Out of the Frying Pan

Monday Mix

Monday Mix has been on hiatus. Today it seems to be back.

How to get a job at a small company - I love Seth Godin's blog entry. He points out that jobs at Fortune 500 companies have latterly shown a net loss, so the place to think big is to apply small.

12 steps for gardeners in the fall - This is the way to prepare for beauty next year. Yeah, it's a lot of work, i.e. I probably won't be doing it. But she nails the program, if you're interested.

Melissa at A Contemplative Joy links to this article about Joan Didion. If ever you've suffered bereavement, Didion just might speak to you.

Today over at Picturing Plants, I feature an engrossing drawing by Ferdinand Bauer, a towering figure in the field of botanical illustration. I think you'll like it.

The glorious unlikely

My first swing at the title was "The glorious impossible" but that's not really true. Other gardeners have plenty of success with roses in Colorado, our municipal gardens being just one case in point.

But I don't. Of more than thirty roses I've planted, a handful remain, mostly miniatures which are tougher than you might think, given their diminutive size.

Not that this stops me from window shopping. The latest window at which I've found to slaver is Rogue Valley Roses. What a selection!

It's just as well that I'm not in a buying mood. My tastes continue to run toward the pale colors that are lovely under the grey skies of northwest Oregon, but that wash out completely in high altitude sunshine. Maybe you can take the gardener out of Oregon, but you can't take the Oregon out of the gardener.

I don't think this means I want to be repatriated. It's just that I sometimes long for the cucumbers of Egypt, in the form of lovely whites and palest pinks. So you'll find me browsing Rogue Valley Roses, soberly aware that for me rose growing has become "the glorious unlikely".

Red light

Loveland street corner.

"...the gala is actually corrupting"

Gala economics: Seth Godin nails it again.

Downtown Longmont

Yes, just this afternoon. That's our town. Other municipalities in Colorado seem to have succeeded at getting the new "pharmacies" to tone down their architectural embellishments. Call it Longmont's local colors.

Some blossoms remain

We've had some cool weather in the mountains, but not yet so cold that the last of the wildflowers are gone. Many birds have gone, which makes me wonder if winter will arrive early.

Keeping the talk going

Seth Godin's blog is one I follow pretty religiously. Today he has a great entry, Open conversations (or close them). It has many applications beyond the sales world.

Up top

A ways back in the Moraine this morning. No elk in sight; turns out they were hanging out at the RMNP sign: very convenient for park visitors in search of wildlife.

How many faces do you see?

There's a Facebook group to which I belong which is pretty much light-hearted. Pretty much, but occasionally things run off the rails into political territory.

This is a photo of one of the shelves that I see from my desk. Despite the bombast that sometimes occurs, it didn't seem quite in the spirit of things to post the photo to the group page. So I'm putting it here.

Grace

Yesterday I learned, unexpectedly quickly, that the biopsy taken from my right breast showed only benign cells. This was, for me, pure grace: an unmerited blessing for which I am deeply grateful. There are other graces, too, in this experience. One was the gentility and kindness of the medical staff I was blessed to have. Another was you, my friend, who carried me along with prayer and kind thoughts.

Today I am keenly aware that many women received different news yesterday, news that has upended their lives and will cause them to evaluate the friends who will be with them, no matter what. For them, for myself, and for you I pray these words of Lady Julian's:

“But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

May we experience and appreciate this "shewing" of divine love in our lives.

Up at the park yesterday

Yesterday it was almost as busy in the park as it is on the weekends. And, yes, the bulls were in full throat.

Monday makeup

This little guy tickles me because it looks like he managed to get into some waterproof mascara.

Camera: 596; Patricia: 1

But who's counting?