The Sunday Wrap-Up . . .
A potpourri of stuff as I wrap up the week . . . :-)
I forgot to title my post yesterday :-D And I'm sure you've noticed that I'm not posting quite so often. Now that NaBloPoMo is over, I'm kicking back a bit :-)
Here's what's going on here today:
Yes, it's the first snow of the season. It's slightly above freezing, and the ground is not cold yet. But it's absolutely coming down :-) This is what it looked like about 30 minutes later:
Whether it sticks or not is anyone's guess. I kind of doubt it, because it's going to be back up near 40 on Monday and Tuesday - but it looks like I'm going to have to break out a hat and gloves by Thursday . . . Winter might finally be here.
Here is something I have learned: If you use a water bottle - like a SIGG or Klean Kanteen, you should invest in the bottle brush. This is the SIGG bottle that I keep at work. It's liter size. I rinse it out with soapy water from time to time there, but God only knows what's been growing in there over time . . . I figured it was time to bring it home on Friday, and I put it in the dishwasher yesterday. It didn't get it clean. So, I broke out the brush, and that made all the difference.
Here's a little semi-mini that I have been trying to grow for forever. It's not that it's hard to grow, but this plant, Sassy Sister -
is a sport of a plant called Irish Flirt, which is basically this plant with a white/green blossom. I have grown both in my time as a grower, but Irish Flirt is probably one of my least favorite violets. In fact, when I was a brand new student judge - I think I was taking my second or third exam (back in the day in SoCal, judging school was offered every year and once I started, I took every school I could). The teacher was the wonderful Barbara Elkin.
In the final part of the test, you had to actually judge two plants, and this was one of the two. I learned a very important lesson that day - just because you don't particularly care for a plant personally, you cannot judge it more harshly than you would a plant you do "like." In fact, as judges we are taught to remove "like" from our vocabulary when we are judging.
Anyway - I judged it and turned in my test to Barbara. I was sitting quietly, feeling pretty proud of myself, when all of a sudden I heard, "Annie!" I looked up and Barbara beckoned me forward, handed me my test back, and said, "I think you'd better take another look at that plant."
Because of my own bias, I had judged it as a red-ribbon plant when it was a blue. Good lesson taught by a master. :-)
When I say I've tried to grow this plant forever, it's only because I would get a leaf and would put it down, nurture it, and wait for it to bloom. And every time, it would bloom white/green and I would have Irish Flirt on my hands. :-D If I'm not mistaken, I actually bought a plantlet of Sassy Sister back in April when I drove down to judge in St. Louis. I brought it home and took some leaves from it and crossed my fingers.
Success!!!
I've managed to read a few books and watch some Netflix in the past few weeks. Yay Me! I've also realized that I don't think I kept up very well with this particular chronicle.
I just finished The Fiery Cross, which is the fifth book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I listened to it on Audible. This week I started listening to the next book - which is finally now one I didn't read initially, A Breath of Snow and Ashes.
In November I read The Fifth Rule of Ten. This series is written by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay. It's about a private investigator who used to be a Buddhist monk! It's really good!
In November I also finished a book called Black Rain. This was one of my Amazon Prime Kindle First books (you get one free one every month). It took me awhile to get into the story, but I eventually found myself completely sucked in. It's set in a dystopian near future. A very interesting story.
I've started a book, While You Were Mine. It's set in the 1940's, one of my favorite time periods. So far the story seems a little formulaic - I guess we'll see how it goes :-) Another Kindle First book.
The book links are to my Goodreads pages - I don't know if they will work, so if they don't, please feel free to let me know and I'll go back to linking in Amazon.
From Netflix - I'm currently watching a Canadian series called Murdoch Mysteries. I wanted to watch because the star, Canadian actor Yannick Bisson, was in Joan Anderson's film, Year by the Sea and I liked him very much. The show is a police procedural - set in 1895 (when the series begins)
I watched both Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen - thrillers with Gerard Butler. The latter was very much a shoot-em-up - well, they both are, but the second seemed like that's about all it was, but the premises of both films were interesting, and I liked them both.
Central Intelligence - with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart. Not my normal film choice, but it was funny and I really liked it. Just the visual of the two of them is pretty hilarious.
Eddie the Eagle - great story of a young man who became the British Olympic ski jumping champion in the 1988 Winter Olympics!
I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal - a documentary. Very powerful and very important.
Miracles from Heaven - with Jennifer Garner. It's the story of a young girl who is cured after a bad accident. It was uplifting.
It's still snowing . . . Have a little 70's flashback . . .
I forgot to title my post yesterday :-D And I'm sure you've noticed that I'm not posting quite so often. Now that NaBloPoMo is over, I'm kicking back a bit :-)
Here's what's going on here today:
Yes, it's the first snow of the season. It's slightly above freezing, and the ground is not cold yet. But it's absolutely coming down :-) This is what it looked like about 30 minutes later:
Whether it sticks or not is anyone's guess. I kind of doubt it, because it's going to be back up near 40 on Monday and Tuesday - but it looks like I'm going to have to break out a hat and gloves by Thursday . . . Winter might finally be here.
Here is something I have learned: If you use a water bottle - like a SIGG or Klean Kanteen, you should invest in the bottle brush. This is the SIGG bottle that I keep at work. It's liter size. I rinse it out with soapy water from time to time there, but God only knows what's been growing in there over time . . . I figured it was time to bring it home on Friday, and I put it in the dishwasher yesterday. It didn't get it clean. So, I broke out the brush, and that made all the difference.
Here's a little semi-mini that I have been trying to grow for forever. It's not that it's hard to grow, but this plant, Sassy Sister -
is a sport of a plant called Irish Flirt, which is basically this plant with a white/green blossom. I have grown both in my time as a grower, but Irish Flirt is probably one of my least favorite violets. In fact, when I was a brand new student judge - I think I was taking my second or third exam (back in the day in SoCal, judging school was offered every year and once I started, I took every school I could). The teacher was the wonderful Barbara Elkin.
In the final part of the test, you had to actually judge two plants, and this was one of the two. I learned a very important lesson that day - just because you don't particularly care for a plant personally, you cannot judge it more harshly than you would a plant you do "like." In fact, as judges we are taught to remove "like" from our vocabulary when we are judging.
Anyway - I judged it and turned in my test to Barbara. I was sitting quietly, feeling pretty proud of myself, when all of a sudden I heard, "Annie!" I looked up and Barbara beckoned me forward, handed me my test back, and said, "I think you'd better take another look at that plant."
Because of my own bias, I had judged it as a red-ribbon plant when it was a blue. Good lesson taught by a master. :-)
When I say I've tried to grow this plant forever, it's only because I would get a leaf and would put it down, nurture it, and wait for it to bloom. And every time, it would bloom white/green and I would have Irish Flirt on my hands. :-D If I'm not mistaken, I actually bought a plantlet of Sassy Sister back in April when I drove down to judge in St. Louis. I brought it home and took some leaves from it and crossed my fingers.
Success!!!
I've managed to read a few books and watch some Netflix in the past few weeks. Yay Me! I've also realized that I don't think I kept up very well with this particular chronicle.
I just finished The Fiery Cross, which is the fifth book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I listened to it on Audible. This week I started listening to the next book - which is finally now one I didn't read initially, A Breath of Snow and Ashes.
In November I read The Fifth Rule of Ten. This series is written by Gay Hendricks and Tinker Lindsay. It's about a private investigator who used to be a Buddhist monk! It's really good!
In November I also finished a book called Black Rain. This was one of my Amazon Prime Kindle First books (you get one free one every month). It took me awhile to get into the story, but I eventually found myself completely sucked in. It's set in a dystopian near future. A very interesting story.
I've started a book, While You Were Mine. It's set in the 1940's, one of my favorite time periods. So far the story seems a little formulaic - I guess we'll see how it goes :-) Another Kindle First book.
The book links are to my Goodreads pages - I don't know if they will work, so if they don't, please feel free to let me know and I'll go back to linking in Amazon.
From Netflix - I'm currently watching a Canadian series called Murdoch Mysteries. I wanted to watch because the star, Canadian actor Yannick Bisson, was in Joan Anderson's film, Year by the Sea and I liked him very much. The show is a police procedural - set in 1895 (when the series begins)
I watched both Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen - thrillers with Gerard Butler. The latter was very much a shoot-em-up - well, they both are, but the second seemed like that's about all it was, but the premises of both films were interesting, and I liked them both.
Central Intelligence - with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart. Not my normal film choice, but it was funny and I really liked it. Just the visual of the two of them is pretty hilarious.
Eddie the Eagle - great story of a young man who became the British Olympic ski jumping champion in the 1988 Winter Olympics!
I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal - a documentary. Very powerful and very important.
Miracles from Heaven - with Jennifer Garner. It's the story of a young girl who is cured after a bad accident. It was uplifting.
It's still snowing . . . Have a little 70's flashback . . .
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Janice H.