Touch and go

Last week we were supposed to go to see the wild-flowers, and this week to Death Valley.

Things changed, and while we were in LA all week (and I got to attend Easter Mass, at which I was strangely disquiet, though the recessional; Handel's Halleuia Chorus did much to repair that lack of ease) we didn't have much chance to do more than check email. I spent yesterday catching up on the most recent 1000 entries on my f-list. I think that hit everything I felt the need to read.

There are some posts I want to address (issues relating to the Calif. court's decision which ruled the law prohibiting gay marriage unconstitutional) but that will have to wait, as we are leaving in an hour and a half to make the trip to the Carrizo Plain. I will take lots of pictures.

In the meanwhile I have a few things for y'all to look at.

Some pictures of the beach, near Montana de Oro at Beach Shots This will probably rotate too.

A couple of portraits, one self at Selfs

And a few more in the grab bag. Including a shot from a Dodgers vs. Yankees game (where, sadly the good guys lost, but at least A-Rod got his comeuppance, as he said Gagne was nothing to worry about, and then whiffed three strikes, straight down the pipe).

Here we have poppies in bloom, onions in bud (and they make lovely border plants, for just that reason... large globes of little flowers, and edible too) and alyssum everywhere.

I planted basil this morning. Basil seeds, it turns out, have a most interesting property. When one wets them (say to soak them before planting) they get a gelid coating. I suppose this is to collect water and make it easier to sprout in semi-dry conditions.

So with a pot which self seeded and three clusters planted around the edge of the pond section of the yard I ought to be able to make more pesto, pizza, cheese sandwiches and other such treats than any three people (that being the number for whom I am now cooking) can stand.

We brought a few bushels of composted manure with us, and I started to amend the front yard. I turn it into areas I've not yet planted, and then use the amended soil to top dress the onions and leeks.

All three grapes have leafed out, so that is no longer a worry (the Tokay took a while to start, the birdshit grape took a long time to actually burst the buds, but I wasn't really worried about it. The Toakay took off last week, and the birdshit started the day we got back).

With the shallots, bunching onions, chives, garlic and leeks around the feet of the grapes the barrels are looking good.

The Dill is growing, I have three kinds of rosemary and parsely, two of oregano and thyme. A pair of lavenders, and thymes, as well as french tarragon. I want both savorys, some marjoram, and maybe some lemon grass. Curry plant might be nice, and I'll try a potted bay again. There are others I might plant, just to have visual variety, chervil, and sorrel.

I also planted thirty-forty leeks, and some carrot tops (I don't really need the roots, but I like to use the tops in my fines herbes for soups and stocks) so the yard looks better. The neighbors across the street say we're the first people to take a real interest in the yard, and they like it. They were also kind enough to take a couple of bushels of crushed quartzite off our hands (it used to be in the front, when Alexa bought the place, five years ago).

And while I've been doing this the Painted Ladies have been flying north up the street. A few at a time, or a couple of dozen but it never stops. It's like being a rock in a stream, and seeing the flotsam and jetsam wash around me, past the cars and over the houses. Sometimes they stop on the flowers.

AFA Poll

The AFA has a poll, related to a case in Colorado which involves questions of religion and jury decision.

The sound bite is the jurors were instructed to consider (as Colo. law requires) moral factors in recommending the sentence (the verdict had been rendered). Several of them used biblical verses to argue that death was not only justified, but required.

Fred Phelps The Slacktivist has a great post (he's an evangelical Christian) on the subject. Be sure to read the comments.

He also raises a point; those who are opposed to the death penalty are routinely denied the right to sit on juries in captial cases. I wonder if one could argue religious discrimination (which is the underlying thrust of the AFA Poll).

So, the poll is located here Should the Bible be banned from the jury room? (I don't title them). Right now the ratio is 1,000 to one, in favor of it being allowed in.