Thursday 18 May 2017

Of Bugloss and Blowballs

Or: When the Milk Witch goes to seed...

 No, not me. Although sometimes I do feel as if I'm nearly there...

 The Host went to see Alien: Covenant at the Cromer Regal Movieplex this afternoon, so I went along for the ride as I quite like Alien and Aliens. I didn't like this though. What a load of convoluted, hurried, needlessly shaky, Alien-diluting rubbish!
  I didn't like it either! I'm going to try and erase this from our memories.
 Anyway, on the way back, we walked through Cromer churchyard and marvelled at the Giant Viper's Bugloss (Echium pininana), which is now in flower.



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 Milk Witch is another name for the common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), a veritable field of which I walked through on my way home. They'd all gone to seed, but weren't quite ready for their seeds to blow away in the wind, so their 'clocks' (I think some of the Americans amongst you may know them as 'blowballs' - Is that right, Maddie?) were all primed and ready to tell the time upon the breaths of the curious.

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 The Host has some more flora photos to share, but he's not yet got around to sorting them out, so they'll have to wait for another day.
 

17 comments:

  1. The Bugloss is stunning as is the church, but we must find you something to blow other then dandelion.

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    1. Well, I did notice that the "you may also like" under your most recent post pointed out Happy Hour. Just give me a little while to get my breath back afterwards!

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  2. "blowballs"

    First time to hear that name. Only have heard them call dandelions.

    Oh, god. I just purchased a ticket online to see Alien: Covenant tomorrow morning.

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    1. I'd never heard of "blowballs" until today either.

      Covenant was very well done, with some quite spectacular cinematography, but perhaps I wasn't in the mood for it? Let me know what you think tomorrow.

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  3. Echiums are among our most desired plants here at Dolores Delargo Towers. They're just so dramatic... Jx

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    1. I'm determined to collect seeds from these ones to see if I can grow a few for Castlette DeVice's gardens. If I remember, I'm bound to have spares that I can send you?

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    2. I might take you up on that offer... Jx

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  4. ugh, those hideous "alien" monster things. ain't sitting thru anymore of that, thank you.

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  5. Echium have adapted to San Francisco like mad and are considered invasive by some. I'm quite fond of them and their beautiful range of blues. They were two of the first plants in my garden and now it's a fight for dominance between us and yet I still love them. My neighbors yard (the neighbors ignore it) has been completely covered by them. Very dramatic, almost histrionic.

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    1. Drat! I remembered your impressive Echiums from The Very Mistress's Annual Garden Photos Event and meant to link to them. Never mind, here they are!

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  6. What a strange juxtaposition with the church!

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    1. You think that's strange - you should see what's on the other side of the church...

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  7. I liked Alien: Covenant. [dodges thrown blowball bouquet]

    Although I think it should have been titled Prometheus: Covenant as it really is more of a continuation of that movie with some nice Alien/Aliens motifs thrown in for good measure.

    As I was leaving the theater I had a quickie discussion with someone who was baffled by the movie. He had not seen Prometheus, so much of the movie was lost on him.

    To me, Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus stand alone as good movies. The others before Prometheus, not so much.

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    1. Oh, yes, I liked all the little motifs and nods to previous films - David describing the Aliens as "perfect organisms" just like Ash did in the original film. And when David confronted Danni(? - Can't remember her name) after she'd found his drawings, and threw her around for a bit, I kept expecting him to try and force one of those scrolls into her mouth! The music was great, too - themes from Alien, Aliens and Prometheus - all haunting but lovely.
      What really put me off was that the Aliens were pretty much incidental to the Androids - I'm sorry, "Synthetics" - and that they were created (perfected) by one! I didn't want to know how they came to be. I liked the mystery :(

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    2. Excellent point! The Synthetics are supposed to be minor; more Alien gore s'il vous plaît!

      BTW, I kept hoping that Guy Pearce would break out singing ♪ ♫ I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine ♪ ♫!

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    3. Ha! In my mind, that's what he did after he got David to play Wagner. Thanks LẌ - You've made Covenant far more tolerable!

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