Frost Flowers by AndifMost of us had never even heard of them until we saw this photo yesterday.
. . .a frost flower is . . .layers of ice squeezed from the stem of a plant.
I hope that today somebody tells us something else we never knew before.
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57 comments:
Hmm, I wonder who'll be first?
Well, I'll bet you don't know what a deer head with no eyes looks like ... and I'm very sure you don't want to know. ;)
How about another frost flower instead?
Morning Nancy and Andi.
OK I had to look it up, but....
A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.
Not profound, but I haven't had coffee yet.
It's hard to beat andi up in the morning!
Wait, that didn't come out right...
I don't want to beat andi up...
In Mauritius, the ice cream trucks play Christmas carols. So you can hear Jingle Bells all year long!
Here's another one. In Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon) there are no crosswalks. You just step off the curb into traffic and keep going, and they avoid you. If you try to avoid THEM, you cause problems. They determine where you're going, and just don't go there.
Can you see that working in American or European cities?
Morning everyone!
Hey Beth, it is hard to beat me up in the morning (or any other time of day) -- I move damn fast for an old broad. ;)
Morning everyone.
Good Morning, Nancy! Andi -- I LOVE the frost flowers. I wish I could see one in real life someday. But in the meantime your photos are wonderful.
Hi FamilyMan (ducks don't echo?) and Beth (sort of like this?
I'm supposed to go to Emporia tomorrow for an all-day meeting. But mister might put his foot down, he doesn't think I should go. ALSO I don't want to go. But, I'm committed.
So, the new thing I'd like to learn today, is how to get out of commitments (gracefully).
Well, holy holly, Andif! You didn't tells us you had orchids!!
This is stunning.
Katiebird, I love the web-page. The slide show is nice, clean work all around. Kids on the porch swing with "Bugs" is terrific. And you can't go wrong with Cat in the Hat ever.
Keep growing those readers. We need 'em.
It's that "No" word, kb. Once you practice it enough, it comes out very gracefully. This sounds like a good time to practice - a meeting on a Saturday - shame on them.
Yes, LOL, sort of like that! That brings back so many memories. And that's actually an empty street for India. The yellow and black things are taxis. You get in and agree to pay $1-2 ($3 is too much, get another cab), and sometimtes they take you where THEY want you to go. They have stores that pay them a commission, so they bring you there. Then you fight, because you didn't want to go there. Then you threaten not to pay them. Then they take you where you want to go, but with a really foul attitude. :-)
Here's my post on India:
Anyway, thanks for the reminder!
What a big ol goofy world, Katiebird! That youtube clip is incredible. The pedestrians especially. I would have sixteen nervous breakdowns trying to ctch up to the ice cream truck playing Christmas music.
Are sprinkles considered gift wrap?
And once again I start my day with an insolvable puzzle: Ducks Don't Echo. And no one knows why... but, FamMan, I so WANT TO pretend that I do.
Meanwhile I feel a RickB haiku coming on, with ducks.
Oops, that didn't work. Here's the post (I don't know how to make it a link): http://bhanggeli.blogspot.com/2005/10/india-after.html
Maybe you're a vampire, andi...:-)
Are sprinkles considered gift wrap?
If the present is you for your spouse, or vice versa, then the answer is yes.
A 3-day weekend is on tap. Mrs. Fetched & I are going to have a little getaway and maybe do some Christmas shopping. So I'm not sure whether I'll even bring my laptop, or if I do, whether I'll use it much.
FAR: For God's Sake -- and Mrs. Fetched -- leave the laptop at home.
Beth, that just-say-no thing would be good. Except that I am an elected member of this group. I ran (membership director) right before all hell broke loose last spring on my job. And it seems like every meeting is impossible. Maybe I should resign....
I have to do a disclaimer about those web pages: I had nothing to do with the project except for creating the web pages. The materials (all those PDF documents, the video & the photographs) were done by other people.
They were actually created to distribute as a packet (the video is a DVD) to encourage care-givers-of-children to read.
The website was an afterthought. I really can't take much credit.
Andif, gorgeous pics!
re this: I'll bet you don't know what a deer head with no eyes - oh yeah, that, I do know. Not a pretty sight at all. (I grew up with a dad who loved to hunt).
I totally used that particular imagery (just the deer's head, mind you) in "Matters of the Blood"...which prompts me to a related "did you know" item.
In the state of Texas (and several others) blood and other bodily fluids removed during the embalming process are flushed down the drains into the sewer system.
(I discovered this during research while writing "Matters". I had to then do some very quick plot back-peddling.)
On that less-than-cheerful note, HAPPY FRIDAY!!
What can I say, it's been a hellacious day-job week, plus, hey, snow, always a problem in NoVA.
Sunday brings Read Between the Wines a multi-author event to raise funds for the Annapolis Symphony. Should be a blast!
Well kb, the way I get out of commitments is to buy my way out -- I've offered up large sums of money in trade for not attending bridal showers, baby showers, graduations, etc. and I've rarely been turned down. :)
Ghost, I didn't think of an orchid for that one -- instead I kept thinking of those ballerinas that twirl around on music boxes.
Ah Maria, I get all my deer parts the "easy" way -- dragged back from the woods by my dogs.
Your fundraiser sounds like fun.
KB: OK, no laptop. I'm going to take a pad of paper & a pen though, just in case I need to do some writing.
Maria: I am sooooo glad I finished breakfast before reading your "fun fact." Eeesh.
Good morning, andi, fam man, kb, ghost, olilvia, beth, far, and maria! You guys are so amusing! I'm still laughing about beating up andi, no offense, andi. And quacks, deer heads, traffic,and everything else.
Maria, tell the truth, it was beth saying "vampire" that brought you to life this morning. :)
katiebird, stop that! You stayed up until midnight putting that website together! Without you, nada!! Okay, Mom's finished shaking her finger now. Oh, dear, here comes one last blurt--And if you HAD taken the photos they would have been even better.
:p
Morning, Nancy!
Far, check your mail - I just sent you a note. And yay for no laptop! We'll miss you, but we'll be here when you get back.
My little American Eskimo doggie brought a frozen deer leg into my apartment one time, years ago. Coulda been worse. Coulda been an eyeless head.
I think that I shall never see
an early enough rising version of me
I like sleeping too much in the dawn-ish hours
to get a real world glimpse of Andi's fab frost flowers.
My favorite unsolved mysteries are, in no particular order: gravity, dark matter/dark energy, time, consciousness, and my mother.
OK a few more facts:
For writers.
There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and
silver.
For people on diets.
Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.
For cooks.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
For librarians.
The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
Finally for the nasally sensitive.
Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them. Not to mention the other drawback.
Fam, where are you coming up with this stuff? It's priceless.
And Jen, mothers - sigh. There's a whole world of posts in that one alone.
Rueful lol,Jen. I think the mystery of some mothers may be contained in those other words you listed.
FM, I'd heard libraries "lost" the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue more than any other. I can't imagine why.
Our stupidogs have brought home deer legs, an entire spine (deer or cow, not sure which), and quite a few whole possums (that don't stay whole unless I bury them). The worst was the muskrat… it stank to high heaven and it hadn't started decomposing yet.
Jen, a guy would have replaced "my mother" with "women in general." :-D
There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and silver.
Riiick! Oh, Riiiick!
I thik Roger Miller managed maple syruple in one of his ditties. Guess that's not in the dictionary, though.
You might pifler silver. I guess near rhyme has to do. Dang.
I ain't touching orange, but if you say orangatang real fast you end up with something you can drink.
Somewhere in "devil or angel" there's a rhyme for orange. Do three words count?
Hi All,
Jen, splendid, me too.
Ducks and quacking. Mythbusters did an episode on that and they...
--aside inserted to increase tension, Laura and I don't watch TV, but sometimes our friends decide there are shows we need to see and tape them for us--
they discovered that a duck's quacks do in fact echo, but the wave shape of the echo is so close to the wave shape of the actual tail off of the quack that you can't distinguish between the two with the human ear.
Jen, a guy would have replaced "my mother" with "women in general." :-D
Oh, that one's easy-peasy FAR. All you have to do is remember that we're individual people, and we make exactly as much as sense, no more and no less, as do men. Poof, mystery solved. :D
"The tail of the quack"
I'm thinking of Duck Butts. (Hi, Olivia. Hi, Andi.)
Hey, Kelly.
Jen, I love "downish hours."
Far. . a spine?! Yikes.
Ghost, can I get purple spills out with Turpletine?
Mother Nature Rules Haiku
-------------------------
Deer chews frost flower
while echoless ducks cower
from man's blind power
Christmas Caroling at Old Folks Home
---------------------------------------
Sing-a-long this eve
Old women hug; men pinch butt
Grins and beer relieve
Okay NP?
A-OK, Rby! ;)
Far, I almost didn't notice your wonderful word. . ."stupidogs"!
I love that. Got one for cats?
Rick, if they have beer at the old folks' home, roll me on over. :-)
The Bride has you sooo well trained, ghost! Regards to her, btw. Tell her that when I think of her she always has a hammer in one hand and a saw in the other. I hope she doesn't mind. :)
Well Ghost, my experience contradicts that so we'll just have to agree to disagree on it. :)
Tell her that when I think of her she always has a hammer in one hand and a saw in the other.
Wouldn't mind a'tall. And she always does. WHich is why I never argue.
Except with Jen, whom I believe cannot take down one of my walls from there. I hope.
That's the bride at her best, btw. "Randy, you might want to move your chair. This wall is coming down."
And "is" never means tomorrow.
Nancy, I think Stupiddog could be a super hero for ducks. It would explain everything that goes in a park on a given Sunday.
Lol, ghost, but I have to vote for the Aflac duck. Able to leap stupid humans in a single bound?
P.S. FamMan, science hasn't determined yet whether or not a dog's bark echoes.
Because they never fcking stop. Barking.
Okay, I'm in enough trouble here. Have a great weekend everybody!
Guffaw!
How to End the Cruel Stupid Hideously Expensive And Did I Say Stupid War on Drugs Although Then We'd Probably Start One on Diabetes Which at Least Wouldn't Put People in Jail
I stole the following amazing facts from katiebird's blog just now.
An astonishing 94 percent of rats who were allowed to choose mutually-exclusively between sugar water and cocaine, chose sugar. Even rats who were addicted to cocaine quickly switched their preference to sugar, once it was offered as a choice. The rats were also more willing to work for sugar than for cocaine.
(sorrow) My slideshow is gone. One of the librarian's liked the code she wrote in library school better. She didn't like the buttons or the frame....
Andif, gorgeous photo! And the comments have me howling with laughter.
Here's one: the ability to roll your tongue over and/or under is genetic. As is the ability to touch your nose with your tongue. Although why you would want to do the last...
Boo, kb! We like yours better! Do we get to vote??
At least we saw it before they wiped it out. Hopefully you learned something from the process, so have something to take away to show for the hours you put in.
Good thing we know you're a dog lover, ghost.
Bummer KB.
Beth, did you get my most recent email–today's?
I did, Kelly, thanks! Was just answering it. I'll head over that way and check it out.
Well, dang it, katiebird, all those hours of work and care! Me thinks that librarian has a touch of the micromanager in her?
Hey, Conda!
Ah well. They can't take away what I learned.
And now it's the best part of FRIDAY!
Oh my 52 comments! There can't possibly be anything left that anyone doesn't already know. ;-)
That's right, b2. We now know everything. Ask us anything. :) And a most happy weekend to you. I can't wait to see the next painting edition.
Wow, did I ever hit the tail end of things!
Had to leave work early; Mrs. Fetched got the flu so I had to do the video shoot solo. Running two cameras is like being a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest (S. King?) but I survived. I'm hoping she gets better by tomorrow, or we'll have to cancel our weekend getaway. (RATS!!!! BIG F*KKING RATS WITH TAILS *THIS* LONG!!!!)
I also had to run out & get some Powerade; I got a flu shot but I'm not sure it's going to work. If I get sick I will: 1) Sip Powerade. 2) Write when I'm not napping. 3) Nap when I'm not writing. I wrote a little more FAR Future at lunch; I shouldn't have to do much more to it before posting.
So. If our weekend getaway gets cancelled, I'll post it this weekend. Otherwise, look for it Tuesday.
Grumble mumble dangit foo grumble…
Oh, FAR -- I'm so sorry. I hope Mrs. Fetched feels better soon and that you don't get sick at all.
How terrible to get sick AND miss a mini-vacation.
What katiebird said, far. Fingers crossed for Mrs. Fetched's health, and yours, and your trip.
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