Monday, 21 March 2011
This photo is Special-D for those in lands where snow has been sighted within…the last week…or so.
Spring cleaning is…exhilarating.
Spring cleaning is…anxiety-producing.
Spring cleaning is…trash-producing.
(Eeehh-ahhh.)
D: none of the above.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Lettuce bowl, by TH. (Doc Chey’s is big on rice bowls, and other yummy dishes; we like “bowls”!)
On our way home from erranding, I was driving and the JCB was looking out the window checking out the neighborhood. The weather was fine, but slightly overcast, kinda wintery, but warm and springy at the same time. (This is the South; “spring” and “winter” are relative terms.)
Going past parkland down by Little Five, JCB said something to the effect: there’s folks up on the hill; it looks like there’s some religious thing going on.
“Solstice Sunday,” I said (although my words were alliterative, I was wrong; it’s the equinox).
And now, at least in this time zone, it’s spring! (By the moon, stars, and whatever that isn’t the local climate.)
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Yesterday at the Bot Garden, we discovered…nascent strawberries! The berries are already forming right there in the flower-centers. I think these plants must have been “forced” in a greenhouse; they seem a bit ahead of the normal plant-speed—although today’s weather has aided and abetted plant progress—whew!—we broke 80 on the Farenheit scale….
The Guru and I wrangled technology, and did some pressure washing. Until the technology “sat down” on the job, and pffft!—no more progress. Well, the back porch is in good shape, and the side has gotten a good tending (REALLY needed it!). The front, the public part of our presentation to the world—untouched.
Conclusion: machine may now be “dead.”
Friday, 18 March 2011
These bleeding hearts (Dicentra spp.)…not suffering from the breezes emanating from Washington….
Sobering visual: the quake pattern around Japan in collapsed real time, plotted on a Google satellite map. Of course, this isn’t the whole area where the quakes have come, but this website says nearly 600 quakes (something like magnitude 4 and above) in the last 7 days around Japan. That fault, well, it’s moving!
Highlight of the day: luncheon at the BotGarden with Terry—we laughed a lot! And, she introduced me to MetroFresh owner Mitchell! Cruising!
Then, I dropped T off and headed home, finding the day’s mail on the Uncle Bob table….
What are the odds? For international travel, the Guru found a credit card that doesn’t charge additional for charges in foreign currency. So, following some strategy that is over my head, he had me apply, and, thankfully, it arrived today. So I called the activation number and the nice-voiced woman asked cheerily—and not at all mechanically—how I was, and I said, fine, the sun is shining, and I’m doing pretty well. Then, I took a flyer and said something to the effect that I guessed she was in…Idaho?…and maybe it was still wintery there? She cracked up—you’re a great guesser, she said—I’m about two hours south of Coeur d’Alene!!!
You’d think that’d send me right out to the nearest convenience store to buy a few lottery tickets!
On the new credit card!
But…no!
Thursday, 17 March 2011
For this day-o’green, a lily? I think?….
I spent this day emotionally wasted, not sure why.
Finally—finally!—I got out for some one-foot-in-front-of-the-other, and found the park busy-busy. The lake is now super-full, and the breeze yesterday blew the floating trash up on the lake-side walkway, which now is, um, unappealing.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
I’ve heard especially good personal news from three women important to me over the last five days. The life-changing kind. Nice!
On the mundane side (hardly seems to matter if you think too much about the nightmare in Japan and the…I won’t go on), we’ve broken the 80K threshold on our iPhoto count. Whew!
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
I listen to the nightmare from Japan and ache.
I immersed myself in the still-dripping flowers in the back yard as a tiny antidote.
It’s not enough.
But better. A bit.
Monday, 14 March 2011
I like the idea of a rabbit, such a common symbol of fertility, presented with a collection, not of Easter eggs but of rocks (which of course cannot reproduce). And not “natural” rocks, but manuports.*
* Archaeologists use the term manuport for objects people have moved from their natural location, but otherwise have not modified them. These look like typical landscaping rocks sold by the 10- or 20-lb bag in big-box home improvement stores.
Sunday, 13 March 2011
We awakened to the spring-forward paradigm, and overwhelming bad news out of Japan. The Guru got the NHK World feed from Japan, streaming video with simultaneous interpretation, and I heard news about the nuclear energy facility, then facilities, that still has me gasping (internally). This is not good.
This afternoon, I heard that over 300K people are in shelters. And, it still gets cold at night there…. And more than 620K evacuees, including those from around the nuclear power plants.
The NYTimes has one of the better visuals (slide the center line left and right) showing how devastating the tsunami wave was in the aerial/satellite view. Waves, actually.
Saturday, 12 March 2011
Not sure what the deal is, but this camera does not capture purple shades correctly, I’m convinced. This flower (in the lower left) was dark lilac or similar, not, at least to my eye, a shade of blue.
As I look back on today, the energy went two opposite ways. The fun way was a family dinner orchestrated by BRB-n-me. Just terrif, although I neglected to pepper the tuna steaks. Which we managed to enjoy anyway. (Smile.)
Then, after dinner I found out a friend and colleague got trapped in one of those Juarez kidnappings. Now released, whew.
I think I’m just going to go to bed and await a new day. Albeit with a sneaky time change….