Saturday, September 25, 2004

Alright, I've finally loaded images without crashing my computer - which I think resulted before from my failure to edit any of the huge files I was trying to upload. These are the shots I was trying to put up to demonstrate how lobelia thrives most when presented with the challenge of reaching for light, given the same growing circumstances otherwise. Full sun, kills: You can see the three "control" plants side by side, with the one in the center having to grow to get sun, the one on the right in shade, and the other in partial sun. And lobelia on the porch, reaching for the sun:      10:19:50 PM

One of the things that gives me a slight glimmer of hope in Iraq are the men and women on the ground, if only we listened to them more, and they heard less from our civilian leadership. They are the ones who most want to end the conflict, have the greatest immediate stake in ending the conflict, and the ones, at this point, with the only potential to do so. I doubt many folks on the ground would have recommended, as the White House and Pentagon did, assaulting Falluja. Nor would military brass, the upper ranks, have recommended a policy of aggressive "containment." We're just poking our sticks in hornet nests, and we forget, despite our size and power, that the hornets outnumber us about 15 to 1. I'm thinking I may institute a new tradition of eulogizing friends once a year. That becomes a good assessment of how close you've maintained a relationship, ones that you wish you had more time to spend with, ones you maybe wish you spent a little less, judged by what you'd say on the spot as a toast at a wedding, a few words at a funeral, a retirement party, authentically, from the heart. Knowing cats by the sounds of their purr is a pretty good bet that they've made a permanent place in the home, even more so than the naming. 8:39:26 PM