This is absolutely fascinating.

It’s a website that shows you how to do different sings for ASL (American Sign Language)
(via Langagehat)

ADDENDUM the First: Don’t forget to look at the sign for Mountain Dew.

As I plants and flowers are ony my mind for some odd reason, I particulary noticed a piece of jewelry (I suppose) when I went to the breast cancer site. It was a gold rose, and, in my opinion, it was rather unattractive.

At least it had nothing on the real thing. Which reminded me of the following Japanese folktale:

Jade Leaves
In the land of Sung there was a man who fashioned jade into wild mulberry leaves for his lord. The leaves, which took three years to complete, were so perfectly proportioned in stalk and stem, so magnificently realized in the minutest detail, that they could not be told apart when mixed among living leaves. The state supported this craftsman for his skill.

Lieh Tzu objected, “What if heaven and earth needed three years to create a leaf? There wouldn’t be many trees. Surely the sage counts on the fruitfulness of nature rather than the ingenuity of man.”

(from Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Moss Roberts.

I shouldn’t be allowed near garden centers without a chaperone.

Went to WVU Greenhouse plant sale, and then went to Lowe’s “just to get some mulch.” Ha.

My new plants include:
Gerbera Daisy, orange (Gerbera jamesonii) for the porch to replace the one that died.
Calibrachoa (Million Bells) for a hanging planter. (I love these flowers.)

Along the driveway in the sun:
Lavender (Lavandula x intermedia) in the hopes these won’t die.
Lemon Thyme (Thymus x citridorus) just because it smells so nice.
Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplocifolia) because the leaves were pretty.
Daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Wineberry Candy’) can you have too many daylilies?
Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) because Michael wanted some.

Along the driveway in the shade:
Viola (Viola ‘Johnny Jump-Up’) pink purple and orange flowers for the shade side of the driveway.
Baby’s Breath (Gypsophilia paniculata ‘White Festival’) because it’s shade tolerant.
Astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Rheinland’) because Kim suggested it as a good shade plant.
Bellflower (Campanula carpatica ‘White Clips’) because it’s shade tolerant.

Heliotrope (Heliotropium) along the front of the house where the Jasmine died.
Verbena (Verbena) for along the front of the house, just to add something else.
And another rose. A shrub rose. For no reason other than I put so many other plants back, I left this one in the cart.

I did NOT buy a small Japanese Maple (because it was part sun), another lilac, a second astilbe, oregano, or rosemary, although all these were, at some point, in my cart. I think there were some other flowers that jumped in and out of the cart as well, but I can’t remember precisely what they were.

Oh yeah, I ended up going back to get more mulch. We bought six bags of mulch all told. But we did have to put a good deal of mulch down along the front of the house, both to hide the soaker hose, and because it tends to be rather dry there.

But all my new gardening gloves are very nice. I didn’t feel the constant need to run inside and wash my hands, which is a definite bonus. (In my defense, I have to say that I have developed allergies to latex, fragrance, random chemicals, so if I’m not careful, I end up with itchy blisters on my fingers. Which is no good.)

The good news is that gardening is good exercise, so I can look at this as my alternative to a gym membership.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Your plans for a do-it-yourself replica medieval catapult will arrive today! Soon, your neighbors will become nervous (but you can explain that their fears are groundless — you couldn’t possibly hit anything that close with it).