The teasels are beginning to flower, forming that band of tiny blossoms around their bristly seed heads. I love teasels (as you know!) but I really need to do a better job of keeping them under control this year. The burdock, too. I think once the flowers have come and gone I need to cut the plants down entirely. Otherwise they proliferate so much that pretty soon we'll ONLY have teasels and burdock in the garden.
A parakeet is sitting in the walnut tree loudly squawking. I can't imagine what it wants because the bird feeder is full. Maybe it's saying to its mates, "Come on, guys! Let's eat!"
Yesterday was a pretty placid day. I did some more trimming in the garden, taming the monster and the bay tree and forsythia by the patio. I really need to weed the patio, removing all the grass and other plants from between the paving stones, and I've probably been talking about that forever, but my excuse for waiting is that we're out of yard waste bags. After tomorrow morning's waste collection we'll have empty ones again.
Mrs. Kravitz borrowed three of our yard waste bags a couple of weeks ago and she has not returned them. I suppose I'll have to chase those down. 🙄 (Can you all see my eye-roll emoji? I am never sure those things display equally well for everyone.)
Here's your daily photo of Olga relaxing in the sun.
I sat out with her and finished my latest book, a crime novel called "Never Seen Again" by Paul Finch. It's another one from that book club membership that one of Dave's students gave him but that I took over (with his permission). It was about some investigative reporters who try to figure out what happened to a kidnapped woman, but as a former reporter myself I found it somewhat laughable what these "reporters" wound up doing. I mean, I've had a few angry reactions from story subjects, but I never had to leap from a moving cable car to escape security thugs, or had someone bash my shin with an iron pipe (so that I could then run around on an apparently broken leg for the next several hours, as the character in the book did). It made reporting seem a lot more exciting and dangerous (and unlikely) than it really is, in other words. But overall it held my attention and it was good to pass the time.
I'm still coming to grips with all the changes being ushered in by the UK's new Labour government. I've seen a flurry of news stories about all sorts of initiatives, including phasing out smoking entirely by raising the legal age to purchase cigarettes by one year every year, so that today's young people will never be able to purchase them. (I guess they could still steal them from granny, though.) And supposedly the UK is ending that ridiculous, inhumane and expensive scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda while it considers their paperwork. Sanity prevails! Is it too much to hope for sanity in the USA as well?
I tested both on the iPhone and the laptop, the rolling eyes look very clear. The message is getting through :)
ReplyDeleteThat smoking law was put into place in New Zealand under a Labour Government but dropped by the incoming conservative government. It is interesting because I suspect most smokers would be supporters of Labour governments and I can't see any votes in it for the conservatives.
ReplyDeleteNo, but on the other hand the tobacco industry has objectives that may accommodated by a conservative administration!
DeleteIs it too much to hope for sanity in the USA as well?
ReplyDeleteYes. That is indeed too much to hope for. There are several more episodes to go in "The Battle of the Geriatric Giants" sponsored by Amazon in collaboration with McDonalds and starring Massive Garden Slug as Donald Trump and Stiff Corpse as Joe Biden.
Good luck on sanity with J.D. Vance on the ticket!
ReplyDeleteBut we can hope!
Cheers Peter
The more you make something illegal, or hard to get, the more people want it.
ReplyDeleteI mean, underage drinkers could always find someone to but them booze!
I'm not counting on any sanity here for another four and a half more years!
ReplyDeleteIs it too late for sanity in the U.S.? Maybe not quite yet, but eventually if the U.S. as a country and doesn't break down into nation states or something worse.
ReplyDeleteWhen they are finished blooming, you can cut your teasels and dry them for bouquets. I am a volunteer with a group that dries lots of different plants and uses the dried plants with silk plants to make flower arrangements. We sell those arrangements to raise money for our local history museum. Teasels are spiky but turn a lovely shade of brown.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid to hope but I want to believe that things will get better in the USA.
Yes. It is obviously too much to hope for sanity in the USA. That ship has sailed, I do believe.
ReplyDeleteHoping for sanity in US politics feels a bit like hoping for snow in Phoenix in July. However, I did feel a bit encouraged when I learned of the elections in the UK. Olga looks quite content with her sunny spot in the garden.
ReplyDeleteThe political change in Britain was surprising and positive. We can hope for miracles in other places.
ReplyDeleteHoping for sanity in the USA is a long shot. After seeing Trump's MAGA disciples wearing bandages on their ears, I just sit back and wonder where in hell this boat ride will take us.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I believe it is too much to hope for sanity in the US, too late as well. I guess time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI am not one of the naysayers in here ... I definitely have hope for our country and for Biden/Harris to win the Blue 🔵 vote! It's the one RIGHT we still have, so, please: Use it!
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, you get fascism and King Trump! Is that what you want? My God, I hope not!
teasels are interesting but I wouldn't want them in my garden.
ReplyDeleteand I'm afraid, as Ms Moon says, that ship has sailed here in the US. selecting J D Vance for VP, completely unqualified man who thinks the country is run by single cat women who are horribly unhappy because they don't have a man and who has only been in public service for 18 months and Marjorie Taylor Greene's rantings.
The world is in a state of reset. Lots of instability exists. We need a new world order and what that looks like is the million dollar question.
ReplyDeleteInvasive plants require a strong hand but they do put on a great display and are worth the effort. I've taken to isolate my invasive daisies by keeping them in a single island bed and mowing around it.
Olga resting in the garden is one happy girl.
The pup girl in the sunshine soothes our aching brains- you are right- Umurka has decided its fate and the world's. Odd how happenings recently have fallen in line to decide that so called fate. You have always had luck on your side- possibly past life's good deeds, to some that would be explanation. I reckon you guys are just smart!!
ReplyDeleteI don't hold out hope for sanity in the U.S. I wish I could be more hopeful. I've read books like that and sometimes enjoy the straining of credibility. Action films are like that too!
ReplyDeleteDefine sanity.
ReplyDeleteI fear it’s too late for the US. Politics on both sides of the aisle right now is a clusterf*ck. I’m close to surrendering to what will be. Still terrifying, however.
ReplyDeleteTeasels are beautiful until they take over. For a stickler, Mrs. Kravitz sure does what SHE wants. Sanity and USA don’t seem to go together anymore. Olga looks like a sculpture in that photo. I’d pay good money for one of those on the terrace!
ReplyDeleteHope for sanity here in the US is a long shot.
ReplyDeleteI had not abandoned hope until I just read that Democratic donors are threatening to not give money to down ballot candidates unless they come out against Biden. They don't want Kamala Harris either. So how are they going to run another primary (Biden is the current legal candidate), fund raise, set up a network of offices, get out the vote, and etc., at this point in time. I'm pretty depressed about the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteOlga looks happy.
Oh, Olga! You look so blissed out :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I read "kidnapping" in your title I assumed you had removed some slugs from your garden to throw over the wall. lol
Sanity seems in short supply this side of the ocean. Every day is a new reason to say, wow, I did not think things could get any worse ...
I've just ordered my kids' "page a day" calendars for 2025. (it's a yearly tradition for us) If you put out one with a daily photo of Olga, I'll buy it for myself! 😊 I'm currently reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and listening to Night by Elie Wiesel, so I can use a daily photo of sweet Olga!
ReplyDeleteI was just watching some coverage of tonight's Republican convention and learned that Trump's speech will be preceded by Tucker Carlson, Hulk Hogan, some other guy from a wrestling company, a couple of golf pros from Trump clubs and gawd knows who else. No, sanity will not prevail tonight in America.
ReplyDeleteCould have sworn I left a comment, but it's clearly not here :)
ReplyDeleteThe only part I remember was admiring Olga in the sunshine, and the fact that when I read "kidnapping" in the title I was thinking you had spirited away the snails over the wall, getting rid of them rather than taking them into custody, but you get the drift :D
Reading your post on my laptop, I can see the rolling eyes emoji just fine.
ReplyDeleteInteresting what you say about the book you've been reading. I like to read about things I know (such as you know the job of a reporter) and compare it with what the author says about it, be it a place or an area of work or any other topic.
Teasels are beautiful, and there are LOTS out around the fields here right now. Some of them have not one but two rings of tiny blossoms, some have the ring nearer the top, or the bottom, or right round the middle. To me, they are reminders of how quickly summer passes and that plants-wise, many are already past their peak, just as the sun year has passed its peak on June 21.
My sister and I will arrive in England on Monday for our annual Yorkshire Holiday. I wonder whether we'll already notice any changes. I certainly know that I am NOT going to discuss politics with my mother-in-law, a Daily Mail subscriber.
Good idea to cut down those plants before they set seed. Perhaps you could remind Mrs Kravitz about those bags?
ReplyDeleteOlga has a good life.
How's that saying go? From your lips to god's ear? Good luck with Mrs. K. Now I know what Burdock is, thanks to you. I've tried to pull it out forever and those roots are deep!
ReplyDeleteYael: Oh, good! :)
ReplyDeleteAndrew: Oh, I bet a lot of smokers vote conservative.
YP: This is the grimmest election season I've ever witnessed, that's for sure.
Peter: It's a shame, because I liked his book so much.
Bob: That is true, and as with Prohibition, it tends to give power to criminal elements. Fortunately fewer and fewer young people smoke anyway, though vaping is a problem.
Ed: Probably wise.
Colette: It's hard for me to imagine things going that far, but you never know.
Ellen D: Yes, they DO make good dried flowers. Unfortunately, I have a real aversion to dried bouquets! They're such terrible dust collectors.
Ms Moon: I hope not. But there are an awful lot of seriously addled people out there!
Sharon: The elections here are encouraging, but I don't think the public has suddenly embraced Labour policies, so much as rejected the Conservatives' inability to govern.
Red: It was positive (I hope!) but happened mostly because the Conservatives failed so utterly.
Michael: It's crazy, isn't it?! Trump's cultish appeal to some people is mystifying. I guess it's what made him a TV personality in the first place.
Pixie: I hope we return to a state of sanity at some point. I'm not giving up. Obama was not that long ago.
Marcia: I love your optimism! Obviously I'll be voting blue no matter what!
Ellen: I can tolerate Vance a lot more than Trump. I think Vance is smart and I'm not convinced he believes a lot of the things he says. I think he's playing to his constituents. (Which is odious in its own way.)
Susan: I am convinced Putin and his minions are behind a lot of this, seeding social media with conspiracies and hate speech.
Linda Sue: I HAVE been lucky in life, I am the first person to admit that!
Margaret: Yeah, there's definitely entertainment value in seeing how far an author can push in terms of believability.
Sabine: One person's sanity is another person's insanity?
37P: I sort of HAVE surrendered to it. I mean, I'm voting and doing all I can to speak out against Trump, but I also realize I can't stop a juggernaut if it comes to that.
Mitchell: Mrs. K DEFINITELY does what she wants, and wants everyone else to do what she wants as well!
Jim: There's always hope, though. It sounds trite but I'm serious. We have to believe things can shift for the better, and I think they eventually will. But there may be pain before that happens!
Allison: I think if Biden steps aside it HAS to be Kamala, to preserve the continuity of the campaign and the administration. But what do I know?
Jenny-O: Ha! In all seriousness, I NEVER throw slugs or snails over the wall. That's just mean to the neighbors. Besides, I know Mrs. K uses slug pellets so that would be condemning the slugs to certain death. I just relocate them within the garden, usually to the back where we have fewer plants.
Kelly: Ha! I guess my blog IS a page-a-day calendar of sorts. :)
Catalyst: It's interesting how prominent wrestling and UFC and stuff like that is among Trump's followers. What the hell does Hulk Hogan know about politics? Why are we hearing from that guy at all?
Jenny-O (again): It's there! It was in spam but I found it. :)
Librarian: It's amazing that we're already on the downslope of the year, isn't it? I do love the teasels with two rings of flowers. It's so interesting to watch the way they bloom. The bees love pulling the little flowers out and even carry them away sometimes.
River: The bags are full and still sitting out by the street. I have a feeling she hasn't paid her yard waste bill so nothing's getting collected. :/
Pollyanna: Absolutely. I think overall, a Conservative government is more likely to go gentle on tobacco, just because it's big business. And they ALWAYS go gentle on big business.
Jeanie: Yeah, it's very hard to pull up. The saving grace with burdock is that it dies after two years. So if you can prevent it from re-seeding you'll be in good shape.
“Mrs. K DEFINITELY does what she wants, and wants everyone else to do what she wants as well!”
ReplyDeleteAs my friend’s granddaughter said: “That’s called compromise.”