laser”. Inside was a $3000 check. Very generous woman my Mom is. 💕
Thank you, PoetKen. That's a very good answer, just what I wanted to hear.
Amateur. I have 14 roses.
My dad had dozens! The fences were lined with them.
my husband had the laser cataract surgery- total success. they are telling me to wait as my cataracts are just babies!
I had to get it done. Driving, I was stopping for fire plugs, thinking they were five year olds about to cross the street.
Another plus for the laser surgery. Thank you!
10 years ago I had both eyes done by knife. Worked fine, although I didn’t opt for the new lenses that provide both near and far vision, so I use readers. From what I’ve read, the laser is better but in either case you want someone with a lot of procedures in their rear view mirror.
Yours will go well and you’ll be very happy when it’s done.
My eyes are beyond corrective surgery - too much myopia, not lens enough to carve up/reshape. 25 years ago my wife did lasik. She is delighted with it.
I get an eyeball injection (!!!) every 8 to 20 months, depending on on whether there is a "bleed" into the retina. I am entirely used to it - this has been going on for about 15 years. They inject Avastin, a drug used to treat colon cancer. But it has really saved my eyesight.
I'd do the Lasik if I could. Cataract surgery has non-trivial risk with my myopia. Possible retina tears.
Hell to get old! But being conscious is the best sensation in all the universe. (Well almost the best.)
Triple exclamation points indeed! I do not know why an eyeball makes me more squirmy than, say, a kidney, but it does. We can get used to almost anything I guess.
When you say "being conscious is the best sensation in all the universe," I am reminded of that scene in "Our Town" when, is it the late Mrs. Gibbs, tells Emily, newly arrived at the cemetery, "Choose the least important day [to return home]; it will be important enough."
I'll say. The older I get . . . . I love insignificant days.
B., I'm late to reply, but want to recommend laser assisted. I had mine in 2011 and went 6 hours away to someone who was an expert. Insurance didn’t cover the extra but I'm so glad I did it. He also corrected astigmatism with the laser. Quicker healing time, more precision. I was a -11 contacts prescription and now am 20-20. My local guy said that was impossible. For most people, that is probably not an issue but for me it was critical. Shortly after, two women in my church both had significant bruising after their cataract surgery. They went to the local doc. I had no bruises.
Thank you. Appreciate the testimonials no end!
I love gardening and so it is really hard to pick a favourite flower. One of my favourites is the Philadelphus or mock orange. I also love magnolias. David Austen roses (old English roses) are great. We tend to get a rose for pets who have died.
As it is sharing Saturday, I will share a really long but interesting report on the capture of the BBC -- its major scoop is to get Frans Unsworth to give an account of how it happened. https://unherd.com/2026/05/inside-the-capture-of-the-bbc/ or https://archive.ph/hxJFg
This interview with 'Guy Stanton' who is the undercover Customs investigator portrayed in Legends (Netflix) is also really interesting. The series is fascinating and really well done. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/media/article/guy-stanton-real-netflix-legends-dxxphbfls or https://archive.ph/WOShJ
Also this Saturday essay in the Telegraph about Enoch Powell and his 'Rivers of Blood' speech and how what he said bears more than a grain of truth. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/16/enoch-powell-rivers-of-blood-tommy-robinson/ or https://archive.ph/deFiv
In many cases, it's just too hot in American summers for roses to thrive, I fear. The roses in England are incredible.
Now turning to your posted resources with anticipation....
One of the places where they were able to get loads of old roses as root stock was the cemeteries from the California Gold Rush (eg the one at Angel's Camp), so there are some places where roses thrive in the US. Roses were hitting a height of popularity then and they were often planted on the graves of children.
Hybrid teas nearly took over the world because they are repeat flowerers and so it was about going back to before then.
the Pacific NW is a good bet for flowers !
The Portland Rose Garden was beautiful, although it's been decades since I was there.
I think it has a similar climate to the UK's.
Actually many types of roses thrive here in Charleston, SC. Not tea roses so much, but some of those. I have roses all around my little house, and they are show stoppers from spring to frost. Many are hybrids and bloom and bloom.
hi Louisa- I think I've mentioned before i'm planning to move from my beloved Hudson Valley to SC, and we've finally taken the plunge and bought a place about 1 hr. outside of Charleston. I have to recalibrate my gardening towards camellias and oleander!
Beware oleander as it is poisonous. My gardening grandmother loved it but wouldn’t plant it in her Georgia garden. That sort of took with her daughters and grands like me. Don’t forget tea olives. And come visit if you are down my way in Mt. Pleasant which is part of Charleston County.
Louisa I may take you up on the visit! I'll be in Colleton Co. BTW I am aware of the poisonous quality of oleander. My grandmother loved it as well! I've grown it in pots on my patio, but of course it won't over-winter up here!
I'm just outside Charleston proper--to the north off 17. You will be in a lovely area and possibly near Beaufort. It is a big change from New England, but I'm enjoying this region a lot--except for potential hurricanes in the summer/early fall. It is what it is.
One of my favorite towns! Such a gracious, lovely place to live. Glad to hear your roses thrive there, too.
The Powell article is foolish and vapid. Britain then was a very different place than it is now and the immigration Powell warned about lay in the future; it was not the recipient of the tidal wave of Islamist ghouls it is now. And the line about Powell and Trump - well, nothing more than the usual "upper class" British contempt for their intellectual and economic betters.
I know you detest Tommy but every revolution needs its firebrands. Our own Revolution would have died aborning without the Sons of Liberty, Sam Adams and Tom Paine. Something - someone - was needed to rouse the slumbering English yeomanry and Tommy provided that spark. And Britain may yet be saved as a result.
Robinson may have some fraudulent elements (his real name is Yaxley Lennon some such-there’s also a famously gay British new wave artist with the name) but he’s pretty spot on in his stalwart opposition to the Islamic invasion. From across the pond it looks like now or never over there so Godspeed to the Return of the Natives.
I detest Robinson because he is an antisemite who hates all immigrants and is given to thuggish behaviour. As an immigrant, I am never likely to like or think well of someone who tells that I have no business being in the country.
I know you like him, but honestly he is a nasty piece of work. I do have direct experience with some of his adherents and you don't.
Banners such as 'End Zionist Occupation of Britain, Stop white replacement' have been seen at his march. Unfortunately I don't think the people holding the banner got their protests mixed up. The organizers should have shut them down as many Jewish people are on that march and are grateful that people are supporting their right to love in peace. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/london/article/tommy-robinson-london-march-protest-live-palestine-latest-news-6spmhrlgn
Starmer has fallen into a trap as the policing of the two rival marches appears to be two tier. The police have refused to divert the pro- Palestine march from going past the synagogue in Westminster.
Current estimates are about 50k at Robinson's march and 30k at the pro-Palestine march.
Personally I am with those who just want to watch the FA Cup final in peace.
The Powell article was interesting as he has been so demonized.
If that is an accurate criticism of Robinson - and I do tend to doubt anything the leftist press says (remember the lies that Trump praised the Tiki marchers in Charlottesville) he needs to stop that shit. The Jews are a bulkwark against the Islamist invaders. They have ever been British patriots and Tommy is wrong to say otherwise. That still does not negate the fact that he was an important voice in the wilderness against the gang raping Islamist scum. Forever earning him the enmity of the traitors who imported them.
Unfortunately it is accurate. He apparently altered but that banner is openly being carried today in his march. It is his organization which needed to say -- okay lads, you can march but not with that banner. But they let that banner go on the march. Just as the Pro Palestine allowed banners which should not be there.
2 of the arrests today are for offensives in Birmingham -- apparently one of the founders of the 'Raise the Colours' committed GBH by running someone over with a car. It doesn't matter what your politics are, you are not allowed to run people over with a car.
d.accord, Michelle.
I picture soccer hooligans or yobs on holiday with a “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” vibe. And correct me if I’m mistaken Michelle, but aren’t YOU technically “an immigrant” there? Much like T.S Eliot you seem so thoroughly assimilated, yet I guess to extremists, even Americans aren’t “blood and soil” Founding Stock.
Yes I am an immigrant, no technically about it. Some of the extremists involved want all foreigners gone. When they talk about children born to foreign mothers, they are also talking about my children.
'You are not from around here' or 'Why don't you go back from where you came from' have been shouted at me because they heard my accent. Once when I was talking to my daughter in a queue to buy clothes at M&S.
Some people are just insular.
I totally get the need for secure borders and proper assimilation. The problems have been a long time in the making.
I heard perhaps 100,000 at the keep England English march.
They are thinking at least 75k. It would not surprise me as people are really angry at Starmer and it is a nice day. The vast majority are tired of being told that they should be ashamed of being British.
There are a few idiots and the organizers should come down hard on them. Not nudge, nudge, wink, wink but actually say -- those sorts of banners are unacceptable.
So the police are saying 60k at Robinson's UtK march and 15 -20k at the Nakba 78 one. 33 arrests across both marches which is actually quite low when you consider that at least 2 were for outstanding charges including that incident in Birmingham. https://x.com/metpoliceuk/status/2055598469197246748
And you believe the police?
It means that it will not be a number under that. I suspect it is closer to 100k.
And I suspect the Nabka rally is closer to 15k than 20.
Given that the FA Cup final is on and football is hugely popular with the UtK crowd (Chelsea v Man City with City winning 1- 0), it is a good turn out. Chelsea are a London club obvs.
I'm disappointed to learn that Robinson is a Jew-hater. Nothing has been so depressing of late than the defection of former Right-wing pundits to the pro-Islam, anti-Israel ideology.
I completely agree.
My fascinating bit of research for today was to look up Zurayk, the Greek Orthodox Syrian who basically provided the intellectual underpinning for the PFLP and Arab Nationalism in general. He was v much a secularist. I then looked up Edward Said because I was curious. He was also raised a Christian. It helps to explain why Said etc had this huge blind spot concerning political Islam. I doubt they ever read Nuri and understood the prevailing view in the Constitutional Revolution amongst Islam jurists was that equality under the law was impossible in Islam. The thing which unites pan Arabism and radical Islam is a hatred of Israel and indeed Jews. Their visions for the ME were/are v different.
Instead of trashing Tommy, wake up to what this is really about.
https://jupplandia.substack.com/p/oikophobia-in-power?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1761987&post_id=197966454&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=7bo5d&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Great piece today by jupp
A triple (at least) wow.
And here's Jupp on "woke" theory/practice from the other day:
"Woke refers to a set of Hard Left social attitudes and policies focused on victim culture, identity, race, gender and wealth disparities and grievances. It entails support for State led interventions and adjustments claiming to address these disparities and to provide social justice. It claims to be anti-authoritarian, anti-racist, and open, inclusive and just, but demands the reduction of the rights of the majority in favour of the rights of groups it champions. It asserts that since injustice pervades western culture, history, government and morality, only radical and forced measures to provide equity represent real justice. It consider itself rebellious and transgressive in a positive way, but demands conformity and obedience, with ostracism, censorship, and legal restriction all applied to views opposed to its own. It is anti-authoritarian by declaration and self-image, but deeply authoritarian in practice. It will claim to be addressing racism by adopting racist measures, or defending democracy by denying majority votes. The contradictions of Woke ideology are made possible by the fact that it is a radical ideology adopted by an entrenched Establishment who hold the power to enforce these radical views and present them as respectable and moderate while doing so."
I just finished LEGENDS last night. It is really good.
It is excellent, isn't it?
Loads of fun, isn’t it? And what a relief to have a break from the relentless “inclusion” politics of contemporary TV in the UK/US. No forced gay/trans characters, no self conscious box-checking of every possible racial minority, actually showing the Muslim immigrant dominance of the heroin trade rather than pretending that the drugs business is all White people. It reminded me of what the entertainment industry *could* do if they would focus on merit rather than virtue signaling.
I watched Legends. It was great.
And I started to read the Enoch Powell article but got pissed and quit it when people who want their country to be their country and not a bunch of murderous Muslim child rapist’s country were described as extremists.
To understand about the Powell article, you have understand how he was vilified and mocked. He has been a byword for racism.
So Kemi has been called Bad Enoch in an attempt to discredit her.
The Rivers of Blood speech was spoken about in hushed tones and given as an example of one speech can destroy a career. It is interesting to see the reassessment.
Legends is great. I hope they do other series of it based on Stanton's book.
My favorites are purple clematis, double black hollyhocks and lilac. None of which I can have in Florida 🥲.
Although, my hibiscus is blooming and looking gorgeous.
I really miss the garden centers we had in Ohio and all the varieties of plants, flowers, shrubs and trees.
Roses are okay..... too much of a hassle, in my opinion.
Edit: Ohhhh.... I love petunias, especially the wave variety!
University of South Florida has a fantastic plant show in the spring and the fall. I don't think it's all that far from you. All the growers are local, selling unique tropicals not sold in the usual places. I'm enchanted with bromeliads, particularly the stoloniferous types that shoot out new pups that can grow without a speck of soil. The colors and patterns are fantastic! Another favorite is Crown of Thorns. It's kind of old-fashioned but it blooms like crazy pretty much year round.
I have lattice down the side of my carport and I really wanted a climber to enhance the look. Clematis does not do well in this climate and my climbing hydrangea is not doing well in that location.
Clematis and hydrangeas are so lovely but our weather isn't quite right for them. I miss daffodils blooming in the spring.
Maybe Bougainvillea if it's a sunny spot. You can train them to grow up the lattice. So many beautiful colors and a repeat bloomer. Jasmine is also nice for part sun but it blooms early and then it's done.
I killed one of my grandmother's transplanted rose bushes when I fastened lattice directly onto the house instead of using wooden spacing blocks to set the lattice a bit away from the siding. I'm pretty sure that's what did it. The other one reaches for the sky.
Jasmine? It's blooming now here and is so, so fragerant. Pretty vine.
Hibiscus tea 👍
Agree about the roses. Pain in the butt to maintain.
The teas, yes. The new hybrids, no. See below.
The rose hybrids are easy and very very hardy: Drifts, knock Outs, and plain old landscape floribunda. Lots of color all summer. Just need a bit of rose fertilizer off and on--and trimming back in the fall. YOu could deadhead blooms if energetic, but don't really need to do so. It is a whole new "rose" world.
My hibiscus in Florida was like 8’ tall and got killed by the frost. So I replaced it. Hopefully it’s still alive. Will know in like a month.
Hollyhocks! They always make me smile.
Tea olives (osmanthus fragrans), hands down, have the best scent of any flower—or pretty much anything else, for that matter. And they bloom about three times per year here in Alabama. Peonies, old world roses, and frangipani are great as well. My wife’s faves are almost anything in a reddish pink.
I lived in Samoa one summer and frangipani was ubiquitous
What’s the climate there? Do they bloom year round in Samoa?
I just planted an ORANGE tea olive! Can't wait for it to bloom.
My mom's favorite were red roses... My dad's favorite were sweet peas... I on the other-hand much prefer wild flowers... I would rather have a colonoscopy than mow grass... there is absolutely NOTHING I enjoy about that vile ground covering...pretentious doesn't even begin to describe it.
If I had the prerogative, I would have every square inch of grass bladed off of my yard and sold as sod, then have my entire yard planted in a variety of wild flowers that bloomed throughout the spring, summer and fall... Alas!...one of the few downfalls of renting is that I am unable to realize that desire... I struggle to persevere... ;P
I too love wildflowers but living in the forest means few flowers will bloom under the canopy. I gave up on my favs and resorted to painting them on the side of the cabin- wild pink pea, queen anne's lace, foxglove, ox eye daisy, goldenrod, tansy etc. now adorn the outside of the house year round, blooming even in winter! A big plus of the forest canaopy is no grass to mow.....although if a lawn is not chemicalized a number of edible wild plants will move in and coexist happily with the grass. Plus almost all grasses can be juiced similar to wheatgrass. Of course this only works if one is allowed to let the grass and edibles grow a bit before mowing.......
Yes to goldenrod
Looking at it makes me sneeze 😜
In the Pacific Northwest you have such interesting plants under the canopy. Trilliums. Pinedrops and snow flowers that are saprophytes and don’t even do photosynthesis, but obtain their energy from decomposing organic matter in the soil. https://www.pnwflowers.com/flower/pterospora-andromedea
Not a plant but I remember seeing a slime mold living in deep forest and which have the ability to move deliberately towards their food sources. But they are not an animal and have no brain or nervous system. Absolutely he most mind blowing sci-fi living things. https://www.opb.org/article/2022/01/03/unlocking-secrets-slime-molds/
Yes we do- under a healthy, mature, drought free forest canopy that is. Unfortunately that has changed dramatically in many places in the past decade. Our place has the mature fir and cedar and hemlock, (which are also struggling btw) but the ground below is dry now much of the year. I struggle even to keep moss growing here now and water is expensive these days, so cannot afford to water as I would basically be watering the trees which would suck up all the moisture they can get. We did have a comeback of the native starflower under parts of the canopy this year and the sweet woodruff is doing well this year too, but the trillium, bleeding heart etc I have planted over the years sadly just don't make it. The invasive non- native herb Robert is taking over much of the ground cover in the drier forest now. Herb Robert is a useful herb and I appreciate it, but I don't want to lose our beautiful native plants.
Speaking of snow flowers generally... "Snowdrops" are such “harbingers of spring,” that the Russians have a yearly event for romance surrounding their arrival... a time that is reminiscent of St. Valentines Day... and April 19 is observed as International Snowdrop Day.
Plants of Wisconsin and Minnesota as well. Trillium, ramp, solomons seal, wild geraniums, marsh marigolds, May apples. We're now seeing jack in the pulpits, one of my favorites.
I practically convulse with abdominal spasms at the mere thought of mowing grass... One of the few "services" that I employ... paying someone else to mow my grass (as it is a requirement of my rental lease).
As a side note... who doesn't know what the smell of freshly mowed grass is a result of? It's the pheromones that the grass is excreting as their individual little heads are being chopped off... OH! The inhumanity of it all!!!
So visual- made my own stomach contract in sympathy!
I do believe grass evolved to be eaten -ie having it's head repeatedly chopped off by grazing herds- but eventually it does want to go to seed and reproduce; which of course constant mowing prevents. So one could say we have neutered our lawns.....
Sorry for such a visceral experience... I tend to get a bit visual when I speak of my loathings... ;)
We have neutered so much of our natural environment that it is no surprise to me that our natural environment is in such a poor state of reproductive health... and that we, both in terms of societal as well as individually are in such a poor state physically, mentally and psychologically.
No worries. I was jesting. Yes it seems we may well be on the way to successfully neutering ourselves in the process of neutering the world.
There certainly does seem to be a whole lot of neutering going on... with people that is... Self inflicted in my opinion... ;)
In South Texas everyone has, or had, carpet grass. Very luxuriant under bare feet in the cool of a shade tree. But with drouth watering is prohibited so we have brown crunch under foot. Many are replacing grass with river rock that flourishes in dry weather.
I stand corrected... When I voiced my disdain for grass, I was specifically referring to the commonly accepted habit of a "Well Manicured Lawn"... As I understand it, it originated from the English aristocracy in order to exhibit their social standing, as no commoner (read sensible persons) would allow that much ground space to be left unproductive for the necessities of life and welfare... ergo... "pretentiousness".
I get it. The worship of the large well manicured lawn just for show is rather obscene imo.
My sentiments exactly! I don't mean to be too critical of those who truly enjoy a "well manicured lawn", as often said "one man's cure is another man's poison", but with some people I've encountered (my dad for instance, who would go into our yard and dig out dandelions by the their roots with a butter knife)... I've seen it lead to what I would call obsessive/compulsive behavior... Oops! There I went again! LingOL!!! ;D btw... I LOVE dandelions!!!... I would blow the seedlings from the puffballs all over the yard at every opportunity when he wasn't looking... and still do!!!... I'm just evil like that... ;)
Great image- subversive dandelion warfare.
I never thought about it like that, but true!... After all... I am an Instigator of rebellions... :)
Tulips, peonies, hellebores are my favorites. I don’t grow tulips because the squirrels will dig up the bulbs. They are attacking my window boxes and planters currently which they only do once they’ve been planted. Not enough chili powder to keep them away.
I also love the hydrangeas, lavender, stone crop and bleeding hearts that are also in my garden.
Peonies are lovely but short-lived. And they flop without proper support. Plus there is the conundrum as to what to replace them with after they fade before summer even arrives.
Yes, that is the downside to peonies. I have mine planted along a fence so I don’t mind just the greenery after the blooms are gone.
Yes but their greenery soon fades into brown, as well.
Only after frost. Or if they don’t get water
My wife just bought some stakes with hoops that, fitted around the peonies, will help them not droop - we hope!
They work
Also...ants.
Yes. I remember my mother having to soak cut peony flowers upside down in a bucket of water to get rid of the ants before bringing them inside.
I tried to move the peonies that were in our yard here to more convenient places, but they did not like being transplanted and died instead. When I suggested replacing them, Mr. Celia said NO! All because of the ants.
I love tulips but it’s too hot in Georgia for them to thrive. They are gorgeous the first year but diminish to nothing after about 4 years..
Squirrels were the devil incarnate until my penultimate relo exposed me to deer. One reason for picking daffodils, I guess -- deer don't like them.
Yep. Suburban deer are a pestilence. They’ll invade the front porch and munch whatever’s in the flower boxes. Much more pleasant when you can smell the backstrap frying, or as roasts in the crockpot.
😋
I cannot plant hardly anything here because the squirrels will immediately dig up and destroy whatever. I am so not a fan of the pesky rodents, which are invasive here and I wish folks would stop feeding them. I soothe myself by telling the fat little bas##^%%s that when times get really tough they will be first on my menu!
My Georgia grandmother used to call squirrels "rats with tails." She hated them. In Maine, the flying squirrels got into my house--between the ceiling and the upper floors. It was a mess to get them out. I stopped feeding all the birds to keep these rodents away.
I empathize with your grandma! The little red squirrels that are native here were not much of a problem, but they got pushed out and replaced by these big ole aggressive grey and black squirrels that are a real nusiance.
Same problem. We used to carpet the yard with birdseed and cracked corn. Flocks of ill -tempered black belly ducks were fun to watch. And the migratory song birds. But. Rats. So we’ve stopped the feeding.
Fry em up!
Yep, when I get hungry enough I won't care how the neighbors react.
I always have a battle with the squirrels when I plant my planters and window boxes. I leave them unplanted as long as possible and they don’t touch them. As soon as they are planted they dig away. Little monsters. I even did different plants this year. Chili powder helps but needs reapplication.
Deer love tulips. But won't eat daffodils. Here, the deer ate all the buds of my camellia in early spring. Ugh!
My favorite is the flour you make cookies and cakes with. I am not a botanist but I am a proud glutonian. And I also like flourless chocolate cake too but without too much sugar.
Cute!
Yes to roses but, here in the Northeast, especially along the coast, how about a nod to the hydrangea? The mounds of beautiful blue flowers that survive and thrive in the Summer's heat and then continue to bloom into Autumn.
On another front, how about some outrage for the graft and corruption built by the Democrats that is only now being uncovered? Built to perfection by giving incredible power to the tax collectors - including trying to arm them - this mafia like organization managed to extort massive sums from hardworking American citizens. And to what end? To enrich criminals. To allow third-world parasites to defraud us and send our riches overseas to support their clans and terrorist murderers. And to enrich Democrat donors through payoffs to a web of NGOs and other partners in crime. The fraud and corruption is deep and wide. From Somali "day care" Learing Centers to Mexican hospices. All fraudulent. All spitting on our generosity and hospitality. Are these people just natural born criminals? And what of the Democrats opening our borders to them and conspiring to keep them here? Sending out their deluded foot soldiers to attack our ICE agents trying to deport the depraved and most disgusting illegals. It's all of a piece and it can all be laid at the doorstep of the DNC. Nothing but a treasonous, criminal operation and a fifth column in opposition to our American way of life.
Preach it, Brother Bruce!
Yeah, and the question is WHY?
As in Jupplandia's piece on Ireland. WHY are they giving countries and ethnicities away to people who won't give THEIR ethnicities away?
None dare call it treason?
The PTB's, for various nefarious reasons, managed to deviously and quite effectively twist the collective hearts and minds of the western world into a guilt ridden,virtue signalling nightmare; thereby opening wide the door for total invasion and destruction. That news story of the young woman refusing to file charges against her black attacker because her caring heart had been manipulated into believing that it would make her a bad person if she sent yet another black man to jail- thereby giving him freedom to then go on and kill someone- is a perfect case in point of how all pervasive and dangerous the megalithic propaganda brainwasing machine has become.
Easy momentary money. They don't get that they will not be able to manage what happens. Look at the history of Lebanon.
Despite reading Jupp's excellent piece on Ireland, it remains deeply counterintuitive that the Irish, of all people, would allow themselves to be invaded this way. As long as the invaders aren't native British?
On the other hand, there's a certain amount of karma at work, I think. The Irish were willing to resort to terrorism, persisting in it long after their independence was secured. Welcoming in foreigners who are just as willing to commit terrorism (against the people who have welcomed them!) has a karmic symmetry about it.
Great comment. That’s what’s behind Ireland’s all-in support for Hamas. They are making a false equivalence between their rebellion (via terrorism and violence) against the British “occupiers“, and the “Palestinians“ use of violence against Israel. I guess it doesn’t bother them at all that Gaza was given back to the Gazans in 2005, which means that they weren’t being “occupied” at all.
They might rethink it when the Gazans are established in their newly claimed Shamrock Isle.
Some already have regrets (but they’re not the ones in power). They’ve had a few very large violent “protests” in the last couple of years — usually after an immigrant is arrested for a sex crime against an Irish girl.
Poor girls. But, you know, it’s a small price for them to pay so the elites can prove they’ve not Islamaphobic.
Instability is necessary to induce the revolution they desire.
The graft and theft is truly mindboggling in scale.
My sentimental favorite is black eyed susans. These were everywhere in the meadows in Vermont. We’d stay at my grandparents farm there in the summer when I was a child. So now it’s sunflowers. 🌻 I love yellow and these flowers always make me smile. But if someone gave me some roses, that would make me smile too.
This reminds me of the rapeseed fields on Cheju Island in S. Korea. I had a vintage sweater with yellow flowers on the front, and I'm wearing it in a photo taken of me wading in a field of bright yellow rapeseed on Cheju: https://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/HonoraryReporters/view?articleId=195863
So meta.
I had purple 'Blazing Star' in my window boxes. They lasted for years! However they did not grow back a couple of years ago, leaving only weeds. Since I had no disposable income during that time, the boxes have been unsightly. Today I'm going to buy something for them, but what? It has to hide the cat sitting on the windowsill to prevent some asshole do-gooder from cutting the screen to release him. Yes indeed, while we were home, someone tried doing that in to the other window. Good thing we were home to scare the person off. Imagine the nerve of some people...
Cutting screens to let out cats? That is cruel to both the cat and the owner (of house and cat), especially in a metropolis like NYC.
I love sunflowers!! I have been planting them every year since my 17 year old brought home a sunflower plant from school. I stuck it in my flower garden and it grew to 12 feet! It looked so out of place but I loved it. I harvested the seeds that fall and kept a bunch for planting and roasted the rest. Now it’s a fun project for me every summer. Last year’s plants did not do well but I will try again this summer.
Reminds me of the marijuana plant my brother put behind the garage in the rich soil of our parents’ home in Houston. Shot up like Jack’s beanstalk. Mom, a farm girl (and naïf) was intrigued by the strange weed, and left it alone. One day it disappeared, leaving her perplexed. Of course, brother had hung it in the attic to dry.
😂What a great story!!
In Russia, in the 1970's, informant-types didn't know what marijuana plants looked like and pot-heads could grow these freely in the small weedy plots outside apartment buildings. Ordinary cigarettes came in stiff paper wraps, and these were emptied and stuffed with the harvested pot. An expert could process one in 30 seconds, one-handed (source: long-ago talk by Vladimir Kozlovskii, who studied the slang of outsider groups and criminals).
Interesting! Do you have academic interest in Russian cultural history?
Russia is a fascinating and terrible place.
I'm pretty old (almost 70) but I took a lot of Russian Studies classes when I was an undergrad; my parents were both enemies of the state under Stalin as my maternal grandfather stood trial on a kulak charge in what is now the Ukraine/Belarus border (he was acquitted because he got people to testify that his prosperity was due to labor; he also bribed the judge) while my father (from Lodz, but grew up in Kharkiv) spent some involuntary time felling trees in the Northern Urals. My Russian was once almost fluent but I didn't use it much after my father died; too depressing.
If you share these interests, my favorite instructor was Omry Ronen, who taught my class on 20th century poetry during one of his stints on the East Coast. My classmates knew somewhat more Russian than I did but I knew more English (the destiny of any Nabokovnik) so held my own when our translations were graded--I knew just the right words to make mine scan, etc.
Fascinating family history! I’ve a niece, now pushing 50, who was enchanted with things Russian, majored in Russian language/literature, ended up with a PhD in something about Russian culture, and has spent a good part of her life there and in Ukraine. Her Russian, I’m told, is indistinguishable from that of a native speaker. Sadly, due to some rift in her family, she comes to no gatherings and does not communicate with anyone beyond occasional brief contact with her sister. It would be fun to talk with her and benefit a little from her experiences.
PS: Professor Ronen has a rather formidable resume.
I’m with you on wild flowers, Celia. My favorite is the trillium found in May in the woodlands of my home state of Michigan. Down here in South Florida it’s fun to discover wild orchids growing on palm trees.
The older natives here used to call trilliums easter lilllies, as they often bloom around that time. I didn't see much trillium this year which is strange as we have had an unusual abundance- I would say even an explosion of other native flowers this spring.
I’m a big fan of trilliums as well. I can usually find some in the woods behind our house.
When I was a child my dad would take me bird watching and along the trail he would also point out all the spring wild flowers. My favorite wild flower was Jack-in-the pulpit.
I never thought a "favorite flower" would be a topic in my life, but danged if I don't have one - calla lily. I've got a bunch of them grow right up every year right outside the picture window I sit front of a few hours everyday. I've got my old, lumbersome, big grade school teachers-like office desk right up against the widow. The crimson lilies begin blooming in about ten days and go on replenishing themselves all summer right into November. The view across the road is ten acres empty of human life, half open grass, half huge trees. It's strange, I'm in the middle of this town of 10,000, it's the only empty land besides the nine hole muni. The land is well kept - somebody comes along and mows the grass every month. From my view I live in a nice little park, the calla lilies are just in front of the small porch framing the right side of the scene. I had nothing to do with planting the lilies, they were here when I got here. The humming birds love them too.
I love Calla Lillies..... I love that they are perennials and that they spread over time to create a wonderful display!
You got it, and they ask for nothing.
Isn't there a Katherine Hepburn movie in which she claims to love Calla Lilies?
I just wrote that lol 😝
"The calla lilies are in bloom again. Such a strange flower—suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died."
What I didn't know was that Hepburn had spoken these lines in an unsuccessful play called "The Lake" and then resurrected them for "Stage Door."
Wow! You're even good at that "esotericia?"
Well, you know, Katharine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers. What's not to remember?
And Eve Arden (who wore her cat) and Lucille Ball.
B. is one of the last of a breed: the cultured New Yorker. Now it’s all Kardashian flash and fake shame for one’s “privilege”; back then it required knowledge/appreciation of art, music, literature, etc. I miss the old values more than I can convey.
Aw! Thank you.
We were in South Africa for part of our honeymoon, where calla lilies grow wild as a weed. They called them “pig lilies”. We loved seeing them everywhere.
I knew most of the quote, and knew it was for an audition, but was she supposed to be terrible?
In "Stage Door," Hepburn gets the role through her rich father's machinations so that she'd be awful and done with acting. And she is awful, awful, until that lovely actress who should have had the part kills herself -- and then she's wonderful.
I don't remember the audition, but I remember Hepburn's accent delivering those lines -- a strident mix of Fenwick and Bryn Mawr.
Isn’t there a movie where Katherine Hepburn has a famous scene talking about calla lilles?
I am going to get one, Mr. Karg. Thanks! I am new to this tropical area in Charleston, SC, so am only just learning what works here.
If you get 2 .... you will have 4 next year ..... just sayin' 😜
Charleston must be a gardener's paradise. No matter the season, whenever we visit there's something abloom. When we saw Middleton Place during peak-season camellia time, a couple of years ago, we were bowled over with looking at everything. And the Ashley River right there. What a place to live, Louisa.
I associate callas with funerals. Mostly, I guess, a sour grapesish reaction to the fact that I've never had any luck with them.
In that case, I'm past due for them.
No, not just sour grapes--that what I associate them with most as well. I'm not sure why, because I've seen them in plenty of other contexts. But there's something about them that feels solemn and funerial.
Anything in bloom. I cut from my garden every week for church from March through October. I love watching the colors and shapes evolve. With the first heavy frost, all goes dark. Then, coinciding with Easter, it all comes to life again.
My favorite are hydrangeas! I love the variety of color depending on the pH and aluminum present in the soil. I also really love geraniums and impatiens.
We have hydrangeas and yes, the pH has a very interesting effect on the color.
We also have Lime Light Hydrangeas that burst in August.
The flower balls can be huge, the bush itself is 15 years old and 10 feet high.
It’s a beast.
I have a limelight. If you cut some of the heads in the fall when they are still green but starting to harden, you can put them in a vase or something as they will stay green all winter. Or most of it.
Cool 😎
Thanks 😊
I don’t have a favorite (too many to choose from) but I told my husband when we first met that any flowers he bought for me should have roots attached. I love to grow stuff and I hate spending money on cut flowers that are just going to die.
I realized also, in an uncharacteristic burst of social awareness, that when the Suitor brings the Lady flowers, the Lady is stuck with them for the duration of the evening. Learned to be judicious...
I learned they can throw the poem away and as added bonus, if they think it’s weird, then I know we’ll never work as it’s not like I’ll stop writing poems. 🙄
Poem?
As it's not the place it's the company, it's not the flower... it's the company. When I buy the flowers at church my only spec is at least one sunflower (if possible) -- for my daughter, who is what a Flower Child was supposed to be. (For years I banned lilies because of the association with my son's wake and funeral.) I've gotten over it. Hold a gun to my head and demand an answer? Daffodils. A crazy happy harbinger of spring that must have been designed by an engineer high on who knows what. They shouldn't exist. But they do.
I think I read some where that they used to be called daffy down dillies. Or did I dream that? Getting too old to remember for sure.
Tweaks a chord though I assumed origin was Dutch because of the double f and single l. I almost hate to look it up.
Okay- had to look it up- here is what AI says so guess I didn't[t imagine it.
Daffy-down-dilly" is a classic, traditional Mother Goose nursery rhyme and a playful, personified nickname for the bright yellow daffodil. The short poem celebrates the arrival of spring by describing the flower as a cheerful visitor wearing a green gown and a yellow petticoat.The classic lyrics are:Daffy-down-dilly has come to town,With a yellow petticoat and a pretty green gown.
Most excellent. I went for "daffodil" and got lost -- wait for it! -- in the weeds.
Ha ha.
Sorry I did. TMI on the flowers nothing on the names. No fun.
Nice story about Mr Celia as I wouldn’t know either. Carnations remind me of high school dances. Texas is renown for its wildflower season. Beginning in April, our highway sides blossom with a wide variety, most famously bluebonnets, but also buttercups, Indian paint brushes and more. Dozens of sunflower patches dot my 4 acres, so much so I thought I was in Ukraine yesterday walking to my mailbox. Did you get my email? HOMEBOUND HAIKU: Leave my lonely room/Beautiful bluebonnets bloom/Pray. Avoid my tomb.
This year in mid April we saw no bluebonnets on our 6 week trek across Texas just white flowers and some yellow
Sad
Drought having its effect.
Those Texas bluebonnets are something to see. One year I visited my mom in Waco when they were in full bloom along the sides of the roads. It was awesome!
Yes. Driving around a bend in the road to see a valley full of them, one can mistake them for a brilliant lake.
In Maine, the wild flowers are amazing all summer. A parade of delight. I so loved the lupine. And the Dame's Rocket. And on and on, through the short summer.
That's what is so funny: All the flowering trees and shrubs and flowers that grow during Brooklyn's relatively long growing season grow all at once in Maine, beginning late and ending early. Pretty riotous.
We try to get up to Bar Harbor every year just before the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden closes for the season, because it's so chock full, it's stunning; and besides, the hummingbirds are fighting over the best flowers. Fun to watch.
Ah, I used to have a whole flock of hummingbirds at my Maine feeders--fighting like mad with each other. I've seen a few here, but in this new suburb neighborhood, they are still discovering us, though many here now have nice gardens full of flowers. I'm hearing the big garden in Boothbay gets better and better every year, and it would be on your way north.
Yes, we have been watching it grow. Stay every year in New Harbor although our favorite inn has closed. .
Yes, I got your email. I have just been too ill to function.
This cold is pure evil. Jem's had it for a week and a half and shows no signs of getting over it yet. I started getting sniffly early this week, but it seems to get worse every day. I thought when it headed for my lungs that it would be over soon after that, but instead it moved back up into my sinuses.
The pressure and congestion make it almost impossible to think clearly, and I feel feverish even though I'm not. It has also kicked my fibro into high gear, so I have a double-whammy of exhaustion. Gotta say this year has not been kind to me.
No worries. Feel better.