ten good things // gotta tend the earth if you want a rose

[kaberett]

Circular bed of interplanted tulips and primroses. The primroses are Primula 'Stella Snow White' (white) and Primula 'Stella Lunar Gold' (yellow); the tulip is Tulipa 'Gavota', with tall pointed petals that are a very deep rich red on their body, with brilliant yellow edges.

The tulip and primrose beds outside the Waterlily House at Kew Gardens.

Interplanted primroses and tulips. The tulips are closed; the primroses have white petals with deep blue/indigo veining.

Some very large metal orchid flower sculptures, plus life-size oddly-coloured metal chickens and life-size but reasonably coloured robins.

1. Yesterday, after doing a lot of tedious and stressful administrivia, I dragged myself over to Kew on the grounds that it was sunny and I should take the opportunity while it existed. (Today has been drizzle interspersed with hail; I made the right choice to drag myself out there yesterday.) The various Prunus are doing excellently; the camellias are gorgeous, though I'm still working out which white double cultivar I'm after; the rhododendron are not quite there yet; and the tulips are magnificent.
   
2. I am enjoying SL Huang's Russell's Attic series immensely. Huang is an MIT maths graduate; the eponymous Cas Russell is very, very good at maths, and uses this to work decidedly illegal job markets very competently. I'm not in a position to judge how good the mathematics is, but I will say that the villainous supervolcano lair subplot in book 2 only made me pull a face very briefly, and one of the principal characters is a wheelchair user who's done competently. They're fun; I'm tearing through them; if you have issues with mind or memory control, or gore, or violence, these are probably not for you, but perhaps go read Huang's short stories instead?
   
3. This afternoon's foray into capitalism involved the acquisition of Mad Max: Fury Road and some ceramic baking beans that were substantially reduced. (This evening's plans involve "curling up in bed with hot chocolate and MM:FR".)
   
4. ... it also involved some tomatoes on the vine that had been reduced, so I got to have thick-sliced tomato with salt and butter on half-rye bread for a belated lunch, and it was great.
   
5. I am utterly baffled by the fact that cooked breakfasts are now a thing that I Can, and particularly that they appear to be a thing that I Can on mornings when I'm getting up early and need fortifying, but: mushrooms fried with onion and garlic in butter, with lots and lots of chopped parsley, on good toast. Yesss. It was A Good. (A. is not entirely convinced by parsley, and is mildly horrified by my attitude to the stuff, viz., vegetables should be at least fifty per cent parsley by volume. Nonetheless, periodically he comes home bearing several hundred grams of parsley, because it was reduced to ridiculously cheap and he likes the fact that he can tease me gently while making me smile, as best I can tell.)
   
6. Mushroom-onion-cheese-parsley omelette, peas, and potato wedges for dinner. With the Tomato Friend. Because apparently I managed to trick my brain into cooking while I totally didn't feel like actually doing anything. It was TASTY and it also seems to have got me recovered from Accidental Late Lunch.
   
7. My xkcd Garden contains a tortoise! And, bafflingly, two humans, and some things that are possibly pet rocks. A. informs me that his contains an octopus, and I am deeply envious; on the whole I am finding this comic strip a much more soothing implementation of the general idea of Mountain, and to be perfectly frank if anyone gets around to writing an Android app I will be all over that.
   
8. It is seven twenty pee em and it is still properly light. I came back from a brief shopping trip at eight forty-five last night and the sky wasn't completely dark yet. You had better believe I am basking in this.
   
9. I have some (slightly unexpected) clarity on health misc, which involved less of a fight than I expected it to (I am so, so tempted by the noncompliance is a social skill t-shirt), and I'm doing a good job of sorting through brain misc as well.
   
10. I have outline notes for all the sections of the job app; I'm going to turn them into first-pass sentences, because apparently this iterative work thing is good for me, and then I'm going to curl up with a film, I think. Yes. Good.
    

Comments

[ewx]

One of mine has accumulated five octopuses. They're starting to look rather crowded...

[ghoti]

my garden is looking a little sad :(

[sporky_rat]

I saw the garden post, but I'm not sure how it works.

[kindkit]

There is a trick to acquiring an octopus. Gb znxr na bpgbchf'f tneqra, lbh arrq na nern bs tebhaq gung'f bayl trggvat qrrc oyhr yvtug. (Decode here with ROT13.)

[ewx]

This is getting out of control.

[kaberett]

... gosh, those are... larger than I expected. I think I would have to clear out a LOT of things to make space for one...

[ewx]

I think they're bigger than yesterday...

[kaberett]

oh, that seems likely -- my ducks have gone enormous too!

[kaberett]

You have grown many things now! :D

[kaberett]

You leave it open in a tag and tweak lighting and things grow! :-)

[dynamite_lady]

My garden has two ducks in!

[sporky_rat]

Well! I can do that! (unless the computer has to reboot for updates or the like, but it's certainly tryable!)

[silveradept]

These are very happy things. Am very glad to hear them.

[ewx]

I approve of enormous ducks, of course. My octopuses seem to have returned to normal size, at least in the brief intervals when the thing isn't just showing 'Loading' forever.

[davidgillon]

Just discovered the xkcd garden thanks to this: octopus, duck, two deer, six humans, one with a bird on their head....