ANFSCD…
Saturday, 14 August 2021
When I see this design on the chimney, I think microscope. On a table. Or looming above one.
See it? See something else?
And now for something completely different…
Musings
I am not exaggerating
Friday, 13 August 2021
One (or more!) people at this house is seriously into gardening, with this and a large planting of white ginger flowering now. They smell lovely, and the scent cuts through the humidity.
In the UP, we were awash in the scent of blooming milkweeds. Too many, IMHO, as there were few monarchs feeding on the thousands of plants on our property. Thousands.
Nowadays
Thursday, 12 August 2021
If I recall the figures correctly, I saw a report today that indicated that Americans who got the “original” Covid19 infected, on average, 2 to 3 other people. This nasty Delta variant, well, on average, 5 to 7 peoople are infected per afflicted person. This is why hospitals and health care workers are overwhelmed. By almost entirely, the unvaxxed.
BTW, while in the UP, we’d see maybe one or two other people in the grocery store wearing a mask; here: pretty much everyone is wearing a mask, or double masks. The latter is my style, these days.
Been walking early, trying to avoid the sun’s rays…and the heat and sun damage they bring…just too/so uncomfortable to wear long sleeves and long pants, and I do not like to slather on zinc or other barrier preparations on a daily basis.
Jealous of the in-laws who have a coffee maker they can trigger remotely as they make the final leg of their morning walk. Me, I do it the old way—well, with an electrified coffee maker…so, dating to late last century. Heh.
Urban gathering
Tuesday, 10 August 2021
Sunday morning early. Quiet. I’m passing by the Middle School, which opened last week. I see a ladder and a pair of legs, knees down, in a leaf-dense bush…shrub.
I keep walking, and I see it’s a woman. In a fig tree. It’s fig season, I think. This is my second picking, she says. Gleefully.
[Photos no relation to the story. Hibiscus and glinting sun. Today. No figs.]
F x 2
Monday, 9 August 2021
That would be floral and fungal.
Floral is prettier, but fungal has perhaps the more interesting story. My guess is it grows on wood, yet here it is emerging from a sidewalk crack. The universe is upside-down. Perhaps. Or I’m missing a few facts.
Flowering stories
Sunday, 8 August 2021
Tis the season for crape myrtles to bloom. Scientifically, they’re Lagerstroemia spp., and in the loosestrife family. Didn’t know that. That family also includes pomegranate. Botanical taxonomy is complex, especially now genetic info is one type of evidence.
Crape myrtles also played a role in the day I met the Guru. But that’s for another day.
Wonderful day
Saturday, 7 August 2021
We went to Athens, visited family, laughed, and ate. They kindly watched our pictures, and we got to see this lovely ginger bloom.
Haze survey continues
Thursday, 5 August 2021
We continued our haze survey in Tennessee. Have I made it clear (haha) that the haze is smoke from the northwestern US and Cali fires?
And into Georgia. Haze continues, with clouds. And humidity. The normal humidity, seems to me. But heavy traffic on I-75, including many semis…we mused that this suggests a busy national economy. Mere speculation, however.
Many bonuses
Sunday, 1 August 2021
Our fine socially active day included a lovely beach- and fire-side evening with lots of laughs and even a yellow-blooming plant identification (I’ve already forgotten the name—oops!). Bonus, we saw this sunset glow on our walk back to our place.
Remembrance
Saturday, 31 July 2021
Long before the present owners bought the place, this was the driveway to Hope’s cottage. It was white inside and out, with a long south-facing porch, and there was a closet in the back that had many puzzles we were allowed to select from on rainy days. The living room had a shelf with all the Wizard of Oz books in hardback, each with a different color cover; I was quite surprised later to find out that most people didn’t know there was more than one Oz book—the one I liked best was pale lilac…yes, I liked it for the special color rather than the contents. Anyway, much of the interior had beadboard for paneling, and it was the first building I remember noticing it. Hope taught me to make potato salad in the kitchen. One potato and one hard boiled egg per person, and one of each “for the pot.” Still a good ratio. Hope’s husband was in a wheelchair from mid-life (polio? dunno), and she needed to support the family, so she began a diaper cleaning service called what sounded to me like Di-Dee Wash that catered to households in the wealthier suburbs of Detroit. She did very well. Hope was a friend of my grandmother’s from college days, and that’s why she had the cottage on the hill and across the road from my grandparents’ property. I recall hearing that part of the original building had been a chicken house, thoroughly cleaned and moved and painted to become part of the meandering layout of the cottage.