Just where did this day go? Washed downhill by the drizzle? Perhaps….

We even got some sunshine over at the BotGarden today, although the cloud layer was solid by the time we headed home. We found the most sunshine in our company!

We got the warm back a bit today. And these are blueberry bush blooms we found on a nursery plant. Compare (in your mind’s eye) to another blueberry plant display we saw in which the plants were about 20 cm tall—and sure to have blooms, oh, in about 4 years.

But here, after the freeze, we have one daffodil that’s still standing, that didn’t bow under the cold temps.

And here’s my wine, so happy valentine’s day!

The winds have brought down a few (relative) giants in Piedmont Park lately, and this one is being replaced by three young B&B specimens.

B&B is “balled and burlapped”—a nursery term. No laughing.

Sometimes, this works for life, too—you bob your head a bit to the side (or up or down), and change the angle (or even the focal point), and pufffft, life is better.

As I strolled beneath a huge magnolia overhanging a walkway in the park, I noticed some fresh bird-waste smears at my feet. And became worried.

I was lucky; I emerged clean.

Vinca (didn’t check the leaf margins, although flower size strikes me as V. major, but that’s now how scientists do it…). Look at that ant!

I got excited about getting—as in buying—an edited volume, published by a university press, back I think in oh-nine, so not super-recent. Then, I discovered, no discounts, still $35 for the paperback. Something like 260 pages (including I’m sure the table of contents and index, all those extras). Yeesh.

I guess this is how publishers are staying in biz as bookstores fade?

Checked out the new Old Fourth Ward Park for the first time. It’s got amazing hydraulics that trap waters that used to flow south under what’s now City Hall East (has the name changed? developers have it now…) across Ponce and into…John says Clear Creek. I do so wish Google Maps did a better job with creek names….

Anyway, en route, we found a blooming cherry tree. When the temps drop, whenever that is, we’re going to see damaged plants, probably with obvious effects lasting through the summer.

The sun lit up this bloom perfectly, and it took me a long time to notice that it has a gimpy petal. Not that it matters….