Flower Friday : : Gazania

I wanted to show these interesting flowers in all phases of their life cycle since the color changes quite a lot . I have highlighted a new young bloom in the thumbnail. There are also some papyrus plants in the pot with them which are a bit past their prime.

Tim and Owen came last night. Tim had jury duty and the judge said that they would not be able to use work as an excuse. 'If we let people off for that there would be nobody left to serve on juries'.  Nevertheless he was relieved to be dismissed by the prosecuting attorney. 'Benefit of being an analytical  chemist. Prosecutor asked me if I was familiar with GC-MS* Gave me the opportunity to launch into a soliloquy about how you can get wrong results even when using validated methods and calibrated instruments.'

They set off this morning after Trail House to ride their mountain bikes in Annadel State Park and I decided I needed a pair of white tennis shoes. A company from Boston has been busy updating and sprucing up our local shopping  center. Many of the old stores didn't make it through Covid and I suspect others were encouraged to leave. Many new  businesses are being brought in.  I wound up wandering into a new shop called Amour Vert, ostensibly a clothing shop, but they also had quite a nice selection of white tennis shoes, not to mention some very nice clothing. Amour Vert (I love green) does profess to carry sustainably produced clothing. Perhaps there is hope yet for some decent places to shop in this town. I told the woman who was helping me that I wanted to throw everything in my closet away and start over!

It's been several years since I did the Marie Kondo number on my closet, and I think my purchases today might spur me on to get started on that. For those who don't remember Marie Kondo, she is the maven of reorganizing who recommended taking everything out of the closet and holding the items up one at a time and looking at them. If they don't 'spark joy' she suggests, get rid of them. She also had special ways of folding things, but I think I have forgotten them as everything seems to have reverted to untidy stacks.

Tim and Owen came back very excited by their adventures in Annadel. Tim said it was even better than they had expected, and they would definitely be back soon. It's nice to have a local attraction other than visiting the boring parents/grandparents. And Tim helped us solve the problem of the Peloton bicycle clips, allowing us to get in and out of them without worrying about breaking an ankle. It remains to be seen if John ever goes for a ride, but at least now he has no excuse.

 * Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry...I'm surprised I can even remember what those initials stand for....