When I looked up at my neighbor's window last night, it was the same blue as the evening sky, giving the impression that it was just a hole in a wall with sky beyond. By the time I got the camera, changed the settings and managed to get it focused in such low light (when autofocus wouldn't work), the sky was slightly darker than the window. But still, a cool effect!
We got down to 26º F last night (-3º C), our coldest night yet. I woke in the wee hours of the morning, checked the temperature, and decided I needed to provide a little extra warmth for the avocado.
So at 4 a.m. I was running an extension cord from our shed, and plugging in the base of our lava lamp, which I tucked beneath the avocado's protective covering. (I didn't put the whole lamp in there -- not the glass part. Just the metal base with the bulb. The avocado needs warmth, not a groovy visual experience!) Now we have an interesting patio lighting feature in addition to, hopefully, providing the tree with a few extra degrees of heat.
I see that Anita Bryant has died. Any gay person of my generation or earlier has a complicated relationship with Anita, as I wrote here. (Well, I suppose for some it's not complicated at all -- she's a despised figure in the gay community. But for me, it's complicated.) As tiresome as I find all her Christian pedantry, it seems pretty consistent with her origins. You can take the girl out of Oklahoma, but you can't take the Oklahoma out of the girl. (Then again, Dolly Parton was of humble birth in a similarly conservative stronghold, and she's a beacon of tolerance. Birth doesn't necessarily dictate behavior, does it?)
And at the risk of turning this blog into a litany of dead celebrities, I saw that Peter Yarrow died recently. I was a huge Peter, Paul and Mary fan when I was younger. I owned (and still own, in iTunes form) at least seven of their albums, and I saw them live in the mid-1980's after the release of their album "No Easy Walk to Freedom." I remember going to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Fla., with my friend Suzanne, and sitting in the darkened auditorium as each member of the trio made their entrance. Mary came last, and before she took the stage we could see her white-shoed foot peeking out from behind the curtain, which somehow only heightened the excitement: "Oh my God, it's Mary's foot!"
Anyway, Peter was not without his faults and blemishes, but he seemed a good-hearted person who always publicly promoted kindness and generosity. Something of a counterpoint to Anita.
These California fires are shockingly apocalyptic. The New York Times says 10,000 structures may have been destroyed so far. Imagine that! I can't say anything to ease that devastation but I'll try to make a donation somewhere in the hopes that it can do some good.
Love the blue "sky" window! It's things like that which capture my attention, too, mostly during walks, but often I can not or will not stop for a photo.
ReplyDeleteGood to know from your previous post that your pains and aches are nothing that requires surgery. Have you considered yoga? I don't do yoga myself, but I have a set of exercises that I learnt almost 20 years ago during rehab for my back problems (I was born with scoliosis) and which help a lot in keeping the entire muscle-bones-tendons structure up and down my spine flexible and strong enough to carry me through a working day without too much pain. It takes about 10 minutes three times a week, which is not too bad - and I notice the negative effect immediately when I don't stick to my regime!
Love the cat made of birds and the mural of the swimmers at Whittington hospital.
The California fires are beyond horrible. I know it's not right from a human point of view, but I can not help thinking of all the animals that have perished or are seriously injured in those fires, wildlife as well as pets. The scenes that have been shown on our main news on TV do indeed look unreal, like out of an apocalyptic movie.
To clarify: The exercises I do have some yoga-ish elements but are mainly about stretching and strengthening in a gentle, painless way.
DeleteOh, I've thought the same thing about animals in the fires. The NYT has had articles about rescued pets, but surely there are many who have perished -- especially wildlife and pets that may not be easily transported.
DeleteI've tried yoga in the past but maybe I should give it another go! I probably do need some kind of stretching regimen.
The Avicado is looking more like an alien visitor!
ReplyDeleteAvocado...!!!
DeleteWell, it IS an alien to these parts, so that's not entirely surprising! :)
DeleteI think you must be some sort of mad to go out in the middle of a freezing night to warm a plant up! I hope it appreciates it by giving you lots of avocados......but don't get your hopes up!
ReplyDeleteI actually don't ever expect it to bear fruit. It's more ornamental than anything.
DeleteI like the photograph. I was going to suggest re. your medical issue of the other day that you may need to go for another Thai massage and perhaps schedule one a month for the next few months.
ReplyDeleteOne a month would be heavenly! I do love a good Thai massage.
Delete“If I Had a Hammer” and “Puff the Magic Dragon” were songs I used to play and sing. I am sorry to learn that Peter Yarrow has died. The three of them created wonderful harmonies.
ReplyDeleteThey had such a remarkable vocal blend. We used to sing those PP&M songs (and many others) at summer camp!
DeleteI read about Anita Bryant a few minutes ago and did not have one kind thought. I thought of Bette Davis saying something “good” about the dead. Good, she’s dead. I loved Peter, Paul, and Mary and have always been conflicted about Peter Yarrow. And, yes, he did seem to be a good-hearted person, and he did a lot of good things in his lifetime. And oh what beautiful music and poetry.
ReplyDeleteHa! Bette Davis was always good for a snarky quip.
DeleteI must have gone to spam.
ReplyDeleteI found your comment but it's on my original Anita Bryant post -- is that where you meant to leave it? In any case, it's there. :)
DeleteAgree w/Mitchell: Anita Bryant was a horrific person. And Ruth Eckerd Hall!! Oh my god; my mom and dad used to love going there. That brings back memories of their joy.
ReplyDeleteI saw Nanci Griffith there too!
DeleteI beg to differ, Steve. The avocado might have liked the groovy visual experience!
ReplyDeleteGregg is a huge PPM fan, too. In fact, his sister got him a framed album cover of them for Christmas this year after he mentioned to her last summer how much their music reminded him of his childhood.
We've been getting down to 22 and 23 degrees at night, bitter cold for SC. The wind chill has been in the teens. Tonight we're to get some ice in the area.
I guess many of us connect with PP&M from childhood, given that their songs are staples of camp sing-alongs and that kind of thing. A framed album is a great idea!
DeleteThat's devotion, getting up at dark o'clock to set up a heater for a plant.
ReplyDeleteAbout Bryant, I thought she'd gone long ago.
I really set it up too late. I should have done it before I went to bed. But the tree seems to have squeaked through.
DeleteI loved Peter, Paul, and Mary. I listened to them over and over again. It has been really cold here in central VA, and they are calling for another snowstorm this weekend with 4 to six inches!
ReplyDeleteAt least we don't have snow -- I'm thankful for that!
DeleteYour kind heart! Up and out into the cold to tuck a light in with your avocado. You are one of a kind...meant in a good way.
ReplyDeleteI'm slightly insane, I freely admit it! LOL
DeleteYour avocado is lucky to have you - I would have woken up, thought about it, then gone "meh" & went back to sleep. Go with God Avocado!
ReplyDeleteHa! I feel like I have to do everything I can to pull it through, while recognizing that it may well die anyway.
DeleteI'm not sure I could use a bulb as a heat source anymore as I haven't had one in my house in probably ten years or more. LED bulbs don't produce much heat. I haven't seen them at the store either due to the ban on them. Have they not been phased out in the U.K.?
ReplyDeleteWell, since it's a bulb for a lava lamp it has to produce heat. So maybe those bulbs are exempt from such regulations! It's not a very big or hot bulb so I'm not sure it's doing a whole lot of good but at least I can say I tried.
DeleteYes Ed, sale of old type bulbs has been phased out in Britain although it is still pemitted to use any you may have in the home in your store.
DeleteThat Is A Drop In Temperature !! Yes , The Peter Paul And Mary News Was Rough And The Fires Are Outrageous - Excellent Thought On The Lava Bulb - Good On Ya - Will Send Over A Rechargeable Electric Sweeter For Olga Girl - In Pink Of Course
ReplyDeleteStay Strong & Happy Friday Brother Man ,
Cheers
Ha! I'd love to see her in an electric sweater!
DeleteSpeaking of fires - my first thought was that you shouldn't put an electric bulb under there as it could start a fire and then it would whoosh up that covering and the avocado so fast. It just doesn't sound safe to me. But I am a worrier...
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of dead people, did you listen to any of the eulogies done for Jimmy Carter? I thought several were direct messages to Frump who will never be as fine a man as Jimmy Carter was.
I considered that, but I don't think the lamp gets hot enough to be a fire danger. It's sitting on the soil of the pot and not touching any of the coverings. We have a glass lantern that holds a candle (enclosed), and I considered putting that in there, but Dave wisely nixed that idea!
DeleteI would never in a million years get up in the dark and the cold to go put a light in the wrapping of a plant to keep it warm. You are something else, Steve Reed.
ReplyDeleteI was in Vero Beach once and the Florida OJ council or whatever it was, was filming an ad with Anita Bryant next door to where we were staying. I don't recall actually seeing her. Even before gay-hatred became her mission in life I could not stand that woman. In my eyes she was a big old corny joke. And then she decided to turn evil.
I know nothing about Peter Yarrow except that he was in Peter, Paul, and Mary. I never really got that sort of folk music. It all just seemed so weirdly sincere in a not-quite believable way. To me, anyway. "Puff the Magic Dragon?" Let's just say that when Dylan went electric I understood why. But I love the thought of you being that excited to see them. Back to saving your avocado plant- I love your heart, Steve. I truly do.
Bryant definitely WAS a corny joke. Her obit mentions that people made fun of her even before the anti-gay stuff. But to me, as a gullible kid, she seemed friendly and beautiful, which is why it was such a shock to have her turn on me. (And I did feel it on a personal level even at that young age.)
DeletePP&M were very earnest and not very edgy, that's true. I think they had the same producer as Dylan -- Al Grossman? He produced a lot of those early '60s folk acts.
We are awaiting the snowfall here in Camden; the reports are that it will snow most of the day and into tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteWe are staying put and eating soup!
Sounds wise!
DeleteI hope that avocado will bear fruit in the coming year or some sort of reward for your attention.
ReplyDeleteI know next to nothing about the US states, so what is it about Oklahoma? I just read that the government there wants to outlaw renewable energy. Will they put a shield over the sun?
Oklahoma has always been a deep-red state. The southern part of the midwest is one of the most politically conservative and fervently religious areas in the country, I'd say.
DeleteI do not understand conservatives' antipathy toward renewable energy, though. It makes no sense. (Except that Oklahoma and Texas are oil-producing states and maybe people there see renewables as a threat to their livelihoods.)
I would think that by 4 AM, the damage, if any, would already be done. Like everyone else, I would not be out there in below freezing temps at 4 AM.
ReplyDeleteJeff Tiedrich's newsletter today is about the California fires and, of course, that idiot Trump's idiotic ramblings about it. But it includes a clip on youtube that shows the impossibility of trying to stop what's happening. Basically it's a fire hurricane.
Yeah, I really did put the light in too late. But I think I may have gotten lucky!
DeleteAnita put me off oraange juice and anything southern. Pie in the face worthy! Everyone dies, she did not go soon enough. If you think that is mean, it is just the facts, man! That shot of the window is splendid!
ReplyDeleteGroovey avocado at 4:30 a.m.
That pie in the face clip is still a classic.
DeleteI liked listening to Peter Paul and Mary. Folk music was big in their time.
ReplyDeleteThem and the Kingston Trio!
DeleteGoodbye to AB. No big loss there.
ReplyDeleteThe blue sky and blue in the window is magic.
The Avocado Tree is getting exceptional care in the cold of the night. Nice work Steve.
I lost a Red Bud tree during a cold winter. I knew it was not graded for zone 5 and was told to plant it in a protected area facing South. I followed the instructions to no avail.
It's always dicey to try to push the growing areas for plants, but sometimes we get lucky. It's all about microclimates and that kind of thing. I know there are some large avocado trees here and there in London, so some people have made it work.
DeleteI wonder how much of our personality we're born with and how much comes from our ancestors. This is an interesting listen.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks/does-biology-trump-free-will-a-behavioural-scientist-argues-we-have-little-choice-1.7023804
Sometimes people's choices seem to make sense, childhood trauma, poverty, adverse events, and sometimes the choices make no sense, to me anyway. I don't know why she was so anti-gay but I do think she hurt a lot of people in her lifetime. I have a sister like her sadly.
She definitely caused a lot of people a lot of pain. There's a kind of poetic justice in the fact that she has a gay granddaughter.
Delete"Apocalyptic" is a good word to describe what is happening in California. The pictures and videos in the NY Times are devastating to watch. I can't help thinking how easily fire like that can get started and spread. I've felt sort a safe from many disasters where I am living but actually we aren't any safer than California when it comes to fire.
ReplyDeleteWell, but Arizona is more "cactusy" than brushy, isn't it? Maybe cacti, with their internally stored water, wouldn't burn the same way.
DeleteI thought she was a dangerous and bigoted jerk (nice word) but I always think about the people who must have loved her. No one (well, almost no one) is completely evil or awful. Now that I wrote that I'm reconsidering--some people are completely terrible. You probably know about whom I'm thinking. Hope your plants stay healthy and alive in that cold! We still haven't had any and my geraniums are still alive. (not blooming but alive, IN JANUARY)
ReplyDeleteI think she was just fervently religious, and her views weren't that unusual for very religious people. I think they're crazy and poisonous opinions, but I understand that's where they come from.
DeleteThank you for making that clarification using Dolly Parton as an example. Being from the South (Bible Belt) and/or a Christian tradition does not automatically make a person homophobic or intolerant. I know far too many examples otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Russians were disturbed by your activities during the night! 😂
Yes, absolutely. I'm a Southerner myself and I know plenty of "live-and-let-live" people. And yes, I also wondered what the Russians were thinking!
DeleteAnita Bryant. Now there was a blast from the past! And you know what? It occurs to me that this intolerance has its roots much farther back than I'd remembered. I do remember that controversy, and it brought me a bit of satisfaction to know that her crusade undid her musical and television career. Her granddaughter is gay and married to a woman. When she told Anita Bryant, her response was 'Homosexuality is not real.'
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, Anita, it's real! LOL
DeleteWhen I die I want to come back as one of your plants!
ReplyDeleteHa! Well, I would be lying if I said some of them weren't struggling a bit, but I do try!
Deletesparklingmerlot has exactly the right thought! And I will shed no tears over Anita Bryant's demise but I will have some sorrowful thoughts over Peter Yarrow's passing. Now only Paul Stookey survives from that great trio and he's 87.
ReplyDeleteAnd none of the Kingston Trio are alive anymore. (I always mentally associate PP&M and the Kingston Trio.) At least Joan Baez and Dylan are still with us!
DeleteI missed part of the TV news and when I looked up, there were Peter Paul and Mary and I wondered why, so thank you for that bit of news.
ReplyDeleteGlad I could clarify! :)
DeletePeter, Paul and Mary's first album was also the first album I bought with my own money. I sang every song along with them and later was lucky to see them perform. One of my colleagues was at summer camp with him in the Catskills, I think, and was able to meet him when he performed in Michigan. I wish she'd taken me along! Love the blue light. Very interesting. And you're as cold as we are! Which is definitely better than apocalyptic heat -- perfect word. Heartbreaking. (You are such a good plant dad.)
ReplyDeleteHow cool, to have a two-degrees-removed connection with Peter Yarrow!
DeleteTBH I was surprised that Anita Bryant was still alive. I shed no tears. Her behavior and what happened to her and her career is karma at it's finest. The avocado looks like an alien.
ReplyDeleteI'd sort of forgotten about her too. It was indeed karma that she destroyed her career. It's interesting that she could never revive it, even as the Religious Right seemed to grow in power over the '80s and '90s.
Delete