The Serpent's Garden
11/04/2011 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaLooks like Izzie has finally managed to escape the evil influence of those infernal dementors. A couple of days of rain sure helped to wash them off
So the recent absences in Cyberia have been attributable to interesting activities in the mundane muggle world rather than some sad serpent pity party
But was a bit peeved about the incompetent goblins at the day job concerning a certain city school fete which is held only every second year
In the past would have either requested the day off or swapped a shift with one of the 5-9 house elves who would only be too delighted to get an extra few hours on a Sunday
The fete was on from 10am to 4pm but had to leave just after 12.30 due to starting work at 2pm
The two big attractions from last time were the fruit and vegie stalls and the books of course
Got some avocados and real kosher free range eggs and sat around drinking coffee and nibbling on Italian short bread biscuits before pottering on over to the book stall
Got a big fat juicy hardback copy of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" plus a book about pleasure gardens, another on exorcising the demons of procrastination, a parody of fairy tales "This little piggie went to Prada" and Walking in this World the sequel to "The Artist's Way" for the princely sum of five silver sickles
Was in the process of paying for the stash when another book hunter spotted the big fat Dan Brown book and was just about to snatch it when the serpent informed him that it was already taken
It's not that Izzie needs any more books. Soon the buggers will be taking over the serpent basket and Izzie will then have to sleep on the floor
But this stash was just too irresistible. Been nibbling here and there and the Julia Cameron one is really very good in spite of all the lovie dovie new age spiritual stuff. There is actually a method to her madness and a very down to earth practical core once you get past all the "Great Creator" slush
Slinked back to the Lair after the work and was reading the garden book which had lots of wonderful ideas for themed gardens including scent gardens, a posy garden, tea gardens (where all the plants can be picked and put in a pot) wildlife gardens, touch gardens and even a night garden - some of which - especially the night and scent gardens would have a lot in common
Each chapter had suggestions from large to small and quite tiny gardens. Got to thinking that now that the rains have finally arrived and it is planting time, this would be a good occasion to start from scratch again and get rid of all those weeds that never made it past the hell that was summer this year
So did not give into the temptation today for an afternoon snooze after work but got busy moving rocks, pruning the macadamia nut tree and removing quite a few critters that curled up their toes recently
Also sat and watched the tiny birds twittering around in the wattle tree while plotting and planning
The serpent clutter and hoarding addiction extends also to the garden where we have bought a ridiculous number of baby trees, shrubs and other seedlings many of which have long departed this mortal coil.
The garden diary contains the complete record of our follies and failures since April 2007 and it would be just too too scary to do the sums. But slowly learned that anything planted after September is likely to meet its demise by January. April and May plantings have the highest survival rate
Wattles and woolly bushes do best of all as they are such tough little buggers.
So the trick now is to do a cheap skate autumn planting because there's no point in tossing more dollar notes down big holes and then just burying them
Buying fruit trees is allowed only on the condition that we dig and prepare the holes first and fill them with juicy tasty soil and compost. And of course coming up with some form of irrigation or reticulation other than watering by hand. It's the lack of a reliable watering system that is the weak link in every Izzie attempt at serious gardening. It seems such a waste to use drinkable mains water on weeds. The rainwater tank really does not have enough pressure to be useful for any serious watering but is perfectly fine for filling watering cans or buckets.
Got a mango tree back in October and procrastinated so long with planting the critter that the ma came and rescued it from an early demise. Not going to ask for it back. Will simply dig and prepare the hole first and then buy the tree next time so that there's no excuse whatsoever for serpent laziness. Mangoes and figs seem the most likely for the next attempt at trees
So decided that April is for planning and May for planting. Except for garlic which needs to be in sooner rather than later. Maybe it will be third time lucky. Always managed to get nice green garlicky shoots which are very tasty in stir fries but never did get any bulbs to set before the sun sizzled them to smithereens
It's nice to finally have the energy and inspiration and especially the weather for plotting and planning grand projects again
So the recent absences in Cyberia have been attributable to interesting activities in the mundane muggle world rather than some sad serpent pity party
But was a bit peeved about the incompetent goblins at the day job concerning a certain city school fete which is held only every second year
In the past would have either requested the day off or swapped a shift with one of the 5-9 house elves who would only be too delighted to get an extra few hours on a Sunday
The fete was on from 10am to 4pm but had to leave just after 12.30 due to starting work at 2pm
The two big attractions from last time were the fruit and vegie stalls and the books of course
Got some avocados and real kosher free range eggs and sat around drinking coffee and nibbling on Italian short bread biscuits before pottering on over to the book stall
Got a big fat juicy hardback copy of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" plus a book about pleasure gardens, another on exorcising the demons of procrastination, a parody of fairy tales "This little piggie went to Prada" and Walking in this World the sequel to "The Artist's Way" for the princely sum of five silver sickles
Was in the process of paying for the stash when another book hunter spotted the big fat Dan Brown book and was just about to snatch it when the serpent informed him that it was already taken
It's not that Izzie needs any more books. Soon the buggers will be taking over the serpent basket and Izzie will then have to sleep on the floor
But this stash was just too irresistible. Been nibbling here and there and the Julia Cameron one is really very good in spite of all the lovie dovie new age spiritual stuff. There is actually a method to her madness and a very down to earth practical core once you get past all the "Great Creator" slush
Slinked back to the Lair after the work and was reading the garden book which had lots of wonderful ideas for themed gardens including scent gardens, a posy garden, tea gardens (where all the plants can be picked and put in a pot) wildlife gardens, touch gardens and even a night garden - some of which - especially the night and scent gardens would have a lot in common
Each chapter had suggestions from large to small and quite tiny gardens. Got to thinking that now that the rains have finally arrived and it is planting time, this would be a good occasion to start from scratch again and get rid of all those weeds that never made it past the hell that was summer this year
So did not give into the temptation today for an afternoon snooze after work but got busy moving rocks, pruning the macadamia nut tree and removing quite a few critters that curled up their toes recently
Also sat and watched the tiny birds twittering around in the wattle tree while plotting and planning
The serpent clutter and hoarding addiction extends also to the garden where we have bought a ridiculous number of baby trees, shrubs and other seedlings many of which have long departed this mortal coil.
The garden diary contains the complete record of our follies and failures since April 2007 and it would be just too too scary to do the sums. But slowly learned that anything planted after September is likely to meet its demise by January. April and May plantings have the highest survival rate
Wattles and woolly bushes do best of all as they are such tough little buggers.
So the trick now is to do a cheap skate autumn planting because there's no point in tossing more dollar notes down big holes and then just burying them
Buying fruit trees is allowed only on the condition that we dig and prepare the holes first and fill them with juicy tasty soil and compost. And of course coming up with some form of irrigation or reticulation other than watering by hand. It's the lack of a reliable watering system that is the weak link in every Izzie attempt at serious gardening. It seems such a waste to use drinkable mains water on weeds. The rainwater tank really does not have enough pressure to be useful for any serious watering but is perfectly fine for filling watering cans or buckets.
Got a mango tree back in October and procrastinated so long with planting the critter that the ma came and rescued it from an early demise. Not going to ask for it back. Will simply dig and prepare the hole first and then buy the tree next time so that there's no excuse whatsoever for serpent laziness. Mangoes and figs seem the most likely for the next attempt at trees
So decided that April is for planning and May for planting. Except for garlic which needs to be in sooner rather than later. Maybe it will be third time lucky. Always managed to get nice green garlicky shoots which are very tasty in stir fries but never did get any bulbs to set before the sun sizzled them to smithereens
It's nice to finally have the energy and inspiration and especially the weather for plotting and planning grand projects again
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 01:06 pm (UTC)The last of summer is behind us and it is pleasantly cool but still sunny most of the day with a few showers at night.
Watched Australian Story this evening and God, the WA Police are very scary people and once you cross them God help you. I suppose they hate John Quigley even more because they would have once considered him as one of their own and to have him dig up all their misdeeds must have really infuriated them. Sounds like this guy is a decent politician.
What is it about Dan Brown that you like? I've never understood the attraction that has made him such a best seller. He seems from the one book that I have read of his, rather pedestrian. Good airport fiction I guess, would fill in the time on a long flight but nothing I'd spend any further time on.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 02:07 pm (UTC)Some trees are self pollinating and others need a partner but any tree will always do better when not alone
It's amazing too how many get sold as self pollinating when they aren't. Got one of those bummers. It is an almond tree so maybe we should get it some company
The ma and pa were telling the serpent about John Quigley and that program. Sure made the cops sound like a bunch of bikies. Have you heard about Kevin Spratt over there? Silly buggers got so arrogant they go zapping some one 13 times but accused him of being the aggressor. They usually get away with it but forgot all about the unseen witness which did not lie - their own hidden security cameras
As for Mr Brown - had put him on the kitsch list along with Stephanie Meyer and Paulo Coelho but so was pleasantly surprised to find that we really enjoyed Angels and Demons - even with the Robert Sue parachute silk silliness at the end.
Was expecting to spend the whole time sneering and snarking at the silliness of it all but it turned out to be most addictive and unputdownable.
So decided to get a few more from the op shops.
This was a marked contrast to the first Twilight book which was excruciating and a chore to finish. It was so pathetic that the original intention of reading the whole series well and truly got scrapped as time wasting exercise in masochism
"Digital Fortress" was the second DB serpent snack. Enjoyable but nowhere as addictive as "Angels and Demons". Was going to read "The Da Vinci Code" to see what all the fuss is about. Did not care for the movie and the whole Mary Magdalene conspiracy thing is very old hat - the serpent was around at the time of the "Holy Blood and Holy Grail" fuss but it might serve as a source of stuff to snatch for next year's nanowrimo novel
But this last one snatched on Sunday seems more interesting. Freemasons are fascinating and the serpent cannot resist lots of puzzles and conspiracies.
Curious to know which one you read.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 12:22 am (UTC)I can't believe how many silly people believe it is all true.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-30 03:41 pm (UTC)Yesss - there's Sophie Sue and Robert Sue.
Guessing it would have been redeemable if not for the claims of facts at the beginning and the seeming lack of reference to a certain obvious source
Just leaving out those lines would have made all the difference
But later when Mr Teabag made an appearance all was forgiven. Not only was he such a fun and cool character - the best one in the book and obviously taking the piss out of the original source material - spotted the Leigh Teabing anagram instantly
So in the end DB did admit his sources in a rather cheeky manner too. Never did read the original. After a while conspiracy theories get rather tired and predictable
It was funny - while the movie was preachy and yawningly boring (seen it on the plane back to Oz in 2006) the book was also preachy and seriously Sue-ish but it did have this intriguing quality of making you constantly want to read one more chapter to see what happens next in spite of wanting to see just about every character meet a very painful, prolonged and agonizing end