Accelerated Time on the Flower Clock

For a world in the throes of climate change we are having a remarkably "normal" June here in Portland. The mornings are dark and gloomy and full of glare and the afternoons are either like that too or beautiful. Today we are having rain squalls. I was glad to have my rain pants on over at the track just a little while ago.

We are getting ready to run away for a few days to Camp Sherman. I can't even begin to say how much I am looking forward to the get away. Oh yeah.

Daisies and Lilies and Summer Oh My

We are just short of hydrangea on the flower clock as we move closer and closer to summer here in the Northern Hemisphere.

The fleet is in, we watched the sailors deploying out to Voodoo Donuts and the old town bars last night on the way home from my yoga class. The hookers were definitely ready. It was interesting to watch. Lots of female naval officers this year.

Both S. and Kes have fallen in the last two days. I am blaming it on allergens and the older inner ear. No more falls guys, okay?

All the work my teacher Olga is doing with videos and her online sequencing program seems to be paying off. Her latest video is here.
 

Perfect in the Language of Flowers

I need to learn all the Spanish terms for basic body parts, directions, and points of reference so I can give some instruction to my caregiver students that speak limited English. I am going to try Duolingo which is so cool. While one is learning a new language one is also helping translate all sorts of things on the web.

Not that I have time...

I am going to do this fun 5K walk/run on Saturday morning. It's a way to get my activity in early in the day and I get a whopping 75 points for participating from my work wellness incentive program. Sweet!

The Wild Heart Indeed

I went back for this shot this afternoon. I had noticed the poppies coming home on the bus from the store on Saturday but they are master light twisters and I was not happy with the shots I took Saturday at all.

"He was alone, unheeded, near to the wild heart of life.” James Joyce said that. :)

The Lady of the Lines was Marie Reiche. I have been thinking about the Nazca Lines a lot lately and it wasn't until I posted the poem yesterday over on my sister blog Meander and was walking across the river that it occurred to me that  poems have lines too. Duh. 

Life is full of mysteries.

Some More Green

I love the mash up of the clarity and the blur in this shot I just took across the street in the wild garden of the house no one lives in. I thought the page needed some more green.

Not sure if you can only hear this radio magazine of TED Talks here in the United States but I am enjoying the show very much.

Oh and one more link for Valerie June, she is playing here tonight at Waterfront Park. At first I wasn't sure but I have decided I adore her. :)

Onions and Asparagus Related??? Get Friendly with the Monocots

Picking up some fresh asparagus at the farmers market this weekend I starting thinking about what family it belongs to, like birds have families based on genetic similarities...

Turns out the taxonomy of this glorious spring vegetable has a story. Onions and Lilies and Aloe Vera and Agave used to all be lumped under Lilaceae. A story with a poem in it I bet.

Onions have recently been moved to Amaryllidaceae and asparagus to Aparagaceae. 

Whew! I am allergic to onions but that doesn't mean I can't photograph them. :)

Always It Is the Color

I went back for this shot of an orange rhododendron. For me it is always about the color. Right now I am looking out the window at all the various shades of green on all the street trees and the white and red rhodies planted out there.

This weekend other than teaching I am very much looking forward to puttering and hanging out with my cat man Sam, who is the very best color of orange there is. :)