Well hello! It’s a fine Sunday afternoon, and a very reasonable temperature to get tons of things checked off your to-do list in the yard. Or, to sit and have a michelada on the patio. Your choice.
Let’s take a break from the snatch for one moment. Did you see the first season of True Detective? I’m on the slow boat with almost all shows, so I’m just now on the 5th episode. I think I like it, but I also think it might be the same boring woman-as-victim, man-as-everything-else dichotomy that pervades so much of our culture. Yes? So now I find myself irritated and trying to think of shows where women are not primarily positioned as victims/mothers/wives/caretakers/supporters of men. It’s a reach. And I’m not saying that those positions (well, those beyond victim) are solely a bad thing. They’re just so narrow in comparison to what real life has to offer. At this point in the day my girlfriend has come up with Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica (if you haven’t watched BSG, just do it already – even if you think you’re not a sci-fi fan – it’s good). The only one I can think of is Selena Meyer on Veep, which I LOVE. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is so dang funny and sharp, and I love that she admits she has to ignore sexism on a daily basis and just plough on through. It just seems like it’s time for us to see consistently strong women on the screen that aren’t always being raped/murdered/saved by men/saved from themselves/derailed by relationships/dragged down by fights with female friends/flattened by life. Right? It’s tedious. So for this week’s homework, beyond the snatch, tell me what you find in the shows and movies you watch.
Alright, let’s get down to business.
I’ve loved whatever type of prickly pear this is for years, but just got my hands on some as of yesterday. Let me describe them to you, because after a couple hours of searching plant databases, I cannot find their species (genus Opunia, of course). They are a lovely medium green, the pads are 10″ long x 7″ wide, they have a nice smooth oval shape, the spines are irregularly spaced on the new pads but are scattered throughout on older pads, and they get TONS of huge orange flowers followed by green fruits. They might be a little sun sensitive, because the healthy specimens I see are found on the east side of walls or buildings. Any guesses? I’ve spent a lot of time here trying to figure it out, but I still have no idea. I guess there are at least 200 species of Opuntia, and I’ve looked through approximately 60, so I’m going to leave this one to someone who is at least 10% more of a plant nerd than myself.
Do I even need to go over the drill anymore? With a large pair of snippers, cut off pads, catch in bucket, let scabs heal for a bit, plant in ground, wait one year for amazing new pads and flowers. Easy! I’m adding 5 of these guys to my back garden today.
