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ByGD

Sweet William

Sweet William

Last week it was pansies. This week it’s the carnation. Lately I’m all about defending mistreated flowers. Carnations have sort of a bad image. They’re hospital flowers. They get stuck in buttonholes, not because people like them, but because they aren’t messy. Stiff and sort of sterile, like fake flowers. But they used to be very popular in Victorian gardens, and even today you don’t have to look very hard to find really cute varieties.

When you bother to look close at the intricate petals, you also notice that they are fragrant. Carnations have a really unusual, but pleasant, sort of peppery scent. It’s quite masculine for a floral – maybe that’s how they first became associated with boutonnières. It might also account for their older common name, Sweet William. Isn’t that a much nicer name than carnation? Doesn’t it make you think of snuggling a just-washed little boy? Or resting your head on the shoulder of someone warm and sort of peppery smelling?

ByGD

Book Report: Tómas Jónsson, Best-Seller

Tomas Jonsson Bestseller book cover

Here’s a first: I am writing about a book I didn’t finish. My fascination with Icelandic literature is well documented (I couldn’t even pick a link for that one – I have a tag for Icelandic authors on this blog.) So, when I saw Tómas Jónsson, Best-Seller by Guđbergur Bergsson in an article about books in translation, I immediately put it on hold at the library. But I just couldn’t get through it.

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ByGD

No Preference – Constitution Article 1 §9.6

ConstitutionOn Wednesdays we study the Constitution. I thought I’d never finish Article 1, Section 8, which lists the powers of Congress. But I finally got to Section 9, which limits the powers of Congress. It started off weak, but it’s getting better. Last week I learned about the ban on export taxes. This week I’m on to Article 1 §9.6, the “no preference clause,” which requires Congress to treat the states equally.

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ByGD

NEXT STEP: IN at Pacific Northwest Ballet

NEXT STEP ProgramNEXT STEP is Pacific Northwest Ballet’s annual choreographers showcase. NEXT STEP is a one-night-only, all-premiere event with choreography by company dancers, dancing by the PNB School’s Professional Division students, and music by the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. This year called NEXT STEP: OUTSIDE/IN, the evening began OUTSIDE, with three free performances. The ticketed second part took place IN McCaw Hall.

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ByGD

Music I Liked – Zeal and Ardor, Tomb Mold, Raum Kingdom, Sunflower Bean, Death Cab

Raum Kingdom Everything and Nothing album coverDigging into the music blogs the last couple weeks reminded me that I like doing that. So I found Zeal and Ardor, Tomb Mold, and Raum Kingdom last week. Then I missed a KEXP in-studio for Sunflower Bean, but I did see Death Cab for Cutie at the Paramount.

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