Pretty picture: bumblebee on Gaillardia

We went to Iowa City yesterday. I'd hoped to find exciting new stuff to show y'all, but instead it was just the same old stuff, and so now here I am again, trying to write a blog post at the very last possible minute. (Seriously, folks: this never happens. Two trips outside the house in one week? Craziness. Total granny-slapping insanity.)


So that's why I didn't reply to anybody yesterday. On the plus side, I saw the above little vignette of bumblebee and Gaillardia 'Oranges and Lemons.' I'd heard of 'Oranges and Lemons' somewhere (someone else's blog, probably, or else Twitter) but hadn't seen it personally before yesterday. The ex-job didn't carry it when I worked there. It seems nice. And obviously the bumblebees approve.

I also reached the end of a watering cycle yesterday, so I now have maybe two days in which to really buckle down on the writing. Wish me inspiration, 'cause things will get crazy again around Sunday and Monday.

Pretty pictures: Gaillardia cvv.

Had a semi-eventful day yesterday, so I didn't make as much progress on the blog as I had intended. Spent most of the morning with a headache, and then when that passed, the husband and I went to Iowa City to see District 9 (the short review: lots of gore, but not such that I found it really obnoxious. Fun to discuss afterward. I know it's cliche to say, but the special effects were really good. Ending maybe a little too on the nose, but a sci-fi/action film that had clearly had someone thinking carefully about it at one point. So I liked it.), and then we got groceries and came home.

Once home, we watched the second of the Left Behind movies (from the Left Behind series of books, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins), Tribulation Force. It was from the library, for those of you who are wondering; I wouldn't pay money to watch it. Tribulation Force was not as good as District 9. Way fewer aliens, average to poor special effects, and a plot that's not really believable in any of its details at all (the writing, plot, and theology of the Left Behind books have been slowly and painstakingly dismantled by Fred Clark over at Slacktivist for many years now, a blog you should be reading if you are not already). It would, however, form the basis for a fantastic drinking game, and you'd only need one rule: take a drink every time someone says "Buck Williams." Hammered by the third act, I promise.

Anyway. So I didn't get a chance to do a whole lot of work on the blog, which means just a couple pictures of Gaillardias to keep you going until tomorrow. I have no particularly strong feelings about Gaillardia one way or another, it turns out, which is why I've been sitting on these pictures until I had movies to critique.

Gaillardia 'Tizzy.' I will say that this is my least favorite, of the Gaillardia cvv. I've seen to date. It looks incomplete.

Gaillardia 'The Sun.' Better. Though I don't like it as well as G. 'Arizona Sun.'

So close, yet so far away. . . .

From Not Always Right, a website I recently discovered. I've been reading through the archives (avidly!) and found this gem:

GARDEN CENTER | TORONTO, ON CANADA

(I overheard a coworker trying to help someone choose a plant.)

Coworker: “Hi, how can I help you today?”

Customer: “I’m looking for a nice plant for the front of my house.”

Coworker: “Alright, we have a number of excellent options to choose from. What kind of sun exposure does the spot get?”

Customer: “Well… it’s light all day, then dark at night.”

Me: *losing hope*

If I'd known about this site sooner, I could have submitted a lot of very similar conversations. You would be astounded. (No, seriously. It's actually kind of depressing sometimes.) My favorite, though, is still the conversation I saw in a Garden Web thread, where "tasdevil" (also from Ontario, so possibly the same person, or the same garden center, at least) related this one:

Me: What direction does your window face?
Customer: To the left.

Unrelated picture of Gaillardia aristata 'Arizona Sun,' for decorative purposes.