Saturday, January 9, 2021

Orange Potpourri


It's pretty darn wintry out there now, with temperatures below freezing, but the primroses are still plugging away with new flowers. Persistent little devils! This one's in a hanging basket in the back of the garden; we have several others on the patio, all in flower.

We still haven't had any snow yet this year. Nothing more than flurries, anyway. I'm not necessarily lamenting that fact, just stating it for the record.

We have some work to do in the garden -- trimming ivy, clearing dead stuff from the wildflower bed, pruning all the roses. But it still seems a bit early to do it, so we're holding off for now. I think we need to get to the roses soon, though. As I recall, last year we waited until February -- supposedly the ideal time -- and by then many of them were already putting out new growth.


This is the orange that I suspended from the bird feeders several days ago for the ring-necked parakeets. They haven't shown any interest in it. Maybe they don't eat oranges (unlike the Nanday parakeets I photographed in Florida a couple of years ago).

An orange in this climate is a pretty alien thing. Maybe they don't even know what it is?


The newer Chinese lantern is a shadow of its former self, its lanterns slowly breaking down.

I don't think I left the house and garden at all yesterday. I didn't even open the front door except to put back our bins after the trash collectors came in the morning. I stayed in my pajamas and mostly read.

Did you see that Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account? Finally! That's got to be a punch in the gut to him. Of course, he can just go to Parler or wherever his lunatic fringe is these days, and I wonder whether it's better or worse to have them all segregated in another virtual space where they can get up to mischief away from the eyes of those of us in the mainstream. Like naughty children, you kind of want them where you can see them.

But still, I applaud Twitter's move. I'm sick to death of Trump's tweeting. (And I'm not even on Twitter myself.)


This is the chair in our bedroom. Dave and I disagree on what this chair is for. I think it's a place to sit when we put on our socks. Dave thinks it's a place to leave lightly worn clothes that are too clean to throw in the wash but too dirty to hang back in the closet. As a result, it often looks like this. Frankly, it makes me crazy, but I have learned to sit on the edge of the seat with the clothes behind me, so we can both use it for our stated purpose. The compromises of marriage, right?

50 comments:

Moving with Mitchell said...

The chair made me smile (if I lived there, it would drive me crazy). You need to buy Dave a treadmill or Nordictrack, or even an exercise bike. He can use those for his clothes, and you can insist he keep the chair clear. That's what I did with Jerry in past years.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I have got a really crazy suggestion for you Steve - truly wacky I admit but hear me out. When putting your socks on - instead of crushing Dave's artistically arranged pile of clothes - you could sit on the edge of the bed! That's lateral thinking for you.

Sabine said...

Dear Steve and Dave, we have a chair like that too. I believe that many marriages exists with/because of chairs like yours.

Sarah said...

I really need to get out into the garden as it is a mess again but it has been so cold and all I want to do when here is stay warm! I often stand up to put on my socks as I think it is good practice for balancing, and I am sometimes a bit surprised that it is difficult! Andy uses any chair and the sofa to leave jackets, hats, trousers, and jumpers, so I think that just using the chair in the bedroom is quite restrained!

Jennifer said...

I think Parler got shut down last night, too. Ha!

Bob said...

Carlos and I have a similar chair in our bedroom. I like to use it to put on my shoes, he, just like Dave, thinks it's a place for clothes he may wear again before laundry day.
I learned today that after Twitter permanently suspended _____'s account, he went onto the @POTUS account and began spewing his nonsense. So Twitter shut that one down, too. I wonder how long before he hijacks @FLOTUS?

Ms. Moon said...

We used to have a chair like that too but now, we have different arrangements because we both have bathrooms big enough to hold those pre-wash basket clothes. What a luxury! I think that many more marriages would be much happier if everyone had their own bathroom.
Yeah. A little too little, too late for the social media platforms but I suppose better now than never.

Anonymous said...

Roger has his own big chair where he piles his stuff. The chair has been in his family for a zillion years. I think Swami Satchidananda Saraswati sat in that chair many years ago. It's a holy spot for jeans, socks, and masks these days.
I am glad Twitter permanently suspended Trump. Better late than never.

Ursula said...

Count yourself lucky, Steve. FOS (father of son) put empty milk and juice cartons back into the fridge. Which was fine with me. Indeed amusing. I like people's quirks.

One thing I have noticed about certain relationships, be they marital, filial or otherwise: It's the slob that has the last word at the drop of a sock. If you don't like it, according to them, YOU pick it up.

As usual your photography - or rather your eye for what is worth documenting - makes my heart sing. The orange you so kindly put out (as yet not touched by the local bird population) I'd like to plaster on one of my walls.

U

Margaret said...

I'm with Dave on that one! I think Parler has been given an ultimatum to start enforcing their own rules, and that Bezos is under pressure to revoke their Amazon Cloud Service. Perhaps that group will have to go back to AOL chat rooms? I love those lanterns; they are alien looking. The orange is beautiful; I would eat it myself.

Sharon said...

Your compromise made my chuckle. More couples need to do exactly that.
It's fun seeing the plants that are hanging on when the air is so cold.
I'm certainly glad they've shut of Trump's twitter account. It's about time. I feel like I'm on edge right now waiting for something else to happen.

Allison said...

My lightly worn stuff gets piled on a small table in the bathroom, that's its only function. Jim puts his on the bed, and then later moves them on top of our hoard of paper products. After the paper products are gone, we may have to buy a small decorative chair for that corner. It's supposed to hit 32 tonight, as well. I really hate wrapping the bougainvillea, the spines are just brutal.

Angelicastar said...

Your primrose is still blooming like nothing to it. I guess that is what I will buy in the spring time. I looked at your chair and looked at mine and they are alike since I came home. Eventually I will hang them up. (laughing) Mine is just temporary until I eat and get comfortable.

Steve when I heard they had cancelled his account permanently I said what took them so long. No President should be tweeting on a daily basis. They need to address the Nation with whatever information they have because I am like you, I am not on twitter, or no other social media. I was once on facebook and it is used for gossip. If you can remember they wouldn't let Obama have a blackberry when he was in office. I assume McConnell was trying to make him a one time President because he didn't hire his wife the way trump did. What ever crooked mess is done in the dark will eventually show it's ugly head. His wife used her maiden name so no one would know she was his wife. Oh well, the world knows it now and know Lindsay Graham was playing golf for free. More than trump need to resign. I didn't capitalize his t in his name because his name don't really deserved to be mention

Red said...

I'm with Dave on this one. I have a couple of chairs that are loaded with clothes that have been worn.

37paddington said...

Lol, in marriage we pick our battles! I, too, wondered about the wisdom of having Trump's seditious tweets made invisible to mainstream eyes, but on the whole, I too, applaud his removal from Twitter. I keep wondering, so naively, how did it come to this? As if we all didnt watch it happening.

Dee said...

He may go to Parler but Google has removed Parler from it's App store until Parler learns to moderate content.

Debby said...

Perhaps you need your OWN chair? In our house, we have a four poster bed. Tim hangs his clothes on his side. At night, my bathrobe hangs on the bottom post of my own side. Perhaps WE need a chair. :D

Jennifer said...

Oh, Steve, I had to smile at your bedroom clothes chair! That looks so familiar. The "not dirty enough for the wash, too dirty for the closet" dilemma is a real thing!

Ironically, I'm the one in this marriage who's the worst about putting clothes over a chair (or on top of the dresser, which is worse) but it bothers me more than my husband. I'm the annoyed party and the culprit of the messiness at the same time! Haha!

Kansas Jen said...

Two small chairs might be an idea or a slide under ottoman?

Ellen D. said...

Well, I am divorced so better not take any advice from me about the chair! :)
As long as the FBI is keeping an eye on Trump's plans, I never have to see his posts.

Anonymous said...

My bedroom chair is for clothes to hang overnight and clothes to be worn again before washing.
To quote the late Alf Garnett, the parakeets are wondering why you are trying feed them that foreign muck.

The Bug said...

Mike & I have separate bedrooms, so I don't have that problem. Except that, like Jennifer up there, I put stuff on my bedroom chair & then get annoyed that I can't sit in it. I sit on the bed to put my shoes on. Ha!

ellen abbott said...

get your own chair.

I think we will find in the coming days just how deep this attempt was and how many in the government were in on it. they'll try again. they already have plans.

Catalyst said...

As usual I enjoy all of your photographs. All except the last one, that is.

Steve Reed said...

Ha! Exercise bikes always DO become expensive clothes racks, don't they?

Steve Reed said...

But the bed is squishy, and when you squish down into it, your center of gravity is lower which actually makes putting on the socks harder. I swear this is true.

Steve Reed said...

Or in spite of! LOL

Steve Reed said...

I cannot stand and put on socks. Well, I mean, I CAN, but I don't find it easy.

Steve Reed said...

I think it's still functioning but it's been warned by Apple and others that it needs to police itself.

Steve Reed said...

Well, God knows Melania isn't at all interested in the @FLOTUS account!

Steve Reed said...

Having my own bathroom would be pretty darn amazing, I must say.

Steve Reed said...

You have a CELEBRITY chair! (Or at least a religiously significant one.)

Steve Reed said...

Thanks re. the orange! The color IS bright and cheery in the winter gloom. Re. your second point, it's true -- my threshold for tolerating sloppiness is much lower than Dave's, so I usually wind up picking everything up!

Steve Reed said...

AOL chat rooms -- ha! (AOL would LOVE that, I'm sure.) I guess they always have 4chan or 8kun or whatever it's called now.

Steve Reed said...

If anything else happens (and I'm sure it will) I hope the security forces are better prepared.

Steve Reed said...

It's 29ºF here this morning, and I think our banana tree got pretty severely frozen. It's a frost-tolerant variety but this may have been too cold. Guess we should have wrapped it. Ugh.

Steve Reed said...

Primroses are very durable! I don't know how they'd fare in the Texas heat, though. I agree Twitter should have terminated Trump long before now. Basically it shows how eager ALL of us are for him to be gone.

Steve Reed said...

I'm sure it's a common feature in many houses!

Steve Reed said...

I think it shows how sick ALL of us are of him. We can't even stand to listen to him for ten more days!

Steve Reed said...

I saw that! Regardless of what Parler does, I suspect there will always be some rogue platform willing to host him. Then again, if he has to keep jumping around, that will prevent him from building a massive following over time.

Steve Reed said...

Ha! I'm not sure we have room for a second chair!

Steve Reed said...

Blogger, heal thyself! LOL

Steve Reed said...

I guess I can make do rather than buying more furniture. I just like to complain. :)

Steve Reed said...

I just hope SOMEONE's keeping an eye on him!

Steve Reed said...

It's funny that so many of us have chairs that we don't really use as chairs. In hotel rooms they serve the same purpose. No one ever sits in those chairs -- they hold clothes and suitcases!

Steve Reed said...

I guess we all have a system, even if we drive ourselves crazy. LOL

Steve Reed said...

Ellen, you are so funny. So direct! I see that more chaos is coming on the 17th. (Why that day, though? Kind of weird. Just because it's the closest weekend day to inauguration?)

Steve Reed said...

Ha! Thanks, Bruce! Glad you're back in the blogosphere!

Colette said...

Primroses! Another old friend of a flower.

Janie Junebug said...

The creature from the black lagoon immediately tried using other accounts on twitter and got shut down. I don't know anything about parler.

Love,
Janie