Our purple Persian Slipper lupine is looking great -- and still not quite at the peak of its bloom. (Olga: "STOP TAKING PICTURES!")
The red Beefeater lupine is looking good too, although I think it needs a slightly bigger pot.
Two of our rose bushes have suddenly come to life, including this one, which I think is a Princess Margaret. It's pretty but it has virtually no scent.
And finally, the wildflower seeds have come up in the seed bed, so we should have some nice wildflowers at some point, unless the slugs eat them all! (Being wildflowers, they hopefully have a defense mechanism against critters.) The zinnia seeds have come up, too.
Aside from the garden, which is changing every day, not a whole lot is going on around here. I boxed and shifted books all day at work, and my co-worker, who is helping me re-shelve, is doing some simultaneous weeding. She's going over some of the same shelves I've already weeded and I'm amazed at the junk she's found. I keep thinking, "How did I miss that?!"
Sometimes you need two pairs of eyes, I guess.
On the way home from work, Dave and I stopped at a new produce shop on the high street to pick up some broccoli and a few other things. This shop just opened near the tube station, which is interesting, because we already have a produce shop on the other side of the train tracks. Can West Hampstead really support two produce shops?
Even crazier, there's a new independent book dealer on the high street -- even though we already have an independent book store a few doors down. Can West Hampstead really support two independent book shops?! I doubt it. And whereas I'm happy to support the new produce shop, I'm weirdly indignant about the new book store. Opening so close to an existing book shop -- a line of business notorious for struggling in the current economy -- seems either foolhardy or an act of aggression, doesn't it?
Anyway, time will tell whether those gambles pay off.
Can West Hampstead support more than one of each? My dear Steve, you have slept through your economy lesson. Competition is good for business. It's why Savile Row, London, is full of bespoke tailors (something I myself still haven't got my head around - yet it appears to work). And why restaurants and bars come in clusters. And banks! They sit there, on the High Street, cheek by jowl, neighbours. What is one person's Barclays is another's Santander (don't).
ReplyDeleteFact is: Life is full of mysteries. Olga knows this - instinctively.
U
But Savile Row is an international shopping destination, not a suburban high street that attracts people solely from the surrounding neighborhoods. Plus, bookshops already have crushing competition online, selling products with a slim margin of profit -- again, unlike Savile Row, I imagine.
DeleteI, too, would worry about the first (or second) bookstore. Small bookshops have such a difficult time making it these days. And I also wonder whether the opening was an act of aggression or blind optimism. Maybe they'll surprise us and will both thrive.
ReplyDeleteThat would certainly surprise me! I just hope the new one doesn't drive the old one out of business. Or that they don't kill off each other!
DeleteYep, I'd be VERY surprised. Forgot to mention: the flowers are uplifting! Thanks.
DeleteThe second bookshop I would call foolhardy unless they can offer significantly cheaper books. A choice of fresh produce sounds good to me, and in time you work out your favourite.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I haven't been inside, so I'm not sure about prices. I'm staying loyal to the old one.
DeleteIt will only work with two bookshops if they lean in different specialist directions. And even then...
ReplyDeleteYour lupins in pots look lovely. I wonder what soil they are suited to, as the ones we have in pots grow better than those planted out
We use an all-purpose compost as soil, and that seems to work well. I don't know what they like in the wild!
DeleteI would be peed off if someone else was effectively rechecking the shelves that I had already weeded. Regarding the duplicate businesses - sometimes the way that free enterprise works can be quite ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't mind at all. She sees things I missed, as I'm sure I'd see things she missed. (And sometimes I veto what she proposes to weed, so it works both ways!)
DeleteI would never have thought to put lupine in pots. It looks very nice thought. A friend of mine has a very old truck on his property. He cannot bring himself to get rid of it. (I am not sure even why.) He filled the bed with dirt and planted it full of lupine. It really is lovely.
ReplyDeleteThat's a cool idea, though I imagine all that soil doesn't do any favors to the integrity of the truck chassis!
DeleteThe thing is rotting into the earth. It's probably 70 years old. It started out with no integrity. :)
DeleteBurger Kings usually spring up practically next door to a McDonalds - something about them both drawing traffic for each other, but book stores are another kettle of fish being as you say, precarious enterprises.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I suppose that COULD be what they're going for -- turning West Hampstead into a "bookstore town"?
DeleteAlways loved lupines. My British mother grew huge groupings of them in our UK gardens, but once we moved to the hot/humid summers of our location in the US (clearly, not Maine, where lupines do grow in profusion), they just couldn't seem to take the heat. Nor, back in the days before internet shopping, were they widely available. That always made her a bit sad.
ReplyDeleteI never saw lupines in Florida, either, but apparently they do grow in Texas where they're known as bluebonnets. Maybe it's just a matter of finding the right kind, suited to warmer weather?
DeleteI'm of a mind that Olga is saying, 'Stop taking pictures of the flowers, and photograph just me!!'
ReplyDeleteWe have planted bulbs and wildflower seeds in a corner of our front yard, just off the driveway, and there are starting to come up and bloom; I can't wait to see if it fills in with an explosion of color.
And I'm with you on the two book shops. Such an endangered species and to then have a new one take on an old one? Nope.
I hope you'll have pictures of your wildflower zone! Olga really does NOT like the camera. She complains the minute I hold it up to my face.
DeleteLove that top photo of Olga - she coordinates very nicely with the purple flowers!
ReplyDeleteHere at work we ALWAYS have a coworker double-check our data entry work. And even then, if for some reason there's a third check, we still find things. Humans - what are you gonna do with them?
Hence the phrase "human error"!
DeleteThat's the way they do it. find a business that is making it and then open a competitor nearby. It happens here. we already had three auto parts stores in this town of less than 9,000 people and another (4th) chain auto parts store moved in, put up a building across the street from the already existent chain auto parts shop.
ReplyDeletethose lupines are gorgeous. I wish we could grow them here but they don't like our weather. have to be satisfied with bluebonnets. still raining here.
Bluebonnets are a lupine, technically, but yeah, not quite as big or exotic as our "west country" hybrids!
DeleteThose lupines are simply unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteYou know what i hate? When a business opens near one that is fairly successful, drains off some of the first one's businesses, and then they both go bust eventually.
But who knows? Maybe that won't happen.
That's exactly what I'm afraid of! Why would this bookstore take on a bookstore that I already go out of my way to support?!
DeleteWhat beautiful lupines. I am envious but everytime I try to grow them they are overtaken by aphids.
ReplyDeleteWell, as you've no doubt read here, my efforts against aphids on the lupines are an ongoing campaign!
DeleteThe new bookseller may have a passion about selling and distributing books. I agree that bookselling is not a great business to get into.
ReplyDeleteMaybe -- but if I had a passion and wanted to open a bookstore, I don't think I'd do it almost next door to an existing bookstore.
DeleteLove that photo of Olga and the lupines. Your flowers are so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what becomes of the new businesses.
I will keep you posted!
DeleteOlga Girl, Keep Barking Your Truth - Now Go Sniff Around Your Pink Blanket - Have A Fantastic Weekend There Boys
ReplyDeleteCheers
She's lying on her pink blanket right now! (On Dave's lap.)
DeleteOutstanding lupine photos! And in pots. You make me want to consider more flowers in pots.
ReplyDeletePots are great because they protect the plants (slightly) from slugs and snails -- but they DO take a lot of watering and other attention because they dry out fairly quickly.
DeleteYour lupine is gorgeous. They are so big and full! That bookstore opening does seem to be a rather foolhardy venture.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, time will tell! I'll report back!
DeleteI agree about the wisdom of opening a second bookstore so close. You can't have too many photos of Olga! You have a super day, hugs, Edna B.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad everyone likes the Olga pics!
DeleteOur town has more bookshops than starbucks stores. Also little libraries on every street, nearly. The winters are long and wet and dark, books are the thing! Books stores sometime side by side or just across the street from one another. Plus all of the thrift stores that have row upon row of books. In spite of
ReplyDeleteAmazon or whatever- book shops seem to do well- people still drawn to brick and mortar. In the basement of the city library there is a floor devoted to "free" books for the taking. This is a university town with four other smaller colleges, all with libraries of their own and book shops. The weather here is conducive to being well read...There are free piles for the street people IF they are so inclined. The only book stores that seem to have taken it in the shorts are the bigger chains, independent shops seem to be doing better. Loyalty!
Well, I hope our community's enthusiasm for reading matches yours! We certainly have the weather for it.
DeleteYou are right, the sign below that photo of the Rudi Gernreich dress does say that it is Peggy Moffitt modeling the dress in 1971.
ReplyDeleteAha! Good to know! She was apparently his muse, as I recall from that Vanity Fair article I mentioned. (And she's still alive!)
DeleteYour flower photos are lovely. Sometimes I save some of the photos I see on blogs and one of these days, I will print some nice notecards for myself. I hope you don't mind that I saved your rose today. So pretty! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteBy all means, feel free to use it! I'm honored! :)
DeleteWhen we were planning our entry into "the book business" back in the 90's I was surprised to learn that bookstores can be successful when they are near to other bookstores, sometimes right next to each other. So who knows about your two book dealers? Maybe they will both thrive.
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe that's the case, as Ursula said above. I guess I shouldn't be so condemnatory until I see how it goes. I am certainly not a business person.
DeleteI can never grow plants in pots - they just seem to dry out (probably becasue we go away a lot too...) - pity, because they are a good sand manageable solution I think. Love Olga's grin too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they DO take more attention, no question. But they keep the slugs and snails away!
DeleteHah! I get the weird indignance as I generally have strong opinions on new businesses and where they choose to set up and what they choose to sell :) I'll be interested in updates if and when you have any.
ReplyDeleteI'm so surprised to see how big your lupines have grown in pots. I didn't think they would do that. You have some beautiful shades there. Our wild ones are all pink, blue, and white.
These are so-called "west country" hybrids, which are larger than wild lupines.
Delete