Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Everything is pink

We're getting ready to plant new trees and shrubs in our backyard, so I've been scoping out other people's yards to get ideas for what we'd want. What has pretty flowers, what makes a MESS with those pretty flowers two weeks later, which ones have annoying or sticky seedpods that mess up your lawn and your shoes, which ones grow UP and which grow OUT... It's all very fascinating and I've come to like way more plants that we'll have room to plant. But the weird thing I'm noticing is that everything seems to be about PINK. Most flowering trees (they only bloom for a couple of weeks, if that long) bloom either white or pink... There are about 10 different shades of pink from delicate and light to a dark rosy wine color. All very beautiful. But why Pink? Why not yellow or red or purple? hmm. We already have a beautiful pink-blossom cherry tree in the backyard, and a white blossom tree... so is it too much to have more PINK? I think it will come down to sizes and also what they look like the other 50 weeks of the year... I'll post picts in a few weeks after we've chosen and planted. In the meantime, here's what we already have blooming in our garden....



What we've planted... : )


Friday, April 21, 2006

Magnificent demons

I love this image!
NEW YORKER Magazine art in their review for Broadway's revival of SWEENEY TODD.

The cast of the show... This is truly one of the most incredible theatre experiences I've ever had. We went to see it in March because Patti LuPone is starring, and left feeling transformed. It's a very unique production -- with the cast of 10 also acting as the orchestra and stage hands. They have no conductor, every note and movement is memorized and critical, and each person is on-stage and *involved* every second of the show. It's a an ensemble in the purest sense and they all produce magic. The show is dark and complex and the intimacy of this production makes it all the more powerful... you feel part of it -- you feel complicit somehow. Michael Cerveris is mesmerizing...

If you get to New York City... see SWEENEY TODD... it will surely walk away with a bucket-full of Tony Awards in June...

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Speaking of beheadings

There's a fascinating discussion brewing about Islam and The Koran, on the Dilbert site of all places... The blog post is funny and raises some valid questions, but the really interesting part is the reader comments that follow...
Dilbert seems to be on a religion streak lately... he recently wrote about the book "Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why", and has certainly made me more curious about the history of the Bible. Based on what he's saying, I really don't understand how anyone can really believe it's validity anymore...

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Happy Easter

Easter hasn't meant much to me for years because I haven't formally celebrated it since I left home for college. I usually forget it's on the calendar until I see chocolate eggs and furry bunny things for sale at the grocery store. But I have wonderful memories of Easter from when I was a child. We always went to my Oma's house in Pacific Palisades. She was living then with a man she was working for, as a live-in caregiver. He'd been wounded in a war (WWII?) and had lost his legs. We all just called him "The Mister". I felt very special when I'd be allowed in on their Dominoes games. Anyway, Easter was always at that house with the big yard and the pool... and every year that I can remember, we would see wild bunnies hopping around the yard on Easter. And ONLY on Easter. I really believed it was magic... (not the same kind of magic that gives our TV the 40+ secret HD channels)

Sammi actually caught a baby bunny a few days ago... Peter was home and heard the "screaming"... ugh. He got Sammi out from under the deck, but we don't know what happened to the bunny, or if it's still alive. I'm hoping it survived at least long enough to get out from under our deck... ewwww.

And now we've also discovered that we have hedghogs living under the deck... lovely. We have to get rid of them though -- they're dangerous for Sammi and they could cause lots of problems in the yard and even to the house... ugh.

In honor of rabbits everywhere... HAPPY EASTER!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

I'm in love

I haven't posted in awhile... I've been distracted by the new love in my life... TiVo.

Yes, we finally got one and it's amazing... and it's especially amazing with our new Sony 50" LCD projector TV. I admit I have a TV addiction and my racing around to record multiple shows on our 2 VCRs was getting insane. There were VHS tapes everywhere. Precious time was being wasted. With TiVo, those shows will be recorded and I do nothing. I do nothing but live my life and work in the garden and enjoy time with Peter and Sammi... and I can watch when I want, with no stress. It's a lovely concept. But it's one I'll have to get used to. Last night I was up until 2:00 AM because... hey, there were shows Tivo had recorded for me that I could watch. I finally realized... they're not going anywhere, I can go sleep!

And after all the rebates, Tivo is only costing us about $9/month for the next 2 years. Not bad for major peace of mind. The TV, well, that's a different story - but man is it beautiful. We HAD to buy a new one because our old, 300 lb tube just DIED one morning. So, we upgraded. And the cool surprise is that this TV is somehow magic... we get an additional 40 digital channels that we don't pay for! Very nice. The downside is that we can't get those channels via VCR or TiVo, so we won't be able to record The Daily Show, but thank goodness we'll be able to watch it again.

So, that's been my life lately. Oh, and gardening... we chopped down another big tree in our yard.
It was needed, but the birds are all very upset about it. It was a favorite hang-out and even seemed to be a big "dating & mating hotspot" and we even had doves nesting in it last Summer. I'll miss seeing the birds jumping around our deck... Hopefully we can plant a new tree that they'll like.