This plant is growing down the street from our flat. According to my trusty iPhone, which I just discovered has a built-in plant-identifying feature, it is a Chilean potato vine (Solanum crispum). My "Picture This" plant app identifies it as Solanum laxum, but in any case, it's an ornamental potato of some sort.
Yes! I just learned this about iPhones. If you take a picture of a plant and then look at the photo in your photo album, there's a little leaf icon below it. Hit the icon and the phone tells you what kind of plant it is. Siri, that mastermind!
I spent yesterday morning down in the Lower School working on inventory. I've finished the non-fiction section, which I've found to be missing 39 books. I suspect many are actually there and they either didn't scan correctly or have slid to the back of the shelf, so now I'll make a second pass and look for them.
There were kids all around me while I did this work, tumbling and romping like puppies. One boy ran up to me with a drawing and said, "Can you see the L?" I looked at the page he held up, featuring a sort of octagonal shape with random divisions like a stained glass window, and sure enough there was a letter L in there. Maybe his name starts with L. "Oh yeah!" I said. "Cool!"
This kid had no idea who I was but he didn't care.
They were also full of talk about who "likes" who, and who "has a crush" on who, which I thought was pretty sophisticated for kids no older than fourth grade. One kept talking about how "everything is energy," and about how you, me, his lunch and his toys were all "MC squared." He'd clearly just learned about Einstein. A budding physicist! "Why are you so obsessed with 'MC squared?'" asked one of his friends, perhaps not a budding physicist.
It's so funny to hear little kids talk to each other. The stuff they come up with!
Olga loves this time of year because in the afternoons, the sun shines straight into the living room and warms her on the couch!
My son told me about the plant identifier on my phone a while ago! Much better than the app that I got a few years ago that never recognised anything!!
ReplyDeleteI can’t believe I didn’t know that about my iPhone. I had downloaded a free plant-identifier app that never got anything right. It was worth the price. I hope that kids MC squared obsession doesn˙t develop into an obsession with E. (What a disturbing thing to even think! Sorry.)
ReplyDeleteLittle kids are funny like that. One of the crew of kids that come by my office every morning to say hi and give me hugs, a little girl named Emogene, said the other morning, "Ms. Barlow! I want to go to Paris one day and see the Eiffel tower!" It was just past 7am and the kid was thinking about Paris. I always enjoy the things they think of to talk about first thing in the morning.
ReplyDeleteOlga looks so cute sleeping on the couch!
Plant apps vary a lot in accuracy, so maybe iPhone has a good one. Very handy.
ReplyDeleteI have Plant Snap on my phone. It nearly always misidentifies a plant. A close pic seems to help it get it right.
ReplyDeleteThe very young men who are talking about crushes could elevate to a scandal of teen boys rating their fellow female students in a spreadsheet, as has happened here. Students suspended, students expelled and (mostly private) school names blackened.
That's a gorgeous potato! 😀
ReplyDeleteKids are so free; I love the L Kid.
Well dang! I had no idea that iPhones came with their own plant app. I tried it out on some plant pictures I had and it's pretty okay, I think but "Picture This" is the very best one I've found. I use it all the time.
ReplyDeleteOur August, age 8, will absolutely walk up to another kid and ask him if he knows the square root of some random number. Or something like that. Jessie was trying to tell him that not all children enjoy being asked questions like that. August said, "Why not? I do!"
Ooh boy. I have a feeling that he's nowhere near ready for crushes. His true love moved away but they send each other things they've made in the mail which is the sweetest.
Beautiful picture of Olga.
The blue flowers on the potato vine are lovely. ?Maybe you could take a small cutting for your garden? Kids are so funny. Talking about crushes in elementary school shows interests are actively rising. Olga looks very comfy on her couch. My dog sleeps on a couch too. If someone sits on his couch, he often barks to encourage sitting elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know much about MC Squared at that age. I knew more about MC Hammer.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful potato flowers! Geez ... I had never seen them before!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing Olga on her shabby chic pink blanket!
I did not know that about plant photos on my iPhone! I was just checking it out and do you know they do that for animals also? Thanks for sharing that tip!
ReplyDeleteI love those blooms in the first photo!
forth and fifth grade- crushes were the last thing on my mind- i liked dogs best- and a couple of horses. I remember Miss Petty in fifth grade, putting curlers in her hair and painting her nails during "reading time" , because she had a date that evening. I wondered "what is date".
ReplyDeleteThe photo of little you and even littler brother is so dear! I missed that yesterday, too busy coughing. Olga and her pink blanket is the sweetest confection of the day! So glad she is feeling like her best self.
There is one of those potato plants at the Desert Botanical Garden. I love purple flowers so as you might guess, I have taken lots of photos of it. Thanks for that tip about the iPhone. I just looked and found the little leaf icon. I'm amazed and pleased at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing about the conversations with kids. Bless their hearts!
Plant snap is the name of the app? It was just there and you didn't download it? It's hard to believe that it's a potato plant! Kids really do say (and do) the darnest things. :)
ReplyDeleteI've used that plant/tree identifier for awhile and it's not always the most accurate. But... it provides for comparison other photos with wiki links which I've found to be helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt will also (attempt to) identify dogs, cats, snakes, bugs, turtles, and more!
It's a pity it would not be legal to tape and transcribe what kids say.
ReplyDeleteThat plant looks like deadly nightshade to me, but that might just be my odd colour vision.
I'm glad you like doing inventory because you've got a lot of it! Those kids are really amusing -- and growing up way too fast!
ReplyDeleteAnd if you really want to listen to interesting conversations , listen to he grade ones.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful potato vine. We mostly have the white flowering kind around here. Olga looks blissful in the sunshine.
ReplyDeleteFrances: My app is quite good, but if I'd know I could do the same thing through the camera I'd never have downloaded it!
ReplyDeleteMitchell: As long as E is energy, he'll be fine.
Jennifer: So funny! It's especially funny to hear them talk to each other.
Boud: I haven't tried it on a huge variety of stuff, but it seems to work well!
Andrew: Yes, stories like that seem to happen everywhere. In this case, there were girls involved in the conversation too!
Bob: It was such a funny thing to be excited about.
Ms Moon: It's funny how kids get so focused on certain things -- like August and his square roots.
Susan: I thought about taking a cutting! Probably not ethical but I kinda want one of those plants.
Ed: Ha! I'm sure no kid knows who MC Hammer is nowadays.
Marcia: It's now TWO blankets. We cut it in half because it had a huge hole in the middle and she kept getting caught up in it.
Ellen D: Yes, I saw the animal thing too, but haven't tried it. Does it identify animals by species?
Linda Sue: I know -- me too. I was completely unaware of crushes at that age. I mean, I'd HEARD of them but I was nowhere near experiencing one.
Sharon: It's interesting that it can grow in both London AND Phoenix! Talk about adaptable!
Margaret: No app necessary -- plant identification is built into iPhone photos. I did download an additional app, Picture This, ages ago before I realized that function was included in photos.
Kelly: I haven't tried the animal function. I don't run into many animals that I can't already identify!
Tasker: Well, it IS a nightshade, just like all potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants (aubergines). I think it does have some toxicity but it's fine for ornamental purposes.
Jeanie: Yeah, it's a good thing it's not a task I hate. I think I'd go crazy.
Red: Ha! I bet! These kids were all Grades 3 & 4, I'd guess.
River: I don't think it's an edible potato. It's an ornamental. Our edible potatoes bloomed when we grew them but I can't remember what color the flowers were! Certainly nothing as nice as these.
https://youtu.be/vv9quFWhQYc. This had me rolling. For toddlers and babies!!!!
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