Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The 200 lilacs as of 21 July

I ordered and planted what was supposed to be 200 lilacs, as I reported some time ago. But I had my doubts, because the buds of some were clearly live and green, beginning to swell, but most of them looked dead and even moldy. I called the place I ordered them from and reported my concerns. They said they'd replace them if they didn't grow. So today I went down and crawled through the whole patch on my hands and knees, marking + for each one that grew normally from its buds, - for each one that did not grow from the buds, but that sent a new shoot up from the root blow the ground, and 0 for each one that did not grow at all.
I find that 46 grew normally, 64 sent up a shoot from below ground, while the top stayed dead looking, and 94 did not grow at all. That adds up to 204, if I added right, but there were a few extra ones in there. So this is not such great progress. The 64 that grew a new shoot from below ground are now just at ground level or a little more, even if they don't die, while the 46 that grew normally are more like 18 inches to 2 feet tall.
I deposited another $172 in the account a week or so ago and today $100 more, but then I got home and figured it more carefully and found it should have been only $81. But, still, the total is now over $1000. Less than $200 to go before I call the man with the machine to clear the land!
I had not seen the report by Robin, with that picture of her with the lilac spoon I sent her in appreciation for beautifying this blog. She is the other person who has access to it, so she came in directly to thank me and show off her spoon. I hope she uses it, even if it is lilac!
One thing I tell customers at fairs and markets is that I worked for a rare book dealer for 9 years. We had some very old books, and when those books were printed, they put as many pages as could fit on as big a sheet of paper as they knew how to make in those days. The pages were printed in the right place, so if it was folded up right, they would be in the right order, and they were bound as folded sheets without having to cut them. Then, if you took your new copy to a bookbinder to have a cover put on that would match the rest of your library, as used to be the custom, the first thing he'd do would be to trim the edges off even, that would cut the folds. But if you kept it in whatever kind of covers the publisher put it out in, you'd have to take a knife and slit the folds or you couldn't turn the pages. We sometimes got books like that, that nobody had ever cut open, and the collectors would pay extra, but I think the author would feel bad nobody read his book.
Well, that's the way I feel about my spoons. Yes, they might get a stain on them, but I'd rather people use them. Well, it is nearly 1AM, and I better go to bed.

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