Most Saturdays when I’m here I go walking in the botanical preserve on the hill above San Miguel with two ladies who’ve made it a weekly tradition for over a decade. Here are some shots from there:

WARNING: cause hallucination and hilarity

I do apologize, as this is a blatant “Avatar: The Last Airbender” reference.
For those of you not priviledged enough to have seen it, here is some youtubeducation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi-LOzzzui4
Don’t get used to me posting this often either all you out there in the ether, I just have nothing better to do with my time at the moment.
Thank You For Your Thyme!

I was looking for something to photograph today. I wanted some inspiration. I got it looking in my backyard at the Christmas Cactus. What changes it made in 2 days! I wanted to use the +2 macro filter with a very shallow depth of field. I am happy with the results.  I upped the green saturation a little and the contrast. I like what that did. I also like the angle of the sun lighting the leaves.

Willie and I had a very busy day today. We took the MGB up to Carson to get the radio fixed and the speakers replaced. The man said it would take 3 hours so we came back home (35 minute drive). As soon as we got home and were getting something to eat, he called and said it was ready. Oh well, at least it is done. I have to take some more photos of the MGB now that it is finished (almost). I have a canker sore on my tongue and it really hurts!

382/365

When I was watching Twilight for the first time, something really caught my eye: Yeah, Rob did, of course^^ But that’s actually not what I’m aiming at right now. No, what I want to talk about today is something else (also because we really talked loads about Rob lately, and we can’t risk the possibility of all this attention getting to his head, you know!!). I wanted to slaughter Cathy’s work some more go on about the really awful so-called “special-effects” in Twilight! Because they just pop up in regular intervals all the time and kind of make the whole thing more funny than it’s actually supposed to be. I mean, it’s such a good story, and then – well, along comes Cathy, and it just gets…. ridiculous!! But at least that means we can hope for some better effects in New Moon, put our trust in Chris Weitz. So, in honor to the premiere of New Moon, and Soul and me being stuck here having to wait 5 more days to see it, here a selection of our favourite “Awful Special Effects in Twilight” – and therefore, what we hope not to see again in New Moon!! Here we go:

1. First to be mentioned, the all time favourite: The “Glittering-in-the-Sun”-Effect!! It goes like this: Dramatic music, Edward in the woods, looking hot like ever, the atmosphere tense and spooky…and then Edward steps into the sunlight, we all know something meaningful is going to happen now, and then….

Edward sparkling in the sun!! Very attractive, and especially manly.

Well – he turns around, and you hear bells in the background!!Yap, bells. I mean, I can’t blame any guy who watches this and says “Gosh, that’s kind of gay!!”. Because it is. And what’s even worse – I noticed that most people who haven’t read the book before don’t even get the point of this scene! So I had to explain a couple of times that Edward is actually supposed to glitter in the sun, and not to “ring in the woods” or whatever^^

2. Edward’s “Take-Off-Scene”: The one in which Edward is running in the woods, carrying Bella on his back, and then suddenly – takes off!! Well, I know he’s strong and fast and stuff, but can he also fly now? Or I mean, what else is that supposed to be? He’s running, and running, and running…. and then he just leaves the ground, and even keeps moving his legs!! Aaaah, it’s so ridiculous!! Even Edward can’t look good (or at least not as good as usual^^) when he’s hanging around in the air paddling with his legs^^

3. In this context, the famous “Hold-on-tight-Spider-Monkey”-Scene: Honestly, “Spider-Monkey”!! Purlease!! That moment kind of destroyed my perfect picture of Edward (well at least for like 3 seconds), he just can’t say something that stupid!! Well no one should, actually, but especially not Edward^^ Or imagine, what else is he going to call Bella if they should (finally) ever end up in bed? His little Butterfly-Koala? Or his dear Bumblebee-Pony? Better not think about it^^ But what you should do: Look up “Spidermonkey” on urbandictionary, article no. 4….

4. The “Bella-as-Amateur-Model”-Scene. Where Bella steps into biology-class, and sees Edward for the first time!

Bella trying to look like a model...

So is it just me, or isn’t it just a bit to much: Bella walking in slow-motion, turning around graciously to face Edward (come on I thought she was supposed to be clumsy!!) and on top of it all, it just happens that there’s a ventilator in the background, blowing her hair enticingly around her face….!! I know, the scene’s supposed to show how Bella’s scent is being blown to Edward’s direction, and it’s very important for the plot, and blablabla, but actually it looks a lot more like some 12-year-old’s try to look like the woman on her mum’s latest issue of the Cosmopolitan.

5. And of course, the “My-Friend-the-Cactus”-Scene: Bella stepping out of Charlie’s car in Forks for the very first time, carrying her little cactus!! It’s actually not a special effect, yeah, but it’s a ridiculous scene that couldn’t be left out here^^

"Bella's Cactus", the new It-Accessory - Get one, NOW!!

And again, of course it’s got a deep meaning for the plot and is supposed to be symbolic for Bella’s former life in Arizona, but aaah….It’s a cactus!! And she carries it!! Like it was her new DKNY It-Bag, or the totally hip accessory everyone needs to have now…. And then, Soul even told me lately that there were apparently rumours about another cactus-scene being planned to appear in New Moon, in which Bella is actually talking to the cactus!! Well, sure. I mean, after Edward left… why not take the cactus instead?^^

So,  we’re excited about what we’re going to see in New Moon, and let’s hope for the best!!

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Off to send a little prayer in hope to safe me from another Spidermonkey-experience

ZeldaTheTwilightPrincess

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So did anyone else notice the multiple awful special-effects in Twilight? What else did you notice? Which one was your favourite? Or did you possibly like the Spidemonkey scene, and imagine yourself with Edward calling you this ever since…? Hmm well if you do, I think I don’t really want to know…. but maybe Soul wants to, she’ll laugh her head off, so tell me, anyway!! Go for it and leave a comment!!

(images: google)

Grandma and Grandpa generously flew us out to Arizona for the weekend.

It was a short, but sweet, getaway to the breathtaking Superstition Mountains.  We spent the weekend in the pool with the kids, soaking up as much sun as we could…hoping to pack some in our suitcases and bring home to Minnesota.  That sunshine stowaway plan didn’t work.  I couldn’t believe the thick fog we arrived home to.

While swimming in the pool with my children, and listening to my daughter’s enthusiasm over flying above the clouds and mountains, I pondered on what is really important in life to me. Stripped away of all my daily distractions and desires, I could clearly see it isn’t money or fame.  What I value more than ever are the small and simple moments of wonder and amusement with the people I love the most.

The little things in life matter to me now more than ever.  I know, cliche, but so very true.

Having a little black tea & musique française pow-wow with Zooey England, who departs from NYC in about a week for Seattle. While we reminisce and criticize our peers in secrecy, here’s a round-up of PYT’s utilizing the spiritual and psychological benefit of war paint in their ongoing battle against the social demons of the modern age (whether they realize it or not).

Sources from top left to right: bikinifetish@tumblr, strawberrylaces@tumblr, poofybird@tumblr, therewasrain.com, unknoen, justlikeraindrops@tumblr.

Some of my recent posts at Refinery29…

✖ The Best NYC Boutiques: SoHo, Part III of Our NY Shopping Guide Series

✖ Lighten Up! Jay Kos’ Spring 2010 Line Pushes Pastels For Men

✖ 19 Holiday Party Dresses To Help You Outshine Any Light Display

✖ Zac Posen Does Chic (and Cheap!) Sportswear for Saks

✖ RIP Daul Kim: The Best Editorial Moments of The Young Model’s Career

If you plan to walk down the aisle anytime soon, you should be aware that the flowers you carry might say more than you intended. That’s right; most flowers carry a meaning, or a special significance that has been passed down from generation to generation.

We can trace this back to the Victorian Era. It was improper in those days for a man to come out and tell a lady how he felt, so he would choose a flower with special meaning and send it her instead. Because the meaning of flowers was so well known, the woman receiving them understood the message as clearly as if it was written on a piece of paper.

As every flower lover knows, flowers have a language all of their own. Every sentiment can be expressed with flowers. Wedding flowers are no different. For instance, you wouldn’t want to have yellow carnations at your wedding if you knew that yellow carnations mean disappointment and rejection. Make sure you know what the flowers mean before you use them as your wedding flowers.

There is a reason that roses are the most popular choice of flowers for brides. A white rose stands for innocence, beauty and charm-just the traits every bride wants to portray. A bride that chooses red roses for her wedding flowers is sending a message of passion and of fiery love. If dark pink roses are used for a wedding, the couple is expressing a thankfulness that they found each other.

An ivy coloured Rose stands for fidelity in the marriage-something every new couple strives for. Pink roses mean perfect happiness but yellow roses mean jealousy. Sometimes, it’s not the colour that holds the meaning but the type. A tea rose means I’ll always remember you but a dried white rose means I would rather die than lose my virtue. Rosebuds means beauty and youth but roses signify secrecy and silence.

Roses aren’t the only flowers that hold meaning. Lilies are a very popular wedding flower. The most popular type of lily is the Calla Lily, which means beauty. Most lilies have beautiful meanings. The white lily means it’s heavenly to be with you while the yellow lily means I’m walking on air. Did you know that the day lily is the Chinese symbol for Mother? The tiger lily means wealth and pride.

Not all flowers have negative meanings; there are very few negative meanings for tulips. Tulips in general mean the perfect lover; this might be a good one to tuck into the buttonhole on his tux. Red tulips are a declaration of love while a yellow tulip means there is sunshine in your smile. If you are having a spring wedding, there is simply no better way to express your love for your future spouse than by carrying a bouquet of tulips. They are not only beautiful, but speak of an undying love.

There are some flowers you can just look at and assume you know what they mean. Never be too hasty in assuming anything. For instance, when you look at a cactus you would think that there had to be a negative meaning for it – wrong. A cactus means endurance and forever. This fits if you think about the cactus; they can survive anything.

There are so many different types of wedding flowers that no one could name them all but here are a few more. Peonies mean shame. Orchids are the Chinese symbol for many children.

No matter what wedding flowers you pick, no one is really going to know the meaning unless you tell them. Your wedding flowers, like your wedding, should be memorable and not based on superstition. Finding the meanings of flowers is like being superstitious about the groom seeing the bride in her wedding dress before the wedding. We make our own luck.

As you can see, the flowers that you choose for your wedding will definitely set the mood. Knowing that, before you select your flowers, determine what type of wedding and reception event you want to have. Once you do that, choosing the flowers will be a breeze.

Lamber de Bie

Dutch Master Florist

www.lamberdebie.com

Two non indigenous plants are flowering this week and are beautiful. (in pots) The christmas cactus and an orchid.
I planted more seedlings this week, cauliflower, beetroot, green pepper and black basil.
Michael is quite busy this time of the year, moving seedlings into new pots and selecting the keepers. All the millions of seeds on top of the fridge are almost ready to be planted out so he has to make space for them. The have to make space again for the new seeds that have to go on top of the fridge. We still have some beauties flowering like my favourite clivia that is only starting now.

We was deadheat

groundbound like chain fruit cholla cactus

in New Mexico desert,

stoned in starving rivers

that flowed nowhere. running

the parched cracked earth, wrapped in cotton quilts,

huddled beside the cold: the rooftop open

to the sky, rain pouring through summer

into snow while we watched

wondering who would come next

to take the spare room when there was no vacant bread.

And we didn’t know where we came from

or where we would go. When my mother fell dead,

the old white Westinghouse rocked the dark clay tiles,

pear preserves running everywhere in broken glass. And

all they could say was put some shoes on.

Be careful where you walk. And

we always knew how it happened.

Our lips pressed mute. No matter how far we wander,

those still nights snap us back.

I picked the splintered glass from her brow. It seemed

the honest thing to do,

since her eyes were closed and all.

One reason why we wanna see New Moon... click for maximum abs-enjoyment

This is it, the day we all waited for. Finally it has arrived. We made it through. So today we will celebrate the New Moon premiere! In case you don’t already know it, Zelda and I won’t be able to watch the movie until november 25th. But hey, don’t worry about us. We’re gonna make it. We still got each other. And five days pass pretty quickly… at least that’s what I keep telling myself. So just go to the cinema with all of your friends and enjoy Chris Weitz’ masterpiece. Heard me Chris? I called it a masterpiece, so you better not disappoint me. I’m sure you did a great job though. In your face Cathy Hardwicke! Okay, I got carried away, sorry! Back to New Moon. As we have to wait five more days, we will present you a “how we distract ourselves by writing New Moon top ten lists every day” special edition until we finally go to watch the movie on wednesday (YAY!). So here we go with the first one called “ten things we hope to see (again) in New Moon” (Yep, another top ten list for our collection):

"Hey cactus, purple's cool, right?"

1. Another cactus. Or maybe even the same from the first movie, we won’t be picky. But oh god, please let there be a nice little cactus.
2. An equivalent to “Purple’s cool”. Maybe Bella could finally wear the long khaki skirt and Alice could try to be nice and say something like “No Bella, you look…um…great. No really, khaki’s cool”.
3. More “Hey Arizona. How you likin’ da rain, girl?” from Mike Newton. Cause honestly, he owns that line. Who else could deliver it like Mike Welch did in Twilight? I was so dazzled, awesome. No, honestly.
4. Another proof that Billy Black is so “down with the kids”. Because his house so is “the hood” for all the unnaturally buff teenage Indians running around shirtless. Aka the werewolves.
5. An equivalent to the ultimate Carlisle “Animal Attack” stare-down.

supersexy Rachelle, I so wanna be her BFF...

6. Laurent rocking his dreadlocks once more. Before he gets killed by the wolves aka shape-shifters. How sad, he was my favorite of the original evil trinity (James,Victoria and Laurent).
7. Rachelle Lefevre as Victoria dazzling us with her great appearance. And absolutely awesome hair. I didn’t buy the “scheduling conflicts” story for one second btw! Heard me Summit? Eclipse will not be the same without her. I already miss you, Rachelle!
8. An equivalent to the famous “hold on tight spider-monkey” line. Cause we so need something to laugh about in New Moon.
9. The wolfpack running around shirtless for at least 98.3% of the movie. For no reason. Just because they look so smoking hot with all their amazing abs and muscles. So damn athletic. Wolfpack pride! Team Jacob! Oh, and Team Paul! (Yes, I am…kind of…)
10. Edward looking freakingly dazzling beautiful in the Volterra scene. Cause we so need to see Rob rock his unusual washboard abs. Which he kind of doesn’t have in real life but well… Doesn’t make any difference though (Name that quote and you’ll get a totally fake prize!). We’ll swoon over him anyway. Like we always do.

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Off to talk to my cactus about Rachelle… and awesome wolfpack-abs

Saveyoursoul

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What do you hope to see in New Moon? Any expectations? Do you already miss Rachelle as much as I do? Waiting to see the wolfpack-abs? I am! And I’m not even denying it… Or are you rather eager to see Rob’s amazing fake-abs instead? Whatever it is, leave us a comment or send us an e-mail! One of the lucky ones who are going to watch New Moon today? In case you are, I totally envy you… no offense intended, just sayin’…

(images: google)

Sometimes I wonder how much water goes into watering public green spaces in phx and other desert places because I see grassy green parks, not sandy or rocky brown cactus-filled areas — seems like such a waste of precious water. All that said, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy looking at all these colorful blooms!

newly found: phx perk: cactus flowers
Cactus flowers (Saguaros especially) are quite pretty and very rare because they only bloom once every so often, or so I’m told. I’ve never actually seen a big one! Sad.

Allosaurus meets aloes

Uncommon sights abound in the garden of our friend, Ann Plasker. She and her husband, Ed, have created a truly amazing environment at their home in Riverside. Before we became owners of the Rancho, Paul and I enjoyed having the Plaskers as our neighbors while living across town in the area behind the University and under the big ‘C’ mountain. We were privileged to be invited to see their grounds then, but hadn’t been by since moving. So, when we saw Ann at the UCR plant sale, and she mentioned that she had some plants she wanted to give us, I was excited to think we’d see their place again. These pictures are from that visit and are of just a small portion of the grounds: the cactus/succulent garden. I think you’ll agree, Ann’s garden is truly a sight to behold.

Gnarly gorgeousness with roadrunner

As I mentioned in the plant sale post, Ann’s botanic knowledge is encyclopedic. She constantly impresses with her use of the proper names of the plants she’s got in her garden. And, with the overwhelming variety she’s got on display it’s that much more remarkable. Tall stands of cactus like the one above, dazzle with not only their height but also with its unusual appearance.

Dragon tree extends a sharp welcome

All-time favorite, the dragon tree, makes its presence known and is even more striking than the last time I saw it. The writhing mass of leaves atop the stout trunk seems like something from prehistory and I find it almost hard to believe that something so fiercely beautiful exists so matter-of-factly in front of me.

Accessorizing; always important

Accenting all this wild cactus beauty is an assortment of interesting and delightful objects. In the picture above there’re everything from vintage ceramic electrical insulators to sun-bleached vertebrae. A rusted old hand plow completes a vignette that could only exist in Ann’s garden. On the right, small metal tags on skewers display the hand-written names of the cactus and other plants. These helpful little reminders appear everywhere here and elsewhere on the grounds. Look closely, you’ll see them in virtually every picture.

An inviting prickly path

Rocks, gravel, decomposed granite, shards of broken pottery, they all have a place in the cactus garden. Junk, sculpture, bits of this and some of that, it all perfectly complements the wildly natural look of the plants. The image of Ann, who’s tiny and with a thick cloud of white hair, working under the prickly branches of these magnificent cactus specimens is something I enjoy.

I love the cactus garden, but Ann’s and Ed’s spread also includes a butterfly garden, among other areas like a space for growing gourds, and a water garden. All of it is an obvious long-term labor of love, and I never come away from a visit to their place without recognizing just how much affection for nature and plants they both share.

Hiking along a desert trail away from houses and neighborhoods, you will encounter homes of a different kind. Unique to the Sonoran Desert are large colonies of Carnegiea Gigantea, also known as Saguaro Cactus. Unlike homes which can take 2 to 3 years to build, it takes Saguaro cactus about 150 years to reach maturity, with arms developing when the plants are 10 to 15 feet tall. The Gila Woodpeckers and Gilded Flickers don’t mind, they drill their holes into the flesh of the cactus and build their nests inside, long before their homes are completed. They share their living space with others, it is nature’s version of condo living!

The Saguaro cactus is a protected species in Arizona, you will need a permit and a moving company to have it removed and relocated to your property. It can be very heavy, our Saguaro weighed in at 1500 pounds and arrived on a large, flat bed truck. The movers dug the hole with a jackhammer. Because the roots are shallow, the hole does not need to be that deep, but desert soil tends to be rocky. The cactus was lowered from the truck into the freshly, dug hole. The expense of purchasing a large Saguaro and hiring a moving company can put a dent in your landscape budget.

It is possible to purchase small Saguaro at nurseries or gardens, but considering how slow they grow, it might be worth the expense to invest in larger ones. These beautiful, unique cactus will be yours to enjoy for years to come!

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