My freesia are sprouting these beautiful white and red-yellow flowers in the patio. I just love spring!

From WikiPedia:

Freesia is a genus of 14-16 species of flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, native to Africa. Of the 14 species, 12 are native to Cape Province, South Africa, the remaining two to tropical Africa, one species extending north of the equator to Sudan.

The genus was named in honor of Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese (1795-1876), German physician.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Vincent Van Gogh. We were fortunate enough to have been able to see many of his works a few years ago when “Van Gogh’s Van Goghs,” his paintings from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, were exhibited in Los Angeles.

From InfoPlease:

Born in 1853, Van Gogh’s works are perhaps better known generally than those of any other painter. His brief, turbulent, and tragic life is thought to epitomize the mad genius legend.

During his lifetime, Van Gogh’s work was represented in two very small exhibitions and two larger ones. Only one of Van Gogh’s paintings was sold while he lived. The great majority of the works by which he is remembered were produced in 29 months of frenzied activity and intermittent bouts with epileptoid seizures and profound despair that finally ended in suicide.

One of the most famous of Van Gogh’s works is “Starry Night.”

A few days ago, we took a ride over the Palos Verdes Peninsula to check out the blustery conditions along the coast. I used my new Canon A710 PowerShot camera to capture some video of what we saw.

The video starts with Damsel pulling out of the neighborhood (she was going to pick me up after I took my wheels in for maintenance). We stopped at Point Vicente to check out the surf and wind. I panned across the cove to capture a video of the restless sea. We then headed down toward Portuguese Bend where the roadway is under constant repair since that entire part of the peninsula is literally sliding into the sea. I made an attempt to record the semi-rough ride over the sliding segment of Palos Verdes Drive South. We then fade to Donald Trump’s disputed flagpole where the wind is briskly rippling Old Glory with Catalina Island seen through the haze across the channel.

Continue reading » A Short Odyssey

Busy, busy days at work for the Cap’n, so I’m putting up a nice picture of these tulips, probably the last of the season.

We had to do a few personal chores today, not the least of which was to get Damsel’s sutures removed. After that, I took my wheels to the shop for maintenance, so while we were waiting for the work to be finished, we jumped in Damsel’s convertible and went over the Palos Verdes Peninsula to look at the waves and feel the gusting winds blowing at near gale force. She got this nice shot of the Point Vicente Lighthouse with Santa Catalina Island in the distance. Whitecaps and choppy seas can be seen in the Catalina Channel.

We received an email from Coconut Commando who is currently enjoying an extended, (extended again) all inclusive vacation package to Iraq. CC responded to the article Damsel’s Boo Boo with this advice for gardening apparel when working around thorny vegetation:

I’ve had the same experience with the same palm type as well as Sagal Palms and Elephant Grass. If you’re dealing with these, a denim jacket plus a BDU top seems to work enough to stop the ripping of flesh but you still get the puncture. Do they know Damsel by her first name at the ER?

Actually, Damsel and another woman needed sutures that day. The nurses didn’t refer to them by their names but as “palm tree” and “dog bite,” respectively. That made us laugh.

The stitches come out tomorrow.

Update: Latest healing progress (don’t look if stitches creep you out).
Update: Stitches are out!

Continue reading » Damsel’s Boo Boo — Update

We had a busy weekend; yesterday was the gun show and today we went to the firing range. After shooting and before cleaning the guns, we went to the garden shop for some spring flowers for the garden. I took this closeup of a nice pink hydrangea in the store.

After cleaning the guns, we enjoyed a nice baked chicken dinner with all the trimmins’. The nice thing about a meal like that is you can prepare everything early in the day and let it cook in a medium-low oven.

The California poppy (Eschscholzia Californica) is native to grassy and open areas from sea level to 2,000m (6,500 feet) altitude in the western United States throughout California, extending to Oregon, southern Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and in Mexico in Sonora and northwest Baja California.

I took this yesterday in our back yard under cloudy skies.

Damsel wanted to make sure that people are warned about the potential danger of the Mexican fan palm tree’s thorns. Last Saturday, she brushed past a pruned frond stem and ripped her forearm. There was obviously not going to be a home-remedy first-aid resolution to the injury, so we went to the emergency room to get some help. They stitched it up and sent us home several hours later.

A larger-sized view of the offending palm frond stub and photographs of all the gory details appear below when you click on “Continue reading . . .” — Please don’t look if blood and stitches are going to creep you out.

Continue reading » Damsel’s Boo Boo

The “Stargazer Lily” variety of Asian lilies has everything going for it. They’re long-lasting in the vase, extremely colorful and have a beautiful fragrance. What’s not to like?

This is a close-up of one of the lilies in the dining room centerpiece. Photograph taken with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel - default lens used with the built-in flash.

Rolling Thunder showed up at the National Mall last Saturday in Washington DC along with Veterans and Patriots at the “Gathering of Eagles.” They were there in a show of patriotic pride as a counter to the anti-war demonstration planned by the far-left. Rolling Thunder is also the organization that protects fallen soldiers’ families and friends when these crazy anti-war people decide to demonstrate at a funeral.

Kudos to the Rolling Thunder.

And speaking of them, I sure do like their Rolling Thunder Special Edition Smith & Wesson .45 caliber ACP Pistol . . .

A thing of beauty! Click on the gun to see the really big image.

Rolling Thunder® Inc.s’ major function is to publicize the POW-MIA issue. To educate the public of the fact that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all past wars. To help correct the past and to protect the future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war - missing in action. We are committed to helping American veterans from all wars.

These pretty “Cosmos bipinnatus” flowers grow in a flower pot on our patio. Sometimes called Mexican Asters, cosmos were grown by Spanish priests in their mission gardens in Mexico. The evenly placed petals led them to christen the flower “Cosmos,” the Greek word for harmony or ordered universe. Cosmos, like many of our warm weather annuals such as marigolds, originated in Mexico and South America.