Thing of Purpose

From a UK perspective, the Eurovision Song Contest was a shaky start in the first decade of the second half of the last millennium. The entry deadline for the inaugural 1956 contest was missed. For the second contest in 1957 Patricia Bredin sang ' All ', the first contest entry to be sung in English, being voted seventh out of ten finalists. After such a lackluster performance—the Netherlands won with ' Net als toen ', performed by Corry Brokken, despite the handicap of having to sing in Dutch as mandated by the rules of the time—the UK rested between engagements in 1958. The second UK attempt was in 1959, when Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson performed ' Sing, Little Birdie '. Fortunately, I remember it like it was 55 years ago. I claim one point for being able to name the song; another point for naming the duo that sang it; a third point for being able to sing a snatch of the lyrics. Unfortunately nul point (a Eurovision joke in the UK) for thinking it was ...

This week, both our trumpet vine ( Campsis radicans ) and our silk tree ( Albizia julibrissin ) came into bloom.   --------------------oOo-------------------- The blog author almost never checks emails or comments.

Most of the sundown meteorological action last week was to the North rather than the West. There were some spectacular moonrises for those prepared to wait. On the following Monday, in an otherwise cloudless sky, a mothership appeared at sunset.   --------------------oOo-------------------- The blog author almost never checks emails or comments.

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Sunset on the second day of Easter and a local garden on the third day of Easter.   --------------------oOo-------------------- The blog author almost never checks emails or comments.

Yesterday, I made a mental note to try and find more wildflowers—this was growing in the shade of a pecan grove. I photographed these eight tulips ten days ago [ inset ] before they bloomed. I am not sure my photograph does justice to this exquisite rose. These yellow blooms are all over the neighborhood and are one of my favorites. Again, perhaps my snapshots are inadequate and these blooms deserve expert attention with extra gear and techniques. Obviously I was out of order when I described the flowers in the center of this Zen garden as weeds. Next, what you have all been waiting for: cattle! Unusual to see in our neighborhood they were very inquisitive & frisky.   --------------------oOo-------------------- The blog author almost never checks emails or comments.

There is an empty building plot on one of our regular neighborhood walking routes. Suddenly it is the host to a carpet of what I was told was Indian Paintbrush, which would put them in the genus  Castilleja . At that point the botanists start to argue of family names and classifications. There are 200 species of this genus and none of the illustrations look like these cup-like orange-red flowers, so I am a little uncertain just what they actually are for a positive identification. Cultivated or wild, the flowers are a delight on our walks. datura I thought of the wild white Datura, but those petals are thrown back with an abandon uncharacteristic of a vespertine. The new growth on the evergreens has been exceptional this year.   --------------------oOo-------------------- The blog author almost never checks emails or comments.

The sign on the fence at the opening to the driveway said ' private property / keep out / no trespassing ' or words to that effect, " But on the other side it didn't say nothing, / That side was made for you and me " as the Woody Guthrie song proclaims. However—nudge, nudge, wink, wink—I did not take the necessary three steps forward to take this picture, even although, as my former mentor in the construction industry would have said, 'We can do owt if we divn't get catched'. That would have been a bad thing to do—as the Wizard of Oz might say, ' Cui Malo? ' in a link that is definitely not a transgressing citation, which you will understand if you click the link—so I used the zoom lens [grin] according to the official report. Has anybody here seen enough flowers to last them for the duration? Anybody specifically tired of seeing yellow flowers? We try to please: here is white… …vanilla and orange sorbet, and lastly… …vanilla, raspb...