Here's some more of what's blooming in the garden right now! The foamflower (Tiarella) above is having a good spring...
...and one of our feathery parrot tulips has appeared. It's ironic these are called parrot tulips, because often either birds or squirrels behead the flowers before they can fully open. This one is hanging on pretty well so this year we've been lucky (so far).
This is Lamium, a type of dead nettle, packed with flowers and buds.
And this is our broom plant, not quite the usual bright yellow variety but a more subtle hybrid. I've learned that gorse, which looks similar, has spines, while broom does not -- in case anyone ever asks you the difference in a trivia competition.
I got interviewed by a First Grade class yesterday, which was fun. It was sort of a bookend to the interviews I did when I first started this job -- though this time I wasn't teaching them about how to interview, I was just answering their questions. First graders ask funny questions, mostly focused on favorite things. I was asked my favorite food, my favorite candy, my favorite color, my favorite animal and my favorite bird. I must say, I have never stopped to contemplate my favorite bird. I told them I like the parakeets that visit our garden.
We also got a new kitchen faucet yesterday, kind of out of the blue. Last week our management company did another inspection of our flat, following the redecorating that was done several months ago, and the inspector noticed that our kitchen faucet dripped. It has dripped for ages. Almost three years ago, I had a handyman come in to fix it, but he said it would have to be replaced and we just never got around to it. Well, now it's done, and it's a nice improvement. The little things make a difference.
When you ask someone about their "favourites" you assume that these are valid questions but in my view they are not. The idea of having a favourite colour is ridiculous but suspending disbelief for a few moments - these are my guesses for you:-
ReplyDeletefavourite food - boiled kale with chopped bacon rind
favourite 'candy' - Reese's peanut butter cups
favourite colour - beige
favourite animal - duck-billed platypus
Why is having a favorite (favourite) color ridiculous? Asking for a friend.
DeleteSlightly off topic here but your use here of the word faucet for a tap got me thinking about how many different words there are in various countries for the same thing.
ReplyDeleteMy online guru led me to so many interesting facts and tells me that faucet originates from the old French word fausset, meaning a bung or stopper, whereas tap derives from the Germanic Old English word for the same thing. Strangely, the modern French word is robinet (possibly alluding to the shape of the tap resembling a little robin?).
Just to add another word into the mix, the Spanish word for tap, grifo, is apparently a reference to its shape resembling the mythical beast, the griffon.
Oh dear, sorry for rambling on but I just love languages and your post this morning sent me down so many rabbit holes!!!
I was wondering that too JayCee....and where does the modern French word for tap, Robinet, come from?
DeleteLamium is good for the bees an early source of nectar for them. You have good management for your flat. It made me think about apartments and flats, they are subject to having good neighbours who won't allow their water to overflow to the flat below.
ReplyDeleteThinking of poor Andrew's disaster? Ugh.
DeleteSo exciting to get a new faucet! Does it look very different. It can transform a kitchen… well, a little. Thanks for the gorgeous flower pics. I have a difficult time with “What’s your favorite “ questions. I don’t know if I have an absolute favorite anything.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is the little things! One summer I taught summer school to elementary students. I was teaching an enrichment French class to older elementary students. The principal asked me if I would also teach the little ones, grades 1-3. I initially balked at the idea, but I agreed to do it. Since there was no academic pressure, I actually had fun. I will never forget them asking me all kinds of questions that had nothing to do with French! We spent a lot of time just talking!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have pretty good landlords checking up. That's a plus. Kids are so funny! You probably have the "Would Your Rather" books in your library. We got Carson one for his birthday and were peppered with questions for the rest of the day! It sounds like a fun day. Meanwhile, the garden is looking great. I'm a tad envious of your tulips and glad this one made it. I stopped trying after the deer discovered mine! (They don't like daffodils!)
ReplyDeleteWe. of course, got a new faucet when we redid the kitchen last fall and the faucet oddly enough is one of my favorite things; well, the faucet and the sink!
ReplyDeleteI bought the new kitchen faucet, before we ordered the new kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI Am Grateful That He Didn't Inquire As To Your Favorite Drink , hhheeee hhheeeee - Favorite Animal , Olga Girl Of Course - Score On Replacing The Drippy Faucet
ReplyDeleteHappy Fools ,
Cheers
Being interviewed by young children is amusing.
ReplyDeleteWhen Glen replaced our kitchen faucet he got this attachment that allows the faucet to swivel and also to spray. It has changed my life! I do spend a lot of time in the kitchen you know. And it was very cheap. The faucet he put on my garden sink is like the one they use in restaurant kitchens which makes washing my vegetables so easy. Faucets ARE important.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of first graders interviewing you. None asked the librarian what his favorite book was? What's the countdown number now? I've lost track.
I would have procrastinated on replacing a kitchen faucet too. Working in confined quarters on my back is not my favorite handyman job.
ReplyDeleteSo many different and, to me, unusual things in your garden. Well, not the tulip.
ReplyDeleteRocky temporarily fixed the very leaky faucet in the shop sink but we need a new one, harder to get as it's a 'wall mount'. Might have to order it online.
Our garden is still in it's yellow phase at the moment, primroses, primulas, daffodils etc etc all in various shades of bright yellow. Hopefully the blues and white will reppear soon
ReplyDelete... I don't know what happened there, I cut myself off mid-flow, and before spellcheck. Now I can't remember what else I was going to say. Fare thee well. ;-)
DeleteGr ones not only ask you something but also give their opinions and sometimes go on for some time.
ReplyDeletePretty flowers! Is it just me, or have your landlords kind of upped their game in the last few years? It feels like you used to have to practically beg to get things done, but now they're more on top of things. Might be my imagination.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite bird is the penguin, followed closely by black capped chickadees because they're floofy & I want to pet them.
Lots of pretty blooms in your garden these days. Spring is popping up all over the place. Well, except here where summer has popped up way too early.
ReplyDeleteYou really have some beautiful flowers in your garden/yard! Your pictures are beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI have a yellow tulip blooming too although not a parrot. My parrot tulips only lasted a year, then they didn't come up any more. :( I want to know what your answers were. My favorite color is blue. The other ones are too hard to answer. For Mari's sake, I'll say that cats are my favorite animal although I also love penguins, red pandas and other animals. So...sorry, Mari.
ReplyDeleteYou've got some nice Spring blooms in the garden.
ReplyDeleteOur Spring blooms come mostly in May. Today I see tiny green poking through the soil where my daffodils and iris will eventually bloom.
Working with young children is so refreshing, you just never know what they will ask or for that matter tell. Innocence is refreshing.
Those favorite questions are really hard to answer quickly. But I expect you can come up with good answers for your inquisitors.
ReplyDeleteWe had a warm day, a wicked storm, and suddenly every thing is popping out.! I have missed green.
ReplyDeleteYour garden blooms are so beautiful. Love the photos. Grade ones are funny, Jack's in grade one. The questions they come up with are interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat broom plant reminds me of little snapdragons. Your flower photos are so lovely!
ReplyDeleteBack when I did "Favorite Five" posts on a regular basis, I had one on birds. My answers now (as opposed to 2010) would be a little different.
ReplyDeleteA kindergarten student once asked me, "what's the last number?" He wasn't referring to the tiles we were arranging...he wanted to know the very last number...so infinity...in all my decades of teaching, I think he asked me my toughest (and most favourite) question ever. :)
ReplyDeleteEither the agent or your owner seem very good. Not too many here would be so proactive.
ReplyDelete