I put 3 water lilies in 2 pots when I started this water garden 2 years ago. It looks like all 3 have made it through another winter.
I think I’ve named these correctly. These are the names I recorded of the plants I bought.
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‘Virginiana’ ‘Almost Black’ ‘Madame Wilton Gonnere’ -
I read books 3 ways. I listen (I have 1000 audiobooks on Audible.) I read ebooks and I read books made of paper. The type of thing I’m reading tends to dictate which format I prefer. I cleaned out my bookshelves several years ago, finally recognizing that keeping them meant dusting them and less floor and wall space. Bot, it didn’t really mean I was going to reread them anytime soon. So, I have let the library and the cloud hold my books for me.
Books that are heavily illustrated, I own in paper. I tried Comixology for a couple of things and decided it was too much work to try to see the whole page in a size I found comfortable. Museum catalogues and other books of art need to be paper for that reason, too.
Poetry and other books that are good for browsing are better in paper. I like to pick one up and do a little bibliomancy to see that turns up.
I like bedtime reading in ebooks. And I love short stories and novellas for that. I like the backlighting and I like being able to look things up easily. Is this a real event? Does this word mean what I think it means?
Also, books that need thinking about. King’s On Writing is an ebook and so is the Linda Nochlin reader that I have waiting for when I finish that one.
Audiobooks tend to be for books that are less dense. They are usually just a story that entertains me. There’s a level of complexity that is too much for an audiobook. Those need to be ebooks. If it needs much focus rather than just letting the words flow into me, I get a different format. And, because of how and when I listen, I usually want them to be longer than 8 hours. I listen while I do work for my hands and not my head, weeding, crocheting, playing stupid video games on my iPad.
I found a novella that interests me in the Lit Hub monthly email and I’m trying to decide what format I want to use. Let it be a short listen while I goof off today? Ot keep it for reading in bed tonight?
It’s not available from my library. I do check there.
Another thought about books. My cousin tries to argue that it isn’t really reading if I listen. I know he’s crazy because people were telling stories long before we could write.
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I found a good article about wabi sabi philosophy today.
I include most of it in my life. Uketamo / acceptance is hard for me. I tend to want to make things be the way that was expected. It is a practice I struggle to achieve. When plans are changed at the last minute, I get balky.
That’s a frustration with my job recently. I never know what I’m going in to and it pushes a big, red button.
My grandmother’s silverware, which we use daily. -
I am not allowed to take care of our cacti. I was allowed to put the little flowering one in its new pot. But, now, I am only allowed to admire them from afar. Chuck picked out the other one for himself and has dared me to touch it.
That dry soil drives me batshit. I want to water it soooo bad!!!
soil in cactus pots It makes my hands itch.
But, they thrive as Chuck ignores them.
And he keeps an eye on me when he sees me walking around the house with my watering pitcher.
My weapon of cactus destruction -
This couple showed up in our back yard one day in October of 2020. I had never seen quail here before that and I have never seen any since.
I am the Audience 