Florilegium II

Lavender and a butterfly--two of my favorite things! Add a bee, a puppy, a chocolate shake, a stack of magazines, and Bach's Unaccompanied Cello Solos (plus my hubby, of course!), and I'm good to go!

Florilegium I

Crazy busy with work again this week, so a week of flower pix for your enjoyment--look closely: there are bound to be bees in many of the shots. I am mildly obsessed with bees and could watch them all day. These are, I believe, bumblebees rather than Apis mellifera, the honey bee. The flower, of course, is echinacea.

Tallulah-Palooza Friday

Bonus edition: two views of Miss Tallulah Mae in a lei. Here she looks mildly perturbed but game enough. Love the insouciant head angle and ear lift.
















In this photo, she's thinking, "Laugh away, humans. Laugh away..."

Aloha!

Tots Across America

What happens when a bunch of librarians (and several spouses) sit in a lovely French restaurant and begin to talk about other culinary experiences? The talk naturally turns to Tater Tots, and an idea takes hold: The Great Tater Tot Pledge. We all agreed to have a meal involving Tater Tots on the same day, each in our respective time zones. American ingenuity at work--behold how four different households chose to incorporate the Tots (beloved of children everywhere whose parents are going out to dinner and leaving them with babysitters) into their repasts.

We start in the East, in Virginia (at left). A simple and elegant presentation of the Tots.
















Our Kentucky representative--yay, Kentucky, my home state!--chose a much more minimalist approach. And who can argue with the simplicity of Tater Tots and Diet Coke, really?

The Iowa crowd partook of a different fizzy beverage. Check out their wide array of condiments. They also get extra points for having used a George Foreman grill.






















It being the hippie West Coast, the Californians had veggie burgers with organic ketchup.


















Tater Tots have come a long way since school lunch days. Check out the Ore-Ida website . . . Tots now come in shapes, flavors, and Extra Crispy (we're trying those when next the Tater Tots Across America Club convenes!). And there's even an Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Nascar car driven by Jon Wood; unfortunately, the car doesn't look like a giant Tater Tot on wheels . . .

Bon appetit!

Edited: I had this post up twice, so I deleted one of them--and all the photos disappeared from this one. ARGH!!! Clearly, I need to go out and get a copy of Blogging for Dummies ASAP.

Red, White, and Blue

Exhibit A














Exhibit B












Exhibit C

Washington Slept Here

Literally: Scenes from Mount Vernon.
I'm always fascinated by historic homes and sites, and Mount Vernon is a doozy. The "mansion," as it's called, is nice, but it's the grounds and outbuildings that are truly wonderful. I'm amazed that the property is owned and run by the Mt. Vernon Ladies' Association, as it has been since 1860 when they bought the house and grounds for $200,000. And they still operate it today--not the National Park Service or the National Trust, but the Mt. Vernon Ladies' Association.

This picture is taken from the side of the house; to the right is the Potomac River.






This is the lovely view from . . .













... here, on the back veranda. Nice! I can just imagine sitting here to watch day slip into night, then watching the lightning bugs flash.











This, I believe, is flax. There is a small demonstration area with various displays about agriculture at Mt. Vernon, including heritage breed sheep and cattle, and a reconstruction of a 16-sided barn devised by Washington to thresh wheat.








I had an earnest chat with this sweet mule.













And I strolled in these lovely, lovely gardens and counted myself fortunate that I wasn't wearing period clothing in the hot and muggy June weather.

I also thought about all of the incredibly hard work it took to maintain this property back at the end of the 18th century, and I thought about the many slaves who lived and died there.

All in all, a wonderful day--there were areas on the property where I didn't encounter any other tourists (in this garden, if you can believe it) , and I could truly imagine myself transported back to another age. History--it's cool!

The Travelogue Continues

Our DC hotel . . . well, if you can't say anything nice, show a detail of the very lovely mosaic floor in the lobby.











This darling young man was part of a pick-up band playing one evening at Dupont Circle; they all played brass instruments, except one tiny little girl (just visible at right) who "played" tambourine--mostly she wore it around her neck. Too cute!








Of course, Washington is full of marvelous museums (I can't recommend the Freer and the Sackler highly enough--gorgeous art and artifacts, uncrowded, and great gift shops).
I went the the American Art Museum and saw an exhibition by the Alabama-born photographer and sculptor William Christenberry, whose work I've always admired. Right next to his galleries was a fantastic show of folk art from the museum's collection, including this piece by James Hampton. Look closely: that's cardboard, tin foil, and sundry other materials. Amazing in person . . .

A sleeping lion outside the Corcoran . . .













Street art near Dupont Circle . . .

Stay tuned: trips back in time, and some gardens.