Sunday, 30 April 2017
We visited the furry twins in ATH (and their people) and learned that this is their acknowledged* birthday—the big three for the two-some. Today, Hazel was posing and Olive kept moving, so Hazel “stands” in for the duo.
Also, I want to report that many highway bridges in ATL are standing and in use.
* They entered The System as stray kittens, and their birthday is based on a back-estimate by their vet.
Saturday, 29 April 2017
I spent the day ducking in and out of Ireland plans. We have all necessary reservations, and I’ve almost finished my over-detailed pre-trip essay. Almost.
The laundry pile is down to a small load, most of which will remain here, and we’ll take it easy tomorrow (family time!) and finish the last bits and the house-cleaning.
Then, as the work-week begins, we’ll be allowing ourselves to be loaded into one of those silver tubes, and hope our names don’t come up if the airline decides to yank our seats away after assuring us multiple times that they’re ours.
Friday, 28 April 2017
Yesterday, we played hooky and watched a matinee presentation of “Hidden Figures.”
Today is a different story. Today was back-up day. Devices all over the domicile got extra backups, including fresh encrypted backups for the phones.
In addition, I made the first harvest of 2017. I admit that the nursery did the growing, but we bought the plants, took them home, planted them (two days ago), and set them up for the coming season of nurturing. They needed pruning to bring out the best in them later in the harvest months, so I did what had to be done.
This is cinnamon basil, which we bought as a substitute for Thai basil. I can say it’s not the same, but more like Thai basil than Genovese basil, which is the kind we customarily use for pesto and typical Italian dishes.
Thursday, 27 April 2017
All kinds of good vibes here—starting w/chocolate. Mmmmm. And cocoa. Ghirardelli. Premium. Sweet.
I’m rolling in good vibe-energy.
And I am the skeptical scientist. So, I rotate the container to read the ingredients list. Number two is high fructose corn syrup. [A phrase that somehow manages to avoid commas.]
Sooooo disappointed. Glad I just had a salad and fries. No chocolate dessert. With a “heaping helping” of HFCS. Ick.
Meanwhile, outside…hardscaping with gentle pretentions. A blend of angular and curvy. But somehow sterile even before the dust settles.
Maybe additionally sterile because the clouds were almost misting.
Situationally uninspiring. Eh.
Phrase I just heard that I need to ponder in terms of collective action: “useful idiots.” I do not want to live in a world where the leadership is predominantly them-folks. Big sigh.
Wednesday, 26 April 2017
I took the Guru out to do errands, and stopped and picked up some potted plants to turn into a (not quite) instant garden. I didn’t notice until after I planted it that this patio tomato already has English-pea sized ’maters. The bloom (not pictured) I noticed, but not the fruit.
Meanwhile, the fennel is charging ahead on its own. I think this is its fourth year…after all, it’s a perennial, at least in this climate.
BTW, Dad was born a century ago…. Fitting that I do a bit of gardening today…. While he loved tomatoes, I never remember him planting fennel.
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
This morning’s low temp…and maybe not again until autumn. Around here, we have a heightened awareness of the under-60 category….
Monday, 24 April 2017
Twice in the last twenty-four hours I have encountered the word tattersall. I can’t remember the last time…two decades? And I knew “plaid” but it’s more than that, it’s an even plaid, with more space between the stripes than not, and the grid is in two colors, a darker and a lighter one (typically). It’s like funky, fabric graph paper (kinda). Apparently, the pattern is from horse blankets at a market with this name in London well over a century ago. Of all things.
Sunday, 23 April 2017
We had several waves of rain and wind come through—not too much wind, thankfully. We needed the rain.
And, things have cooled off.
Time to go find some plants and start the garden. Herbs, I think. And maybe just herbs. Thai basil. Italian basil. Hmmmm.
Saturday, 22 April 2017
Well now, Old Man Time escaped the bounds of…time, and I must do a late-post. My alternate-reality self is in Paris (trust me), and I revere it with this time-shifting plant….
Happy Sattidy night!
For no apparent reason, let me note here that when my fingers learned to type the exclamation point, it was a far different key-stroke-combo than it is now. And there’s no reason to allot blog-space to that observation. Or I could do something totally different, and address recent settlement pattern studies…(I advise:) don’t turn me loose on this….
Friday, 21 April 2017
Quiet around here today now that Our Company has departed. Remembering yesterday’s good times with a photo from then…a purple-y flower cluster from the conservatory.