happy zmedsday!! (xl)

happy tunesday! ("marie provost" by nick lowe)

I'm going with something a bit better-known than I usually do. Nick Lowe is one of my favorite singers, and "Marie Provost" (from his first solo album) is one of his catchiest songs. A hummable melody and lots of jangly guitars, with a memorable refrain: "She was a winner / Who became her doggie's dinner." It's one of my favorites from the venerable singer/songwriter's catalogue.

The song is loosely based on the life and sad death of silent film star Marie Prevost, who had trouble adapting to talkies. And I am justifying my decision to feature here because yesterday was July 29, the day that, according to the song, her body was found. In actuality, her body was found on January 23, But I guess that has too many syllables.

If you're interested, you can read about Marie Prevost here.

my really big, gargantuan what-was-i-thinking daylily haul

At last week's AHS Regional meeting (hosted, of course, by LIDS) I was ...how to put this? more active at the auction than I had expected to be. That was largely because they kept selling beautiful cultivars. Needless to say, after we got home on Sunday Blair and I were in the yard planting for more than six hours.

Following are the cultivars we came home with. Most of them were ones we bought at auction, though some were given to Blair by one of our LIDS members in gratitude for the help she (Blair) gave her (the member) in prepping her garden for the tours. And we got some as door prizes -- when everyone present was given plants.

But before we get to the flowers, a note about labelling. For a couple years I'd been labelling the cultivars in the garden. Last year I decided that I didn't want to bother. Well, this year we decided to start labelling again. So there are also a few stray plants in the yard that we hadn't labelled, but that have enough information attached to them that we can label them as well. It was a busy weekend of labelling -- and I now owe LIDS $60 for marker stakes.* And now I find out that, if I use the Brother P-Touch to print labels I have to use special label tape that's formulated for outdoor use. It never friggin' ends...

And now, without further ado, the cultivars we came home with...

Belle Parisienne (Fleche, 2016)
Scape: 38"
Bloom: 6"
Bloom Season: Early
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Fragrance: Fragrant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Parentage: Shores of Time × America the Beautiful

Big Honking Bar Room Floozy (L. Jones, 2016)
Scape: 44"
Bloom: 8"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Bud Count: 15
Branches: 3
Parentage: seedling × Whip City Tizzie

Big Honking Lucy Goosie (L. Jones, 2008)
Scape: 24"
Bloom: 7.5"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 9
Branches: 3
Parentage: Red Suspenders × Spider Man

Busting Out All Over (Sobek, 2005)
Scape: 27"
Bloom: 3"
Bloom Season: Extra Early
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Nocturnal
Buds: 14
Branches: 3
Parentage: (Three Seasons × Siloam Shocker) × In Strawberry Time

Catching the Moon (Sobek, 2014)
Scape: 27"
Bloom: 4.62"
Bloom Season: Early
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Nocturnal
Buds: 25
Branches: 4
Parentage: Busting Out All Over × Tuscawilla Tranquility

Chautauqua Passion (Nass, 2008)
Scape: 28"
Bloom: 5"
Bloom Season: Midseason-Late
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Fragrance:Very Fragrant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 12
Branches: 3
Parentage: Blueberry Breakfast × Chautauqua Peppermint Ice

Clowning Around (Zettek, 2004)
Scape: 22"
Bloom: 4.5"
Bloom Season: Early - Midseason
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 15
Branches: 3
Parentage: (Stella De Oro × Frans Hals) × Fly Catcher

Comeback Kid (Sobek, 2016)
Scape: 30"
Bloom: 4.5"
Bloom Season: Early, Rebloom
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 8
Branches: 2
Parentage: ((seedling × Super Purple) × Frequent Flyer) × My Complimentary

Flash of Javelins (Fleche, 2013)
Scape: 42"
Bloom: 6.5"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Form: Polymerous 20%
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 25
Branches: 4
Parentage: Westbook Gold × Imperial Lemon

Fountain of Blood (Huben, 2012)
Scape: 44"
Bloom: 3.5"
Bloom Season: Early - Midseason
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 40
Branches: 6
Parentage: Siloam Plum Tree × Red Spire

From Darkness Comes Light (Huben, 2009)
Scape: 34"
Bloom: 3.5"
Bloom Season: Early
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Nocturnal
Buds: 25
Branches: 4
Parentage: (Aerial × Boston Symphony) × seedling

King's Golden Treasure (Rasmussen, 2004)
Scape: 36"
Bloom: 10"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Form: Unusual Form Crispate
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Fragrance: Fragrant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 12
Branches: 3
Parentage: (seedling × Red Suspenders) × seedling

Kristina's Kurls (Weitz, 2008)
Scape: 30"
Bloom: 9"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Form: Unusual Form Cascade
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 13
Branches: 3
Parentage: unknown × unknown

Mistaken Odd Entity (Maher, 2009)
Scape: 29"
Bloom: 7.5"
Bloom Season: Midseason-Late
Form: Unusual Form Crispate
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 13
Branches: 2
Parentage: Wilson Spider × (Lake Norman Spider ×Never Say Never)

Moro Orange (Sobek, 2014)
Scape: 28"
Bloom: 3.62"
Bloom Season: Early
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Nocturnal
Buds: 14
Branches: 3
Parentage: ((Iron Maiden × (Corky ×Pardon Me)) × Strawberry Time) × Huben seedling 331A

Music of Hope (Fleche, 2014)
Scape: 24"
Bloom: 3.25"
Bloom Season: Early - Midseason
Form: Double 95%
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 20
Branches: 4
Parentage: Grape Velvet × Siloam Double Classic

Mystic Gryphon (P. Hoffman, 2013)
Scape: 39"
Bloom: 10"
Bloom Season: Midseason - Late
Form: Unusual Form Cascade
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 13
Branches: 3
Parentage: unknown × unknown

Passions's Heart Desire (Sayers, 2014)
Scape: 28"
Bloom: 6"
Bloom Season: Midseason - Late
Form: Double 50%
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 18
Branches: 3
Parentage: seedling × seedling

Passion's Sun Kissed Glow (Sayers, 2014)
Scape: 26"
Bloom: 6"
Bloom Season: Midseason, Rebloom
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 17
Branches: 3
Parentage: seedling × seedling

Pretty Little Polly (K. Rood, 2015)
Scape: 25"
Bloom: 3"
Bloom Season: Midseason, Rebloom
Form: Polymerous 25%
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage:Dormant
Fragrance: Fragrant
Buds: 10
Branches: 3
Parentage: Penny's Worth × Siloam Bouquet

Purple Persuasion (B. Ross, 2005)
Scape: 26"
Bloom: 4.5"
Bloom Season: Midseason - Late
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 30
Branches: 2
Parentage: unknown × unknown

Sagamore Bob Pelletier (Britz, 1995)
Scape: 18"
Bloom: 4"
Bloom Season: Early, Rebloom
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Parentage: Stella De Oro × Gentle Shepherd

Seneca Safari (T. Rood, 2009)
Scape: 38"
Bloom: 5"
Bloom Season: Early
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Buds: 28
Branches: 4
Parentage: seedling × seedling

Space Junk (Maher, 2013)
Scape: 24"
Bloom: 3.5"
Bloom Season: Early - Midseason
Form: Unusual Form Crispate-Spatulate
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Dormant
Buds: 27
Branches: 5
Parentage: Jocelyn's Oddity × Alien Invader

Sunshine On Clouds (Huben, 2006)
Scape: 26"
Bloom: 4.25"
Bloom Season: Early, Rebloom
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Fragrance: Very Fragrant
Bloom Habit: Extended
Buds: 18
Branches: 3
Parentage: (Happy Returns × Deicer) × (Three Seasons × Monica Marie)

Unbridled by Constraints (C. Hanson, 2014)
Scape: 36"
Bloom: 6"
Bloom Season: Midseason - Late
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Branches: 4
Parentage: Celestial Virgin × Prometheus Revisited

Wally's Wish (Doster, 2008)
Scape: 24"
Bloom: 4.5"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Form: Double 100%
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Parentage: unknown × unknown

Whip City Squiglie (L. Jones, 2010)
Scape: 37"
Bloom: 6"
Bloom Season: Early - Midseason, Rebloom
Form: Unusual Form Crispate
Ploidy: Tertaploid
Foliage: Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 13
Branches: 3
Parentage: (Whip City Zingie × (Knoll Cottage Totsie Mama × Red Suspenders)) × Astral Voyager

Whispering Violet Water Waltz (Sayers, 2014)
Scape: 45"
Bloom: 10"
Bloom Season: Midseason - Late
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Semi-Evergreen
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 24
Branches: 4
Parentage: seedling × seedling

Zelazny (Michaels, 2004)
Scape: 36"
Bloom: 7"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Ploidy: Diploid
Foliage: Dormant
Bloom Habit: Diurnal
Buds: 23
Branches: 3
Parentage: Miss Jessie × Lady Fingers

Zissertwin (Kincaid, 2016)
Scape: 40"
Bloom: 5.75"
Bloom Season: Midseason
Ploidy: Tetraploid
Foliage: Dormant
Fragrance: Fragrant
Bloom Habit: Extended
Buds: 18
Branches: 4
Parentage: seedling × Super Model

*Now, here's an advantage to being the one who handles the selling of marker stakes on behalf of LIDS. It's generally a pain in the butt. But other members who want to buy stakes from the club have to wait for a meeting. I can buy them any time I want, since they're stored in my garage. I just have to keep track of how many I bought and pay the treasurer at the next meeting.

cinema history class: three slices of harlan ellison's delirium

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 3 (Joe)
Movie: Three Slices of Harlan Ellison's Delirium

• Demon with a Glass Hand (1964)
• Shatterday (1985)
• Djinn, No Chaser (1985)

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

As described before, Joe prefers not to simply show us a movie when Bring Your own movie month comes around. Instead, he likes to turn it into a poduction -- a theme show, generally with two or three related items. This time he chose to show us three television epiosdes, all based on Harlan Ellison's work. Joe was very clear in saying that this wasn't intended to be a "best of Ellison" type of deal, but rather, an attempt to show the variety in Ellison's work.

Demon with a Glass Hand
We started off with this 1964 episode of The Outer Limits in which a mysterious man battles time traveling space aliens in order to save humanity (which, by the way, has gone missing). He has the help of a glass hand which seems to be a very powerful supercomputer. This was a bit of tense moody sci-fi, with some incredible black and white visuals. It had some great suspense, and a great payoff.

Shatterday

Next up was the first episode of the 1985 Twilight Zone reboot. This was kind of a psychological study starring Bruce Willis as a man split in two. This reminded me quite a bit of the Star Trek episode, "The Enemy Within," although that episode made the point that we all need both our good and bad halves. Here, the conclusion is that  half a person can live quite easily without the other half. There's an interesting aspect to this that I hadn't noticed until the guys addressed it afterwards. In some ways, this seemed more like a body-snatcher type of scenario than a person-split-in-two story. And there's something eerilly cool aspect to the snatcher's demeanor. This was a decent story -- not as good as the first one, but not bad.

Djinn, No Chaser

The final installment was a 1985 episode of Tales from the Darkside, in which a young couple find themselves in possession of a lamp with a cranky genie. It did a good job of reminding me why I never liked Tales. The acting was cheesy, the dialogue was stilted. The setup (i.e., how the couple got the lamp) was handled clumsily. The male half of the married couple, with his manic delivery, made we just want to punch his face. And the whole things was basically a set-up for a bad humorous gag at the end. But the worst part was the casting of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the genie. He didn't have the charisma to pull off the role, and his voice didn't sound (for lack of a better word) genie-like. 

Reaction
This was actually an interesting program, serving to showcase three very disparate ideas that Ellison had. None of them was Ellison's best -- Joe asserted that that would be Star Trek's "City on the Edge of F0rever," though I don't know enough of Ellison's worth to opine.

Ratings:

Me: NR
Dave: 9.5 (for the presentation as a whole)
Ethan: NR
Keith: 9.5 (for the presentation as a whole)
Sean: NR

it's zmedsday!! (xxxix)

it's tunesday! ("happiness" by eytan mirsky)

I've got Mirsky on my mind.

Last week in my cinema history class, we saw the ironically titled Happiness. This is the title song from the movie, though the movie featured a version performed by Michael Stipe. But since Mirsky wrote it, I'm going with his rendition.

I only have one album by Eytan Mirsky (2001's Was It Something I Said). But I should change that, since I really like his music. My favorites include "Payback," "Sluts!" and "I Just Wanna Be Your Steve McQueen." I think I first found out about Mirsky because of my friend, Desmond who has always had his finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist. There's an odd mix of bravado and self-deprecating humor to his music. Oh, and really catchy hooks.

Oh, and there's also something funny about how this video was made without any sense of irony. All this naive imagery about true happiness, set to a song from a movie that's really about abject misery, loneliness and sexual frustration.

cinema history class: happiness

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 3 (Sean)
Movie: Happiness (1998)
Directed by Todd Solondz

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
Various people grapple with their misery and sexual quirks. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
Well, this was a real car wreck of a film. I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it in the sense that the movie grabbed my attention and held on to it, compelling me to watch an unfolding disaster (actually, several, since each character's life was in one way or another a disaster) and not letting me look away.

As the movie starts, we see Jon Lovitz in an uncomfortable conversation with a woman in a restaurant. I immediately figured this would be a 3 at best. But as scene after scene -- each inroducing a subplot and a character or two -- unfolded, I found myself more and more engrossed. And each time I found myself thinking "OK, this guy's OK," I'd be hit squarely by that caharacter's flaw. The whole thing was just miserable and disturbing. And, to the very end, no one gets a break.

This isn't a traditional horror movie in any sense of the word. Someone (I forget who) quipped that it represented the human horror, which I guess is as good a description as any. I think that's why it was as disturbing as it was. We can watch a Frankenstein movie or a something like that, and go away laughing because we know it can't possibly be real. But this? Hell, it feels like it could happen. And throughout, there was dark humor -- just enough to take the edge off and set us up for the next revelation.

A few random notes about Happiness:

• There wasn't really a good story -- it was more a character study. But, oh, what characters there were to study.
• The theme song was written by Eytan Mirsky. I really like his quirky songs.
• This is one of the few movies we've seen that passes the Bechdel test.
• My former boss actually sounded like he'd consider watching this, since it was made in 1998 and has a good score on IMDB. But I know better -- he's never gonna bother.

Ratings:

Me: 7
Christina: 5
Dave: 9.3
Ethan: NR
Keith: 9.5

my first daylily convention

After seven years in the daylily world, I finally attended a cconvention. It was the annual Region 4 Regional Meeting, and LIDS -- my local club -- was hosting it, so how could I not. Still, I want full credit for attending.

Friday night featured the auction. I may have gone a little overboard. As I boarded the tour on Saturday, people I don't even know reminded me that I'd have some planting ahead of me. I'm not going to say how much I bought, but let's note that I had to buy 36 marker stakes from LIDS. 

Joan Lundin's display garden

It wasn't exactly an easy weekend --  we were hit with hundred-plus degree weather, which made Saturday's garden tours more of a challenge than expected. I know the heat got to me, and I didn't feel well during dinner on Saturday night.

But it was worth it to see the LIDS members' beautiful display gardens -- we visited Joan Lundin, Pat Sayers and Chris Peterson -- before heading to lunch at Planting Fields, where we could see the LIDS display garden.



The most interesting aspect of the tours is seeing how three people took very different types of spaces and crafted them into daylily gardens. Joan's yard is on a hill, and  she had to create a kind of layered effect.Chris, by contrast, loves by the shore and needs to have her daylilies separated from the ocean because they don't do well with salt water. And Pat's garden, which combines an open space with secluded grottoes was an interesting study in contrasts all by itself.

We topped it off this morning by attending a garden judge's workshop at Paul Limmer's house. Since this was the second judging workshop, and I took the first one online several months ago, I may just be some paperwork away from being a certified daylily judge -- I have to look into that.

Oh, and one other thing -- Blair and I won the big box of ten assorted wines in the Chinese auction. Party at my place!

Next year in Connecticut.

happy zmedsday!! (xxxviii)

it's tunesday! ("the song of investment capital overseas" by art bears)

I don't remember exactly what year it was. But I was in high school and it was a Sunday afternoon. I was at The Music Box, which was a local record store. Someone had come in to sell them some of his records. The guy who owned the store (I forget his name) dropped the needle on a disc, and I heard what can best be described as a German-accented Yoko Ono. And I immediately knew I had to have that album.

It was The World as it Is Today, a collection of anti-Capitalist songs by Art Bears. I don't share their politics, but I still find their music oddly enthralling. And that is especially true of this gem.

when whataboutism can be ok

I've been thinking for a while about writing about whataboutism. In today's political environment, it seems like a relevant topic to keep in mind. I will attempt to keep this post as clear of specific politics as possible, because my argument is broader than any specific issue.

Without looking up the exact definition, whataboutism essentially the logical fallacy of responding to an accusation by pointing out that everyone does it. For example:

"You stole! That's wrong!"
"Who doesn't steal?"

Or, to put it into a political context:

Mike: "Smith, whom you like, is acting unethically by doing X, Y and Z."
Joe: "But his predecessor, Davis, also did X, Y and Z."

It's considered a logical fallacy because a whataboutist argument doesn't actually do anything to explain that the action is justified. So what if other people steal? It's still wrong.

But in some contexts, the whataboutist approach is illuminating. Suppose someone tells you that the Mets are a lousy baseball team. "They haven't even managed to go a whole game without striking out," your interlocutor says. In this case, noting that no team has ever played a complete game without striking out* is perfectly valid.

More importantly, though, a whataboutist argument can be getting at whether a person is arguing in good faith. Getting back to the exchange between Mike and Joe above, Joe could be noting that Mike is being disingenuous -- he doesn't really care about Smith doing X, Y and Z, as evidenced by the fact that he didn't care about Davis doing X, Y and Z. Mike is only bringing it up because he already hates Smith and is happy to seize any argument. And that can be a legitimate point to make.

Now, Mike may have a good counterargument. For example, there may have been mitigating circumstances that rendered Davis' actions justified (and which didn't apply to Smith's sitiuation). But in that case that's an argument for Mike to make; simply waving his hands and dismissing Joes' response as "whataboutism" is not a sufficient retort.



*To be honest, I have no idea if this is true or not, but that's not the point.

denise nickerson, rip

Denise Nickerson, who died today, isn't exactly a household name. As near as I can tell from IMDB, she quit active a little over 40 years ago, and she was never a huge star. But she was involved in three distinct projects that I associate with my childhood and teen years, so her passing kind of reminds me that I'm aging.

Nickerson was, of course, involved in other projects. Notably, she was in Dark Shadows and she made a guest appearance on The Brady Bunch. But here I'm sticking with the three things that made her matter to me more than she should have.

By the way, Nickerson was only 62. Rest in peace.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Nickerson's role in Willy Wonka is probably her best known, so I'll start with that. When I was younger, I liked the movie. But it is a deeply flawed film -- especially if you judge it by 2019 standards, which isn't fair. But the movie is very judgemental and mean, and there are racist elements to it. Given the horror elements, I find it amazing that it was marketed as a kids film and got a G rating. Still, I have a certain warm place in my heart for it. And, since Nickerson is the subject of this post, I should note than she was very good in her role.

Zero to Sixty

Judging from IMDB, Zero to Sixty was Nickerson's last acting gig before she quit show business. It's a crappy little movie (crappy, but entertaining) about a teenage girl and a fifty-something man who work together to repossess cars.

I remember it vividly because of one visit to Florida. I don't know how old I was, but my family visited my grandparents in Florida. My grandparents had cable TV which was still a novelty -- at home we had fewer than ten working channels. Zero to Sixty was playing on cable, and my father and I watched it over and over and over during that visit.

Years later, he would still reference the movie by shouting "Repo!" in imitation of Denise Nickerson's character, Larry. And, without fail, if I brought up the (much less charming Repo Man), my father would confuse it for Zero to Sixty and start shouting "Repo!"

Zero to Sixty had a much better cast than one would expect. In addition to Denise Nickerson, there were Darren McGavin, Joan Collins, and other big names. But Nickerson held her own with these older, more seasoned stars.

Yeah, it was a crappy movie. But I remember it fondly.

The Electric Company

The Electric Company, which I also remember fondly, featured a group of teenagers (dubbed the Short Circus), of which Nickerson was one. The Electric Company was very popular among children of my cohort -- kids who had graduated from Sesame Street. One of my favorite bits was Fargo North, Decoder. The above is one segment.

happy zmedsday!! (xxxvii)

it's tunesday! ("kvar akharei khatsot" by ilanit)

Back when I was a kid I spent a summer at Camp Massad Gimel (which no longer exists). Like its affiliates, Camps Massad Aleph and Massad Bet, it was a Hebrew immersion camp. In theory. The idea was that, after spending a summer speaking only Hebrew the kids would come back fluent. But the Hebrew immersion part wasn't really enforced, so...well, if you know me you know how well it turned out. But it was at that camp that I learned to like brocolli. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

While the camp didn't really do a good job of being Hebrew immersion, we did learn a lot of Israeli pop songs. One of my favorites was this gem, Ilanit's first single. To this day, I love it, For those uninitiated, the title translates to "It's After Midnight." It's a plea on behalf of lovers for an extra moment before the new day begins. The following is my best attempt at translating the first verse:

It's after midnight
But the moon hasn't been turned off yet.
So before they turn off the lights,
The lights of the stars,
Give another moment to the lovers.

Ilanit, for her part, went on to have a nice long career spanning decades. If I'm not mistaken she was a Eurovision contestant several times. But none of her other songs stuck with me the way this does. And I don't think any of the others were as popular.

pictures of (day)lily

One of the fun things about the modern technology of smartphones is how good the built-in cameras have gotten.

I've been having fun with this recently by taking close ups of daylilies. If you're reading this because you've followed the link from my Facebook page, then you've probably already seen these pictures. But here they are again.

Blair, for her part, isn't really into these. She does point ut to me that, as long as she's known me, I've liked taking close-up pictures of stuff. I was particularly proud of some close-ups of cracks in the ground that actually looked like long shots of landscapes. I don;t know where any of those are now. But here are a few of my daylily closeups (accompanied by the names of the cultivars.

Jay Turmn (D. Kirchhoff, 1992)

My Ways (Wild, 1975)

Small Carbon Footprint (Trimmer, 2009)

Spider Man (Durio, 1982)

Becky Lynn (Guidry, 1977)

one night in fulnek

Our hosts' garden

Our hosts

In our recent trip to Europe, we had the good fortune to spend a night in Fulnek, a town in the Eastern part of the Czech Republic. For the most part we were staying in Prague, as we were visiting our friend, Eliska. But her parents live in Fulnek so off we went to visit. Actually, Blair had two nights in Fulnek. I had only one, as I spent one night on a bus ride from Brussels to Prague. Ethan and Sharon were in Fulnek that first night (when Asher and I were on the bus). The second night they were in Ostrava with Jonas, who's been one of Sharon's online friends for years.

Eliska's parents were incredibly welcoming, and we really enjoyed our time in the countryside.

One amazing thing was their yard. Apparently they had a ladnscape architect come in and design a garden about twenty years ago. And since then they haven't had to weed or replant. All they do is mow the grass and trim the shrubs. I'm not good at identifying plants, but I did recognize some daylilies, iris, hostas, shasta daisies and clematis. Sadly I couldn't tell what specific cultivars there were of each of those, but it was a really beautiful yard. And Asher was particularly excited to see a nest with baby birds in one of the trees. And almost maintenance free.

In the morning, Eliska took us for a walk in the woods outside of town, where we got to see Fulnek Castle. And then a little drink at a local cafe before the "dumpling train" back to a bigger town (I forget which) so we could go back to Prague.

The trip back to Prague begins

gardening makes for a community

Blair and I spent some time yesterday digging through a neighbor's garden. Mostly digging up hostas and mint, and plating flox, irises and daylilies. This is one of the things Blair had been hoping would happen, and was looking forward to when we became founding members of a neighborhood gardening club.

This year, Blair has done a lot of informal flower-trading with neighbors. Giving them flowers that they like, and getting others in return. And in many cases that has also resulted in her (and, less often, her and me) doing the planting in our neighbors' yards. This is something that we really love, as it helps make the neighborhood feel like a community. Some of this has come about through the gardening club -- because some of these are "tradeds" we made with people we met through the club. But a lot of it has come about more organically. Blair will be out digging in the yard or watering. A neighbor will walk by and start to chat. And, since Blair is obviously gardening, that will be the topic. Before long they've exchanged suggestions, and we've either gotten a plant or given one away (or both).

It may seem like a small thing, but it feels really nice.

I don't have pictures of what we did in the neighbors' yards, but here are a couple pictures I took in our yard.

happy zmedsday!! (xxxvi)

it's tunesday! ("mao-mao" by claude channes)

Last week I chose "A Gringo Like Me" which I saw repeatedly between movies at a Spaghetti Western film festival. This week it's "Mao-Mao" which I saw repeatedly between movies at a Mario Bava film festival.

Based on the screen for this video, I assume the song is from a Godard movie called "La Chinoise," which I assume means "The Chinese." I don't know French beyond a few rudimentary phrases such as "apres vous, mon petit fromage," so I don't know what the song is about. But I suspect I wouldn't like the lyrics. But I like the sound, man.

same title, very different song

Well, this was an interesting surprise.

One of the songs I wrote (hopefully for the album that I will be recording) is "Write a Song About Me." I made a crude Youtube video (thanks for the help, Sharon!) of me singing it. I needed to find the video on Youtube, so I searched for the title "Write A Song About Me." And I found this:

That's not the song I wrote, and it's not me singing it. Oh, and it's not in my home office.

Don't get me wrong. I like this song. But it's not mine. Fortunately for me it bears no resemblance to my song (other than the title, and you can't copyright a song title).

And as long as we're here, here's the origin story for my song.

Back in 2012 we were on a family roadtrip to California. While driving, I was occupying my mind by trying to think of ideas for songs, but I was coming up empty. We made a stop for games at GameStop. As I was waiting to pay, there were some college kids behind the counter talking about their classes. One of them said he needed a subject for an essay he had to write. His colleague said "Write about me. I like it when people write about me." And an idea was born.

Anyway, here's my song (warts and all):

Oh, and Matt Jaffe, if by some chance you're reading this, I like your music.