View From a Greenhouse

We are back to planting at work. We have about a couple 100,000 plants still to plant. I took this picture down through one of the mountains of plastic trays left to use. On an ecological note, we have switched over to using rice hull compostable pots. They still have to come from China which ain't so great for the carbon footprint but is a better step forward for a business that should be "Green green" to begin with. There is so much garbage generated in the greenhouse business. Lots of plastic. In the past year there has been a real push to reduce waste for a business that helps beautify and replenish the earth. My boss Suzanne is a leader in this thinking. Way to go!


Things are growing at work even though the greenhouses are surrounded by 2 and 3 feet of snow in some places.

Project Fun Way

When Tim Gunn went to visit Rami on last night's episode of Runway, was he sporting a huge cold sore or was it just a bit of drippy canape which Rami was serving up? Tiny little food on a tiny little plate with a tiny little fork. Tim must have been famished from that long flight because I think he even spoke with his mouth full, he was chewing away.

Or did Santa stick something down Tim's stocking for being naughty?

Gotta love the Gunner.

Object No. 28

Spring is around the corner.

Notes on Oscar

No surprise that No Country won best picture. All my friends liked it more than me. That means it is the winner for sure. What was up with that little Coen brother? Is he a half wit or something? He could only mutter thank you. He looked like he didn't want to be there. He has the very large star quality head on a tiny frame like Morgan Fairchild. He wasn't very Minnesota nice and should remember that the millions he rakes in come from the decrepit old Satan based machinery that is Hollywood. He better bow to the master a bit more graciously. Oh, that's right, Jack Valenti was in the dead people slide show, maybe the veil of evil has been lifted. I think Frances McDormand aka Frannie Coen pissed herself in the audience she was so proud of her hubbie. Is it the tall one or the half wit?
Daniel Day-Lewis looked like the bride of a pirate. What was up with the hoop earings? Yikes. The hair looked as if he had it styled right here in Wisconsin at the local beauty salon ready for a night out on the town for some country line dancing. Strange.
Maybe next year the Oscars should drop award for best song. I hit the mute on every song and worked on the NY Times crossword. The big production numbers made me think it was 1973 or something again. The whole show had that old sort of feeling to it in a badly written way. The writer strike must have left them rusty. Though, I dig John Stewart and when he had the Check Chick who won for best song come out and finish her speech that was nice. He is a good guy.
I wish I would have been Forrest Whitaker. Lucky guy. Had to support and hug and hold up shaky trembling beautiful french Marion Cotillard. That was the best win of the night that had me squeal with delight. A big surprise and I think she really deserved it for La Vie En Rose. When they got back stage they went at hugging each other again. Poor weepy creature in your fish scale Gaultier dress. So french! You know Forrest was packing wood.
I think Tilda Swinton must be pretty groovy in an artsy fartsy way. She mentioned asses and nipples in her speech.
The biggest surprise of the night was I never would have thought I might have the opportunity to see Diablo Cody flash her cooch on the stage. Honey! Was that "dress" your former lounging lingerie back from your stripper days? She had all she could do to keep that cut to the crotch thing together as she walked around the stage. Nice tattoo too. Gadzooks woman! Go get yerself to the laser doctor and get that mess off your arm. You are playing with the big boys now.
Most all the winners were foreigners, a sure sign of the downfall of America.

Object No. 27

Object No. 26

Too Much of a Good Thing

This is the top of a small votive that is/was my sister Joyce's. If she wanted it back I wouldn't give it to her. I have coveted it since about 1975 when she moved out of the house. It is all still intact and the candle still has a slight scent of bayberry. As you can see it says "Love means never having to say you're sorry". The catch phrase from Love Story. When I was about 9 years old, circa 1971, another of my sisters, Kristy, took me along for the ride to the neighboring town of Glenwood City to see Love Story. My impression of the film was that Ali MacGraw had a dirty mouth. She said "bullshit" alot. I thought she was real groovy and pretty. I think her dirty mouth made her prettier to me. Ryan O'Neal was real groovy too. I wanted to dress like him. I thought he was real pretty too. He reminded me of the lifeguard Jeff at the local pool and so whenever I was at the pool I envisioned Jeff as Ryan and sort of developed a quasi crush, idolizing, I want to be just like him sort of thing about Jeff the lifeguard. It was all so sexy sexy sexy.
It seemed to me that Ali and Ryan's characters, Jenny and Oliver, were having sex all the time. For me, the two of them just laying on a couch studying, seemed like sexual intercourse, whatever that was. I definitely did not know what sexual intercourse was at the time, but without question, it involved the belly button.
When Jenny got sick and died I was certain that she died because they were having too much sex. Oliver Barrett III did her in but good, I thought. Too much screwing will do that. Too much intercourse will kill you. There are consequences to feeling too good. The scandinavian midwestern protestant upbringing was leaving it's mark even at 9. This movie was about as good as my brother Steve's stash of Playboy magazines. Boneroo!
When I watch the movie now I understand my goofy reasoning. There really isn't much mention of what Jenny's illness is. There may be something about her blood mentioned but not much more. Oliver visits the doctor. He goes there with the intention of finding out why Jenny wasn't getting pregnant, see, see, they are trying to make a baby, that means sex, and the doctor spills the bad news of her condition to Oliver first, like he is to blame. I can see my 9 year old brain not navigating all this heaviness and following the quick to change story line considering that I had probably been sitting in the theatre for about an hour and a half horned out of my gourd by all this lasciviousness and then she gets sick and dies. Huh?
I have no recollection that Kristy and I discussed the film on the way home, maybe only her telling me that I didn't need to tattle to Mom about the profanity. Mom wouldn't have been happy about that. As for the sex angle, Kristy probably thought that went over my head and I guess it did but in a kooky mixed up illogical sort of way. Or is it?
Of course it had to be all the sex that killed her but she didn't need to be sorry cuz love means never having to say you're sorry.
That saying is about as silly as my 9 year old rationale.

Object No. 25

Red Dog.

Object No. 24

Marathon Movie Marathon

I thought I would try to see all the nominated films before the Oscars this year, just for the hell of it. After seeing Atonement this weekend I have remembered something about myself. I usually hate the movies nominated for best picture. I don't fit into the general movie viewing demographic. So I am forgoing the quest to take in Jerry Maguire, no, Billy Elliot, oops no, I mean Michael Clayton whatever he's about, for the main reason I am no George Clooney fan.
I did however watch some other great movies. Marie Antoinette was fantastic. The place, the clothes, the life, a strange one at that, took an angle on the stereotypes that have been cultivated about her life and showed her as the 'tween and young woman she probably closer resembled, but in a contemporary modern fictionalized way. All the weird royal rituals, yikes! The clothes and setting are just beyond belief. I loved it.
Finished out the trifecta of murder in the heartland by watching Infamous the other Capote movie. It was what I wanted out of Capote but then it was a bit too shiny around the edges. Very stylized. Toby Jones was, as far as I can tell, Truman Capote. I wanted to see more of Capote in his social circles and I got that. Oh my, the twist with Sigourney Weaver, but then it fluffed over the murders of the Clutters and actually had him mashing with Perry Smith, the murderer, in the jail cell, which I question. The film reminded me very much of the look and feel of Mommie Dearest. Capote was a way downer, which, I guess is par for the course and having watched In Cold Blood as an unsupervised 10 year old TV viewer, which induced nightmares for a few months, maybe now I should put the Clutters and Capote behind me and go back to an occasional light hearted viewing of Breakfast At Tiffany's.
The winner this weekend for best picture was Margot At The Wedding! Nicole Kidman is a real kick. The whole cast made for a really enjoyable, anxiety attack causing, spin around the block. Hold on tight and listen closely and down a bottle of wine while you watch it like I did, cuz your going to need drugs or a psychiatrist by the end. Margot certainly does. I loved this movie.

Object No. 23

Just hanging out.

Album Art

I decided to add Sleeveface to my links because it seems from their latest entries they have received a bunch of press, even an interview on one of the hundred BBC channels. Gosh. I love the brilliant simple idea of this but it's sort of almost a dumb idea it's so simple. I see from their site that you can look at thousands of people and their albums on Flickr but man I hate Flickr. I didn't do it. Too many clicks to get to the goods that are shown too small for my taste. So I will continue to appropriate their idea and if anyone wants to submit, please do.

Album Styling

This submission from me friend Tom

Object No. 22

poison pen

Object No. 21

Happy Valentine's Day!

Project Runway Is Fixed

I exclaimed the loudest "well fuck me" from my bed last night when the results were in on who is going to New York Fashion week followed by a "fuck you, you bunch of fucking fuckers!!!!".
First off, as much as I think Christian is a little snot faced butthole his designs have been fantastic. Just what the fashion world is looking for. Flights of tight fancy that the average woman on the street could not wear but they look great on the catwalk. Bravo Christian.
Right from the start of the season I felt funny about whiny Jillian and Rami. They said they knew each other and possibly Tim said he knew them personally too, so I figured that something was up with them. Oh that Jillian what I would give to slap her silly, what a whiner baby, "Oh my fingers are bleeding, my fingers are bleeding" God! she was annoying but she is in just like that. The judges put her on the chopping block a couple of times before. Now I see it was just for show. She was a bigger drama queen than any of the gay guys on the show.
Oh and by the way, Sweet P you're out. Just like that. She was a pawn all along. She never won a competition but she also consistantly made the most saleable wearable clothes the whole season. But you're out. Steam started coming out of my ears at this point.
Then the big drama of the night. Chris is easily told he is in and Rami gets the long face on his big egg head, thinking he is out, which was surprising to me because, I think, for some reason, he is the big crowd favorite, I don't get it, ok, he wears his jeans well, and his sad childhood of growing up in war torn Israel where he had nothing to do as a child but to start designing clothes at age 6 ? I think he also pumped iron in his off hours from designing for like the last 30 years and oh, his soft spoken demeanor is so attractive. Blah ack foo, what an actor.... AND what is up with every dress being an ode to a Grecian urn? So weird and the judges tried to beat it into his big pumpkin head but yes we decided to let you be in with a little pre duel on the runway between Chris and Rami. God I hate those surprise exceptions bullshit. And Chris, there is no room in the fashion world for the obese. Ok, before any of you who don't know me write me hate mail (but go ahead please) I will say, I am as fat as they come so I know, there is no room in the fashion world for the obese. If by some stroke of twisted fixed lucky fate Chris does win the final one hundred thousand dollar prize, he will be forced to use the money to get gastric bypass surgery. That is his reality. Oh, and what's up with Roberto Cavalli taking such a shining to Chris and "his gown" saying that he could work for him any time. Obviously Roberto is a chubby chaser. Oops, sorry Roberto your jig is up. Mr. dirty decadant designer. I know you.
All along the past years I thought Project Runway was about talent and execution and making things and being creative but I guess last night I learned my lesson that fashion really is only about personality and who sucks and fucks who. The world is a weird suckfest place sometimes. I awoke this morning feeling like I was raped by reality TV last night.

Object No. 20

Clandestine meeting.

Object No. 19

Someone requested more detailed shots of the animals from Object No. 18, so here you are. They are very small, most less than an inch high, still had some difficulty getting them in focus, but I sorta like the dreamy quality of the images. Because of their size their shape is vague and have their own out of focus quality even in focus. Dig what I'm saying?


.

Norma Update

So Norma made it back to work if any of you were concerned due to my and Jan's imaginary musings. Her train was 12 hours late due to a lot of reasons one being snow. She is off tomorrow for a week traveling out east to visit another sister. She is flying this time. I am a bit concerned about her dwindling work ethic, it's time to kick some ass and get things planted, but no, she is off to twaddle around on the east coast. A shame, truly a shame.

Indoor Garden

New Amaryllis blooming.  Sumatra.

Hoar Monger

I have a thing for hoarfrost. I try to photograph it when ever I can. This was from Thursday. I like the near black and white quality of the landscape on these frosty mornings.

Object No. 18

The animals gathered two by two as they knew the wrath of God was upon them.

Small Town Newspaper

I can't decide which of these front page stories is bigger this week so I will tell you both. 

All the high school cheerleaders teamed up and performed a half time show at last Friday's night basketball game.... or

A snow plow "out doing what plow trucks are supposed to be doing" caught fire and was a total loss. Fire chief still didn't know what caused the fire.

Object No. 17

Tiny men who whisper in my ear, "You should read more."

More Fun With Albums

Friends Jan and Christina were at it again. Chambray rules. Thanks for the submissions!

Small Town Newspaper

The front page of last weeks local paper concerned a local boy who now plays college football. He was back in town for winter break. He visited a 3rd grade class to talk about his exploits and then he showed them some card tricks.

Object No. 16

Soundtrack for living.

Where's Norma?

Last week I returned to the greenhouse for work. Most of the employees had returned including Jan, my co-contributer to this blog, although there was something awry. Our coworker Norma was nowhere to be seen. This was very strange. First off, you need to know Norma is the hardest working woman in the greenhouse business. First to arrive in the morning, last to leave at night, does most of the weekend watering and outside the greenhouse she is busy counting birds for the DNR and trying to build a herd of champion Guernsey cows. She is farm stock. Uber midwestern work ethic material. So when she wasn't around we immediatly asked boss lady Suzanne, "Where's Norma?" Suzanne said that Norma had decided to take the Empire Builder Amtrak out to see her sister in Seattle, but Suzanne added, Norma had told her she would be back 2 days before the scheduled start up time of all of us returning to work. There has been no word from her. Among the employees, we were concerned.
My notions on what had happened to her naturally lean to the nefarious. Something like, she suddenly became alcoholic, spent most of her time on the train in the bar car, fell wildly for the bartender and moved in with him in some place like Barstow or San Luis Obispo. Either that, or somehow she joined up with a reemerging sect of the Symbionese Liberation Army and was now robbing banks.
Seems that neither of my ideas are reality. Here is the real story. While in Seattle, Norma attended a Nordic music fest. If anything musical is going on, Norma always brings her tambourine. She was spotted in the crowd by visiting band The Gayes from Sweden and they were so taken by her mad tambourine skills that they immediately asked her to join the band. She's on tour. End of story.

OR so it would seem. This morning the UPI released this story:
Sarkozy finds new love
The recent marriage of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to former model-turned-singer Carla Bruni was annulled hours after it was first announced in the press on Saturday. In a move that startled even the world weary French, Sarkozy left his new bride for a charming Wisconsin dairy lass-turned-Swedish pop star. They were spotted leaving their Paris hotel early Sunday morning. According to sources who know the couple they are headed either for New Hampshire or the Riviera. Perhaps both.
If Mr Sarkozy's romance with Ms Bruni was the subject of intense speculation, this new twist in the French president's love life has the populace talking. The event has stirred so much excitement that the government has temporarily lifted the newly imposed ban on smoking in public cafes and restaurants in order to facilitate intense conversations over wine and cigarettes.
In a poll taken just hours ago, Mr Sarkozy's approval ratings have risen dramatically. It is suspected that word of Ms Norma's love of dairy cows may have played a significant role in the president's improved public image.
"We just like cows. They give us milk. And from the milk we get cheese. Yes? Fromage," explains Henri Boucher. Mr Boucher was enjoying some fromage and smoking, as he made this pronouncement at a small cafe in the 2nd arrondissement.

So au revoir Norma, best to you. We greenhouse employees will have a hard time filling your Wellies.

Object No. 15

My baby mug. Make me big and strong.

70's Television

I guess I have to admit that a lot of the TV of my youth was maybe bad.  I was searching out Robby Benson on Netflix. I mean, geepers, just that idea.....what am I thinking? Basically I was looking for Ode To Billy Joe because I haven't seen it since the 70's, always dug the song and I think it was edited for TV enough to not make much sense. I remember that Billie Joe was either sodomized by some neighbor, or he liked it so much he couldn't deal and he jumped off the bridge. Ya know, the nice distopian story lines that invaded movies and TV at that time. There weren't no more happy endings at least with the griping serious movie stuff, that was left to the sitcoms of the day.

 I came up short on the Billy Joe search because Netflix didn't have it and further investigation makes me think it's not even out on DVD. C'mon whose ever in charge, let's get on that. 

 It also stars Glynnis O'Connor as the girlfriend. I dug her. She was also in Boy in the Plastic Bubble as the girlfriend, a good role for her. I saw on List of the Day blog a list the top 50 Sexiest Women of Television History. I had to add my 2 cents in the comments and added Linda Pearl, Glynnis O'Connor, Season Hubley, Kay Lenz, and Pamela Sue Martin. As far as I was concerned these were the 5 horse ladies of the Apocalypse. Ok, you know what I mean if you knew these women. They were the livin' end. They all were sexy for their own reasons. All a bit older than me. Stuff wet dreams are made of.

Anyway, back to bad TV. In my search on Netflix I did see a made for TV movie entitled All The Kind Strangers starring Stacy Keach and Robbie Benson and John Savage! I did not remember this from my youth but thought it might be ok in a nostalgic sorta ABC Movie of the Week kinda way. I watched it and man...... the acting is great....... but who wrote this stuff? And why is this on DVD?  It is the goofiest shlock. Stacy Keach and John Savage do what they can with this can of worms.  I am not even going to go into the story line, if your interest is piqued it will only take up a bit over an hour of your time. The funniest thing was there were supposed to be all these man eating dogs surrounding the house to keep "all the kind strangers" from escaping but you just gotta see the dog acting. Dubbed in growling over happy wagging tongues, doing everything the trainer says off camera, everything except "look fierce". A hound of some sort, a Rottweiler, a German Shepherd and about 10 other mutts, all so big, loppy and cuddly looking and for gawd sakes, they gots a soft spot fer ma's biscuits (a cruical turn in the story) sorry for the spoiler of breathtaking suspense.  Who wouldn't love these dogs? It was all about the unconvincing fierceness of the dogs. Oh sure, there was a rattle snake in the bed once and some trip wires and punji sticks in the corn fields but nothing kept Keach trapped like that bunch of canine pushovers. I had to take a snapshot of Keach and a couple of the hounds. Check out the intense stare of both dogs off camera. Cripes, they're suppose to be ready to dive into Keach's thigh,  instead are worried about being on their mark and obedience to the trainer. I think they were growling too. Those are real growl mouths. I liked the composition of this photo. It might make a better painting then it made a movie. 

It had that kind of resolution to the story that was not all shiny and lovie but reality, man, reality. Instead of "I love you kids. I will drop my life and move in here and be your dad." it was "We are going into town and find the social worker to help you kids out." God, sooooo boring. but that's reality. Sorry, I am dropping spoilers all over the place Geez. Sorry!

Certainly not good TV. Sometime I will make a list of 70's movies that end in this same vein to help explain myself more betterer.

One thing I wonder after seeing a young Robby Benson again, does anyone out there think Michael Jackson stole Robby's speaking style and made it his own? It is sorta that soft, back of the tongue thick sound and his voice seems to emanate out of his cheeks. Some where between high bird and twit. Do you know what I mean? I can totally see Michael having a thing for Robby. Gosh, who wouldn't? He's doe eyed and white. Funny thing is, I think Robby is the voice of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast . Big and booming. He dropped the soft and gentle. He sings the closing song for All The Kind Strangers in that soft, easy, tickly voice. It's like hot breath on your neck. gag or grrrrr -you decide. 

This selection joins the rank of my self owned copy of the best of Captain and Tennille Variety show. Gosh, sometimes it's a wonder I am still alive.