Three things make February bearable:

The first asparagus

It's short

Mardi Gras

Melanie, today I was sold the first asparagus of the season, then failed to watch closely as the fruit-cart man picked out a bunch and put it into an opaque plastic bag. Some while after I got to the office, the smell from the bag tipped me off that he'd sold me asparagus that was already going bad.

Foo.

Paula, the rest of the explanation is that he limited his appearances, never, ever spoke extemporaneously if he could avoid it, and whenever possible used hand-picked crowds.

A weird fact I read about Bush some while back: There are no extant specimens of his writing. I mean compositions, not handwriting. That's a very odd thing for a man with his resume.

(Don't they write papers at the Harvard Business School? Didn't he have to write something to get a bachelor's degree from Yale? Did the paperwork gnomes scour the records of every single professor who ever assigned W. a paper, right after they savaged his military record? Did he not write a single report over the course of his checkered business career? --He wasn't always a two-fingered executive, after all. A memo, even? Jesus, the more I think about this, the more creepy it gets.)

BTW, looks like our Letterman Show import is nearly up to date at the moment too. Some weeks back it was two/three months old, now it's actually after Christmas. It is on anywhere from midnight to 3am, so one of those things not too many people bother about I guess. [Too hot & humid to sleep, despite a sky-ripping thunderstorm tonight in Sydney.]

In case you're worrying about my being online during thunderstorm, it's died down to simple downpour now.

But I do need a cold shower & to get back to try & get a few more hours sleep. I got all the way to work yesterday (bus-ferry-bus) before I realised I'd put my blouse on inside out, then heard we're being restructured -- again. One needs one's wits at times like this.

If I recall correctly, asparagus is related to bamboo. If it isn't, it ought to be. We used to grow it, and at maximum velocity we could cut spears long enough to eat every day for weeks. Then when you let it go it makes bushes as tall as you are.

*sigh* Hysterical.

A friend has a friend who's a White House civil servant, that person says the White House now has the atmosphere of a franternity house, and they have to constantly advise the president's staff and friends to NOT DAMAGE the place, it's a freaking historical landmark. Just heresay, but that's what I've heard.

Noonless, next time I plant asparagus I will plant a lot rather than three roots.... (did that two years ago, took care of it and all I got were three slender plants, whacked down by the new lawn guy we hired.... we'll see if they come back this spring, if they do, we'll add reinforcements...)

Last year the ancient mystery of the Orchid was solved.

Are they a very old set of species, or relatively young? And what are they most closely related to?

Turns out (2003 results) that they are fairly new, and their closest living relative is...

Any botanists lurking who can expand or correct this?

ta daaah!

Asparagus !

Nero Wolfe, take note!