Rosa Cherokee (state flower of—you guessed!)
Sunday, 10 April 2011
It’s called the Cherokee rose (Rosa laevigata), but it’s from Asia. I planted it years ago, and this is the first time I remember noticing it blooming. Cool!
Musings
Temps well over 80°F (pant pant)
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Two huge sighs of relief around here this morning—the first because the procrastinators managed to keep our nation open for biz, and the second because, tada!, the mail-dude brought our spanking new passports. Whew!
A happy gathering
Friday, 8 April 2011
Edamame, that is, green soybeans (Glycine max)*…a favorite appetizer with our ATL family.
And, yes, we gathered with family this evening.
* WikiPee says the first soybeans were grown in what’s now the US of A in 1765, near Savannah.
Nodding in the sun
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Not pink. Not red. Some version of orange. Ish?
I leave you to wonder if the title refers to our national elected leaders…but I would guess that clever journalists are right on their tails, so the nodding only characterizes their internal monologues?
Of course, it also sums up me, slammed by the pollen (again), poor sleep last night, and another session with the fingers and tools of dental professionals stuck between by jaws.
Bio-inert point-tip-needle-spikelets
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
This aging stuff is…complicated. Apparently, I’m tough on my teeth due to a combination of genetics and behavior. So, today I went through another step in the Dance of the Root Canal, and acquired my ration of a bio-inert substance, now filling the space where the nerves were in the afflicted tooth. It’s called gutta-percha, and it’s a natural latex from the sap of a Malaysian tree.
Apparently, this latex dries in the open air/sun. This contrasts to the substance that native peoples collected from trees in the Mesoamerican lowlands to make the balls used in the games in those elaborate ballcourts; they set up that latex by mixing the tree-milk with compounds from a plant in the morning glory family.
The Doc who installed my tooth-quota of gutta-percha used a fancy light microscope and other high-tech equipment to do the job (which was pretty darned pain-free—believe it or not). The blanks are pre-shaped into long cones just right for filling those pesky canals.
I love the juxtaposition of a twenty-first-century electronics and tropical plant that lead to my own consignment of set-up plant-sap….
Neoteny is tricky
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Some plants I have a very difficult time figuring out what they are when they’re still…unfurling.
Fortunately, my super-botanically aware neighbor came by and identified these as (hybrid) delphiniums…. The specimen is in another neighbors’ gorgeous flower garden….
I do have to mention that delphiniums are in the family Ranunculaceae, which is one of those fine words that r-o-l-l-s off the tongue with sonar elegance.
3301 is not a magic number
Monday, 4 April 2011
I’ll pass on the “fudge” covered potato chips incorporated into the Fallon tribute flavor.
No, it’s this morning’s pollen count. (Sniff, sniff—and that’s after today’s ration of loratidine.)
Meteorologists say there’s a big storm coming through tonight, so that should bring that number down. However, it’s not all coming up roses, since the storm is predicted to bring wind, too….
Sharing?
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Once upon a time…a princess said….
[needle scratch] (oops)
Once upon a time…spring….
[needle scratch] (oops)
…okay…you compose the…fairy tale….
[Am I a wimp?]
Down here, well, over in Augusta, they’re timing the azaleas. If they have to ice-bag the plants at the golf course to hold the blooms, they happily will. Here, we’re watching them…burgeon.
Popped poppy
Saturday, 2 April 2011
I spent most of the day with the time goofed up—I’m not sure why. The fine sunshine should have set me straight?
By the time I got to all the webpages in Italian, the discombobulation might have made sense; however, it started in the wee pre-dawn hours.
I’ll give it a try tomorrow and see if reality…matches reality.
Floral fuzzy boundaries
Friday, 1 April 2011
Look at those leetle basil seeds, becoming soft-shelled as they absorb water from the puddle they’re floating in—I think tomorrow I’ll introduce them to potting soil, en route to becoming…pesto….