There were buses and cars coming from the south. There was a large truck hauling a trailer with a backhoe coming from the north, and a line of vehicles backed up behind it. There was all the usual traffic on the highway. I was sitting in a driveway crosswise to the side street with the mower on the trailer.
Let's just say I had time to call Marie and chat before I got out on the road.
Got home. It started right up. Couldn't get it in gear. Checked the lever you need to move to drive vs. push it. It was fine. Darn thing wouldn't go in gear. Felt like an idiot. Texted the fixit guy. Parking brake was on. OK... in the three years I've owned this mower, I've never yet been able to get the parking brake to work. Got it released. Put the mower away. Still can't get the brake on. Do I feel dumb?
Everything is too wet to mow any today, but I am pretty sure I'll be able to mow one more time before the snow hits, which is my goal. Yeah!
I'm feeling smarter about plants. I'm almost done with the 2010 Flower Show pictures. With all the plants in my database, I have about 210 genera so far, and about 360 different plants. I have to say "about" because I'm not quite done with the Flower Show, and I could identify a few more than that. I have that many for sure.
Sound like a lot? Ha! There are over 2000 plant genera, and the estimate for the number of species is 391,000 with 2000 new ones being described every year (mostly in underexplored places of the world).
No, I'll never remember all of them. Hopefully, the ones that I see most often (in addition to the plants I own or are native here).
I'll show you three that look similar- succulents with thick overlapping leaves that aren't related at all. The first is Haworthia viscosa. Native to South Africa.
Then a hybrid called 'Buddha's Temple.' It is a Crassula, otherwise generally known as a jade plant. This was created in 1959 by plant tinkerers. You won't find it in the wild.
I'll bet some of you have heard of this one. It's Monkey Puzzle Tree, Araucaria araucana. Native to Chile and Argentina.
Closer to home, The bloody cranesbill geranium is still bringing some late-season joy.
Edited, worked on projects. No writing for the book... am working out a plot monkey puzzle in my head.
 | See Once More Unto the Breach |
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