sparkles and sunshine and purple and flowers

My spearmint heuchera flowered with crazy tall stalks and pretty teeny little pink flowers. I didn't even notice until I bought a new one and saw that all the ones in the nursery had these stalks and then went home and saw mine. Once I saw them I loved them and how they looked against the red bleeding hearts.

Now the purple heuchera is blooming. It has been blooming for a bit but the blooms were wider today and the sun hit it just right so that it glowed. Then the sun moved to the right and made the heuchera on the right glow.  That is my native honeysuckle in the back. You can also see the beautiful, untouched-by-rabbit head of lettuce. 

I am so glad Kate picked purple heuchera. I love how it looks with the greens. 

I don't think bragging about my garden is gauche. I think bragging about my $700 million yacht with gold plated taps and two, not one, but two helicopter pads would be gauche. I read it can cost up to $75 million a year for upkeep so definitely I'm going to sell it, get every bench in the Portland Botanical Gardens named after me, and save all that money on upkeep.

Iceland. Earthquakes. Daily. Maybe a new volcano. The Iceland National Security Council is forming a response team. Maybe a volcano in September? 

In the extra is a lovely picture of Leo in his yard asking for Samuel to come in. 

Another Russian general was killed. 

Marriott is pulling out of Russia because sanctions are making it too difficult to stay and do business. 

Sergey Lavrov is Russia's top diplomat and a total liar. We're not planning to attack other countries. We didn't attack Ukraine. Everyone was out of the hospital. Today Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Montenegro closed their airspace to him. He was trying to visit Serbia. "Unprecedented." "Hostile action." Ha. 

Also very funny - Russia sanctioned more Westerners, telling them they aren't welcome to visit Russia. (Guess who still is not on the list?)

There is a cafe, called Protaginst, open in Kharkiv. Total mind trip. Bombs fall, but you can go in and have coffee and a meal. It is a hipster cafe and if you go there you'll see soldiers with Kalashnikovs and you'll see cockapoos. One of the waitresses brings her chihuahua. They don't serve alcohol, because guns and alcohol don't mix. 

Places in Russia keep catching on fire. Now, some places caught fire before the war, but it has really increased lately. Now it is the regional parliament building in Tyumen, fuel depots, enlistment offices, a gunpowder factory,  an aerospace research center, and an industrial building. Gee.