velma.org

"I have need of the sky. I have business with the grasses. I will up and away at the break of day to where the hawk is wheeling lone and high and where the clouds drift by."   - Richard Hovey, 1894-1961

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

What kind of day has it been

That's the name of the season finale of West Wing, which we just watched. If any of you know the show and know me, you might predict that the suspense of the ending would drive me nuts! You're absolutely right.

So, I did what I had to do. In the absense of a last chapter to read that will tell me everyone's alright, I googled "west wing season two episode synopsis." Because truely, I likely wouldn't sleep well if I didn't know that Jed, Charlie, CJ, Toby, Sam, Josh, Leo and Zoe were all going to be ok.

I know that "They're actors! It's make believe!" which Mark just kindly reminded me of -- again.

But! But...

I think we just have to accept that my abnormal ability to suspend disbelief is going to perpetually bother Mark. On the other hand, his ability to sleep well into the day will cause me envy in perpetuity. So, it's even, right?


Best show evah! and Thank you, Google.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Conservatory of Flowers



Yesterday, I went to the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Check out this satellite image of the Park. Golden Gate park is approximately three miles long and a half mile wide (1,017 acres).

"The Coservatory is whitewashed to reduce the light intensity adn heat load as well as to maintain the historical appearance. The buiding has 16,800 window panes nestles within a grid of 100 arches crafted from redwood and Douglas fir. The Conservatory's upper dome weighed 14.5 tons when it was craned onto the lower dome on January 10, 2003. This is the oldest wood and glass, Victorian style conservatory in North America."


This picture is of the underside of a fern. The dark, little dots contain the spores that will disperse and start new ferns.

"The Conservatory displays over 1,750 species of plants native to dozens of countries including Borneo, Brizil, Costa Rica, Ghana, Philippines and many more."



I had a close encounter with a carnivorous plant!





This is for Dakota.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

The wedding club

Last night, I went to my high school boyfriend's wedding. They had a lovely ceremony and a fun party. It was nice to see a couple of the other people there that I went to high school with. Will is engaged, too, to a lady that dances - so I like her. Our table for dinner was fun - all the crazy dancers - so we had a good time with that. The cake was delicious! Everything was beautiful and appeared flawless - which means that Kathi SOOOO deserves her honeymoon!

Other engagements:
Denice and Alex (Date: November 2007)
Adam from DC (Date: TBD)
Peter and Amy (Date: June 2007)
Will and Dancer lady (Date: TBD 2007)
Laura and Bean (Date: Sept. 30)
Liesle and Partner (Date: Sept. 30)
and, of course, Mark and me (Date: Oct. 7)

Recent weddings:
Justin and Kathi
April and Matt
Jess and Jeff

There seems to be a rash of this going around! So, watch out!

In the meantime - check out MarkandVelma.net!

Garden update for Jen

It's not worth a picture. Of all the seeds I planted, only one chard plant came up. The bulbs came up, blossomed and were pretty, but they're done now. I wasn't able to make time for it this spring. Too much other stuff...