Stinky corpse flower

The highlights for this week are:

• stinky corpse flower
• joined the gym
• library of congress
• cooked at the Amb residence for a bbq
• the first 'laddie' fashion review

I went with my friends to see this stinky corpse flower thing. The stinky corpse flower is blooming at the U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory. It is the first bloom of this particular plant, which is six years old. It takes quite a while to create enough energy for a bloom as spectacular as this one! There is a live video feed on it so you can watch it from home - well just watch it like the photo looks, until it blooms.

The magic of the titan arum comes from its great size - it is largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom. When it went on display, the plant was around 3.5 feet tall. Referred to as the corpse flower or stinky plant, its putrid smell is most potent during peak bloom at night into the early morning. The odor is often compared to the stench of rotting flesh. The inflorescence also generates heat, which allows the stench to travel further. This combination of heat and smell efficiently attracts pollinators, such as carrion beetles and flies, from across long distances.

The titan arum does not have an annual blooming cycle. The plant blooms only when sufficient energy is accumulated, making time between flowering unpredictable, spanning from a few years to more than a decade. It requires very special conditions, including warm day and night temperatures and high humidity, making botanic gardens well suited to support this strange plant outside of its natural range. This plant is native to the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia, and first became known to science in 1878.

So we are checking the video feed several times a day to see when it blooms - we're then going to go down and have a look...and a smell. Standby for next week's blog, hopefully it will have bloomed.

My friends also took me to the Library of Congress. It is quite beautiful. You can view the library floor from the top and see people working, reading, researching. The roof reminds me of the Vatican. It is the nation's first established cultural institution and the largest library in the world with millions of times including books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. But I have to wonder if there are any DC Comic books in there with Batman??

  

I got a phone call through the week asking me if I would cook a small bbq for the Amb at his residence. The staff are all on leave and they couldn't find anyone so yep, they were reaching for the last cookie in the jar = me. I said yes as surely a bbq couldn't be that hard. There was enough meat for a small army, thank god as I needed to cut up a sausage or two to check they were cooked. I hate cooking kebabs so they were a little over-done. Nearly lost a snag off the plate but caught it in time. Dessert was fun. I was trying to be creative with the lemon tart and berries and ice cream - how do you plate them to look masterchef'y.  I ended up googling images my phone to get some ideas. I didn't get a final picture but here was my picture text for Deb. asking her for ideas...she didn't reply. Note to self, don't call her as friend on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'.

So I had the plumber visit this week. The hose tap outside has been leaking slowly. The landlord organised him to come last Tuesday - he didn't show did he. So I called again to ask when he'd be back. The landlord said that he came on Wed but no-one was home and there were dogs out the back. I said what? Of course I wasn't home Wed, I was expecting him Tuesday!! Anyway, he was to come back this week. So he came as expected this time. Goes out the back, pulls the hose off the tap, does some magic and in his little latin accent says ' Yeh, the tap leek'. OMG, no shit sherlock - really, that's why I called you here. Do you have washers etc, can you fix it now?  Oh no, he had no such thing in his truck. He'd have to go buy stuff and come back another day. My eyes are rolling and rolling and rolling by now.

So he comes back the next day with a buddy. They have decided to replace the whole tap fixture. So I'm sitting inside and they're doing god knows what outside. One went inside the house stairway which is behind the tap. I see a square chunk of wall cut away in the stairway that gives them access to the tap outside. I run away as if I've seen something bad. I hope they know what they're doing. Jibber jibber ola ala ola speedy gonzales….can’t understand a word they say. I walked past 20 minutes later and there's a second square hole in the wall. Hmmm, I'm glad this is not my house, run away again. Later on he pops up and after a strained conversation, I decipher that he needs matching paint for the wall as they patched the holes. Yeah, in the garage there's a bunch of tins. Anyway, an hour later, they fixed the tap, patched the holes, painted and cleaned up. Crikey, I'm amazed. The tap leak has actually stopped and the wall hasn't fallen over. Touching wood right now.

This week the Democrats had their convention which is where they all get together and formally confirm their presidential nominee. It was Hillary of course. It was quite spectacular to watch, so positive and uplifting. Compared to Trump's circus, this was a rockshow. Bill Clinton gave a speech and how funny the next day an article appeared covering what he wore !!  He's going to be the first 'laddie' so he best get used to fashion reviews. 

He's what he review said. Note that he wore a Shinola watch. You may recall Deb's Shinola watch purchase in Detroit so she felt somewhat cool knowing Bill wears one too. But Bill's was half the price so he clearly got a Pres discount !!

Bills's stately-but-approachable appearance and middle-of-the-road fashion choices make him a terrific candidate for the supporting role of first spouse of the United States. (He was also the 42nd president of the United States.) He may lack current first lady Michelle Obama’s upper arm strength, but he makes up for it with a nice head of hair.

We’ve yet to read an interview with the person who styled Bill’s silver locks for last night’s DNC appearance, or even see a brief in Women’s Wear Daily or GQ crediting the designers who dressed him for the occasion. Did he buy his suit online, like Melania Trump’s Net-a-Porter-purchased Roksanda last week? Did he go to a store? Work directly with a designer? We just don’t know, which means it’s going to be really difficult for this particular navy suit to sell out, as so many of the dresses worn by Michelle Obama have over the past eight years. Was it Hickey Freeman? Hart Schaffner Marx? Again, we just don’t know.

Here’s what we do know: Clinton’s suit was navy blue, and he wore a tonal cobalt tie in a shade similar to the Christian Siriano dress Michelle Obama wore the night before. (Some noted then that the dress matched the stage’s background. Clinton’s tie did too!) The suit had three buttons, a notch lapel, and full-cut trousers that broke substantially over his shiny black dress shoes. One might have even called it a “pantsuit.”

The LA Times’ Adam Tschorn noted that although we don’t know who made this suit, “if you stare at it long enough, a subtle tone-on-tone stripe becomes apparent.” Clinton accessorized with a watch Tschorn identified as a 47mm blue-faced Runwell watch by Shinola—a $550 Detroit-made timepiece. (It’s apparently patriotic enough for Clinton, although the FTC has its doubts.) The potential first gentleman also adorned his lapel with a Hillary campaign button. For jewelry, he wore his wedding ring.

As a fashion moment, it might have been a little underwhelming, but as a historical one, it was not. Clinton’s look stated clearly: I’m with her.


The weekend was quiet, had our usual Sat morning run with the local ladies. We seem to be getting more new faces each week and hopefully we'll get a good posse together. I seem to struggle in the humidity. I usually carry a little water bottle cause it's such a sweat fest. We are gaining some Amercian friends on Facebook now so we feel pretty chuffed with that. 

We joined the local gym today. We figure it's time. It seems good, not too busy and very friendly. Different to home, it's a really natural genuine friendly. I hope to have Lara Croft guns by Xmas so I can shovel that bloody snow and not have a heart attack.

I start work this week, a three month block but the third month is taken with 3 weeks leave. So I have to get out of bed in the morning and I need to find somewhere to nap during the day. I've become accustomed to a certain lifestyle lately. The dogs will be shocked to spend the whole day outside on their own. 

Anyway, enough for this blog. A couple of random pics to finish with. Can't believe August is here. Note the deer pic - there is a family of deer that frequent our street, a couple were there in the morning as we went for a run.

when are we going for walk?

researching the next road trip