der weakened rev U

May 5, 2012

Another action-packed week chez Kopaska-Merkel!

Which is to say, not much has happened. The mother-in-law tongue is blooming. It only does this after a period of physical abuse. In this case, failure to water or to repot. Followed by remembering to water. The plant evidently thinks this is its last chance to reproduce. Of course, plants have short memories. This same plant has been in the same position several times in the past. And it's not dead yet. I am enjoying looking at the bud-covered flower stalks.

Outside it has been warm, but not too warm. 70S and 80s on the Fahrenheit scale. We got about 2.5 inches of rain on Thursday. That was just in time for the garden, which is responding vigorously. I couldn't list everything that's blooming now, which is indicative of something. Our ordinary orange daylilies, which I have always liked, are blooming all over the yard. We probably have more than 50 open flowers today. The big gardenia is blooming so vigorously that, for the first time, I can smell it 20 feet away. My sense of smell isn't all that acute. There are even three cherry tomatoes on the tiny little cherry tomato plant.The pecan tree seems to have given its all to the next generation, and the backyard is carpeted with the result. Maybe there will be a correspondingly large number of ripe nuts in the fall.

So today was the day that we were supposed to connect the dots about climate change by coming together in groups where disaster is coming or has already happened (as in the case of Tuscaloosa) and taking pictures. I was 10 minutes late to our rendezvous and didn't see anyone there, so I hope it happened. I drew a big.I'm a piece of paper and everything, and then I wasted energy resources and generated greenhouse gases in a futile attempt to be in the photo.

Even though Sheila has about three dozen little plants of one sort or another that are crying out to be put in the ground, this morning she is over at a friend's house designing a garden. The little plants, mostly flowers, will probably have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.

Last night we decided to go out to eat. This is graduation weekend at the University of Alabama, and we feared that popular places would be full. Maybe they were. We wouldn't know, because in a preemptive move to avoid the crowds we went to the little Turkish restaurant (Yakamoz). You could have counted the patrons there when we arrived on the thumbs of 1 foot. The employees, some of whom might be co-owners (?), were all out front drinking and smoking and waiting for customers. So we got our pick of the tables, which is good, because only one of them is suitable. All the rest are booths and I wouldn't be able to get very close to the tables. We looked over the menu, but both of us went with our favorite dish, which is Adana kebab. In fact, we ordered exactly the same things, except the designated driver had a glass of wine. Fortunately for ethnic food diversity in Tuscaloosa, seven more customers arrived while we were there. I don't understand why the place is still open, but I'm glad. Besides the main dish, we both had hot Turkish tea and later hot Turkish coffee. We shared baba ganouj (I don't think I spelled that right). This was my first time eating that, by the way. I think theirs is particularly good, but I found it edible.

Work, and a few odds and ends. Late Friday afternoon I finally got the thin sections (of rock) that I have to describe in order to make a poster that I will present in Houston Monday, June 4. I couldn't look at them Friday, because we had to Dr. them a little bit. I have done almost everything I could do before I looked at the thin sections, so I guess it was a good time for them to arrive. Only a month late. Because the people who made them screwed up the first time and they had to be redone from scratch. Doing career day at middle school this coming Tuesday. Finished the Minkin site guidebook about a week ago and got reimbursed for it yesterday. My boss is retiring and will probably disappear sometime in November. I can't imagine what they will do about replacing him. I don't want the job! I wrote a bunch of poems and submitted them for publication. I got some rejections and resubmitted those items to new places. It's about time for me to send the next issue of Dreams and Nightmares to the printer. I am in the process of catching up on submissions. I read a novel and several periodicals. And so it goes.