Photo?!
Good gods. Don’t tell me this worked. Without Cormac and everything. Blogmom sent me instructions for posting photos . . . um . . . quite a while ago and I winced and looked away and then I thought in a self-exculpatory way, no, I have an IDEA, I’ll wait till Hannah and her lot get here, and I’ll make, I mean ask, Cormac to haul me through the process. He’s a Tech Boy, he can do anything. Maybe Tech Personhood is a tiny weeny stunted-microbially bit contagious???* But they’re GONE and I MISS THEM** and I must have come all over funny or something, and I have to WRITE MY OWN BLOG TONIGHT and . . .
Wait. Let’s see if it actually did work before I get too carried away. . . .
. . . Yerp. Well, it certainly seems to have worked. Gosh. Okay, I’ll go write the actual entry now. It’ll be a little while. I want to do the washing up first*** before I settle down with computer and chocolate. Note that the secret to successful blogging is a reliable supply of chocolate.
And if anyone wanted to post and tell me that yes, there is a photo in this entry, even when seen from somewhere else on another computer, I would be grateful. I will be positively pleased and thankful if the photo you’re seeing is furthermore of a pink rose with a butterfly on it.
* I WISH.
** Aside, as previously observed, from their value as guest bloggers. And while it’s true they’ll be back Friday, they REALLY LEAVE on Sunday morning and, you know, waaaaaaah.
*** Yes, we’re still without a dishwasher. Although I blithely say ‘I want to do the washing up,’ this will include wrestling a few falls with Peter who will say, No, no darling, let me do it. You’re all swooning out there, right? And saying, oh, I want one of those, does he have any brothers? How good is the cloning process these days for the higher vertebrates? Allow me to pour a little cold greasy water on your pleasant fantasy. When I wash dishes, they get washed. Comprenez?
comments
Please join the discussion at Robin McKinley's Web Forum.
The picture is attached and looks lovely. Congrats! Tech phobia overcome (in this instance) and the result is WE NOW EXPECT MORE PICTURES. The demands never stop (evil grin).
Friends leaving is the worst part of having them over. You have such a lovely time and really don’t want to readjust to not having them as an everyday part of your life again.
As the temperature has been very high in recent days (up to thirty) but the wind has changed to a north wind, with a drop in the temperature, I was inspired to have some miso soup this evening and really enjoyed it. Thanks for reminding me of a simple pleasure.
The garden is looking lovely, our nasturtiums are blooming all over, I can spot at least three varieties and we may even add a few to a salad (they’re delicious and peppery). The amaryllis has five sets of buds on it and the calla lillies are going from glory to glory. The snapdragons are also very happy and colourful. By the way, have I told you that in Greek they are called skylakia, which means little dogs? Could any flower be more appropriate then (dragons and dogs in one fell swoop)?
result is WE NOW EXPECT MORE PICTURES
******* I am aware I’m creating a rod for my own back. But I’m holding ALL of you to Jodi’s remark that photos will do for days I’ve done all my *writing* on a novel.
Little dogs! Lovely!
(Comments won't nest below this level)
bonica with butterfly is indeed a pink rose with butterfly :) I won’t try to work out which kind of butterly though!
You’re coming over in full technicolour from here – well done that woman!!!
YAAAY. :)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
I’m even more impressed that you got a Comma butterfly (http://tinyurl.com/5bgbbq) at rest on that occasion. We have to wait until they’re inebriated by either buddleia nectar or fermenting apples to snap them usually. Must be something in the rose…:)
Aye, Captain, we can see the pink roses and a butterfly all the way down here in Engineering ….
Or Montana. :D
I’m still trying to pin down my sweetie’s restaurant-style miso recipe — part of the prob is that she cooks without measuring (well, so do I, mostly, but she isn’t thinking things like, “okay, that’s about a cup” but “okay, that looks/feels like enough” so I’m having a hard time figuring out the deets) and part of the prob is that it’s been awhile since she’s made that kind of miso soup and we’ve done an interstate move (inter … intra … man, I hate those distinctions, I always mix them up; multi-state move, howzaboutdat?) since then.
In other words, all the necessary ingredients aren’t just to hand for easy experimentation. But said recipe WILL be coming soon at a blog near you.
We await drooling. :)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
“Aye, Captain, we can see the pink roses and a butterfly all the way down here in Engineering …”
It’s probably one of those dratted Chaos butterflys, down there near the warp core…:)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
LOL!
It is a lovely photo of a butterfly on a pink rose surrounded by other pink roses. It is also what I choose to interpret as artistically tilted! Bridget
TILTED?! Oh, sh**! Well, it wouldn’t do not to have to ask Cormac *something.*
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Woo! It works! It works! And it’s BEAUTIFUL. I did a double-take when I saw it, too. I wasn’t sure it was actually your blog. ;)
And gosh, butterfly on roses. England really is a fairyland! Okay, I’m sure they make flower-landing butterflies here, too, but they certainly don’t pose for pictures. At least not for me. I did, however, get a dandelion with an ant crawling on it. Not as magical as yours. ;) http://www.flickr.com/photos/69585952@N00/2437134982/
So this means we can expect many hellhound photos (hellhound-shaped blurs are okay, too), and pictures of your garden, right? Photos *totally* make up for the days when you’re too busy writing your fabulous novels to blog. :)
Woo! It works! It works! And it’s BEAUTIFUL. I did a double-take when I saw it, too. I wasn’t sure it was actually your blog. ;)
********* Snork! After a mere seven months you know me too well. :)
And gosh, butterfly on roses. England really is a fairyland! Okay, I’m sure they make flower-landing butterflies here, too, but they certainly don’t pose for pictures. At least not for me. I did, however, get a dandelion with an ant crawling on it. Not as magical as yours. ;) http://www.flickr.com/photos/69585952@N00/2437134982/
So this means we can expect many hellhound photos (hellhound-shaped blurs are okay, too), and pictures of your garden, right? Photos *totally* make up for the days when you’re too busy writing your fabulous novels to blog. :)
********** I AM HOLDING YOU TO THIS, YOU KNOW. THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO HEAR.
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Well writing *is* the important thing here! As awesome as you are, most of us came over because we like your books and want you to make more. Hellhounds and roses will keep us entertained while you’re trying to avoid that wooshy sound of deadlines. :)
I see a photo. Lots of pretty pink roses. Well done!
OH good! Relief! RELIEF!!!
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Yay! Photo! :)
Congratulations!
Bonica is such a pretty lady :)
Yes, very pretty roses. Next, hellhounds and their Hellgoddess, please?
Nice one! Two thumbs up, hoorah–a nice pic and a lovely rosebush to boot.
Yay, a photo! I knew you could do it. I just ordered a Darlow’s Enigma and plan to put it out by the stone bench under the old sugar maple. Need tough and hardy roses out here on the windy prairie. This one’s an own root rose and hardy to Zone 4. You’re so spoiled in the UK. I think the coldest you get (in USDA Zones) is Zone 6 somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.
Don’t I know about the windy prairie. Just south of the Twin Cities is supposedly Zone 4 but when I really want security, I look for Zone 3. I had hardy shrub roses that did OK, at least until they got shaded out and had to be removed, but they never reached max size in our short growing season. There are things to be said in favor of a softer climate!
(Comments won't nest below this level)
There are some excellent rugosas that would probably grow in the Antarctic. . . .
Diane in MN – check out Heirloom Roses, esp. the Canadian Hardy and Griffith Buck.
http://www.heirloomroses.com/cgi/browse.cgi?page=cat&cat=Hardy+Roses
We don’t get reliable snow cover here in Illiniois, so I always go down a Zone from our supposed Zone 5. Exposed sites — and that would be my garden up on a moraine in the wide open spaces — get the ‘prairie effect’ and tend to lag three weeks behind more sheltered city gardens. Gardening friends in town never understand when I say “it’s too windy to garden”. They should try spreading mulch in a 30mph wind some day.
Are roses edible? If not, why not?
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Yes. So long as they ahven’t been sprayed with anything nasty.
If you have lots of scented petals in certain parts of Greece they make it into a preserve that is great over ice cream. I’m betting it would be spectacular over clotted cream ice cream… Sigh… Still not over that one.
Yup. Just about. But I’ve also stood indoors agonizedly watching the kumquat-sized hail destroying the delphiniums. It’s not all joy here. We want PHOTOS when Enigma has flowers. Own root, though–that’s exciting.
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Oh good god.
I thought I was the only one who had a husband who can’t wash dishes. (and he does. And I love him for it. I just can’t look at or eat off the dishes he’s washed, you see….)
YES. EXACTLY. And you know that famous quote soemthing to the effect ‘no wife has ever murdered her husband while he was doing the dishes’? Weeeeeell. . . .
(Comments won't nest below this level)
All I see is a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater. :-(
Okay, just kidding. It’s a butterfly on a rose bush and it’s WONDERFUL! I am SO PROUD! Well done, you! We’ll convert you to a Techie yet, just you wait and see.
LOL! You and what army! :)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Yup. Blue roses, pink butterfly.
(*evil grin*)
I second the commenters above about photos subbing on busy days. You’ve got us all too interested in your life; we want to see the pups, the houses, the spouse, the gardens….
Judith
They’re coming! They’re coming! [sweating] Now I will direct the comment at the correct person–so how about some photos of MASTIFFS and TWENTY HAND HORSES??
(Comments won't nest below this level)
I’ve got plenty of photos. How do *I* post them on *your* blog?
Be careful what you ask for. One thing I haven’t managed to master is reducing pixel size of photos. My photos are all somewhere between one and two meg each. >;-> (Others, when I’ve posted photos on their blogs, have done the reducing for me, for perfectly self-serving reasons.)
Judith
I think I was assuming people could load stuff on flickr and post links–like Jodi does, although Jodi is YOUNG and we All Know that Young People These Days Are BORN Knowing How to Drive Computers. I’ll ask Blogmum if there’s a way to load *on* my blog. I’d love to have a Gallery of Usual Suspects. :)
I copy the link in the address bar from the photo page on Flickr. There *are* ways to post the photo, rather than the link, but I think it would do weird stretchy things to the comment section here. So I don’t.
If you wanted a Gallery of the Usual Suspects, all you’d need to do (heh, I know) is create a new page — like your About page — and have the photos hosted on Flickr. Then we (whoever the photo belongs to) could give you the code to have it show up like this –
– and ta-da! Picture.
Er, if you like that idea, I can just email you better instructions. But in theory, it’s easy peasy. Much less complicated than Stedman Triples. ;)
Thank you! I haven’t asked Blogmom yet. I’ll copy and paste yours and see what she says. THANK YOU. :)
Well poo. It appears my photo didn’t show up in the comment box. If it had, you would have seen a close up shot of Kippy-face and her giant glowy yellow eyes. Alas.
But it should work on pages that allow for photos. Maybe the WordPress comments section is against photos. :)
woohoo! beautiful photo with butterfly!
all this talk of – and photos of – flowers and things grown has made me start to want to garden or something… granted it’ll be a while before I live somewhere with an actual *garden*, but it’s something to look forward to.
my mom and I were visiting friends of hers in the north of Israel last weekend and there were lots of houses with lots of flowers – many of which were roses – and all sorts of herbs for tea, and her friend’s daughter grows her own *vegetables*, which incites all sorts of envy in me, lol.
as for Britten… we tackled some more of the requiem last night. the man was a genius. genius I tell you! :)
*Good.* I’ve completely come round to Britten. I used to think he was another of these English second-raters that the English like too much because they don’t have anyone first rate. (Ducking and running . . . but neither do the Americans.)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
(*ahem* Howard Hanson. Aaron Copland. First-raters both.
Judith
Not to me. :)
Sigh.
I’ve been eyeing Angel face which somehow just appeals to me, but haven’t seen it available in the UK yet.
You have a lot to answer for.
Thank you! :)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Angel Face isn’t available in the UK ???!! That criminal!
::Hugs her Angel Face. Both of them.::
(Comments won't nest below this level)
I see very pretty pink rose that now has me trying to justify it somewhere in my garden….meanwhile all the OTHER roses are needing pruning, and I have to tidy up before the garden service comes on thursday to haul all the BIG stuff to the tip and put down the mulch and do the damn weeding which I dont have TIME to do, let alone think about what is weed and what is plant – that is definately the DISADVANTAGE of a cottage garden….
Not only is it there, but when I click on it it opens in a new window at a much bigger size, which will really come in handy when it’s hellhounds. Yay!
I see them! Roses! It is hard to believe they are blooming there all ready. I just fnally noticed brave little buds on the trees last night in Minneapolis. Which means spring is only a month away! lol
Oh, heavens, they aren’t! This is a photo from the old house–years (summers) ago!
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Ah, so these were not taken with the spiffy new digital camera ( I just bought and returned my first digital camera after having one in twenty pictures not be blurry. Hopefully you will have more luck! :)) In any case, these are beautiful flowers, and I second Diane from MN’s woes with northern roses…
I like roses. They smell good.
Oh, Baba! How’s it going? :)
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Testing comment email notification.
Thanks, Addy! You may be retired but you’re still useful.
is that Bonica? Is it a vining type of rose?
if it is, that explains the pink rose. It will bloom soon-ish (everything is two weeks or so behind because of the weird weather) AND in the fall it will keep on putting out bloom after bloom until the bitter end.
The canes look like they’ve not died off, they’re all green and pretty. I don’t take care of the couple of roses I have, they pretty much have to fend for themselves. The pink one pretty much puts out one rose at a time in the late fall/winter until it quits. In the spring it puts out rather more blooms.
Oh, gosh, there are MILLIONS of pink roses. And no, Bonica doesn’t twine–she’s a big square bush thing. And it would take you five minutes at the garden centre to buy rose food and another five minutes to throw a few handfuls on your roses. . . .
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Can we post photos?? I’ve got a wilting pot rose and I’m sure that someone out there could tell me why it’s so sad if they could see it….
Um. You’d be better off on a gardening site. And it’s *not* likely we could tell you what’s wrong, aside from do you feed it, water it, put it in the sun, if it’s got bugs, hose them off.
(Comments won't nest below this level)
Yes, I second (third? Fifth?) everyone else’s comments about pictures being acceptable blog entries in and of themselves. Yay pictures! Yay more writing time!
Tonight I was out gardening with my housemates and stole a look at the roses again (remember, the ones that I pruned, my first rose pruning experience ever, and they hadn’t been touched in ages [although I did find out that actually the first year we moved into the house, about 6 years ago, my housemates did have a gardening friend with no garden of her own who came and worked on them a bit, so they haven't been abandoned as long as I thought they were.... Anyway....]). I hadn’t dared in a bit (watched pot business and all), but they’ve got all of these lovely little tiny buds that have miraculously appeared. And my personal favorite (she wins for sheer scrappiness) is still alive. While I was working on weeding around them, one of my housemates came over and pointed down to a huge mass of an ivy-like plant (that had been planted on another side of the house and turned the corner to start taking over the roses) and said, “I think someone is trying to come up there.” I looked, and there was this tiny rose bravely pushing up (less than 2 feet tall) through the choking plants. I weeded her as carefully as I could but the other plants were so firmly stuck in it was hard to be gentle, and she somehow lost the one or two leaves that she’d had. When I looked anxiously today, I saw that she had little tiny pink growths for the first time. So I’m starting to have hope that she’ll be alright.