"It was imprudent of us, in the first place, to become authors. We could have become something regular, but we managed not to.
We were lucky, but we were also determined." Roy Blount Jr

"I don’t change the facts to enhance the drama. I think of it the other way round, the drama has got to fit the facts,
and it’s your job as a writer to find the shape in real life."
Hilary Mantel

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Currently In Bloom

Another cold and rainy day, so I won't nip out to my garden, where the delicate and fragrant jonquilla narcissus has opened.

Instead, I'm featuring blooms from the screened porch.

Over a week ago I potted up these sweet williams, dianthus barbatus.



Also in the pot are stargazer lily bulbs. The colours are much the same and if I can manage to get both the dianthus and lilies blooming at once, what a display it would be! Here's hoping.

My potted jasmine is blooming most prolifically at the moment. The plant grows ever larger, from a cutting I took a couple of years ago from the mother plant--which has grown at my parents' home for as long as I can remember. In their climate, it's an outdoors specimen. Here, it winters indoors and spends spring and summer on the porch. The star-shaped blossoms are wonderfully scented.




As I sit here awaiting the snowshoe hare's next foray through the front or back yard, I'm listening to my Dublin friend Scott's radio programme on live streaming audio. So strange, being in this quiet remote location, hearing reports of dreadful rush hour traffice round Phoenix Park, interspersed with discussion of whether breastfeeding mothers are more "maternal" than non breastfeeding moms. Scott, father of quite a large brood himself, is moderating the debate on the "breast police" with great aplomb.

Apparently the Taioseach will address the U.S. House of Representatives tomorrow--his swan song, as he's stepping down in a week's time.


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