Full flower.

It appears flower season is over at Eastern Market, and thank Gaia for that. Besides produce, the market is full of bedding plants and perennials and hanging baskets and potted trees and all the rest of your landscaping needs, at bargain prices. Of course this attracts people from all over the metro area, intent on getting all their annuals in one go while of course stopping for lunch at some restaurant they visit twice a year and getting lots of snaps for their Pinterest page. All of these people drag enormous wagons and clog up everything.

It’s impossible, i’ve found, to get up early enough to beat this crowd. Last week I was ready to do some murderdeathkill, but this week the crowds were considerably less, and so I was able to get my arugula and eggs and meat. Eggs are $4 a dozen. Avian flu, the sellers all said. “I heard a guy in Iowa lost eight million,” one said.

“Maybe that’s why he had avian flu in the first place,” I said. What do I know? I’m no poultry producer. Just more b.s. that woman had to listen to last Saturday.

It was a lovely day, so we hit the water.

panorama

A little bumpiness in the panorama, sorry — it’s hard enough to keep the arrow on the line when exposing a panorama on solid ground, much less while out on the bounding main.

Sunday, I cleaned. And sweated. It went from clear and chilly to overcast and muggy in a trice. In other words, typical Michigan weather.

Expect spotty posting this week. Kate graduates Thursday, attends orientation in Ann Arbor Tuesday and Wednesday. Sunrise, sunset. Etcetera.

So let’s get to it, then:

Jeff posted this story last week in comments, but I just got a chance to read it, the story of the crafting of the president’s Selma speech. My favorite passage:

“Those who only understand exceptionalism as preserving the past; who deny our faults or inequality; who say love it or leave it; those are the people who are afraid,” Obama said, according to Keenan’s notes. “Those are the people who think America is some fragile thing.”

Worth a read.

And at the end of Saturday came the Belmont, which I simply couldn’t watch. I was so sure this would be like every other Derby-Preakness winner, but at the last minute I turned it on, and got to see the race from the backstretch on. Wow.

Here’s a nice deadline piece from Sports Illustrated, and here’s a blast from the past from the great Bill Nack. An awful lot of racing writing can easily tip into the overblown, but both of these pieces strike the right note of drama without getting that extra nudge.

Posted at 12:30 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

20 responses to “Full flower.”

  1. Dexter said on June 8, 2015 at 1:50 am

    A pack of cousins met for a planned lunch Sunday. It was to honor and celebrate our last remaining member of our preceding generation, our 89 year old uncle.
    At the last minute, Uncle backed down, said he was too sick to come.
    I bet it was when the planners selected that fucking Cracker Barrel.
    We went because I had not seen any of my cousins for six years, and the conversation was pleasant, but oh my Jesus Christ was the food awful. How do they pack those places?

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  2. Snarkworth said on June 8, 2015 at 5:29 am

    Why does no one mention American Pharoah’s misspelled name? It’s his name, of course, so that makes it technically correct, but it must give copy editors everywhere twitchy fingers.

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  3. Linda said on June 8, 2015 at 6:43 am

    Snarkworth, the name was suggested in a contest and nobody knew the spelling was wrong until it was registered. The perils of depending on spellcheck…

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  4. alex said on June 8, 2015 at 7:15 am

    And Applebee’s is fucking inedible too, Dexter. I don’t understand how either of those places stay in business when there are so many better alternatives.

    Mellow weekend here just working in the yard. Dinner and drinks last night with neighbors, a retired couple who invited us over to watch a big impending storm which was kind of a washout, veering south at the last minute and giving us more water than light show.

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  5. Connie said on June 8, 2015 at 8:53 am

    My co-worker has chickens and gives me eggs. Free

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  6. brian stouder said on June 8, 2015 at 8:59 am

    Reminds me of ‘I got a brand new pair of rollerskates; you gotta brand new key’ – etc!

    Got our first email/batch of photos back from Shelby in Guatemala – and she’s already gotten to see some Mayan ruins…but about now, she should be busily working.

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  7. Julie Robinson said on June 8, 2015 at 9:25 am

    We tuned in for the race and I was impressed not only by the winner, but also by the amount of makeup slapped on poor Bob Costas. That lipstick!

    Anyone else here watch the Tony’s last night? Dorothy? Theatre geeks across the country live for the show each year, and it did not disappoint.

    Off to the beach today, hope it’s cooler there.

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  8. MichaelG said on June 8, 2015 at 10:05 am

    I dunno, Alex. When you’re stuck in a strip mall desert in West Covina, an Applebee’s can look not so bad.

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  9. brian stouder said on June 8, 2015 at 10:30 am

    Signs of intelligent life, at the United States Supreme Court:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/court-strikes-down-born-in-jerusalem-passport-law/2015/06/08/37dc2e54-0de8-11e5-a0fe-dccfea4653ee_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%252Bnation

    the lead:

    The Supreme Court has struck down a disputed law that would have allowed Americans born in Jerusalem to list their birthplace as Israel on their U.S. passports. It’s an important ruling that underscores the president’s authority in foreign affairs.

    The court ruled 6-3 Monday that Congress overstepped its bounds when it approved the law in 2002. It would have forced the State Department to alter its long-standing policy of not listing Israel as the birthplace for Jerusalem-born Americans.

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  10. Dorothy said on June 8, 2015 at 10:43 am

    Re the spelling of the new Triple Crown champion: http://mentalfloss.com/article/64778/why-american-pharoah-spelled

    I watched the first hour of the Tony Awards, Julie, but we switched at 9 PM to Game of Thrones. I recorded the awards show, though, so perhaps tonight I will get a chance to see what I missed. I loved what I saw in the first hour, for the most part. Don’t get me started on GOT though. I don’t know why I continue to watch it. Just last night as the opening music played, I told hubby “There is never anything to be happy about in this show. It’s just sadness and death and bad news EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.” And last night proved me right yet again. I know it’s not a fairy tale but once in awhile I wish it didn’t make me feel so damn bad.

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  11. brian stouder said on June 8, 2015 at 10:58 am

    Dorothy – Pam is big on “Outlander” – which has a fair amount of humor in it, along with other stuff.

    I saw about 10 minutes of the Tonys; enough to see a beautiful woman accept her award with a speech she had written on her I-phone.

    She made her list of names entertaining (as one would expect, for a Broadway star), and I was wondering if she was doing a product-placement…but then I noticed she seemed to keep her thumb situated so as to cover the Apple logo….so who knows?

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  12. Charlotte said on June 8, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    I was originally sort of nonplussed by AP’s Belmont race, which I thought really boring — no one even really made a move on him. But then I went and watched old tape of Secretariat, which I remember seeing live (my “uncle” Bud Murphy, an extraordinary horseman with several brothers who trained racehorses came up out of his green barcalounger, clutching his can of Schlitz, yelling as they split the screen. Really. One of the most thrilling things in my entire childhood.) I’d forgotten Secretariat only ran against a field of 5 that day, and while no one has beaten his time of 2:24, this horse came in at 2:26 and change, so … well … I take back my earlier nonchalance.

    But oh god how I wish they’d show the undercard races during the pre-race show rather than the endless up close and personals. I now tune in 10 minutes before post time because it’s all so awful.

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  13. Deborah said on June 8, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    Had a pleasant weekend in NM. Lots of eating outside under an umbrella. Sunday we went to the first chamber music event of the season in Abiquiu. Part of the seating is outside and it rained so that was interesting. It is held in the private home of the founders. Always very pleasant, even though it rained. Then we went to an after concert party at the home of a neighbor. After that we camped out on our concrete foundation under the stars. It’s remarkably comfortable in sleeping bags on our camp bed that we ordered from Cabella’s. Back in Santa Fe for a day of working on the fabrication drawing for our playground project. We’re setting up a Facebook page for the playground, I’ll put a link up for you guys when it’s ready.

    Tomorrow Little Bird comes home from her trip to her Friend’s wedding (she sent photos and she looked like a million bucks). And tomorrow my husband goes back to Chicago for a couple of weeks.

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  14. Jolene said on June 8, 2015 at 2:14 pm

    I saw the Tonys last night too. Great show. Made me wish I had seen some of those plays and, more generally, that I should see more theater here.

    There were a couple of Rust Belt connections. In particular, the Cleveland Playhouse won a Tony for Best Regional Theater. I have a friend who goes there regularly and is always impressed. And CMU, with which some of us have ties, sponsored award for the theater teacher of the year. A nice way of supporting the arts in education.

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  15. MarkH said on June 8, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    Charlotte, NBC did show at least one undercard race I happened to be tuned in for. And I’m sorry, but I’m getting tire of the ‘we-don’t-know-anything-until-we-hear-it-from-the-sage-Bob-Costas’ segments. No matter what sport, they seem to subject us to him.

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  16. Brandon said on June 8, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    “Snarkworth, the name was suggested in a contest and nobody knew the spelling was wrong until it was registered. The perils of depending on spellcheck.”

    A good way to know the difference: Farrah-oh, not Farrow-ah.

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  17. Deborah said on June 8, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    I know I mentioned this before but Bob Costas used to go regularly to an Einstein’s Bagel place directly below the graphic design studio where I worked in Clayton, a suburb of St. Louis (before we moved to Chicago). He’s tiny and he’s had a lot of work done on his face.

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  18. Jolene said on June 8, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    Actually, spellcheck would almost certainly have caught that error. Probably didn’t have it for the registration form. Might have been done by hand.

    Here’s a fun tidbit re a hasty backstage costume change at the Tonys. Check out how the helpers are holding their flashlights.

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  19. Julie Robinson said on June 8, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    Costas does look like he’s had work done. I used to think he was one of the better sports commentators, now, he just looks creepy. The pressures to look “good” on TV must be immense.

    We had the best time at the beach, it was cooler there, the sand was soft, and the water a pleasant temperature. The undertow was very strong so I didn’t swim, but I could stand in the water watching it flow in and out for a long, long time. What peace.

    We found a wonderful restaurant right on the beach for lunch and topped off the day with Dairy Queen. That is a place my hubby dearly loves, and very rare around here. Odd, isn’t it, that this part of Florida doesn’t seem to have very many ice cream places?

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  20. Deborah said on June 8, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    There aren’t very many ice cream places in Santa Fe either, I can only think of 3 in the whole city, one in the plaza area and the other two are in outlying strip malls. But maybe I just haven’t noticed. The one in the plaza area is always packed with sweaty people a line out to the sidewalk.

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