Today, a couple of random shots from the garden, which is changing day-to-day. The lush summery foliage and flowers are giving way to a more autumnal look. We've still got plenty of blooms -- the loosestrife is still hanging on, and one of our hollyhocks just bloomed for the first time, finally pushing out some big, fluffy pink blossoms after looking fairly inactive all summer. About two weeks ago the passionflower (above) still had some flowers beside its bright orange fruit.
The Japanese anemone is blooming, too. Dave says he associates this flower with the beginning of school, which is pretty much the right timetable. And some of the roses put out a second (or third?) flush of blooms.
The hydrangeas, though, are just beginning to fade. They looked OK in this shot, but they've since grown more mottled and rusty. The red-hot-pokers are pretty much gone, and the sunny yellow inulas are finished. We occasionally get another flower from the nasturtiums, but they're lanky and tired.
I was super-busy at work this week, getting things set up for the kids. I got everything done except successfully moving the graphic novels -- we're putting them on a new set of shelves, and I had to wait until the maintenance crews anchored the shelves to the wall, which took a while. They finally got it done yesterday and I began re-shelving the books, but I didn't have the tools I needed to move the shelves up and down within the bookcases, so I had to stop. I'll deal with it Tuesday.
Monday is a holiday. Woo hoo! This is the weekend of the Notting Hill Carnival, and as always, Dave and I are happy that we no longer live on the parade route!
I'm thinking about my friends in Texas, who have Hurricane Harvey bearing down on them. Stay safe! And did you see the story about how the push to remove Confederate monuments is now spreading to statues of others, including Columbus in the middle of New York's Columbus Circle and former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo? This is exactly what worries me -- that slippery slope! Where does it stop? What historical figure can't be found wanting in some way?
Up close and personal with the photos today, lovely hydrangeas, even though the unseen ones might be past their best.
ReplyDeleteEnough of pulling statues down. Seriously people, give the whole idea a bi of thought will you?
A very tired and a little more than grumpy,
Alphie
This whole statue thing is becoming annoying. While I sympathize to some degree, I wish everyone would stop and take a breath.
ReplyDeleteI am quite worried about Ellen. I'm sure she's fine but the aftermath is always so hot and miserable.
ReplyDeleteEFF hurricanes!
Your flowers are beautiful. Are your passion flowers attracting butterflies?
I haven't seen a passion flower in ages. They are amazing blooms. You really do have a spectacular garden.
ReplyDeleteI love your flower photos, especially the passion flower one. The hurricane is terrifying.
ReplyDeleteThe statues are not important- the issues are and the oppressed are. Since most of the statues were erected during Jim Crow Their propaganda is obvious. That must cease. How about leave all of the statues of females up...the rest can go.
ReplyDeleteOr make a plaque describing the horror of what they represent and make that the prominent feature. The statues are not important.
Your flowers and garden are, and so are you and Dave and Olga. All about perspective.
Love seeing the flowers in your garden there. The photo of the Passion Flower made me google around to see if they are related at all to Clematis (nope), and yet they remind me so much of them. Beautiful in every way. I'm not sure what to even say about statues anymore. We are a broken species, we humans... making and finding divisions everywhere until we cleave ourselves out of existence. I just hope we don't take the whole planet (and these beautiful flowers!) with us.
ReplyDeletethat first photo in particular is stunning!
ReplyDeleteI agree with 37paddington that the first photo is stunning ... and the last one makes me FEEL the texture of those petals! Gorgeous
ReplyDeleteI have not seen Frank Rizzo's name in print in ages. That is a name from my childhood...I will have to google this news about his statue.
ReplyDeleteThat bee photo is prize winning! Macro lens? That's gorgeous work Steve.
ReplyDeleteI heard a report about a Harvard committee that came up with two questions for removing a statue, renaming a building, etc. First, what is the historical figure's primary legacy? E.g., Robert E. Lee's primary legacy is defending the Confederacy and hence slavery, whereas George Washington's primary legacy is not slavery. Second, what was the intent of the monument? Again, Lee statues were erected during the Jim Crow era to express white supremacy and defiance of the federal government. Washington statues were erected to commemorate the founding of the US. I find this a very helpful view when I wonder about a slippery slope. We don't require all past figures to be perfect, only that their primary legacy is a positive one. The rest can be moved to museums.
Columbus? The more I read about him the more I think his primary legacy was genocide. The intent of Columbus statues is to commemorate the colonization of the Americas. Maybe he should move from the public square to a museum, too.
Jiryu, that's an interesting assessment from the Harvard committee. It sounds like a sensible way to think about these problems. To me, removing the Confederate statues makes sense. Columbus, less so -- but that may be because of my own feelings of attachment to Columbus Circle! It seems the genocide argument could be made about any of the Spanish conquistadores: Hernando De Soto for example, who has not one but TWO counties named for him in Florida (not to mention countless statues). That's a lot of renaming!
ReplyDeleteIf it were my decision to make, I might argue for renaming everything that honored the conquistadores. The thing we are commemorating is in most cases the decimation of Native Americans, and in all cases the seizure of their land. When we named things for the conquistadores our intent wasn't evil, but we did knowingly celebrate the aggressive conquest of native peoples.
ReplyDeleteI think the United States could handle a large amount of renaming and monument-moving. Consider what other countries have undertaken: Russia embarked in an overhaul of their names and monuments, renamed whole cities like Leningrad and Stalingrad, and I'm sure it was a pain in the ass but it was worth the effort to express a transformation in their view of their history.