 |
| IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE WIND |
 |
| SHINLEAF.., |
 |
| ...DIMINUTIVE FLOWER SPIKE |
Thursday, 8:15 AM. 72 degrees F, wind NW, moderate with stronger gusts. The humidity is 60%, and the barometer is up. If the wind continues from the NW, or better yet changes to the N, the temperature will remain moderate. If it shifts again to the W, it will be a warm day.
An unusual little flower is blooming in our front yard garden, it is shinleaf, Pyrola rotundifolia. I don’t think it is particularly rare, but rather is probably much overlooked. Each spike of tiny white flowers arises from a few basal leaves. It is sometimes placed in its own family, or in the Ericaceae, the heath/Rhododendron family. It and other species in the genus were used as a poultice for cuts in both American Indian and folk medicine. The closely related wintergreen, Gaulteria procmbens, in the Ericaceae, is still used commercially in salves for the relief of arthritis, strains and bruises.
Political commentary: the Supreme Court announces its verdict in the Obamicare case this morning. I think its decision is totally unpredictable and I make none.
Did you know that the Administration is currently spending three million dollars advertising food stamps on TV, even though one in seven Americans are already receiving them? It is a blatantly obvious attempt to buy votes in the November election. Meanwhile. the orchards and berry farms hereabouts cannot get enough help for the harvest, and it is hard to find reliable lawn care or cleaning help even at twenty or thirty dollars an hour; it seems to me there is a rather obvious connection here. If this is the effect of just food stamps, think what a further culture of dependency on the government would do to our national work ethic and our spirit of entrepreneurship. Greece looks closer and closer.
No comments:
Post a Comment