4/24/2007

A blog post without pictures

Is it even worth reading? I'm not the one to say.

Annie mentioned in the comments having trouble visiting whoreticulture. Me too! Loading the blog really slows down my computer. I haven't seen it outside of "preview" in several weeks. Could it be because all the pictures? Seems likely, doesn't it? Who knows.

I've reduced the number of days visible on the homepage from 14 to 7. Maybe that will help.

While I'm here, two things:

1) My Sloggers came today! I put them on, and the next three hours in the garden flew by so fast I forgot to take a picture of me wearing them before the sun went down. The soonest I can do that now is this weekend, and I will.

I will tell you the Sloggers are extremely comfortable, and very nice looking. At first, I felt somewhat odd wearing them to the garden; I had to remind myself that's what they're for. Formality in San Francisco is so degraded, I could easily wear Sloggers to the symphony or opera. While I won't do that, I will slip them on for jaunts up to Cortland Street for coffee, dinner, etc. Indeed, I was reluctant to take them off when I came inside from the garden. We have hardwood floors. They're nice and all, but I don't like walking on them barefoot.

2) I had a moment of design epiphany in the garden tonight: the artichoke bush has to go. It was a leftover element from the winter garden anyway and now it's getting so big it obscures the tomatoes from sunlight. In my heart, I've known for awhile the artichoke would have to go, but I didn't want to admit it. And I didn't know what to replace it with, but now I do. A topiary--duh! Flanked by raggedy tomatoes and vining squash, the firm resolution of a buxus topiary makes solid, obvious sense.

So, that's that.

Come back this weekend and I'll show you (a few) pictures of me in my Sloggers ripping out the artichoke and putting in a topiary!

12 comments:

Carol Michel said...

Your blog came right up this morning. The sloggers sound like keepers. The post was worth reading. Have a great day.

lisa said...

Can't wait to see pictures! I'm especially curious what form your topiary will be-geometric? Animal? I've been making a half-assed attempt at topiary in a garbage can, as an Oscar the Grouch. So far, it's all wire and no plant...but someday it may be worth a picture. The clogs sound nice...I have too many ticks in the yard to wear open shoes :( . BTW...I never had any trouble opening your blog, but I have had trouble with Xris at Flatbush Gardener-it was the amount of visible posts/pictures, so yours should do well now.

chuck b. said...

Oscar the Grouch...I love it!

As soon as I wrote buxus topiary I started considering other options. A rose pillar? Dream on. Maybe a palm? The newest Sunset came yesterday, and there's a garden with some really nice small palms with interesting trunk texture. Guy always said he wanted a palm.

I'll have to price out some options this weekend...

lisa said...

Palms are nice...I bet you can grow several different varieties, too. Speaking of stuff you can grow...I found a bulb catalog with some wild tulips that don't need a cold period to flower: www.mzbulb.com, just in case you'd like to try them. I have ordered from these folks before, and they always "hook it up". :)

Anonymous said...

Considering how many wonderful photos you post, I'm surprised that your entries load prettyas quickly as they do for me. Not immediate, but fast enough. I'm having similar problems, and when I recently blogged about it I got several comments suggesting I resize my photos. Maybe you already do? I thought my blog program did that automatically. Now my camera's on the blink, too. Oh well...
Looking forward to your next photos.

chuck b. said...

Thanks for the tip, Lisa.

AM, I don't do any re-sizing, or any photo processing. I just select the "medium" picture format in Flickr. Most of the time. Sometimes I think a bigger view is necessary.

I'm glad it's working better for everyone now, myself included.

Annie in Austin said...

At first I thought it could be my old computer, Chuck, but if you couldn't even load your own blog it wasn't just me! Thanks for checking into it - can't go too long without those Whoreticulture fixes.

This house came with a Buxus hedge, but I haven't done anything creative like topiary. It will be fun to see what you think up.

Annie

chuck b. said...

Annie, I seriously doubt I would have taken any action if you had not spoken up.

Annie in Austin said...

Chuck, it makes me nervous that I had influence on you. But I'm sure glad to see your photos again.

Annie

chuck b. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chuck b. said...

Annie, now I'm just going to tease you about exerting your influence on me. You made that way too easy.

JvA said...

My vote is for a buxus topiary over a palm. Not that you asked.