Hopewell Hopes Went Well

Okay, feels very good to have been some tiny part of this success in preservation.  How gratifying!

Even more so, you can still contribute - and, now, without the fear that it will be for nothing.  Here is the PayPal-enabled link.

The Late Memorial

Today, the croton plant is down to its last leaf.  Gossamer has been slowly killing the plant almost since his advent, and it's the one plant he's been most successful in doing in since he's been here - though he does go at more than one of them.  It makes me sad, because that plant was such a full and beautiful one, and I really have tried to bring it back (and protect it from kit-kit).  I even moved it away from where her bed used to be (long ago - that bed is back, and it's Penelope's now).

*Le sigh*

There is a bit of irony, of course, in the memorial for a cat-hating dog being killed by a cat.  It's the one quasi-hateful act the boy has indulged in, too - though I know it's not actually emotional, it still is for me, rational or not.

When it was new ...

Siddy will still rest in peace.

I miss my sweet bebe'.

"Ancient Chinese Secret, Huh?"

Is that headline impossibly crass ... ?  Well, ignore it.  Because THIS is the latest coolest thing ever, and it insults precisely nobody's ethnic background, it just proves one more time that human beings didn't come up with almost anything we do very recently.

Agriculture in China dates back 23,000 years.  Amazing!

Also, I want yams now.

That Which We Call A Weed ...

... had other names - and uses - in times when plants meant more to us.  The History Girls have some very interesting info about weeds, weeders, and tools, in beds and in large crops.  Also some musing on how cultivating plants can be like writing, and a parting shot on culture itself.

Archaeological sites unearthing soil previously covered to some depth have suddenly bloomed with ancient varieties of plant that have lain dormant for as much as 2000 years – truly the living past.

(And we have a word on THAT - definitely *not* a weed, but a Judean date palm - here.)

Woad You Blue

This is an engagingly discursive, informative, and rather poetic piece about:  woad.  A must-read if you are an ancient-Anglophile, if you are interested in the history of textile, self-decoration, botanical chemistry (or alchemy ...) and dyes.  Or, for that matter - if you're just a science nerd, happen to like indulgent writing in service of a narrowly particular but interesting subject ... or love the color blue.

I enjoyed this piece a great deal, hope you will too.  "Indican surrender" ... the writing is so very good.  Evocative.  The voice reminds me of my brother at his best.

Alehoof

Jeff, my friend, it may be a pernicious weed, but darn it makes for an excellent and entertaining post!