Avocados, Ducks and Questions of Grammar

A pretty busy day yesterday -- a morning walk for Olga, then laundry and vacuuming and plant-watering for me. I brought our avocado tree back inside for the winter. We'd been debating whether to leave it outside to fend for itself (and likely die) or give it another year by bringing it in, and in the end, I just couldn't surrender it to the elements.

It is rather large and unwieldy but I think with some pruning it will be more manageable. Besides, it's our Christmas tree! I did trim off a couple of bits before bringing it in -- some leaves that were badly affected by scale and also the sprouts on the top, which would otherwise be scraping the ceiling.

I'd considered taking it to school -- we could install it in the library, where there are high ceilings, big windows and plenty of space. The head librarian gave her approval, but Dave balked at helping me transport it, which would basically mean trundling it on a wagon or dolly to St. John's Wood. (There's no way we could get it in a cab or hired car.) It would definitely take some time and we'd be quite the spectacle.

Those are not avocado leaves above, by the way -- just interesting ones I found on my walk with Olga.

In late morning, Olga and I went to the Heath, where we found a group of very colorful ducks swimming on the pond. I think they're mandarins? Olga was interested and waded in for a closer look, which of course sent the ducks madly paddling elsewhere. Meanwhile, I was trying to photograph them, which was nearly impossible with the dog.

We came home to find a package waiting for me -- a birthday present from my in-laws. (It didn't go to New Zealand like Dave's!) They sent me a pair of denim shorts just like the ones they sent Dave, which we thought was pretty funny -- now we can be matchy-matchy. But seriously, I'll wear 'em.

This dahlia in our garden is usually bright red, but for some reason, its most recent flowers have been bright yellow. Something about the change of seasons? Less light, lower temperature? I have no idea.

Last night we watched "The Social Dilemma" again, because Dave fell asleep midway the night before, and I really wanted him to see it. (He's far more addicted to his Facebook news feed than I am.) He made it all the way through this time, and ended the evening by turning off all his notifications, so that's progress.

Here's an interesting grammatical note, if there is such a thing. You may remember that in yesterday's post, I treated the phrase "social media" as plural: "Social media are evil." I did that because "media," obviously, is plural -- the singular being "medium." But honestly, it sounded weird to me.

Google says the singular usage is also correct: "Social media is evil." And on watching the movie again, I noticed that everyone verbally refers to it in the singular, saying "social media does this" or "social media is that." People have the same tendency with the news media; they'll say "the media reports the news," rather than "the media report the news." This usage is also hotly debated, with some people saying that in the case of news media or mass media, singular usage is acceptable. I guess this is another example of our ever-evolving language.

Finally, during our exploration of the autumnal Heath, I made another short video featuring Olga. Enjoy!