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Friday, April 13, 2012

Everything I Need

milkweed
My friend Thomas sent me this quote:


 “If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." —Cicero

  I love this quote!  Thomas has been reading Fung Yu-lan, History of Chinese Philosophy.  In Mandarin or Cantonese or something, no doubt.  He did lift his head from translation long enough to think of me when he saw this quote, however.  Yea, Thomas!


Back to the quote--I have both a garden (although not nearly as wonderful as my previous garden, the one wiped out by the tornado) and plenty of books.  I'm posting  pictures of a few of my  delights as I work on creating a new garden .  
Cleome


garlic

For the last two years, I've done nothing much with my new small garden, but this year, I'm determined to include more plants that I love...thus the two new milkweed plants and the cleome.  The garlic is a volunteer from last year.  I love garlic, in food and in the flower bed.

And books--there are always books.  Some that are wonderful and some that are disappointing, but always a book to read for entertainment or information.  

I  finished Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper a while back and have been thinking about how to review it.  Such an auspicious beginning!  Sadly, after falling in love with the beginning, I found the rest of the book a painful contrast.  I've resisted reviewing it because ofthis, but do want to make some comments about it.  Has anyone else read this one?

On the other hand, I'm loving Cryptonomicon and am in awe of Neal Stephenson.   The more I read, the more invested I become in the characters.  At the moment, I'm very concerned about Bobby Shaftoe who is now in Manila awaiting the arrival of General MacArthur.  Stephenson deals with Japanese atrocities in a way that does nothing to ameliorate the horror,  yet somehow manages to keep enough distance (and enough satiric humor) to make it bearable.  

In the present day section, I think Randy Waterhouse will be OK, despite being in jail because someone planted drugs in his luggage.  The section on Randy's wisdom teeth is priceless and comparing the removal of his wisdom teeth to his love for Amy is...somehow...oddly perfect.  Randy was not one of my favorite characters initially, and I'm glad that I've grown so fond of him.

Stephenson is a Wizard!  

Slight Digression:  Has anyone watched The Guild?  Wil Wheaton has become a regular and the guest stars in Season Five are amazing!

This post jumps around like I was on Benzedrine (via Bobby Shaftoe)!

11 comments:

  1. Such gorgeous pictures! I have a black thumb instead of a green one. But...I love to look at what others manage to grow. Lovely.

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  2. Marvelous quote with which I completely agree! Beautiful photos from your garden too. Isn't Cryptonomicon fantastic? I loved it when I read it. I have not heard of The Guild but I am going to have to go check it out now.

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  3. Kay - Thanks, Kay! I don't necessarily have a green thumb, but when I want something to grow, I add Eco Mulch!

    Stefanie - I love that quote! Cryptonomicon IS fantastic. I find excerpts I want to share on almost every page!

    The Guild has to grow on you. The first episode did not do it for me, but after a couple of episodes, I was hooked on the characters.

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  4. Beautiful photos! I'm kind of envious. There's something in the air that gives me sneezing/coughing fits, so my plants are still sitting on the porch. I can't stay outside long enough to get them into the ground!! Argh!

    Boy, reading Crytopnomicon is quite a time investment, isn't it?

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  5. Outstanding photographs!! I love the cleome and milkweed. I wonder if they'll grow up here in Nebraska.

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  6. HUGE fan of The Guild (did you see my Felicia Day post a week or so back?). She is so fun and creative and the things she is doing with Wil Wheaton are just great. I'm becoming a bigger fan of his all the time.

    Haven't watched any of the current season (2nd episode up tomorrow) of The Guild because I save it to watch with a friend. Season 5 was a lot of fun.

    Beautiful plants! Sorry to hear about your garden and the tornado last year. I keep hoping we won't get any weird late freeze that kills everything after having such a mild winter and super early spring.

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  7. Les - Thanks! Some milkweeds are hardy and some are frost tender, but can reseed each year.

    Cleomes are "half hardy" annuals, but reseed easily in our area.

    Carl - I must have missed your post about The Guild, will go back and check. What a fun series!

    The tornado was a couple of years ago, but I have not been as interested in this tiny garden as I was in the one that I'd put in years of work on. Until now!

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  8. Here is the link, JenClair.

    http://www.stainlesssteeldroppings.com/oh-what-a-day

    I'm so excited, my friend Jeff is coming over tonight and we are going to catch eps 1 and 2 of this season and watch some of the other stuff on Geek and Sundry.

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  9. An excellent philosophy indeed! Sad to lose a garden but its always a delight to begin a new one. Enjoy and maybe post more pics like these as it progresses!

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  10. Carl - I checked out the link...and spent a lot of time checking out your other links! I'm all caught up with this series and can't wait for new episodes!

    Anne - Can't beat books and gardens, can you?

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  11. I'm glad you enjoyed them. I was under the impression that the new season was soon to be coming out, but further research indicates that they haven't started filming yet.

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