(Emblem and patron of my father's people, as any who know us will understand, this well-armed weed flowers in surpassing beauty on the North Coast this time of year. Hated invader notwithstanding, compromising pastureland, and misguidedly considered coarse and unseemly.
As are we.
Cirsium vulgare; though this being the avatar of Scotland, disputes abide over which exact species is truly the authentic Scottish thistle, amongst the many, well... er...
pretenders.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
(This 20-odd year apple met its end last week, a victim of its own success. In the late 20th century, varieties such as these, bearing heavily but not growing very tall, became all the rage; they really pump out crop and it’s all in reach, at least of picking ladders and apple hooks. Since that time, little else has been planted.
Trouble is, this blueprint results in a top-heavy tree, balanced on a root ball smaller than evolutionary spec. So one good breeze on dry soil, and that’s that.
Sometimes traction and tree surgery can save such casualties. In fact, in the ancient abandoned orchards where I grew up, many of those old heirlooms actually bore from a reclining position, having fallen in some winter storm and retained enough root contact to keep producing.
But those were hardy, full-sized, union-built trees, falling where no-one cared what they looked like, of a wet, dormant season.
And so this beautiful new-guard girl is done for. How sad to lose a thing that gave so generously for so long.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
So it's July again, when Internet readership drops off sharply and strange things happen on this blog while no-one's looking. Arguably the strangest is the annual Offering of Rock Groups Yearning to Be, that yearly list of potential group names posted for the benefit of literally anyone who wants one. (Full details here.)
Included in the deal is permission to reveal to anyone who enquires that your group's name was bestowed by a Zen hermit monk. And that all by itself is worth the price of admission. (Which is zero. Don't ask; it's a Zen thing.)
So once more into the breach. Extra credit to anyone who catches the literary, historical, scientific, and pop culture references that follow. In Google veritas.
Rock Groups 2025
The Window
Holgar
Tsunami Turtle
Der Pfeilstorch
Concrete Animals of Mexico
Einsatz
Exidor
Fala Does Mind
Hyōgaiji (may I suggest that you also take 丂 as your logo)
Vines's Boot
The Offcuts
Morton's Fork
PTT
The Skeleton Men
The Dumb Waiters
Headbolt
Deadbolt
Gasket
The High-Fivin' White Guys
Daily Driver
Harfang
Elon
Musk
Membrane
Jonas Grumbey
The Heat Monkeys
The Luck
Hinge
Plug Ugly
The Roadside Dinosaurs
Pilori
French Club
Uh-Oh Chongo
Gaturro
Motormouse
(Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com and a generous photographer.)
(As I recently pointed out, at high summer you can often raise bread dough outdoors in the shade. An 80 to 95-degree day ought to do it.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
(At 287 feet, the vault over the Washington State Capitol Building in Olympia is the highest free-standing masonry dome in North America, and the fifth-highest in the world.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
even one-penny
fireworks...
ooo! ahh!
Issa
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and a generous photographer.)
(This guy came by one hot afternoon last July and spent the evening in the backyard.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
(Stopped for a rest on a long bike ride the other day and noticed the picnic table pretty much told the whole story. Helmet, gloves, granola bar, Alan Watts' autobiography. These are the sweet days of summer.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
Welcome, honoured sangha, to your annual festival of potential rock group names here on the Ring. This makes an eleventh year of this odd and inexplicable July ritual, which is offered in the cause of the entertainment of all sentient beings.
Those needing reminder will find an explanation, such as it is, of this phenomenon here, as it first appeared away back in 2013.
As for rules and regulations, I suspect the 2021 post stated them most clearly.
Remember that any suggested genres are just that; there is no obligation of any kind, moral or financial, associated with this list, in whole or in part. You're a group as yet unnamed, you grab anything you like, with no apologies.
Let's crack on, shall we?
Rock Groups 2024
Roobar (Australian alt-country)
The Riot Dogs
Synesthesia (acid rock jam band)
Visible Filth (seems like it's gotta be punk, but hey, why not a boy band?)
The Drop Bears
Albino Platypus
Palindrome
Head Cannon
None More Black (Spinal tap reference)
Farmer John and the Weeds of Concern
The Sea Lions
No Thru Traffic
Demogorgon (metal)
Prometheus (hair band)
Bedfellow
House Hippo (Canadian twee pop)
Fingerstop
Matthew
Drywall
Maßkrug (metal band too sophisticated for an umlaut)
Ziggy Says
Monitor (the lizard, not the teacher's pet or computer screen)
Apeechequanee
Pantser
The Brothers German
Rook
Crankover
Ten Penny Nail
Blork
Menȝies (pronounced properly)
Gar Ye Grue (Scottish punk band)
Elementary Penguin
Viaticum (death metal)
Fustibalus
Номенклатура
Article 58
Alice Blue (dream pop)
When Ready Fire
The Pump Jacks
Puck Bunny
Fox 3
(Photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema and Unsplash.com.)
(How hot has it been here? So hot that rabbits are "splooting" [hunkering down on cooler bare ground in plain sight of people and other potential predators] right in front of my front door. Such weather used to be highly unusual here in my hometown, but has become the new "normal" these last few years. One that neither I nor the rabbits will get used to.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
(This is Pseudacris regilla again. He's appeared here in the past, but this one is about the size of my thumbnail, part of a crowd of like-sized peers teeming in the high grass around the pond. Apparently the product of this year's hatch.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
(Fishing with my nephew. Open in a new window or tab to see it better.)
Appearing also on My Corner of the World.
