@f00l Looks like Magnolia. Huge beautiful flowers. I only know of one here, it’s too hot, dry and high elevation for them. The other day a friend was saying I sure knew a lot of flowers and she could maybe recognize three. I bet her I could quickly name ten she could recognize. Won a Coke.
@moondrake
Could be magnolia? think we have them. But isn’t it early for them to bloom? And you can’t be hotter than here at your altitude. It must be the altitude and lack of humidity if you can’t grow magnolias in EP.
Gotta get the garden club’s hours and drop by when someone is there
They’re busy over-landscaping the Botanical Gardens now. Hadn’t been there in a few years.
There once - recently - was a reasonably thick grove of trees (think mostly live oaks, not sure) between the south open lawn of the garden and I30. They took out - it would seem - about 3/4 if the trees (which had only been there since the garden was first landscaped) - in order to do a bunch of nascent native prairie habitat landscaping and some new ponds. Within this now missing grove of trees were the sorts of secluded paths along which all the children and teenagers once raced around. Not really hidden, but you did feel that you were a bit “apart from the world” on those paths. So they took out the real basis of some of my older good memories.
Native habitat landscaping is all well and good, except for a few small facts.
First, that those trees made a reasonably effective vision and sound wall between the heart of the garden and the noisy interstate. Well, no more of that. Noise. Big rigs. Hello from the garden.
Second, that grove of trees was the original native landscape on that site. Duh.
The garden is quite near the rIver and the whole area was originally forest. A lot of forest still left. It seems weird for them to winnow most if the original native “soundscreen trees” at that spot in order to add open “native prairie habitat landscaping.”
Oh well. Those trees are gone now.
There are plenty of trees left in the garden, and across the street at the larger forested park. Still …
@f00l When I Googled magnolia to check my guess, the images I found looked like this. Seemed to be a match. I don’t know how hot it gets there, but we have plenty of days over 100 in the summer. It doesn’t feel as hot due to the low humidity, but that’s a downside for plants. The sun is brutally strong at the higher elevation with less atmosphere and little water vapor in the air to diffuse it. It’s hard to find plants with real leaves that can survive the roasting.
I would bet a decent taco dinner that in most years FW has more days over 100F than EP. Our record was over 40 days, but that was a really bad drought year. The heat really wears on us over time in bad years. . You can deal with it for a while, then if it goes on and on, you just get so sick if it.
I suppose I should be ashamed that I don’t know that tree and really very few plants.
I can picture a few female ancestors - now gone - staring at me right now with consternation and censure. My grandmother would shake her head and say, “Well!” And then I’d hear about it later.
Well, I guess they’re used to looking at me that way by now.
@f00l Japanese magnolia. US magnolias generally have large, waxy white flowers. Many people (including me) think they are among the loveliest of all floral trees.
Wiki is our friend: “Magnolia liliiflora (variously known by many names, including Mulan magnolia, purple magnolia, red magnolia, lily magnolia, tulip magnolia, Jane magnolia and woody-orchid) is a small tree native to southwest China (in Sichuan and Yunnan), but cultivated for centuries elsewhere in China and also Japan. It was first introduced to English-speaking countries from cultivated Japanese origins, and is thus also sometimes called Japanese magnolia, though it is not native to Japan.”
@f00l According to USclimatedata.com, El Paso ’ s annual high temps are 1 degree higher than Fort Worth’s, and our annual average low temps are 2 degrees lower, which gives us a slighter wider range, but pretty similar overall temps. June and July are our hottest months, July and August are your hottest months. The biggest difference is in rainfall, you get 37.8" annually, we get 9.69.
Re pistache, it’s quite a beautiful tree, one of the few that thrive here that change colors in the fall, vivid reds and oranges. It also puts out pretty red berries on green stems that hold their color well in flower baskets. Relatively fast growing and easy to care for.
What about comparative FW vs EP “days over 100F annually” counts? A taco dinner is on the line here.
I thought your altitude would make it harder to get that hot so frequently? But the relative lack of humidity in EP pushes the other way. Who wins here in getting to bitch about summer? (Neither one of us - there are people from Phoenix and points nearby here sometimes.)
@f00l Yeah, the altitude is balanced by lack of humidity and thinner atmosphere. I think Fort Worth at 100 feels a lot hotter than El Paso at 100, due to the humidity. I think our sun is more damaging, it’s like a freaking laser. We hosted a regional convention one July 4th weekend and the folks from out of state were calling the plaza in front of the convention center The Anvil of God.
Phoenix has it the worst, with average daily highs of 104, 106, and 104 in June, July and August. We used to go to a convention in Phoenix 4th of July weekend and walking out of the hotel at 4 am was like walking into a wall of fire.
@moondrake It’s nice when people acknowledge our world-famous Wall of Fire . It’s a local point of pride. We put down a lot of heat-retaining asphalt and concrete to make sure that it stays nice and hot. Fortunately, it is a dry heat, the sort of which you might find in a cozy little blast furnace.
@mikibell There’s a kind of wine they make when the baby grapes are frozen overnight by a late freeze, called Icewine. I used to buy a tea that had the skins and juice from the frozen babies, so sweet and delicious. I’d imagine the wine would be even more so.
@moondrake I remember Icewine… never had any though.
I thought this was a flower, perhaps a rose? It would be sad to have come that far and not be able to bloom, but the picture is beautiful.
Caught a bee making out with my succulents the other day. This thing is huge and filled with orange flowers. I started it from a 3" pot from the farmers market. It and the pistache tree it’s planted under are my most successful plantings.
@f00l I like buying plants from this guy, he starts them in the ground in his yard and when they are big enough digs them up, pots them and sells them. So they are acclimated to the local climate and soil.
at a height of nearly 3ft, this is one of the most dangerous waterfalls in Illinois. it has caused countless sprained ankles and wet feet. i warn you, approach it with caution.
Relatives: Throughout the state.
Where I wanna go: Dunno.
Keep in mind that I’ve never left the Northeast US of A (well, besides for going to Toronto (I don’t say the second t), so anywhere I go would be incredible to me (possibly).
@PlacidPenguin I was a Chicago suburb kid; lived in IL til I was 22 (moved to St Louis, then N Tx). Most of my extended family still lives there. If you decide to visit, might be able to point ya in the right direction. @carl669 is now someplace near Chicago, I think (tho not a native?)
@compunaut i’m actually a chicago suburb kid as well. lived in IL until i was 25. then VA, then back to IL and then WA. i just moved back into the area about 3 months ago.
@carl669 Why would you come back? This state is so messed up, I can’t wait for the day when I can finally leave. Mind you that won’t be for some time yet, but still.
Might be able to get better suggestions from the 2 of you than from certain other people.
I dunno. Something about having to visit my family in Chicago. Never been there myself, but I have roots there, ironically though, that’s from the Canadian side of my family.
@PlacidPenguin I think it’s usually strange because people automatically start to think of what a person might look like, and then they never quite fit what’s in your head.
@PlacidPenguin for example, I still haven’t even guessed what you look like. All I know is that you’re male. So almost any photo you post would look odd to me.
@f00l In class each instructor provides their own playlist so they can vary wildly. One instructor does use a singing bowl which I love. Usually, I more worried about getting into positions or holding them so I block out the music unless I am settling into a stretch position where I then notice it.
And one from December 2016. This is an ice rose, which forms above my pond when moisture rises during the day, then the temps fall rapidly below freezing after sundown.
The are very fragile, so one touch and they fall apart.
@f00l You can sorta guess, but would have to be really dedicated, as they form at night when the temps are below freezing. Some of the “flowers” (which may be columns or ribbons or whatever) can be quite amazing. The are generically called “frost flowers” or some regional variation.
Flowers? You wanted flowers? I’ll give you flowers:
(What’s funny is that yesterday it was freezing rain, and today the temperature is up 20 degrees (or more), and water is coming off the roof in sheets. Finally. The snow has been here since late December.)
@brhfl That’s beautiful. Did you take this pic? I really love all of the ones that you do take. If you ever publish a book of your photographs, I’d buy one!
@Barney I did, and that’s so sweet, thank you. I’ve thought of doing something or other, beyond the arts markets I used to sell at, but haven’t gotten around to it. My mother has gotten into book binding, so I have been tossing around the idea of teaming up with her to do something interesting. I do post fairly regularly to my flickr, if you’re so inclined.
@UncleVinny Kind of reminds me of the size of Sterling, Kansas, when I was a kid. My grandparents were farmers a couple miles outside of Sterling. We’d go up there for wheat harvest and the biggest topic of conversation would be, “Would the town turn off the stoplight for the harvesters this year?” Yep, every year, the same ol’ thing. Gee, I loved this.
@Barney they had a stop light?! My mom grew up outside Free Union VA, 2 3-way intersections, 2 stop signs total. I loved it there when we’d go back every summer to visit grandparents and other relatives, but we teased her lots about once that Bloomingdales opened they’d have to get a light.
@mollama I once worked in a town with 17 streets, only have of them paved. 3 stop signs and one blinking light. One apartment building and 97 houses, plus a small liberal arts college. No grocery store. The convenience store, bigger than normal, also had a gas station but when he’d go hunting and forget the leave the key with his wife we’d have to go 20 miles to get gas or groceries. Nearly ran out of gas once because of that. I lived between the college and “downtown” on the mail street and I had no backdoor neighbors - the place was that small.
@Barney
Part of me says you will only take them out of my cold dead fingers. (Now why does that sentence start to feel kinda like an invitation to a party?)
The other part of me says I am going to ruthlessly hunt down co-victims to share with. Whether they wish to or not.
Now why aren’t Thin Mints classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance?
Have the Girl Scouts corrupted the FDA? (I hear that’s easy and cheap to accomplish). Prob some Girl Scout somewhere got a special badge for cutting the deal and handling the politics and money.
@f00l I haven’t looked out my window lately, but if it is anything like past years, the Girl Scouts will soon be circling their cookie wagons around my house, and I, too, will be forced (nicely) to buy their goods. I love thin mints!
@Barney
Part of me says you will only take them out of my cold dead fingers. (Now why does that sentence start to feel kinda like an invitation to a party?)
I believe we are all invited to the house of the @f00l for a party.
What I meant when if I told you all that you could only have my Thin Mints if you took them out of my cold, dead fingers, and that sounded a bit like a party invite?
That you all, being fiends, would consider that I had issued a quite achievable challenge.
And either separately or in concert, you all would come to do just that. Take my Thin Mints from my cold, dead, fingers. And I would be incapacitated by trying to defend my Thin Mints at the same time I am trying to eat them.
With that handicap, you would likely succeed in offing me and getting the remaining Thin Mints. And then of course you would all fight to the death, until one of you stands victorious over the corpses of the rest of us. And you, the lone survivor, would have my Thin Mints unchallenged.
My only hope for survival is that you will all pass so many Girl Scouts along the way. And I think they might just lure you to your own separate dooms.
Or else I must finish the Thin Mints quickly, before the first one of you arrives.
@f00l I think we all just assumed you were a wise and ageless vampire generously offering to serve us delicious cookies from your cold, dead fingers. Or a zombie, in which case, please wear gloves.
@brhfl
As long as the camera auto focuses, and the flowers are in excellent shape, it’s hard to take a really bad pix, at least in those lightning conditions.
If you have any connection to a florist or wholesale florist - the bigger the better, for volume and variety and color choice - go ask them if you can come in and take pix in late April thru May. That’s a better time.
The best selection might be the week before Easter Sunday or before Mother’s Day, but they will also be very very busy at those times. Like no sleep busy.
@f00l You’re going to make me boot up my computer, where I store my actual pictures, and respond. Icy rain mixed with snow and hail today, so it’s an indoor day. I got in the portable drive I ordered to start backing up my laptop, so it’s a good day to boot it up. I usually only use it one day a month to pay bills.
@f00l Okay, you asked for it. I took all these photos myself. It’s a mix of wildflowers and garden flowers. Most I think were wild. I take mostly landscapes and architecture, but I usually pickk up a flower shot or two in each location we visit.
Sitka, Alaska
And last but not least, home sweet home.
My neighbor’s cactus flowering in the snow
An unidentified climber sandwiched between my wall and screen porch that was old when I bought the house 30 years ago.
A vase of flowers I assembled from a couple of supermarket bunches, lilies are my favorite cut flowers
The most success I’ve had planting a flower garden.
Of course, these are all commercial varieties. In particular the rose and carnation varieties are much tinkered with. I would use vintage home varieties in a garden.
Commercial varieties are optimized for size, showiness, hardiness, and the ability to handle shipping and handling. Often, commercial roses no longer have much scent (the Sahara rose is an lovely exception). Carnations often smell very nice.
@f00l
That’s kinda it. Normally I don’t go nuts like this w photos. Apologies.
Valentine’s is a rose-focused floral event, and it shows here. Also still kinda dead of winter. The spring seasonal flowers aren’t in commercially yet, and I might make another visit in 2-3 months for those.
Hope you all survived the overload.
PS @Barney - some of these pix above were taken with you in mind.
@f00l I’ve watched several street food videos from other countries. Crazy what they can do with enough practice.
/youtube street food cotton candy flowers
Haven’t been there in too many decades. Miss it (tho not the current President there. )
In that season, I think good weather? Dryer than normal, no monsoon?
Closest I got to that location was Baguio. Gorgeous. (And I saw Clark
and Subic before Pinatubo decided to show the US military the meaning of power and dumped a billion tons of ash into the bases.).
@f00l weather was perfect actually. it was sunny the entire time. pretty much stayed up north the whole time (Cabugao, Currimao, Batac, Cabulalaan and Pagudpud). we did a couple days in Manila on our way out. beautiful country.
When? Let’s just say the the First Lady had a lot of shoes. People wore firearms in the street as if they were cowboys. On weekends you always heard distant gunfire (not in “nice” areas), but it was mostly celebratory.
And you needed to have US cash on you in case you were pulled over for driving after midnight (legal curfew). As disgusting as it was, Americans were never bothered legally as long as they paid off. And $5-$10 would do it, so no prob for Americans. The cops and military could make a lot of $ off Americans every weekend.
I suspect anyone who paid off in US$ was fine. Everyone who had any real money always had some USD.
I used to go to the Chinese markets just to watch the merchants use abaci. The rumor was that they owned much of Manila and much of Marcos also.
I think I lived in Rizal, on P Burgos Street just south of Manila on the bay. Less than a year.
As you say, gorgeous. Even with sometime insane pollution. I can still remember the way Manila smelled just after a rain. It’s a good smell.
I can still remember how Manila completely flooded after every big rain. You just waited it out.
The locals kept non-stop outdoor fires going to burn garbage and for other stuff. The fires never went out. Often unattended. The fires were often in fire pits right next to a tree. Sometimes under a tree. The trees never caught fire, and never seemed to be much bothered. Many of the the households seemed to have these fires. Few houses caught fire, and when they did, it was from cooking fires or range flames indoors. The humidity was something else.
A neighbor was the writer and journalist John Nance.
N central Texas thinks spring has arrived. Another optimistic tree. Prob right too.
Nothing but balmy temps in the forecast and i can’t ever remember a hard freeze after the first week of March. Even getting into the 30’s is very rare that late in winter.
-Southwind from Mobile, AL
-Les Stentors from Sherbrooke, Quebec
-Colt Cadets from Dubuque, IA
-Guardians from Houston, TX
-Gold from San Diego, CA
-Blue Devils B from Concord, CA
-Vanguard Cadets from Santa Clara, CA
And here’s a reckless tree.
Don’t know what kind because clueless. The Garden Club was closed so I couldn’t ask.
@f00l
I almost forgot what grass looks like.
@PlacidPenguin
/image grass
/image some other kind of grass
@f00l Looks like Magnolia. Huge beautiful flowers. I only know of one here, it’s too hot, dry and high elevation for them. The other day a friend was saying I sure knew a lot of flowers and she could maybe recognize three. I bet her I could quickly name ten she could recognize. Won a Coke.
Rose, tulip, daffodil, iris, carnation, petunia, pansy, lilly, sunflower, daisy.
@moondrake
Could be magnolia? think we have them. But isn’t it early for them to bloom? And you can’t be hotter than here at your altitude. It must be the altitude and lack of humidity if you can’t grow magnolias in EP.
Gotta get the garden club’s hours and drop by when someone is there
They’re busy over-landscaping the Botanical Gardens now. Hadn’t been there in a few years.
There once - recently - was a reasonably thick grove of trees (think mostly live oaks, not sure) between the south open lawn of the garden and I30. They took out - it would seem - about 3/4 if the trees (which had only been there since the garden was first landscaped) - in order to do a bunch of nascent native prairie habitat landscaping and some new ponds. Within this now missing grove of trees were the sorts of secluded paths along which all the children and teenagers once raced around. Not really hidden, but you did feel that you were a bit “apart from the world” on those paths. So they took out the real basis of some of my older good memories.
Native habitat landscaping is all well and good, except for a few small facts.
First, that those trees made a reasonably effective vision and sound wall between the heart of the garden and the noisy interstate. Well, no more of that. Noise. Big rigs. Hello from the garden.
Second, that grove of trees was the original native landscape on that site. Duh.
The garden is quite near the rIver and the whole area was originally forest. A lot of forest still left. It seems weird for them to winnow most if the original native “soundscreen trees” at that spot in order to add open “native prairie habitat landscaping.”
Oh well. Those trees are gone now.
There are plenty of trees left in the garden, and across the street at the larger forested park. Still …
My great-grandmother would not be pleased.
@f00l When I Googled magnolia to check my guess, the images I found looked like this. Seemed to be a match. I don’t know how hot it gets there, but we have plenty of days over 100 in the summer. It doesn’t feel as hot due to the low humidity, but that’s a downside for plants. The sun is brutally strong at the higher elevation with less atmosphere and little water vapor in the air to diffuse it. It’s hard to find plants with real leaves that can survive the roasting.
@moondrake
Yeah that looks like a match.
I would bet a decent taco dinner that in most years FW has more days over 100F than EP. Our record was over 40 days, but that was a really bad drought year. The heat really wears on us over time in bad years. . You can deal with it for a while, then if it goes on and on, you just get so sick if it.
I suppose I should be ashamed that I don’t know that tree and really very few plants.
I can picture a few female ancestors - now gone - staring at me right now with consternation and censure. My grandmother would shake her head and say, “Well!” And then I’d hear about it later.
Well, I guess they’re used to looking at me that way by now.
@PlacidPenguin @narfcake
you mean this kind of grass?
@Kidsandliz Nope. Just regular grass. California has been under watering restrictions due to 5 years of drought. Brown was the new green.
What has managed to grow, though, are weeds. And not the somewhat legalized kind either.
@f00l Japanese magnolia. US magnolias generally have large, waxy white flowers. Many people (including me) think they are among the loveliest of all floral trees.
Wiki is our friend: “Magnolia liliiflora (variously known by many names, including Mulan magnolia, purple magnolia, red magnolia, lily magnolia, tulip magnolia, Jane magnolia and woody-orchid) is a small tree native to southwest China (in Sichuan and Yunnan), but cultivated for centuries elsewhere in China and also Japan. It was first introduced to English-speaking countries from cultivated Japanese origins, and is thus also sometimes called Japanese magnolia, though it is not native to Japan.”
@f00l According to USclimatedata.com, El Paso ’ s annual high temps are 1 degree higher than Fort Worth’s, and our annual average low temps are 2 degrees lower, which gives us a slighter wider range, but pretty similar overall temps. June and July are our hottest months, July and August are your hottest months. The biggest difference is in rainfall, you get 37.8" annually, we get 9.69.
Re pistache, it’s quite a beautiful tree, one of the few that thrive here that change colors in the fall, vivid reds and oranges. It also puts out pretty red berries on green stems that hold their color well in flower baskets. Relatively fast growing and easy to care for.
@moondrake That is one gorgeous tree!
@moondrake
What about comparative FW vs EP “days over 100F annually” counts? A taco dinner is on the line here.
I thought your altitude would make it harder to get that hot so frequently? But the relative lack of humidity in EP pushes the other way. Who wins here in getting to bitch about summer? (Neither one of us - there are people from Phoenix and points nearby here sometimes.)
@f00l Yeah, the altitude is balanced by lack of humidity and thinner atmosphere. I think Fort Worth at 100 feels a lot hotter than El Paso at 100, due to the humidity. I think our sun is more damaging, it’s like a freaking laser. We hosted a regional convention one July 4th weekend and the folks from out of state were calling the plaza in front of the convention center The Anvil of God.
Phoenix has it the worst, with average daily highs of 104, 106, and 104 in June, July and August. We used to go to a convention in Phoenix 4th of July weekend and walking out of the hotel at 4 am was like walking into a wall of fire.
@f00l japanese magnolia, they tend to bloom earlier than the regular magnolia down here. The regular magnolia tends to be a large white flower.
@moondrake It’s nice when people acknowledge our world-famous Wall of Fire
. It’s a local point of pride. We put down a lot of heat-retaining asphalt and concrete to make sure that it stays nice and hot. Fortunately, it is a dry heat, the sort of which you might find in a cozy little blast furnace.
@DocBJ
http://shirt.woot.com/offers/a-dry-heat
Floral theme?
One of the gardens I visit near-daily in DC, not sure what the flower is…
ETA: Some sort of rose? Was from more months ago than I originally thought…
@brhfl
The top right flower?
@PlacidPenguin Looks promising.
@brhfl
Peony? Was it during May or near May?
@f00l Looks like it was the very last day of August.
@brhfl
If the bush has thorns then it might be a Rose
@brhfl Poppies in the desert.
@moondrake
Where was this taken?
Have you ever seen the Bluebonnets in Big Bend?
@dave will it survive?? Otherwise, this is a very sad photo!
@mikibell There’s a kind of wine they make when the baby grapes are frozen overnight by a late freeze, called Icewine. I used to buy a tea that had the skins and juice from the frozen babies, so sweet and delicious. I’d imagine the wine would be even more so.
@moondrake I remember Icewine… never had any though.
I thought this was a flower, perhaps a rose? It would be sad to have come that far and not be able to bloom, but the picture is beautiful.
@mikibell Yes, it looks like a rosebud. The sentiment just made me think of the icewine, making lost grapes into sweet wine.
@moondrake Sounds like my father-inlaw’s sauce… anything useful goes into the sauce. It is never the same twice
Do Daffys grow upside down in Texas??? Thought that was only done south of the equator!
@mikibell
/giphy "upside down"
@mikibell
Incidentally - my original daffodil pix showed right-side-up in the browser when I first uploaded it. Still does.
But it’s upside-down in another browser (not logged in).
How do most of you see it?
Do other uploaded photos of mine need to be rotated?
@f00l upside down. Yeah, some of your other ones are also upside down.
@f00l Upside down.
My photos all show rightside up to me. Grrr.
@Thumperchick - can you come fix my upside-down photos that look rightside-up in iOS Firefox to me so I don’t know which photos are messed up?
Pls pls? Sorry to take you away from adorable perfect @PuppyCat!
@f00l The thin mints are right side up and the purple flowers are beautiful. I’m happy.
@Barney
I hid a bunch of the cookies away from myself to save for sharing on Monday. Until then I want it to be a PITA to get to them.
@f00l Good plan! Better yet, send them to my house, I’ll save them for you.
@f00l You missed my edit.
@Barney
Just saw it.
@f00l I liked them better upside down… but I fixed it for you.
@Thumperchick
In that case I’ll deliberately load one upside down in the future.
Guess I’d better use another browser or device to do this. How annoying.
/giphy "calculated whimsey"
@Thumperchick @f00l
The part of the brain which remembers things remembers them better if the text is upside down (since it has to work harder).
@PlacidPenguin Are those penguin tracks?
@moondrake
Nope. This penguin stayed indoors today (with the exception of getting the mail and throwing some salt down near a door).
@moondrake
@mikibell
Caught a bee making out with my succulents the other day. This thing is huge and filled with orange flowers. I started it from a 3" pot from the farmers market. It and the pistache tree it’s planted under are my most successful plantings.
@moondrake
Envious now.
@moondrake Our citrus trees are blooming so there are lots of bees. This is a lemon blossom.
@f00l I like buying plants from this guy, he starts them in the ground in his yard and when they are big enough digs them up, pots them and sells them. So they are acclimated to the local climate and soil.
Found this guy hanging out in our backyard the other day
@Bingo
Nice neighborhood. A wee rustic but I guess that’s what you wanted?
at a height of nearly 3ft, this is one of the most dangerous waterfalls in Illinois. it has caused countless sprained ankles and wet feet. i warn you, approach it with caution.
@carl669
Really wanna go to Illinois eventually. I have relatives there (some of whom I’ve never met).
@PlacidPenguin
I have been to - is it Fort Defiance Park? - where the Mississippi and the Ohio meet. Quite nice.
Not my pix bit it looks like this.
As Pat Conroy might say, The waters are wide. Tho he might - or might not - have been thinking of other specific waters.
@f00l
Relatives: Throughout the state.
Where I wanna go: Dunno.
Keep in mind that I’ve never left the Northeast US of A (well, besides for going to Toronto (I don’t say the second t), so anywhere I go would be incredible to me (possibly).
@PlacidPenguin Everywhere is wonderful if you want it to be. And your own front door is never so sweet a sight as when you’ve been away.
@PlacidPenguin Illinois was one of the states I lived in as a kid. I get the cities mixed up with Michigan, though.
@PlacidPenguin I was a Chicago suburb kid; lived in IL til I was 22 (moved to St Louis, then N Tx). Most of my extended family still lives there. If you decide to visit, might be able to point ya in the right direction.
@carl669 is now someplace near Chicago, I think (tho not a native?)
@compunaut i’m actually a chicago suburb kid as well. lived in IL until i was 25. then VA, then back to IL and then WA. i just moved back into the area about 3 months ago.
@carl669 Why would you come back? This state is so messed up, I can’t wait for the day when I can finally leave. Mind you that won’t be for some time yet, but still.
@compunaut @carl669
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Might be able to get better suggestions from the 2 of you than from certain other people.
I dunno. Something about having to visit my family in Chicago. Never been there myself, but I have roots there, ironically though, that’s from the Canadian side of my family.
@f00l I can’t remember who else wanted Yoga pix, but here ya go.
@mfladd Better thee than me. Lovely Ganesh.
@moondrake It would be a great tattoo
@mfladd
It’s strange to associate a username with an actual human being.
@PlacidPenguin
@PlacidPenguin have you not seen the show yourselves thread?
edit: never mind. i see you posted in there.
@moondrake I just wish she was in my class (sigh).
@PlacidPenguin I think it’s usually strange because people automatically start to think of what a person might look like, and then they never quite fit what’s in your head.
@RiotDemon
Exactly. Just ask @f00l.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
GASP Or @moose or @barney. Or Irk or Elmo (@hollboll - GLARE).
Still convinced @moose is an actual moose.
It’s kinda like how there are 3 sides to every story: My side, your side, and the truth.
@PlacidPenguin for example, I still haven’t even guessed what you look like. All I know is that you’re male. So almost any photo you post would look odd to me.
@mfladd OTOH, I wish I was in HER class,
@mfladd
If that’s you (yoga poses, not mirror giphy), then I can’t think of a single sibling-combat-level snark I could toss, even if I wanted to.
Kinda impressed and envious here. I have no idea how someone older than 25 gets into those positions.
Do you use music or sound? I have a thing for listening to Tibetan bells.
Nice butt, @mfladd.
@mfladd Uh
@Barney
@RiotDemon
Oh, and @narfcake is really just an account used by cats wearing cat t-shirts.
@mfladd
You never answered about music or other meditative sounds to go with Yoga.
(Just finished listening to Keith Jarrett’ THE KÖLN CONCERT)
@f00l In class each instructor provides their own playlist so they can vary wildly. One instructor does use a singing bowl which I love. Usually, I more worried about getting into positions or holding them so I block out the music unless I am settling into a stretch position where I then notice it.
@PlacidPenguin Purrposterous!
@mfladd
Why don’t you have a mirror in the room where you do yoga?
Then we could have seen once and for all that vampires don’t have reflections.
@PlacidPenguin LOL…We do, it’s on the left wall. Shhhh…about the vampire thing.
@mfladd
Is that why your photos never show your eyes?
Are they like these?
@f00l
@mfladd
Glad to hear yoga helps you toward peace of mind and soul.
@f00l More like a mindless and soulless peace.
Here’s a chill-ass bird.
@brhfl
A heron?
@f00l Yep!
10 Feb 2017 pics:
snowdrops
and crocus
and more crocus
and a few reluctant daffs. They will be in full bloom in about 10 days.
And one from December 2016. This is an ice rose, which forms above my pond when moisture rises during the day, then the temps fall rapidly below freezing after sundown.
The are very fragile, so one touch and they fall apart.
@rockblossom That is so neat!
@rockblossom
Would love to see a closeup time-lapse of an ice-rose. guess there’s no way to know where one will form.
@f00l You can sorta guess, but would have to be really dedicated, as they form at night when the temps are below freezing. Some of the “flowers” (which may be columns or ribbons or whatever) can be quite amazing. The are generically called “frost flowers” or some regional variation.
@rockblossom
I was thinking someone might be able to use those nighttime game cameras that people use near watering holes and feeders
Flowers? You wanted flowers? I’ll give you flowers:
(What’s funny is that yesterday it was freezing rain, and today the temperature is up 20 degrees (or more), and water is coming off the roof in sheets. Finally. The snow has been here since late December.)
@Shrdlu
If I had that for my outdoors, I think I would find a way to cherish it in the winter.
I think. Most of the time. Perhaps not every single second?
I went by the Garden to see if the no-brain-daffodils were already up. At least the roses have a bit more sense.
But I’m happy to see the daffodils. Some years they even guess right!
For @Barney:
@brhfl That’s beautiful. Did you take this pic? I really love all of the ones that you do take. If you ever publish a book of your photographs, I’d buy one!
@Barney I did, and that’s so sweet, thank you. I’ve thought of doing something or other, beyond the arts markets I used to sell at, but haven’t gotten around to it. My mother has gotten into book binding, so I have been tossing around the idea of teaming up with her to do something interesting. I do post fairly regularly to my flickr, if you’re so inclined.
@brhfl Wow, maybe you should give this some serious thought, but I would hate to have to choose which ones to use. You have quite a talent
Edit: Oh, I just discovered that you have titled them.
All of them? Cool.
@brhfl Lovely photos. I especially like all the wonderful textures. You might want to look into selling some at http://pixels.com.
@heartny @Barney y’all too kind.
@brhfl I
Is that a carnation?
@f00l It’s actually an ornamental kale or cabbage or similar.
Goat cat looking out the window
Photo of goat cat for those who haven’t read the ‘yea cats’ thread
@lordbowen
Is that Alien’s cousin who goes for hubcaps?
@f00l Gosh, I sure hope not. Acid + tire = AAAHH!
![Winter Jam 2017 Des Moines][1]
[1]:
TFK at Winter Jam 2017 in Des Moines
Here’s a drawing of Alpena, South Dakota on a postcard.
@UncleVinny
Like. Except for the winter duration.
@UncleVinny Kind of reminds me of the size of Sterling, Kansas, when I was a kid. My grandparents were farmers a couple miles outside of Sterling. We’d go up there for wheat harvest and the biggest topic of conversation would be, “Would the town turn off the stoplight for the harvesters this year?” Yep, every year, the same ol’ thing. Gee, I loved this.
@Barney yep! My grandparents grew up around these parts. I haven’t ever visited, but I’d like to someday.
@Barney they had a stop light?! My mom grew up outside Free Union VA, 2 3-way intersections, 2 stop signs total. I loved it there when we’d go back every summer to visit grandparents and other relatives, but we teased her lots about once that Bloomingdales opened they’d have to get a light.
@mollama Sterling was one of them thar progressive towns.
@mollama I once worked in a town with 17 streets, only have of them paved. 3 stop signs and one blinking light. One apartment building and 97 houses, plus a small liberal arts college. No grocery store. The convenience store, bigger than normal, also had a gas station but when he’d go hunting and forget the leave the key with his wife we’d have to go 20 miles to get gas or groceries. Nearly ran out of gas once because of that. I lived between the college and “downtown” on the mail street and I had no backdoor neighbors - the place was that small.
Evil Girl Scouts from the Dark Side overcame me.
@f00l Dibs on the thin mints!
@Barney
Part of me says you will only take them out of my cold dead fingers. (Now why does that sentence start to feel kinda like an invitation to a party?)
The other part of me says I am going to ruthlessly hunt down co-victims to share with. Whether they wish to or not.
Now why aren’t Thin Mints classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance?
Have the Girl Scouts corrupted the FDA? (I hear that’s easy and cheap to accomplish). Prob some Girl Scout somewhere got a special badge for cutting the deal and handling the politics and money.
@f00l I haven’t looked out my window lately, but if it is anything like past years, the Girl Scouts will soon be circling their cookie wagons around my house, and I, too, will be forced (nicely) to buy their goods. I love thin mints!
@Barney it’s the last weekend… According to the girl scout mom that just yelled it out to me.
@RiotDemon They will be selling them through March 19th here. Yum!
@Barney
I believe we are all invited to the house of the @f00l for a party.
Oooh! We can finally have the mehpic meht up.
And then we can go to the house of @snapster and enjoy the bouncy castle.
Texas can’t be that big. Right?
/giphy ignorance is bliss
@PlacidPenguin I have visions of a party at @f00l’s as being a
/giphy mad tea party
@Barney
And your concern is that you’re not mad?
@Barney
That’s the correct look. Except way downscale from there.
So, @Barney, are you mad? Truly?
@f00l Yes.
@PlacidPenguin
@f00l said to @Barney
@PalcidPenguin said:
What I meant when if I told you all that you could only have my Thin Mints if you took them out of my cold, dead fingers, and that sounded a bit like a party invite?
That you all, being fiends, would consider that I had issued a quite achievable challenge.
And either separately or in concert, you all would come to do just that. Take my Thin Mints from my cold, dead, fingers. And I would be incapacitated by trying to defend my Thin Mints at the same time I am trying to eat them.
With that handicap, you would likely succeed in offing me and getting the remaining Thin Mints. And then of course you would all fight to the death, until one of you stands victorious over the corpses of the rest of us. And you, the lone survivor, would have my Thin Mints unchallenged.
My only hope for survival is that you will all pass so many Girl Scouts along the way. And I think they might just lure you to your own separate dooms.
Or else I must finish the Thin Mints quickly, before the first one of you arrives.
@f00l You have nothing to fear from me. I bought four boxes of Thin Mints. That might last me a day or two. Maybe.
@f00l
Oh, I don’t want the Thin Mints. @Barney could have those.
@Barney That sounds about right. : )
@f00l I think we all just assumed you were a wise and ageless vampire generously offering to serve us delicious cookies from your cold, dead fingers. Or a zombie, in which case, please wear gloves.
@moondrake
@PlacidPenguin
@Barney
Maybe it’s a deal. You can have the Thin Mints if I can have your blood and brains.
(Vampire/Zombie mongrel here.
Woe is me. Neither society will have me as one of theirs.)
Are we agreed and signed in blood and zombie ooze?
@f00l
How much blood would you like?
Wait a second, if we don’t want the cookies, what would the blood get us?
@PlacidPenguin
I suppose it would get you the entertainment value of attending a tea party with some known Fiends and a legit Vampire/Zombie.
@f00l
Not sure how someone could be both a zombie and a vampire.
https://www.quora.com/If-a-vampire-bites-a-zombie-would-it-turn-into-a-zombie-or-will-the-zombie-turn-into-a-vampire
http://mysticinvestigations.com/paranormal/what-happens-if-a-vampire-bites-a-zombie/
@PlacidPenguin
Singularity, formally speaking.
A very powerful, ancient, and starving vampire. A very disgusting and starving zombie. And a teeny tiny black-hole-wanna-be … all walked into a bar …,
Woe is me. I crave fresh blood, fresh brains, and fresh Girl Scout Cookies. And nobody ever invites me over for some reason.
/giphy indigestion
@f00l
I know there’s more than you’re letting on. (Speaking of which, check your PM page in about 3 minutes…)
@f00l Not a fan of mint, so I’ll leave this deal to the others.
@f00l
In case I can’t make it, I could always mail the blood.
@PlacidPenguin
Ok, but please use at least priority mail.
And you’ll miss the fun!
@f00l
Far walk though.
In a hurry. Poor me. Only time for fast food from the drive-thru.
Sorry. It’s all gone now.
@f00l That’s not fast food - that’s Railhead Smokehouse! Now I need to start plotting to sneak out for Thurs rib plate
@compunaut
I knew you’d suss me out.
Well it was fast and it was a drive-thru. So there.
Dusk
Yes, McDonalds did have pizza… They were rather meh…
Giant Skyduck in the Sky
@duodec
Like the top pix.
“L’heure bleue” to the French
@duodec You can still get McDonalds pizza in W. Va.
@cranky1950 I’m not that desperate.
@Barney It’s great ride through the mountains. Not too far away from the Big Muskie Bucket.
@cranky1950 Um, no thanks!
Rainbow Dusk
Almost the same location as my ‘dusk’ pic above.
@Barney Party pooper
@duodec I took this from my old office window, sunset over Ciudad Juarez.
Re Flowers
FW Botanic Gardens has silly optimistic daffodils.
@brnfl has a great eye, and skill, and a feel for composition.
@dave has a rose under ice-glass.
@moondrake has a high desert garden.
@rand3y has lemon blossoms
@rockblossom has an ice-blossom and the real flowers of early spring.
@shrdlu has the deep quiet of winter, interrupted by other weather sometimes.
@lordbowen has an ice-alien on his hubcap.
Is there more? (I find the idea of “point and shoot” a bit complicated, but …)
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
PS these aren’t google pix. I talked my way into a florist’s back room this morning, 3 days to Valentine’s Day.
More …
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
Have way more pix, of many diff flowers. Do you want more or have I overdone it?
@f00l It’s your thread, but I vote more!
@brhfl
As long as the camera auto focuses, and the flowers are in excellent shape, it’s hard to take a really bad pix, at least in those lightning conditions.
@f00l I’m a sucker for flowers no matter what…
@brhfl
If you have any connection to a florist or wholesale florist - the bigger the better, for volume and variety and color choice - go ask them if you can come in and take pix in late April thru May. That’s a better time.
The best selection might be the week before Easter Sunday or before Mother’s Day, but they will also be very very busy at those times. Like no sleep busy.
@f00l You’re going to make me boot up my computer, where I store my actual pictures, and respond.
Icy rain mixed with snow and hail today, so it’s an indoor day. I got in the portable drive I ordered to start backing up my laptop, so it’s a good day to boot it up. I usually only use it one day a month to pay bills.
@moondrake
/giphy "can’t wait"
@f00l Okay, you asked for it.
I took all these photos myself. It’s a mix of wildflowers and garden flowers. Most I think were wild. I take mostly landscapes and architecture, but I usually pickk up a flower shot or two in each location we visit.
Sitka, Alaska
Australia
I don’t think that tree could have squeezed one more flower in.
Belize
Ghost Temple in China
Copenhagen (This isn’t a great photo but I like the sun on the lens)
Costa Rica is made of flowers. Here are some interesting ones.
Lacock, England, a little village of thatched roof cottages near Stonehenge.
Gorgeous park in Bath, England
Roatan, Honduras
New Orleans
Puerto Rico
Santorini
Pier 39 planters in San Francisco
St. Petersburg, the beautiful Garden at Catherine Palace
St. Thomas
Vancouver
Venice
And last but not least, home sweet home.
My neighbor’s cactus flowering in the snow
An unidentified climber sandwiched between my wall and screen porch that was old when I bought the house 30 years ago.
A vase of flowers I assembled from a couple of supermarket bunches, lilies are my favorite cut flowers
The most success I’ve had planting a flower garden.
@moondrake
Oh. Just Ooooooh…
Sorry I didn’t see these sooner. My wrist was bothering me last night.
Just wanna breathe those in
You’re been so many insanely cool places!
Aaaah…
@f00l Thanks for creating the place to share! Hope your wrist is feeling better.
Of course, these are all commercial varieties. In particular the rose and carnation varieties are much tinkered with. I would use vintage home varieties in a garden.
Commercial varieties are optimized for size, showiness, hardiness, and the ability to handle shipping and handling. Often, commercial roses no longer have much scent (the Sahara rose is an lovely exception). Carnations often smell very nice.
@f00l
Due to the weather here, most of the flowers aren’t long term residents.
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@PlacidPenguin
Commercial flowers are grown in the US, even in northern areas. In summer, often in open fields - in winter, in greenhouses.
That’s also true here. There is a decent outdoor production 3/4 of the year, and greenhouse production in winter.
@f00l
Well I don’t have a greenhouse.
@PlacidPenguin
Neither do I. And you have to want to spend the time.
And more, I’m assuming people are still interested:
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
How’s everyone’s tolerance for more flower
pix?
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
@f00l
That’s kinda it. Normally I don’t go nuts like this w photos. Apologies.
Valentine’s is a rose-focused floral event, and it shows here. Also still kinda dead of winter. The spring seasonal flowers aren’t in commercially yet, and I might make another visit in 2-3 months for those.
Hope you all survived the overload.
PS
@Barney - some of these pix above were taken with you in mind.
Floral display at the local Albertsons.
Some plant from Hawaii. Hilo side.
@connorbush
That plant looks like an inspiration for musical notation. Beautiful.
@thismyusername
Wow.
Is that in Japan?
@f00l most likely china…
@f00l I’ve watched several street food videos from other countries. Crazy what they can do with enough practice.
/youtube street food cotton candy flowers
/youtube dragon’s beard candy
@RiotDemon lol from the first video you posted I was led to this one:
sunrise in the Philippines. i think i took this somewhere near Cabulalaan (Illocos Norte)
@carl669
What is the altitude? What season were you there? How long ago?
@f00l i was there around Feb/Mar of 2008. i think it’s pretty much at sea level.
@carl669
Haven’t been there in too many decades. Miss it (tho not the current President there.
)
In that season, I think good weather? Dryer than normal, no monsoon?
Closest I got to that location was Baguio. Gorgeous. (And I saw Clark
and Subic before Pinatubo decided to show the US military the meaning of power and dumped a billion tons of ash into the bases.).
@f00l weather was perfect actually. it was sunny the entire time. pretty much stayed up north the whole time (Cabugao, Currimao, Batac, Cabulalaan and Pagudpud). we did a couple days in Manila on our way out. beautiful country.
@carl669
Too many years and the streets have changed.
When? Let’s just say the the First Lady had a lot of shoes. People wore firearms in the street as if they were cowboys. On weekends you always heard distant gunfire (not in “nice” areas), but it was mostly celebratory.
And you needed to have US cash on you in case you were pulled over for driving after midnight (legal curfew). As disgusting as it was, Americans were never bothered legally as long as they paid off. And $5-$10 would do it, so no prob for Americans. The cops and military could make a lot of $ off Americans every weekend.
I suspect anyone who paid off in US$ was fine. Everyone who had any real money always had some USD.
I used to go to the Chinese markets just to watch the merchants use abaci. The rumor was that they owned much of Manila and much of Marcos also.
I think I lived in Rizal, on P Burgos Street just south of Manila on the bay. Less than a year.
As you say, gorgeous. Even with sometime insane pollution. I can still remember the way Manila smelled just after a rain. It’s a good smell.
I can still remember how Manila completely flooded after every big rain. You just waited it out.
The locals kept non-stop outdoor fires going to burn garbage and for other stuff. The fires never went out. Often unattended. The fires were often in fire pits right next to a tree. Sometimes under a tree. The trees never caught fire, and never seemed to be much bothered. Many of the the households seemed to have these fires. Few houses caught fire, and when they did, it was from cooking fires or range flames indoors. The humidity was something else.
A neighbor was the writer and journalist John Nance.
https://www.amazon.com/Gentle-Tasaday-People-Philippine-Forest/dp/0151349908
N central Texas thinks spring has arrived. Another optimistic tree. Prob right too.
Nothing but balmy temps in the forecast and i can’t ever remember a hard freeze after the first week of March. Even getting into the 30’s is very rare that late in winter.
Here is another yoga one for @f00l
@mfladd
Wow.
Now envious.
@f00l envious of his outfit?
Vapor trail
Way early this year
Resurrecting this thread to show the bands we saw tonight.
-Southwind from Mobile, AL
-Les Stentors from Sherbrooke, Quebec
-Colt Cadets from Dubuque, IA
-Guardians from Houston, TX
-Gold from San Diego, CA
-Blue Devils B from Concord, CA
-Vanguard Cadets from Santa Clara, CA