Month: February 2022

Plantquest

What, may my faithful readers ask, and rightfully so, is a “plantquest”?  Well, as defined by the originator of the term (in all modesty, myself), it is a plant search quite distinct from just a normal plant shopping trip.  The household plant supervisor, again in this case, me, is looking for something quite specific – be it a plant species adding to a collection, something for a specific spot inside or out, something that will have certain requirements – size, light, fitting into a pot, that sort of thing. 

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Dumb Things Public Figures Say With A Straight Face

History fortunately has a way of filtering out some of the most outrageous things that elected officials state publicly.  That is probably for the best, as we’re left with and tend to remember things like, “A house divided cannot stand.” And “Give me liberty or give me death.”, and “Ask not what your country can do . . . .” In the twenty-second century, we can only hope that some of the lunatic ideas from our current time will recede from collective memory, leaving us with the words of Patrick Henry, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and John F. Kennedy.  

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Olympic Fanfare

Well, here we are after a week of Olympic fanfare.  It’s that time again for the THREE S’s – Skiing, Skating, and Sliding. Things are going along nicely, with all the typical drama – a Russian skater testing positive for something she probably took to clear her nasal congestion.  Although it’s tough to tell.  Remember when there was an East Germany, and they were superhuman until we realized that many of them were taking all kinds of performance-enhancing stuff that put them on a level with The Avengers. So, here’s what’s been happening so far.

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Lure of the “Selfie”

It’s happened again.  A sign of the times.  We not only want pictures of things we’re seeing and doing, but we feel compelled to insert ourselves into those pictures too.  “See?  I was there – next to that huge alligator.  That’s my arm inside its mouth.  Isn’t that great?”  No, you idiot. Unless you’ve always dreamed of living with the nickname, “stumpy”.  Equally brainless are those parents that put young children on a railing next to a wild animal cage.  From time to time, the children fall into the enclosure, and we end up reading about the tragic consequences, or worse, watching it unfold on YouTube.

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