Spring Bloom at Home and At Work

I am still sorting out my spring California Wildflowers.

Meanwhile, I figured I might as well show photos of the spring bloom at home and at work.

At home, currently at peak, are the amaryllis, a clivia, and an orchid.

At work, the energizer kalanchoe continues to bloom (continuous bloom since January!) and the bromeliad vriesea is coming along nicely.

Outside at home, the lilies are blooming,

the lilac and azaleas are over,


and it looks promising for the irises and peony.

My Pi celebrates his birthday. Happy Birthday Pi !

So for all of you who want to know how my Pi celebrated his birthday, he celebrated by going to the gym !!!

Birthday Cake #1, after I remembered to take a picture of it.


Birthday Cake #2


Birthday Cake #3


Birthday Cake #4. Thank you Aunt Jean!

Southern California Wildflower Contest So Far ...

So the winner of the Southern California Wildflower Contest is ...


Drumroll ...


I have no clue.

Because I have no clue how many flowers I have pictures of,
since so far I have only posted the red and orange flowers.

So it would be hard to post a winner.

Totals so far: 2 types of red, and 2 types of orange.

Flower pictures posted so far can be seen at:
SouthernCaliforniaWildflowers2010


General vacation pictures will be posted on an ongoing basis at: Southern California April 2010

Southern California Wildflower Contest

Parentals are back from week in Southern California. Was a great time. Many, many pictures. Links to come.

Enter my

Southern California Wildflower Contest

Enter your best guess answer to:

Of how many different types of flowers did I take a picture?

1 Grand Prize*
Person who comes closest to the correct answer will get a prize to be determined later plus the glory of winning the contest and having their name posted on this blog.

2 Runner Up Prizes**
2nd and 3rd closest answers will get the glory of coming in 2nd and 3rd place in the contest and having their name posted on this blog.

Rules

• Contest is open to legal residents of the (50) United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older, or younger. Also to anyone who has an Internet connection.

• One entry per person only

• Entries must be received before I post my pictures

• Contest winner(s)* ** to be announced after I post my pictures

* Grand prize will be awarded subject to at least one person entering the contest.
** 2 Runner Up Prizes will be awarded subject to at least two or three people entering the contest.

Men With Beards 1

Bob, holding my petroglyphs, with Jay and Dave at Cerro Gordo 

Not to Worry

To all those coming for Pesach, not to worry, I have come out of retirement for this occasion and there will be food!



Not sure if the clivia will make it though...

Past Its Expiration Date - We Need Your Vote!

Which is the most impressive example of Past Its Expiration Date?

Vote for Tomato Sauce #1, Tomato Sauce #2, or Once Was an Apple (we think).

Tomato Sauce #1
Close up of Tomato Sauce #1



Tomato Sauce #2
Close up of Tomato Sauce #2


Once Was an Apple (we think) - turned up in the basement during pesach cleaning. We figure it came home with Eli from camp.

Alternate view of Once Was an Apple (we think)

Storm Damage

We have been out of power since 8pm last night. PSEG is saying it won't be fixed till Tuesday night.

But the blog must go on ...

Some photos from the block.

Across the street.

Not sure what the problem is here, but a fire truck was out here for several hours last night,
Down the block.
Their daughter is getting married today!
Next door.

Update:

About 1:30 pm,

Apparently, this was the cause of the outage, and it was burning on the wire here last night:
After they removed a lot of the broken branch:


The car from across the street. Hard to see in this picture, but the roof rack was full of pine branches.

At 2 pm, the power came back on.

And our crocuses made it through despite everything.

Now vs Then

Back in the day, I used to shovel, and the kids used to play in the snow.

Last Friday, Lumpy shoveled, and ...









All that remained by today.

A Happy and a Healthy Purim!

We had some trouble coming up with a theme for this year’s Shalacmonos. Somehow, we couldn’t find anything funny about the Olympics, earthquakes. Tiger Woods, global warming, plane crashes, blizzards, angry lunatics with guns, late night talk shows, last season of TV shows, blizzards, sticking accelerator pedals, underwear bombers, tfillin bombers, state governors, Lady Gaga, or blizzards.

So we decided to take on that barrel of laughs, the US Health Care System.
The Lill and Bob Family Solution to the Health Care Problem:

~~~ JUST DON’T GET SICK ~~~

To help you achieve that goal, we are suggesting the following menu of healthy foods for your Purim Seudah (festive meal). Also recycling a Purim theme from a few years back. And recycling is good!

The menu eradicates (think: Haman’s name) the usual hyperglycemic trans fatty acidic Eastern European food staples and provides you with 100% of the daily recommended allowance of all the latest nutritional buzzwords. We did not make the words up. Google them!

Suggested Menu for Purim Seudah

Tofu Stir Fry With Broccoli, Carrots And Onions on Brown Rice: We started compiling the complete list of nutrients in the stir fry but the list got too long, and we were getting bored, so let’s just say - this is very, very healthy.
Orange : Contains antioxidants, phytonutrients, flavonoids, vitamin c, beta carotene, folic acid, magnesium, and potassium. Eat the peel and white stuff for greatest nutrition.

Apple : Phytonutrients, fiber, boron. One a day keeps the doctor away.
Garlic Clove Contains allicin, a powerful antibiotic and antifungal compound. Chew raw to prevent all communicable diseases.

Green Tea Contains ECGC, a powerful antioxidant which inhibits the growth of cancer cells and lowers cholesterol. Drink it quickly before further updates prove exactly the opposite.

Pack of Oatmeal : Reduces cholesterol, lots of soluble fiber, complex carbohydrates, low glycemic index. Quaker spokesman is wearing a Purim costume.

Almonds : Fiber, protein, calcium, magnesium, vitamin E, and they were on sale.

Raisinettes : Chocolate is packed with antioxidants and can lower blood pressure. Raisins also packed with antioxidants. Thank you, Nestlé’, for funding the study!

Blueberry Yogurt : Scientists are studying a community of über healthy centenarians discovered living in the mountain tops of Tibet whose diet consists entirely of blueberry yogurt. These simple folk are still competing in the Olympics, shoveling snow, and rescuing survivors of plane and Toyota crashes, despite global warming and earthquakes.

A Happy and a Healthy Purim

Food Items Contain: Sulforaphane , glutathione, beta carotene, fiber, phosphorus, copper, selenium, protein, calcium, iron, manganese, glucosinolates, isothiocyanates, kaempferol, flavonoids, indole-3-carbinol (i3c), phytonutrients, sinigrin, luteolin , zeaxanthin, zinc, folate, phenols, vitamin c, potassium, and magnesium. And that’s all just for the broccoli.

The Home Office

Flowers!!! Edison Flower Show!!! Clivia Update!!!

The Edison Flower Show gave me some excellent ideas

For my desk at work:

And the backyard at home:

The clivia from work was brought home for our shabbos enjoyment, and paired with a campanula I bought at the flower show: