We Have Sunflowers!

After all my carping about my sunflowers and how late they are, we finally have two blossoms -- and several more buds in various stages of opening. Whew! I really thought we might not get any flowers at all this year. The weather is growing cooler and most of the commercial sunflower farms are already done for the season, I think.

I planted the seeds back in mid-May, but maybe that was too late. I probably should have started them indoors about a month earlier.

Anyway, they're here now, and looking good, and the bees are already paying attention!

I like the color variations. They're all supposed to be the sort of burnt orange of the one at the top, but the one above seems to have gone more yellow.

I was supposed to go last night to a stand-up comedy show at the London Palladium -- someone named Russell Howard. My friend Colin had the tickets and he invited me, so I said yes, even though I haven't the slightest idea who Russell Howard is. That and the fact that stand-up makes me incredibly uncomfortable. It feels very awkward to me, and as an obviously bald guy in the audience I always suspect I'll be called upon as the butt of a bald joke. (It sounds paranoid but it's happened several times! Maybe not at a big classy show like something at the London Palladium, but still.)

Anyway, this was the plan. But then Colin texted me yesterday morning to say he'd called in sick, and could I use the tickets or find someone else who wanted them?

I spent all morning asking around and messaging people, including friends I offered to accompany, but I had no takers. Finally around 1 p.m. Colin found someone willing to go, so I was off the hook. Whew! I'm sure Russell is very funny, whoever he is, but I was glad to just come home and watch TV.