~Magnolia x 'Elizabeth', blooming against the backdrop of a river birch and a grey sky~
~~~~
I worked from home today, my sometimes-Thursday ritual, and during the middle of the day, a friend called and told me to turn on NPR - he said that Jenks Farmer of Lushlife Nurseries was being interviewed. Not only was Jenks being interviewed, but they were also talking with Felder Rushing - so you can only imagine that it was an interesting interview: that is, if my friend had called me at the beginning of it, and not the end! However, even the end of the interview was worth it, especially as someone exclaimed - in a voice that could only be described as profound (in the gardening world):
'Buddy, can you spare a crinum?'
I'm sensing that might just be the gardening quote of the year, capturing the essence of the economic down turn...and the gardeners obsession all at once. If you go to the Your Day website, you should be able to download a podcast of the interview (for 26 March 2009). It's worth it, just for that last quote.
~~~~~
It's spring. Undeniably now. It's a late spring for those of us along the South Carolina coast - an unusual spring. But it has arrived - along with a forecast for storms. Live oak leaves are flying all around, azaleas are screaming, and everyday there's something new to see. Sort of feels like the lab, where we're facing new challenges: sorting through our first whole genome of a coral pathogen, sorting through complex datasets (repeat after me: BIO IN FOR MATICS), sorting through edits of manuscripts, sorting through the stimulus package and how it affects funding opportunities. I head out of town in a week to give a seminar at the University of Oklahoma, before I leave we need to have a preproposal drafted, a manuscript submitted - oh, there's a long list of things we need to do. There always is, and I suppose that is a good thing.
During Wednesday's weekly lab meeting, we mostly talked while passing around corn pudding/bread, a tuna salad, artichoke pasta, fresh fruit, bread and spinach dip, and an angelfood cake with roasted pears - a festive gathering of hungry folks in need of just catching up. So amidst everything blooming - the garden and the lab - we ate and talked and caught our breath. Katherine read to us a wonderfully intriguing poem by a North Carolina poet at the end of the gathering, one that I will share with you now. And then I will share with you a little bit of my spring.
~~~~~
WORK, THE VANDALS SAY by Alan Michael Parker
from the vandals (BOA Editions Ltd, 1999)
Has no social value. It's another
Monday afternoon, 4ish, another poem,
Another adamantine hour spent
Harassing the milliner, trying on
Each Stetson, bowler, black beret;
Tossing down the Bloody Marys from
A thermos labeled Drink.
Where's the little boy? the vandals sneer,
Brandishing their celery sticks.
Didn't you have a kid?
The milliner is careful not to glance
Back toward the beaded curtain-
Where, beyond, hiding in the stock room
A child named Innocence
Builds a castle out of spools.
Gimme that, the vandals pout. That's mine!
And you and I? We pretend
The poem is big enough for all,
Snap our brims down low, no strangers
To this moral indolence. Kitty Genovese!
The vandals chant. Follow orders,
Follow orders, follow orders!
And the milliner forgets
That art is merely parallel to history:
He nonchalants his way to the little store's
Little door, unplugs the Welcome Mat,
Winks at you, at me, and steps into
The murderous traffic.
Woah, the vandals snort.
'Tis a pity, the vandals agree.
~~~~~
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