Miami Vice

The hawkweed, also known as fox-and-cubs, that grows wild in our garden is looking good these days. We have a patch that we've avoided mowing, and as a result it's gotten taller and fuller than ever before, with many more flowers (as you can see below).

Well, where to begin. Suddenly there's a lot going on around here.

On the dental front, the temporary filling that the dentist gave me on Monday fell out on Tuesday morning. Yes, it didn't even last 24 hours. He told me if it falls out to put it back myself (?!) or just leave it out, since I'm getting my permanent crown next Monday. I've taken the latter path, because I can't for the life of me figure out how to get that misshapen blob back into its proper place in my tooth.

On the flat-maintenance front, we're having another plumbing issue. Apparently there's a leak at the back of our dishwasher. We didn't realize it immediately, but the kitchen floorboards -- which were already warped when we moved in -- have been slowly buckling more and more, and suddenly the floor was looking as wavy as the surface of a lake on a windy day. (This is not the first time we've had water problems in the kitchen.) So the managing agent sent a handyman, who identified the leak (but did not fix it) and said the floor would have to be replaced. Since then, we've heard nothing.

I used the dishwasher twice more, but the floor seemed to get worse, so I guess I need to stop and hand-wash the dishes, at least until the leak is fixed. First-world problems, I know, but dang-nabbit, we pay for a dishwasher.

Finally, work has been madness. I've been writing parents to get their miscreant children to return their books before summer vacation begins next week, and we're both collecting everything from the year and checking out for summer, meaning there's a huge volume of stuff moving back and forth. I'm not complaining. At least it's being read!

Yesterday was "decades day" at school, when kids dressed up with clothes from a decade in the past. Some kids were hippies, some were greasers. One fifth-grade boy came to my desk wearing a suit with a t-shirt underneath, and explained he was "Miami Vice." He showed us his bare ankles to prove it.

"Crockett and Tubbs!" I said. "That was a great show!"

He looked perplexed.

"You mean 'Miami Vice' was a TV show?"

We explained that "Miami Vice" was not only a show but a style-setting phenomenon in the '80s. After he left my boss and I had a good laugh. It's so obvious his parents came up with that outfit, probably because it was the easiest thing to assemble from the contents of his closet!

Bank Robbers and Dragon Dreams

It's another day for random photos, because, once again, I don't have much to write. (Consider yourselves lucky!)

I found these eggshell remnants on Hampstead Heath while walking Olga a few weeks ago. I hope this little robin -- I think it's a robin -- hatched, as opposed to being consumed.

(On a related note, I saw a brand-new robin flying in our garden on Saturday. It had little stubby wings and a little stubby tail, but it managed to stay airborne so I think its most dangerous days are probably behind it!)

This random pile of shoes has been lying near the high street for weeks. In fact, I think a few more shoes have been added to the pile since I took this picture. Why is there only one of each?

And this snazzy pair was abandoned on a bench on Finchley Road yesterday morning -- free to any takers, I suppose. They look a little worn out but they're cool. (No, I did not take them.)

Here's Olga on her morning walk, with a puddle reflecting the bright spring sun...

...and here she is with the cow parsley now blooming on the street where we live. This is the same kind of plant we're putting in the wildflower area in our back garden, and it's supposed to self-seed. It must be about four feet tall.

Found on the sidewalk on Abbey Road. Any ideas?

And I found this stuck to a post in East London. I tried to Google it, to find out if there's a backstory behind the image, and I came up only with a birthday card collage made by a woman who included the same wanted poster -- she "printed it off" from somewhere. But I guess the dude and "The Carlton Gang" are fictional...?

This new and very far-out shop recently opened in our neighborhood. I love this picture because Olga looks like she's laughing hysterically. (She was actually in mid-yawn.)

The Muzak of My Youth

I was sitting in a dentist's waiting room yesterday morning when I heard Robin S's song "Show Me Love" faintly in the background. It made me feel old, hearing a dance-club anthem from the early '90s as, basically, Muzak in the dentists's office. This was a day after hearing both Haddaway's "What Is Love" and CeCe Peniston's "Finally" on TV commercials. Could it really be 25 years ago that I was dancing to those songs in nightclubs in Rabat?

I guess it's not that surprising, actually, since these days I'm about as likely to go to a nightclub as to climb El Capitan. And I'm fine with that.

I was at the dentist for the second-to-last appointment in the long root-canal-and-crown saga that I've documented here already. The dentist removed what was left of my temporary filling, prepared the tooth for a crown and took an impression. The final crown is supposed to be ready next week -- another hunk of gold, and a bigger one than the inlay I had before. At least I get more bling out of the deal! (It will be in the very back of my mouth, so, alas, no one will see it.)

Meanwhile, he put in another temporary filling and I feel like I have a wad of chewing gum stuck to my back tooth. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I'll be glad when this is over.

We caught an eighth mouse yesterday in one of our household traps! Just when I thought those little devils had moved on. I wonder if I forced it inside when I relocated the bird feeder?

I read an article yesterday in BBC Wildlife magazine that explored the advantages of feeding wildlife like foxes and badgers -- apparently some people do it and it can be beneficial. (I think this may be one of many issues where the British and Americans think differently, because in the states I remember being strictly warned never to feed wild animals, both for their sake and ours.) Anyway, it made me wonder if I should have left that bird feeder where it was -- but I doubt the magazine means to advocate feeding urban mice!

(Photo: Stables near Upminster, East London.)

Poppies and a Mud Bath

This morning I woke to find, of all things, a used diaper in our garden. I'm pretty sure it's not ours, so I guess the foxes must have been having some fun last night, transporting neighborhood rubbish across garden walls.

We've had some field poppies show up once again this year, a legacy of those (successful) wildflower seeds we planted back in the summer of 2015. Every year since, the poppies have grown in and around the pot where the wildflowers were planted. Persistent little devils! (Happily!)

Dave and I spent yesterday mostly at home, working in the garden. The weather was ideal, sunny and warm but not too warm. Our comfrey and milk parsley plants arrived, and I put those in the wildflower garden. (Can I just reiterate how much I hate digging holes? Possibly my least favorite garden activity.) The milk parsley is supposed to get very tall and impressive, so although it doesn't look like much now, hopefully by the end of the summer we'll have something photo-worthy there.

I also took Olga to the cemetery, where -- despite the fact that we haven't had any rain recently -- she was able to find a puddle:

(Yes, you can hear me whisper "Jesus!" at the very end of the video. It was meant affectionately, I swear, although someone did need a bath after that walk and it wasn't me.)

I called my mom in Florida and talked to her for half an hour or so. We usually try to Skype but it's such a pain to set a time via e-mails, and then we both have to remember and be logged in correctly and that can be harder than it sounds. So I just called her on her landline, which I can also do via Skype and it costs pennies. I told her I meant to do it more often, like every few weeks, and Mom said, "No, that's too much! Once a month!" Which is so classically something my mom would say.

So that was pretty much our Sunday. I didn't read the news and have no idea what's going on in the world, and I'm happy about that. I did read about a quarter of "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng, which I'm really enjoying. I always find myself wanting more time to read, but the truth is, there's almost always something else to do. My best reading time is between "customers" at work!

Harold Wood to Upminster -- and DONE!

I did my final section of the LOOP yesterday -- the four miles from Harold Wood to Upminster. I sabotaged myself by accidentally leaving home without my map, but then I thought, "No problem -- I'll just call it up on my phone." (I download the maps from the TFL web site.) And then I discovered to my horror that my phone only had 25 percent battery power!

So that added a frisson of tension to the walk -- knowing that at any moment I might be left mapless. The trails are marked, but the markings aren't designed to define every twist and turn. I can't see following the path without a map. So much for my years of Boy Scout training!

But by conserving power on the phone I pulled through just fine, following the path as it wandered across a section of woodland known as Pages Wood and through forests along the Ingrebourne River.

I spotted bright blue damselflies, known as banded demoiselles, fluttering among the tall grass near the riverbank.

I walked the edges of a field full of what looked like pea plants, where a crow was barely keeping his head above the foliage.

And I passed a pair of lazy goats lounging on a raised wooden platform in a fenced yard. They didn't seem interested in me at all.

And then I was back in Upminster again, where I started this walk last August! The windmill, built in 1803, is sadly still under renovation, just as it was when I passed last time. I guess I'll have to make a special trip out there if I ever want to see it, sometime after this year when the work is scheduled to be completed.

It was cool to be back in a slightly familiar place. Remember this shop? I photographed it last year but it was closed, so I missed all the fun stuff outside that truly conveys the Unique nature of the merchandise! Dave was upset that I didn't buy the stormtrooper, but for one thing (and there are many reasons why I didn't buy it) I don't see how I could have gotten it home.

Anyway, that's that! The LOOP, all 150 miles of it, has been trod by my own two feet. Kind of crazy, right?

I had elaborate plans to throw away my LOOP-walking shoes (AKA the dog-walking shoes) when I finished, because they are very bedraggled, but they seem like they may have some life in them yet. Maybe I'll use them for gardening.

Another Garden Update

At the risk of turning this into a gardening blog, here's a bit more of what's going on in our garden at the moment...

First, our Nigella (or love-in-a-mist) is blooming, as you can see above. This year, in addition to the usual blue ones, we also got white ones, which is very strange. We've never seen those before. (They're not as pretty as the blue ones, in my humble opinion, but don't tell them that.)

Here are the roses. As you can see, I weeded the flower bed last weekend and removed all the faded forget-me-nots. We discovered a few plants, buried amid the rampant forget-me-nots, that we'd forgotten!

Here are the last of the amaryllis. We must bid adieu to them for another year.

And here's our newly relocated and now mouse-proof peanut feeder -- although, as you can see, it's not quite squirrel-proof. This critter climbed up to it, removed the lid and scooped out peanuts with its little paw! I duct-taped the lid to the feeder and put a stop to that. The birds love this new location -- blue tits and coal tits are on it all the time.

The pink and white flowers at the base of the feeder are valerian. They are certainly prolific!

Becka and Recycling

I found these on my walk to work yesterday morning. I'm not sure who Becka is, but she has an admirer -- and one who can spell and properly use a contraction. Don't let that one get away, Becka!

Did anyone catch this article in The New York Times about recycling? It basically confirmed my suspicion that a lot of "recycled" trash actually isn't recycled at all -- particularly now that China has stopped accepting much of our waste for processing. I think recycling is mainly a balm that makes us feel better about our vast overconsumption of resources, but has less practical value than we believe. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. But we should try, foremost, to consume less stuff -- less packaging, fewer plastic straws, fewer pieces of disposable cutlery.

As I told Mr. Pudding on his blog, when he lamented the overuse of plastics recently, I think a lot of plastic items should simply be made illegal. Bottled water was unheard of until the 1980s -- there's no reason we need all that waste in our landfills. Bring back water fountains! Bring back bars of soap! Sell vegetables without cling-film or plastic trays! Seriously, there's so much plastic we could eliminate and scarcely notice the consequences -- unless we're working in the beverage or soap industries.

It's weird to me that there's so little market for recycled glass. It seems like glass would be one of the easiest things to recycle. But glass waste bothers me less than other types of waste -- at least it's basically just sand, and will go back to being sand (in about a million years). It seems harmlessly inert. But I'm no expert.

As for Roseanne Barr, I'm sorry to see her show get cancelled, but mainly because it affects all the people working around her. I'm not particularly sorry for Roseanne herself. We don't get that show in England (as far as I know) and I didn't really watch the '80s version, either, but it always struck me as a fairly open-minded program. And I remember laughing at her dry one-liners on Hollywood Squares. How she got where she is, in terms of her retrograde viewpoints, I'm not sure.