The Pet Shop Boys, young people who think they'll live forever, and the obligatory garden update
The idea today was to write something about the Pet Shop Boys' latest, "Yes." I'm not particularly taken with it, but it's doing fairly well here in the States.
They were playing a track from it last weekend at the grocery store. I can't remember the last time I heard anything by the PSB in a public place like that.
I got a phone call today from some friends. A friend of mine, a young fellow born about when the PSB got started, is in the Intensive Care Unit. He wasn't taking his blood pressure medication and he's lucky to be alive. He'll be lucky if he isn't getting dialysis for the rest of his life.
I don't know if he figured he is young and invincible, or that he was going to die young anyway so why bother (healthy young people do not as a rule need serious blood pressure medication). Maybe something he was just being insouciant.
I am grateful that my kidneys work. I am grateful for my health. And a little freaked out that I was worrying about whether he was taking his vitamins when there were obviously bigger issues.
In other news, the flowers are doing very well, with several flowers I didn't know I had and several I'd figured had decided to just be foliage coming up this year. The tulips are mostly done, the daffodils are fading, and the irises are starting. I have a couple of columbines and forget me nots and I'm pleased to have realized they were not weeds. Also some unidentified thing that might be the dahlia I bought last year that went nowhere.
The potted basil is into its second leaves, the golden oregano is spreading, and the thyme has reappeared, though not as much as I'd hoped for. The parsley has apparently self-seeded but it's all curly leaf. The coriander is doing nothing, and the dill I bought might have died. I have lettuces (about two) growing in a planter and possibly a carrot or two. No tomato plants in the patch that was the garden; I'm a little sad about that.
The mint is once again trying to take over the world, starting first by trying to make inroads into the lawn. I foresee a lot of lemonade this summer. My sister has asked for cuttings. She knows what she's getting into; she just said she feels stupid paying money for mint at the grocery store, as she knows full well it's a weed. I've never had any luck growing mint from cuttings; we'll see if I can do it.
They were playing a track from it last weekend at the grocery store. I can't remember the last time I heard anything by the PSB in a public place like that.
I got a phone call today from some friends. A friend of mine, a young fellow born about when the PSB got started, is in the Intensive Care Unit. He wasn't taking his blood pressure medication and he's lucky to be alive. He'll be lucky if he isn't getting dialysis for the rest of his life.
I don't know if he figured he is young and invincible, or that he was going to die young anyway so why bother (healthy young people do not as a rule need serious blood pressure medication). Maybe something he was just being insouciant.
I am grateful that my kidneys work. I am grateful for my health. And a little freaked out that I was worrying about whether he was taking his vitamins when there were obviously bigger issues.
In other news, the flowers are doing very well, with several flowers I didn't know I had and several I'd figured had decided to just be foliage coming up this year. The tulips are mostly done, the daffodils are fading, and the irises are starting. I have a couple of columbines and forget me nots and I'm pleased to have realized they were not weeds. Also some unidentified thing that might be the dahlia I bought last year that went nowhere.
The potted basil is into its second leaves, the golden oregano is spreading, and the thyme has reappeared, though not as much as I'd hoped for. The parsley has apparently self-seeded but it's all curly leaf. The coriander is doing nothing, and the dill I bought might have died. I have lettuces (about two) growing in a planter and possibly a carrot or two. No tomato plants in the patch that was the garden; I'm a little sad about that.
The mint is once again trying to take over the world, starting first by trying to make inroads into the lawn. I foresee a lot of lemonade this summer. My sister has asked for cuttings. She knows what she's getting into; she just said she feels stupid paying money for mint at the grocery store, as she knows full well it's a weed. I've never had any luck growing mint from cuttings; we'll see if I can do it.