New Math

I'm sorry. These have probably been around the world several times via the internet, but I still find them funny. I think kids should get some sort of credit for at least trying to be a smart ass. Sure beats a blank page and the sound of crickets.

And my personal favorite:

Which one's yours?

First Call for Frost

I heard the first frost warning for NoVa on the radio this morning. Time to bring in the plants from the patio. They really don't do well inside my house. I get so little light and it's so dry. They do o.k. to begin with, but by the spring they are barely clinging to life. I get them back outside as fast as I can. I can bring the prayer plant to my office, and maybe the Swedish(?) ivy, but my office is in the interior of my building and I get no natural light. This reminds me of an old friend of mine. She was an attorney, back when she was working full-time, and every day she would come home at the end of the work day with a red nose. Kind of like mine gets after a glass of wine. We would tease her about her apparently liquid lunches, but the reality was, she was allergic to the flourescent lights. Who knew? Anyway, I once had an enormous Christmas cactus that died after a school year here in my office. Made me very sad. I thought the flourescent lights would have been enough, but it wasn't. I miss having living green things in my work space, other than the germs that come from all these kids, that is. Maybe I'll get a grow-light and set up a little indoor garden area.

Golden Globes of Goodness

Kathleen- thanks again for the seedling. What took so long to really settle in is an enormous plant now, with thousands of what I've dubbed Golden Globes of Goodness. It's about done for the season now, but I hesitate to uproot it. There are still some flowers, can you believe it?

There are other gardening successes this year, though much more ornamental. This is a giant terra cotta pot on the front patio. The impatiens were beautiful this year.

I love the pink and green sweet potato vine. It made itself at home, climbing in and through the English holly that borders two sides of the patio. The hens and chicks wintered in this strawberry pot. I wonder if they'll make it again this year?

Here's Miss Molly who couldn't resist the sunshine. That's the English holly behind her, though I don't think you can see the sweet potato vine here.

The succulent pot did quite well too. I'm told the agave will not winter, but since I have no place to put it under cover, it will be on its own. Maybe I can muster enough resources to cover it in burlap. Would that help? The little feather number at the bottom of the pot is very prolific.

Here's the whole front tableau-- walking stick tree, succulent pot, herbs on the left behind the rain gauge.

The window boxes are still full and beautiful. I kinda had in mind to get more creative with these this year, but again, the impatiens really filled out nicely. There's not a lot of sun.

The roses did quite well this year too. This is one of my Mr. Lincoln bushes. I got several spindly little specimens from a neighbor. I didn't think they'd make it-- they'd been languishing in the shade of a garage for years. They really took off, producing lots of sweetheart pink flowers, but I've found that they're a climbing variety. I need to rig some sort of trellis and/or move them.

That's all for today's gardening report. Soon enough it will be leaf raking time!