Haines His Way

As for flowers...

Roses are indeed very nice.  All colors, all, types, all sizes.  And sometimes a single rose can truly say much more than a bouquet of them.

A friend of mine in Richmond works for the Department of Motor Vehicles, and he's the guy in charge of some of the landscaping and beautification of the roadways - or at least the grassy medians.  He has really done some nice work which I see frequently during my drives.  I'd have to say my favorite "displays" are the stretches of wildflowers - so colorful, and so "gentle".

And the big tulip gardens that dot the landscape around the Mall in downtown are quite spectacular when in full bloom and color.

Favorite Flower:  Iris.  (Purple ones, not white.)  Favorite Flowering Plant:  Fuchsia, of which I am now the proud owner of two.  I have always dreamt of having fuschia hanging outside my home, and for the first time ever, the Dear Partner and I bought two pots this past weekend at the Rochester Public Market (MUCH larger and MUCH more impressive than I ever would have imagined....don't know why it took us nearly 3 years -- more, in John's case, as he grew up in Rochester -- to go there).

DR Elmoore, our garden was obviously planted by a plant lover.....there are more things out there that we dont have a clew about.  However, one of the things that was identified for us is a mature Jack-in-the-Pulpit (aka Bishop in the pulpit or, in our house, Rabbi in the pulpit.).  Larger foliage creates the roof of his congregation, while a solitary "stamen" (it's not a stamen, but another, more "erect" piece of foliage) stands underneath the awning of leaves.  It is quite lovely, though the Jack/Bishop/Rabbi does eventually whither.  We'd be glad to show you the next time you are in town while it is in bloom.

We also have allium, poppies, roses (Oy!  still don't know how to tend them!), day lilies, star lilies, columbine, peonies (various shapes & colors), globe thistle, lamb's ear, anemones, black eyed susans, etc. etc.

Oh yes!  And daffodils, tulips and irises!

I hear a HHW rendtion of "Make Our Garden Grow" in the distance.  

I was in bed before 10 p.m. and it was all I could do to drag myself out of bed at 7:30 am. today.

I'd normally blame allergies, but I have a major lethargy thing going on right now and my throat is sorish.

And how is it possible that I'm the first person to reference THIS famous "Petunia"?

The calla lilies are in bloom again.  Such a strange flower--suitable to any occasion.  I carried them on my wedding day, and now I place them here in memory of something that has died.

Uta Hagen-Daaz!

Or would it be Uta Häagen-Dazs?

-spelling counts, doesn't it?

I'm up, I'm up.  After the horrid coughing jag that kept me awake until 1:30, I finally fell asleep and slept through the night, which was heavenly.  I have the uaual morning congestion, but feel I'm on the mend at last.  

Does no one here know a good class action lawsuit lawyer who'd like to take on eBay?  I mean, that company is RIPE for the pickings.  Yesterday, I received a notice on an auction I'd bid on and lost.  It was a second chance offer.  I wrote back and said, yes, I'd like to get the item.  Now, I knew it was a scam letter because it happened once before.  But, I like to bait the crooks.  I then forwarded the letter to spoof@ebay.com, who sent me their usual form letter saying they'd look into it.  I then wrote the actual seller and asked him to confirm that the second chance offer was, in fact, bogus.  I then got a second second chance offer from someone else.  I told HIM I was interested.  I forwarded it to eBay.  I then heard from the actual seller who did indeed confirm that they were bogus.  I then got an e-mail from eBay, their standard "yes, that was a fake" e-mail.  Not even addressing the problems.  Now, MY problem with this is this: They have two fraudulent second chance offers which were sent from WORKING e-mail addresses.  They should have a team in place that could go along with these people, so that they could track down where these things were coming from and who was involved.  But, they do nothing but, as James Thurber wrote, File and Forget.  I'm telling you, if any of you know a good pro bono lawyer who'd like to make a name for themselves, eBay is ready to be nailed to the wall.

I beg to differ.

Nothing like a nice bowl of gillies.

 

Or a plate of sardines.


 

My primary dead end involved Uta Hagen and The Country Wife.  Grace Kelly was uncurteous enough to have her Broadway appearance close months before hand.  Fortunately, Uta eventually led me to the correct path.

I went there, briefly....still, I wanted Grace Metalious more than ANYthing to have had a play on Broadway in the same season as Death of A Salesman.

Dan-the-Man, were you here in NYC this past weekend to see Spamalot? If so, what did you think?

I had a terrific time at Spamalot.  Even with being overly familiar with Monty Python and with the cast recording, I laughed my buttcheeks off.  I really did not expect for the show to be that funny (the OCR does not give away half that it could.)  Of the performers, I immediately fell in love with David Hyde Pierce, Sara Ramirez and Alan Tidyk.  The only sour note for me was the scandalous prices for the t-shirts and various souvineers--outrageous!  But otherwise,  I have to say that I haven't had that much fun at a show since Hairspray.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see another show.  After strolling around a bit, my companions were dying of heat stroke and, since I didn't spot anything at TKTS other than Sweet Charity (which no one was interested in), we left for home.  I will have to get up myself later this summer to take in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Piazza.  Perhaps I could meet up with you and DRs Elmore and Rodz then?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK BAKALOR!  Have a beautiful day.

George did you see the original Cruise interview on Oprah?  I didn’t.

Elmore have a good trip.  I will miss you.

Jed, FEEL GOOD VIBES!

Just got our first substantial store order - Dress Circle in the UK - light on the Guy Haines, but huge for ATB - and all non-returnable.  Very good news.