Category: General

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.
Thomas Jefferson

Yes, but we never are….

Goodnight everyone, sleep well.

They grow like weeds here, starting out as nondescript green shoots but soon they develop these “lizard feet” shaped leaves, Spatulate is a word I think of but maybe palmately lobed is a better description. This one is pushing up between my deck and steps and needs to be taken care of again.

Continue reading “Suffering Sassafras”

Hallo everyone, sorry I haven’t been around for ages, but my computer got broken and I am now only on the net by hook and by crook!

I have had one of the most exhausting fornights of my life, mentally and pyhsically.  It all started two sunday’s ago and has not eased up much since.  My partner and I had a huge argument on that day, which,  stupidly ended up with the laptop being thrown across the rom, by him, not me and I have had no internet access ever since.  To anyone who knows me, you may had well of cut my right arm off.  My life is run via the net and I have been completely lost.  I have had very limited access to my bank and facebook via my daughter’s i phone, but for a hardened user like me, this is really not enough. I put in a claim on my house insurance and hopefully my new laptop will be delivered tomorrow. Continue reading “Life huh?”

Go now – The Moody Blues

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it’s best to let him run.
Abraham Lincoln

Goodnight everyone, sleep well.

I must preface this with the reminder that this is how I personally would treat this new area and is subject to my own personal tastes.

We have a triangle roughly 18’x16′ facing mainly East with early morning sun, ph neutral to alkaline that has previously been laid to lawn.  The requirement is mainly shrubs with some perennials, some evergreens and with mainly white flowers.

Continue reading “Garden for pseu”

The building of the EU and the establishment of peace in Europe for all time is an exciting project full of crises, disagreements and ultimately progress.
Those that, with the Maastricht treaty, established the euro knew that they were advancing us down the track to a federal Europe. For the euro will only stand if there is an EU wide economic govt to coordinate tax and to redisitribute income between nations. That is ultimately what the Greek affair has been over and for which three people have sadly sacrificed their lives.
France as always has been the lead nation, with others notably Germany not wishing to advance too far. But the process was ineviable. The hedge funds based in London and new York would bet against the euro if they saw a chance of making money. And they have, massively. The only way to counter this speculative movement beyond our borders is by coordinated govt action in the Eurozone.
So this weekend France and Brussels announce a 750 million euros Eurozone fund to assist nations to resist speculation of their govt bonds. A fund that, if the annoucement is correct will be a major step forward towards federal Europe. But let us be cautious, so often what has been announced by the dynamic French president has been watered down by subsequent announcements from Berlin.
But if it is true we can finally thank the hedge funds based in US and the UK for making this historic step possible. Irony there is.

The EU’s monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, said the agreement “proves that we shall defend the euro whatever it takes.”

As I have always said, test us, the European union is stronger than you think.

Inspired by Cyanide P. Bunny’s brilliant post on “Sport”:

For the next contest: Write a short fiction piece, 700 words or less, that includes:
• a reference to some sport or sports
• the word “stain”

Entries can be essay. memoir, fiction and poultry, rhymed or unrhymed.

In order to broaden the endeavor, this challenge will include photo stories. If you would prefer to address this challenge by submitting your story in photographs, you may do so. Here are the rules for the photo stories:

• Stories must include a minimum of 5 photos and a maximum of 10
• The photos should suggest a narrative thread
* A reference to some sport or sports
• And somewhere in the photos, a stain.

Stories due here by 10pm GMT on Sunday, May 23. (Two weeks from today.) THERE WILL BE A PRIZE!