February 24

February 24, 2010

Finally it rained last night.  It has been so dry.  We’ve been a couple of weeks without rain.  But it is sunny again today and very mild.  Perfect weather for growing.  As you can see from the photo, the crab apple trees are starting to leaf out.  There should be flower buds soon.  I’m a sucker for anything red and these have beautiful red flowers.  I love them.  There are 2 that we planted in the front lawn 2 years ago, so this is our third season with them.  These are flowering crab apples, not the kind that has edible fruit and yes I love their flowers but I hope that the fruit doesn’t become a problem as it drops all over the lawn and then requires cleaning up.  What we are hoping to do is to create a garden that doesn’t require a lot of maintenance.  I know that some will always to necessary, but cleaning up after the crab apples is not one of the jobs that I want to have on the list.  It is bad enough to have to clean up after the 3 plums each fall without having 2 more to have to do in the spring.  We’ll see how that one develops as the trees get bigger.

Flowering Crab Apple Trees

Nationalism is reaching a fever pitch as the Olympics proceed.  Personally I don’t think the athletes should be representing nations, they should be representing themselves and competing solely against other athletes, not against other countries.  In my system, the IOC would fund all the athletes and would do so on a question of merit and skill, not on a basis of which country they come from.  Nationalism is always a dangerous emotion.  Shouldn’t we all be happy when the best athlete or the best team wins, regardless of where they are from?  What if the fourth best skier in the world is faster than the fastest skier from Austria.  Shouldn’t that person be allowed to compete.  Why should the slower skier compete just because s/he is from a different country?  The games are about individual accomplishment after all, not about countries.

Fernando is up and around again today after being flat on his back for 4 days with a cold and fever.  When I picked him up from the airport, instead of coming directly back to the bed and breakfast, I took him to the medical clinic where they gave him a prescription for antibiotics.  He had a very high temperature.  Sad way to come back from his 6 week vacation in Seville.

Go to Albion Manor Bed and Breakfast Victoria Home Page.