Entropy

Our African daisy (Osteospermum) is trying its best to bloom right now, mysteriously. There's not a bee or other pollinator in sight out there, so why it wants to have flowers in the middle of January is anyone's guess. The flowers were a sort of dull greenish-orange until I moved the plant inside to protect it from our recent freeze, and then they all turned bright orange.

Well, this has been an interesting morning already. I tried to sign in to Blogger as I always do, and although it allowed me to see my blog, when I clicked on "new post" I got this:

I use the same browser every single day, so why it would suddenly be "not supported" is a mystery to me. I updated Chrome, thinking that might solve the problem, but no. So I'm writing now on Safari, which is not the browser I typically use to blog. Who knows what the heck is going on, but I think it's on their end. God forbid a Google website should work with a Google browser!

Anyway, yesterday was rather hectic. I went to the doctor in the late morning because my IBS (or whatever it is) has been acting up lately and I wanted to touch base with the experts. I was sent home with a couple of routine tests, which is fine because I haven't had them in a while and it makes sense to do them regularly.

Remember the kid who wanted me to take pictures with his camera? Well, I told him that rather than doing that, and faffing around with film, I'd take some photos at school using my own phone just to give him a sense of the types of things he could be shooting. That's one of my pictures, above, which I haven't shown him yet. It wouldn't win any prizes but it's kind of fun.

The message I'm trying to get across to him is, you can take a creative picture anywhere -- even in a room where you spend practically every waking moment and already know like the back of your hand. I know he also wants to process film for other people, but I think getting his friends to shoot film is going to be an uphill battle. Getting me to shoot film certainly is.

And here's a picture of the elder tree that has collapsed on the back garden wall. The point at which the trunk broke is just out of the camera frame on the right. I think it got so saturated with water, and so heavy, that the wood gave way. An arborist contracted by our management company called Dave last night to schedule its removal, but now we've had some confusion about whether he's coming or not, so we still have to iron that out.

It's always something, isn't it? Browsers not working, doctor's appointments, trees collapsing. Isn't "entropy" the idea that orderly systems eventually degrade into disorder? That's what life feels like lately.

And now my Chrome browser seems to have corrected its issues and it works fine with Blogger. Sigh.

More Tree Drama

Here's some amusing graffiti I found on my walk to work yesterday morning. The note beside the drawing says, "To you who prefer a blank wall, I pity you."

We had some excitement yesterday morning. One of the old elder trees in the back of our garden -- which you may remember I went through a lot of stress to have trimmed a couple of years ago -- broke off and collapsed onto the back garden wall. I have no idea when this happened. I was out in the garden yesterday morning, but it's possible that I just didn't notice it. Anyway, while I was at work I got a text about it from the caretaker of the apartments behind us, and I told him we'd report it and I'd try to get it taken care of as soon as possible.

The branch is too big for us to remove ourselves -- we'd need  a chainsaw, for one thing -- so the management company will have to handle it. I'm sure the apartment caretaker is annoyed because this is exactly what he was concerned about when he pressured us to have those trees trimmed.

Oh well. I did my best, and meanwhile the birds and other critters got to enjoy it for two more years.

Speaking of trees, remember when Dave and I went to Penzance last October? We went to the Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, a forested ravine full of artworks and lush plantings, and we had a view of St. Michael's Mount off the coast. Well, apparently that area got decimated when Storm Goretti passed through last week. St. Michael's Mount lost 80 percent of its trees, and the sculpture garden lost many too. They had 112 mph winds!

I don't think Storm Goretti is responsible for our tree falling. I think I'd have noticed it before now if it happened last week, but I could be wrong.

Apropos of nothing, here are a few more photos from yesterday. First, I found these little handmade pottery vessels sitting on a garden wall, waiting for someone to adopt them. I left them there because I was headed to work, and they were gone when I passed that evening, so someone took them home.

Here's a fun pillow in the window of a futon store on Finchley Road...

...and a mysterious critter in the Lost & Found at school. (I think it's a hat?)

Yesterday I spent an hour in a meeting with my department to choose our final statement of purpose. Remember how I went to a meeting several weeks ago to help wordsmith that? Well, this time we were presented with two options and asked to choose the one we preferred. They were both very similar, and I still struggle with the need for a statement of purpose anyway. As I told my co-worker, yesterday's exercise was like being asked whether I preferred a white marshmallow or an ivory-colored one. Ultimately, we all chose the same option, which made the meeting easier than it might have been, I suppose.

I also got two Christmas cards in the mail last night, including one from former blogger Vivian, who painted Olga's portrait several years back. She mailed her card a month ago and it's only just now arrived -- but nonetheless we appreciate the thought, Vivian!

A Film Assignment

OK -- I'm going to be less perfunctory than yesterday. Yesterday's post is what happens when you start blogging at 7 a.m. and you still have to get ready for work and eat breakfast and be out the door by 8 a.m.! Sometimes time is not on my side.

Last week I had a slightly awkward situation arise with a student. An eighth-grade boy who is very into photography -- and who knows I take a lot of pictures as well -- wanted me to shoot a roll of film so he could develop it. He was going to loan me a camera and do the processing. Initially I said I would, but after giving it some thought it seemed a little too personal -- borrowing his camera and taking even harmless pictures on the street that he would then see before I did.

So I went to a principal and asked for advice, and she suggested I shoot the film at school, not including people in the photos. That seemed like a good compromise, but then finding time to do that -- when I didn't have to be at my desk and when there weren't many other people around -- wasn't easy. Finally, Monday afternoon, I tried to shoot a couple of pictures in the library and I couldn't get the film to wind.

I finally gave the camera back to the kid and said I'd tried. He showed me that I was winding the film incorrectly, but by that time I'd lost what little enthusiasm I had for this project. I told him I'd be happy to continue talking about photos with him but I'd rather not borrow his camera!

The whole point was that he really wants people to shoot film rather than digitally, and he and I have had an ongoing debate about which method is better. As someone who struggled for years with the constraints of film, I love digital photography. But as someone who grew up in a digital world, he enjoys those same constraints and finds the limitations and chemistry of film challenging.

Anyway, it was kind of a strange situation for me and now that I look back on it, I probably shouldn't have agreed to do it in the first place. You want to encourage students but at the same time there are boundaries!

I downloaded the garden cam again last night and I still didn't have any nighttime shots, which is very strange. I discovered that the batteries were low. Apparently when that happens, the camera shoots during the day, which uses less energy, but it stops doing nighttime infrared filming. That's why I didn't have much content the last few times I downloaded the videos.

Anyway, I made a short compilation of what little worthwhile footage I've collected over the last two weeks, including some images of snow and passing foxes and cats (Tabby and Pale Cat). And now I've recharged the batteries and I'll set it up again this morning. Hopefully next time around I'll have more interesting nocturnal images!

(Top photo: Graffiti by Abotz in West Hampstead. I've blogged Abotz before here.)

A Perfunctory Post

I heard from our landlords yesterday about our flat. Apparently they're planning to do some minor maintenance and painting sometime soon. We knew something was up because the management company had been sending around contractors for estimates -- we let them come in with keys while we're at work. They want to "redecorate" the living room and the bedroom, which basically means repainting and repairing some hairline cracks in the ceiling in both places.

The landlords didn't even realize the Russians -- our erstwhile upstairs neighbors -- had moved out, and they've been gone seven months! I guess they're not in touch very much, even though they jointly own the building.

Anyway, we'll see where all this leads. My chief question, of course, is where to put all the houseplants when we've got painters and equipment in the flat. I guess everything will live in the dining room.

Otherwise, yesterday was nothing special.

Unveiling

I forgot to tell a story from my walk on the Heath on Saturday. I was walking on the Extension, past the field where Olga and her canine pals used to go with their dog-walker every day. A passing golden retriever ran up to me, gave my hand a sniff and then huddled against my legs, sitting on my feet, as I petted him/her. It seemed like a greeting from the dog kingdom, the greater dog consciousness. I traded smiles with the owner and went on my way but it gave me a boost.

I took a walk yesterday, too, but nowhere in particular -- just around the neighborhood, just to get my blood moving. The picture above wasn't taken yesterday, by the way. It was taken during our cold spell last week when we had those clear blue skies. We are blanketed with clouds now, which isn't so bad because it's keeping things warmer.

Which means...

...it's time to uncover the avocado!

I thought you might enjoy seeing the process in action. The music was Dave's suggestion. Those of you who know your '70s British humor will recognize it immediately.

As you can see, the avocado pulled through pretty well. There are a few frost-nipped leaves at the very top and a cluster of leaves at the tip of one branch broke off, but otherwise it appears unscathed.

Barb the banana, on the other hand, looks pretty rough. But the leaves die back every winter, so this is expected. In spring I'll trim them up so the stems are exposed and she'll grow from there. She's a tough gal.

Otherwise I spent yesterday reading -- I'm still working on Erik Larson's book about the Lusitania -- and we watched "One Battle After Another" on Amazon Prime. I enjoyed it, but I always like Paul Thomas Anderson's movies. I like their wry humor and loose, informal style. I loved "Licorice Pizza" and "Punch Drunk Love," and "Magnolia" remains one of my all-time favorites. I am now a fan of the name Perfidia Beverly Hills, who is one of the revolutionaries in "One Battle After Another." I'm sure some drag queen somewhere has already adopted it.

A Heath Walk

I felt like I needed to get out of the house yesterday and get some exercise, so I took a long walk on the West Heath, Sandy Heath and Hampstead Heath Extension. It's a route I often took with Olga, so there were canine ghosts around every bend in the path. It made me sad, but I also found myself laughing at memories of how wild she'd get chasing squirrels and running with her Kong tightly gripped in her jaws.

The pond on Sandy Heath was thinly layered with ice, and there were signs warning people not to try to walk on it. Surely no one would be that clueless.

Here's the Pitt House Gateway, where I photographed Olga many times. According to a plaque on the gate, it dates from around 1766, when it was built as an improvement to the residence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham.

And here's St. Jude on the Hill, a prominent church on the north side of Hampstead Heath Extension.

The weather was cold and wintry but at least it didn't rain on me. I listened to my iTunes and wished the world could be as simple as pop music suggests, when The Mamas and The Papas told us to "go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do, with whoever you wanna do it with."

I passed this house with a blue plaque, which I don't recall ever seeing before -- but it's on a side street I don't often walk so I've probably just missed it. Michael Ventris was an architect and classicist who deciphered Linear B, an ancient Greek script, and then died young in a car crash.

Back home again, I downloaded the videos from the Garden Cam, and what a boring week it was! I got no nighttime videos at all, perhaps because it was so cold that the animals weren't out moving around. (The coldest temperature the camera recorded was 29º F, at 9:20 a.m. on Jan. 4. I'm sure it was colder at night, but if there was no movement to trigger the camera I'd have no record of it.) My daytime videos were mostly pigeons. I had one brief glimpse of Pale Cat and two brief glimpses of a fox, perhaps Q-Tip:

But really, there wasn't even enough to compile into a video. Let's hope the coming week gives us some better footage.

Goretti and Global Madness

Yesterday morning was truly miserable weather-wise. It was cold and rainy, but thank goodness not snowy -- although one of my coworkers said she would have preferred snow to the blustery rain. We got some wind but nothing too severe. I don't know of any downed trees or other damage comparable to what Storm Goretti brought to other parts of England.

I put an extra strap of duct tape around the avocado and hoped for the best.

Tonight is supposed to be our last freezing night for a while. I think I can unwrap the avocado tomorrow and give the poor thing a week or two of fresh air, sunlight and moisture. I'll probably have to wrap it up again before winter is officially over, but coming from Florida, I find this perfectly normal winter gardening. We cover and uncover plants all the time in the American South, depending on what the weather does. Dave finds this rather mysterious and labor-intensive, but that's beause he's from Michigan, where no amount of covering will protect a plant from winter so they don't even bother.

Anyway, I did walk to work despite the weather, mostly because the Jubilee Line wasn't running. I had actually planned to take the tube but walking was forced upon me! (I could have ridden a bus but that takes ages. It's faster to walk.) On the positive side, the parent organization at the school gave us all hot chocolate when we arrived.

Bonus points to the first person who can figure out what this is!

I feel like I should be writing something about the madness engulfing the USA's current government, but I'm just not sure what to say except this is NOT normal! And Americans can't allow it to become normal. This period of aggression against our allies, violence against our own citizens and others who are legally entitled to reside in the USA, international land and resource grabs, and glorified toxic masculinity is an outlier. We just have to get through it and survive it, which is not a foregone conclusion, and then we have an opportunity to right the ship. To the government and people of Denmark and Greenland and the rest of our NATO allies, I humbly apologize as an American citizen for my country treating you so awfully. I don't think this will last forever. Just treat us like we have gone temporarily insane -- keep your distance, try to avoid our flailing limbs and ravening jaws, and try not to take too much offense at the outbursts we seem unable to control.

The thing I don't understand about Trump's rhetoric on Greenland is, America already controls it -- jointly, through NATO. We (and Europe) are already responsible for its defense, there's an American military base there, and we are in a position to negotiate the use of its natural resources as needed. What does occupying it achieve?

As for the murder of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, it reminds me of the Kent State shooting in Ohio in 1970. Harmless protesters and trigger-happy, nervous gunmen are never a good mix, and the ICE agents shouldn't be there in the first place. Who are these guys who work for ICE? Who could do that in good conscience?