TheBanyanTree: stop the presses!
tobie at shpilchas.net
tobie at shpilchas.net
Sun Jan 14 12:06:03 PST 2024
Yo LaLinda!
You have confused me. Thank you for the encouragement but I don’t see where I was standing up for myself. My message was in praise of our friend Julie Anna Teague. I didn’t say anything about myself except that I was catching up after my office was dismantled (so I am mantling it).
Why am I confused? This confuses my confusion.
Tobie
> On Jan 14, 2024, at 3:52 AM, LaLinda via TheBanyanTree <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> wrote:
>
> Congratulations, Julie, I was just telling Kevin. Yesterday about your
> retiring. And, Tobie, good for you for standing up for yourself.
>
> On Sat, Jan 6, 2024 at 7:12 PM tobie--- via TheBanyanTree <
> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>> wrote:
>
>> Gad Zooks!
>>
>> Many of us remember Julie from Nerdnosh days, then Spoon and this
>> current incarnation. Well known. Recognizable from the first words.
>>
>> I am trying to catch up after my "office" was dismantled for a few
>> days and I find that "little Julie Anna Teague" is retiring. Although you
>> are not exactly the retiring type, I commend your attempt to try slowing
>> down. It’s good not just to slam on the brakes or put it in reverse when
>> you’re going 70 mph.
>>
>> I read the list, your list of qualifying criteria and there was
>> something you sort of glossed over. Little Julie Anna Teague is a
>> phenomenal writer, deep, ironic, funny, generous, keenly observant and
>> whole. We are all waiting to read what you have to tell us about life in
>> the next to the fast lane.
>>
>> Long may you wave,
>>
>> Love,
>>
>> Tobie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Jan 6, 2024, at 6:30 AM, Kitty Park via TheBanyanTree <
>> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Julie, I have no words (which is why it has taken me so long to comment)
>>> for your retirement plans. Building a business at the top of a long
>> list,
>>> WOW! When they say retire, I don’t think this is what they had in mind!
>>> But it’s your time to finally do YOU! Yahoo!!
>>>
>>> Kitty
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jan 5, 2024 at 10:27 AM Pam James via TheBanyanTree <
>>> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> oh no Julie!! I LOVE the passion and I am always amazed! And I get the
>>> same way when / if I get started on 'my kids'!
>>>
>>> All I really is my walkway and it's got loads of gorgeous lilies that
>> grow
>>> tall, bloom gorgeously, then die and leave ugly stalks behind to rot...
>>>
>>> I thought I would put a little corner garden area in my backyard.
>> Whenfor
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Carla was here we covered the area in cardboard and I 'edged' it off
>> with
>>>> stone-thingies from Lowe's, and then added a couple of bushes that Carla
>>>> said the butterflies would love, and covered the whole thing in mulch to
>>>> sit until spring. Standing at my back door, it was in the far left
>>>> corner. Nobody ever goes there because all the action is in the
>> far-right
>>>> corner (hahahah) where the other dogs are to bark at!!! I built it all
>> in
>>>> the safe corner.
>>>>
>>>> And now it's where Bella goes to poop, and by the way, both bushes are
>>>> down.... they may or may not grow back, but so far I have a corner of
>>>> mulch... it's gorgeous!!
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Jan 5, 2024 at 10:19 AM Teague, Julie Anna via TheBanyanTree <
>>>> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>>
>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> No worries, Pam. There are easy things to grow. And the cut flower
>>>>> business is just a whole 'nother level of work so they have long stems
>>>> and
>>>>> a long vase-life and different varieties than you find as plants at the
>>>>> nursery. Ain't nobody got time for that unless you are planning on
>>>> making
>>>>> a buck off the effort. My old method of having a nice flower garden:
>> 1.
>>>>> throw some plants in the ground and the ones that live, live, and 2. Go
>>>> to
>>>>> the flower nursery in May like ever-buddy else and get whatever they
>> got.
>>>>> In other words, I was pretty much like you until I went nuts on this
>>>> thing,
>>>>> and I still managed to have flowers blooming. Okay, maybe I've been
>>>>> somewhat nuts about it for a long time. But you can have flowers, too,
>>>> with
>>>>> just the method you are using. Although I think I mentioned to you,
>> Pam,
>>>>> that I could get you a list of things that can be treated like old
>> shoes
>>>>> and still thrive in your garden. The ONE rule you can't really ignore
>> in
>>>>> gardening at any level is "Right plant in the right place."
>>>>>
>>>>> And now I'll cease and desist on the gardening talk. I'm hell at
>>>>> parties--you don't want to get me going on the subject. Most of my
>>>> victims
>>>>> start nodding off and heading to the drinks table after five minutes.
>>>>>
>>>>> Julie
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: TheBanyanTree <thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com> <mailto:
>> thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com>>> On Behalf
>>>>> Of Pam James via TheBanyanTree
>>>>> Sent: Friday, January 5, 2024 7:53 AM
>>>>> To: A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own
>>>>> *original* writings. <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> <mailto:
>> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>>>
>>>>> Cc: Pam James <pamjamesagain at gmail.com <mailto:pamjamesagain at gmail.com> <mailto:pamjamesagain at gmail.com
>>>>
>>>>> Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: stop the presses!
>>>>>
>>>>> So you just killed me on ever wanting a flower again!!
>>>>> holytediouscrap!!!!!!!!!! NO WONDER I could never get much to grow
>>>> around
>>>>> here!!
>>>>>
>>>>> If they weren't tough enough to land in any ole sized hole, at any ole
>>>>> whatever depth, then they just didn't have what it took to survive my
>>>> vida
>>>>> loca!!!!!
>>>>>
>>>>> hahahahahaa!!! I brain can't do all that and I so freaking applaud the
>>>>> wiring in your brain that DOES!!!!!!!!! Rock on Jules!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Jan 4, 2024 at 5:08 PM Teague, Julie Anna via TheBanyanTree <
>>>>> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com> <mailto:
>> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Linda asked, are they micro mini flowers that I'm growing?
>>>>>> Ha. No, just a micro-mini sized "farm". There will be some very big,
>>>>>> beautiful flowers (God willing and the creek don't rise) and some
>>>>>> micro-mini flowers. There will be lots of flowers of all sizes and
>>>>>> colors. Everywhere I can squeeze in a flower on my .3 acres (minus
>>>>>> house), I'm squeezing one in. First up: daffodils of many varieties.
>>>>>> I've planted
>>>>>> 200 or 300, I've lost count, and tulips, both the elegant, single,
>>>>>> long-stemmed types and the fancy frilly types. I prefer the single
>>>>>> long-stemmed beauties. I've planted 600. I think. I have records of
>>>>> all
>>>>>> of this somewhere. These have all been planted as bulbs in the
>> Autumn
>>>>> and
>>>>>> thank God we had a long autumn. I also have ranunculus which grow
>>>>>> from corms that look like a tiny octopi. I've been growing them in
>>>>>> low tunnels since late Fall and babying them along, covering and
>>>>>> uncovering them at mother nature's whim. They like cold, but not too
>>>>>> cold. They don't like a lot of wind. They like water, but not
>>>>>> standing water, and god forbid you get their leaves wet and don't give
>>>>>> them enough air circulation to get dry. They are one of the
>>>>>> Goldilocks of the flower world but I love them beyond reason. This is
>>>>>> my first time growing ranunculus, so it's all a big, somewhat
>>>>>> expensive experiment, and really, if you have any mojo to spare, send
>>>> it
>>>>> to my ranunculus patch, I beg you.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As for annuals, I'm growing snapdragons (my favorite), zinnias,
>>>>>> sunflowers, lisianthus, cosmos, love-in-a-mist, sweet peas, feverfew,
>>>>>> daucus, dill, ammi, poppies, scabiosa (a terrible name for a flower,
>>>>>> IMO), angelonia, buplurem (excuse me), and many, many dahlias--which
>>>>>> are actually perennial here only if one can keep the corms alive in
>>>>>> one of the complicated and highly debated methods usually involving
>>>>>> being dug up at the exact right stage, separated at exact points with
>>>>>> a large, sharp, sterilized knife, and stored at exactly 35 to 45F
>>>>>> degrees and at least 80 percent humidity. I'm not making any of this
>>>>>> up. Dahlias are a ridiculous amount of work in my zone but they are
>>>>>> the main flower of most flower farmers because man do they bloom.
>>>>>> They bloom until you are almost (but never entirely) tired of them
>>>>>> blooming. Most dahlias have names and are collected by dahlia freaks.
>>>>>> I mean lovers. I can't get my hands on a Kelgai Anne at any price but
>>>>> anyone will sell me Linda's Baby. Even Linda.
>>>>>> I will probably get a year out of them and then kill them all in
>>>> storage.
>>>>>> I have some withering in storage right now, in fact. All of this
>>>> stuff
>>>>>> needs to be staked or netted or nursed, started from seed on certain
>>>>>> dates and moved out on other certain dates, all based on a last frost
>>>>>> date which is never the same date two years running and can vary by a
>>>>>> month. The seeds need darkness to germinate or they need light to
>>>>>> germinate--and don't mix that up or you get zilch--and must be allowed
>>>>>> to sprout on a heat mat unless they are the ones who despise any kind
>>>>>> of heat and must be kept at a comfy, cool 65F. There are those that
>>>>>> must be started in pots indoors to have a snowball's chance in hell,
>>>>>> and those that can only be started in the ground because their roots
>>>>>> must not be disturbed at all costs. It's a miracle that the world has
>>>>>> a bounty of lovely cut flowers, is all I'm saying. If I end up with a
>>>>> few handfuls, I should consider myself lucky.
>>>>>> I've got a stack of books and five thousand internet bookmarks, all of
>>>>>> which I'm reading and reviewing and researching nearly any minute that
>>>>>> I'm not working/eating/sleeping.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> All of these tricky-trickster annuals, the meat and potatoes of any
>>>>>> flower business of any size down to micro-mini, are built around a
>>>>>> foundation of perennials I've planted and have been keeping happy for
>>>>>> two years now at the "new" old house. The "new" old house had nary a
>>>>>> plant other than one very ancient lilac and a few scruffy, prickly,
>>>>>> ugly shrubs that need to be dug out. I have several roses now--two
>>>>>> el-cheapo floribunda roses that bloom their pea-pickin' hearts out
>>>>>> despite being the commoners of the rose world, readily available at
>>>>>> Kroger or Home Depot, or maybe because they are the commoners of the
>>>>>> rose world. They try hard and refuse to be humbled despite living
>>>>>> cheek by jowl with seven heirloom or David Austen roses--roses with
>>>>>> names and pedigrees. Two more will arrive with their lineage papers
>>>>>> in the Spring. Our Lady of Shallot and Anne Harkness shall join HRH
>>>>>> Queen of Sweden, who is currently slumming out back with the likes of
>>>>>> Hot Cocoa (that tart!) and the rest of the gang. I should really give
>>>>>> names to the floribundas---I think Nelda (red) and Patsy (orangey
>>>>>> pink) will work. I'm putting in Heritage mums for late October blooms
>>>>>> (they probably have names but I'm trying not to get too attached yet),
>>>>>> peonies (which definitely have names which one really should
>>>>>> remember), coneflower, daisies, alliums, achillea, buddleia, lavender,
>>>>> sage, false indigo, foxglove, geum, and natives like joe pye weed,
>>>>> larkspur, and others.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's a lot. I feel like I'm working on a PhD in flower
>>>>>> growing/tending/harvesting. And don't get me started on harvesting.
>>>>>> Everything is harvested in a certain way, put into a certain temp of
>>>>>> water, at a certain time of day. Or else, they say! It's a lot.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Julie
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: TheBanyanTree <thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree-bounces at lists.remsset.com>> On
>>>>>> Behalf Of LaLinda via TheBanyanTree
>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2024 2:24 PM
>>>>>> To: A comfortable place to meet other people and exchange your own
>>>>>> *original* writings. <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>>
>>>>>> Cc: LaLinda <twigllet at gmail.com <mailto:twigllet at gmail.com>>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: TheBanyanTree: stop the presses!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> OKAY!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So, I gotta ask, are the flowers mini-micro?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Jan 4, 2024 at 12:56 PM Teague, Julie Anna via TheBanyanTree <
>>>>>> thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com <mailto:thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Dear Tree Folk, some of you have known me forever and a day, and
>>>>>>> during the whole time you've known me, I've been here at a computer
>>>>>>> screen, pressing my silly little keys and keeping my silly little
>>>>>>> life afloat by writing computer programs which ostensibly provide
>>>>>>> those-in-charge with the information they need to keep charging.
>>>>>>> Well, I did some calculations this morning. Or, rather, I opened
>>>>>>> the handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet in which I had previously coded
>>>>>>> and saved the calculations almost three years ago (when the numbers
>>>>>>> seemed impossibly high and nearly insurmountable). And what these
>>>>>>> calculations told me, in the form of a single number with a lot of
>>>>>>> backstory, is this--
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ahem.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Little Julie Anna Teague,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> who was born into a dirt poor family in Nowheresville, Indiana
>>>>>>> (population 500), who has worked her entire life at jobs with
>>>>>>> varying degrees of meaningfulness, including almost 41 years for
>>>>>>> Indiana University, who has written a story or two, climbed a
>>>>>>> mountain or ten, and been owned by a cat or twenty (and currently
>>>>>>> one very spoiled dog), who has done yoga, breathwork, meditation,
>>>>>>> acupuncture, reiki, vision-boarding, primal screaming, long distance
>>>>>>> running, art therapy, sound therapy, talk therapy, and several
>>>>>>> things that were self-destructive but felt good at the time, who has
>>>>>>> loved and lost and loved again, ad nauseam, etc., and so forth, who
>>>>>>> has tried always to be kind and giving to her friends and family and
>>>>>>> animals and the environment and other good causes, who has scraped
>>>>>>> and saved, made do and paid off, re-used and re-grouped, eaten all
>>>>>>> the leftovers and composted all the scraps, and raised two damn good
>>>>>>> kids,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> has FORTY-NINE actual working days left in her working life at
>>>>>>> Indiana University.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Forty-nine. LESS THAN FIFTY DAYS, FOLKS, and, to paraphrase the
>>>>>>> great MLK, I am free at last, free at last, Thank God Almighty, I am
>>>>>>> free at last to live my life no longer beholden to a forty hour work
>>>>>>> week or shackled to my computer with the proverbial golden handcuffs.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I get the key to the handcuffs in forty-nine days, and guess what,
>>>>>>> they aren't real gold anyway. I've mostly stopped worrying that
>>>>>>> I'll end up eating cat food, but getting my teeth cleaned twice a
>>>>>>> year will become my budget luxury item.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> And before anyone responds with, "You'll need a PLAN to get through
>>>>>>> your retired days." I think every person I've told has said that to
>>>>>>> me. No worries, I have plans. I have grandkids to nurture and am
>>>>>>> gaining two more in the Spring. I have reading, classes, art, and
>>>>>>> volunteering I want to do. And my big plan, already in the works
>>>>>>> for many months now, is that I'm starting a micro-sized flower farm
>>>>>>> in my urban back yard and will be selling at the Farmer's market.
>>>>>>> It is hard work, but it's the work of my heart and never feels like
>>>>>>> work. I can be in my garden all day every day, doing the crappiest
>>>>>>> of garden tasks, and come in exhausted and filthy and with my back
>>>>>>> aching, and it
>>>>>> still feels more like joy than work.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So, that's where I'm at. Let the countdown commence.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Julie
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>>>>>>> forgotten your password? Go here:
>>>>>>> http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ^v^
>>>>>> ,/'^-,/'^v-^v ^v^
>>>>>> v^\/ ^-,-^ ^,-v^
>>>>>> ^v '-^ ^-, ^v
>>>>>> v^v^ v^ v^ v ^v^
>>>>>> { { \ \// } }
>>>>>> } } |``| { {
>>>>>> { { / / \ \ } } ________________( )_______
>>>>>> ---
>>>>>> ----
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>>>>>> forgotten your password? Go here:
>>>>>> http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>>>>>> forgotten your password? Go here:
>>>>>> http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>>>>> forgotten your password? Go here:
>>>>> http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
>>>>>
>>>>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>>>>> forgotten your password? Go here:
>>>>> http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>>>> forgotten your password? Go here:
>>>> http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
>>>>
>>>
>>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>> forgotten your password? Go here:
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>>
>> At my first meeting of the faculty wives club of the University of
>> California at Berkeley way back pre post feminism:
>>
>> Other wife looking at my name tag: Hello. What does your husband do?
>>
>> I: I’m a musician.
>>
>> Other wife: No. I asked, "what does your husband do?"
>>
>> I: He married a musician.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Tobie Helene Shapiro
>> tobie at shpilchas.net <mailto:tobie at shpilchas.net> <mailto:tobie at shpilchas.net>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you
>> forgotten your password? Go here:
>> http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
>>
>
>
> --
>
> ^v^
> ,/'^-,/'^v-^v ^v^
> v^\/ ^-,-^ ^,-v^
> ^v '-^ ^-, ^v
> v^v^ v^ v^ v ^v^
> { { \ \// } }
> } } |``| { {
> { { / / \ \ } } ________________( )_______
> ---
> ----
>
> Need to change your name, email address, or password? Or have you forgotten your password? Go here: http://lists.remsset.com/listinfo.cgi/thebanyantree-remsset.com
It's difficult if not impossible to make a conscious decision about which reality to live in today. THS 2014
Tobie Shapiro
mailto:tobie at shpilchas.net
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