And on the other hand... [Garden]

A moderately successful patio garden. Considering what my family had when I was a kid, quite paltry, but it's a start.



Vaguely clockwise from left:
1. Red flowers on stand = pentas, whatever the heck that is
2. Dark plant in big pot on ground with anti-possum screen = Czech variety of sweet, slightly-bigger-than-cherry tomatoes. About 15 green tomatoes on it... first red one is YUM.
3. upside down hanging plant = cherry tomato. Lots of flowers. No fruit yet.
4. Asia pear tree. Slighty woody pears, but adequate.
5. Big bowl o' flowers from Ace hardware. Mums, pansies, fluffy red stuff, nasturtiums (?).
6. TRADER JOES POT O' COOKING HERBS, on sale today. Big fluffy rosemary, very healthy-looking thyme and oregano. Now we're cooking! See if they've got these on sale where you are.
7. Drunk cat. (Not shown: catnip plant rescued and hidden outside front door. I dropped a few leaves here to lure her into the picture.)
8. Kithyra-style mini-rose, resting. So far so good. I always used to kill these little guys, so I'd given up on them, but so far its leaves seem happy, and it's putting out now that I've pruned off forced blossoms.
9. Strawberry pot (the one with all the pockets) consisting of sage, chives, more rosemary, more oregano, more thyme, basil.
10. Flame-colored "parade rose" slightly large than Kithyra rose with the most incredible-smelling blossoms. Picked up at TJ's.

I keep leaving the tags on to help me remember the varieties and watering/shade instructions, but they look a bit silly like that.

Now if only I can find myself a small peach tree like my neighbors have. That ficus always looks droopy, and sooner or later its roots will eat the wall.

EDIT:
lzksfgmaq;;KKO;SADF!

I am eating my first honest-to-gosh fresh orange off Cal and Lynn's tree, since they left me with a bag yesterday. Maybe there's room for an orange tree back here too?!

They're teeny oranges, and wow. Not mandarin, just some local variety on a tree that's probably been here since the thirties.

My gods.

That speech. Obama's speech. I wasn't going to tune in, but some posts elsewhere convinced me not to miss it.

I understand the political and oratorical moves Obama had to make, but beyond those... so much MEAT and CONTENT.

Mainly the one that's been driving me nuts all this time, that Al Quaeda is a network spread across 80 countries, and we're bogged down in Iraq so we CAN'T deal with terrorism in the way that's needed-- finish the job in Afghanistan, take out Bin Ladin once and for all, start cracking on terrorism networks around the globe, and prepare our military to be ready for threats ahead. Including Russia, if Putin gets weird.

And then he spent a lot of time talking about economic and domestic issues. A lot of which was more nuanced and specific, but McCain can no longer keep spinning it that somehow Obama wants to raise taxes:

"I will -- listen now -- I will cut taxes -- cut taxes -- for 95 percent of all working families, because, in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class."

Here's Patrick Buchanan gushing over Obama's speech. Did I just miss the Apocalypse?

For those who still somehow can't grok that this guy is Christian (despite his speaking style coming straight from a church pulpit), he ended the speech with a rousing "God bless you... God bless the United States of America." He quoted some apt scripture in a few places as well.

On an irrelevant but sweet note, I loved it when the Obama and Biden girls up on the stage at the end got bored and started chasing confetti and each other around and just... PLAYING. 45 years ago today was the "I have a dream" speech, and there-- at last-- MLK, was that what you had in mind?

And on the other side of all this, I fully expect Obama to be assassinated because I don't believe anyone can get up and speak so many sensible things so well without someone shooting him to silence him.


I hate politics. SO BADLY. I hate posting about politics. I hate arguing with people about politics. I hate disagreeing with friends about politics. But... wow.