Heather, by Elizabeth Gomm (CC BY-NC)

I’ve been obsessed with heather lately–but I suspect a more rugged landscape than former farmland suburbia is required to get the proper effect.

I am, however, very glad that the plants I ordered a couple weeks ago have not yet shipped. The storm we had earlier this week on the East Coast ended up being mostly ice with a tiny amount of snow and it would have likely been disastrous for freshly transplanted plants. It also caused the evergreen stuff (cypress? arbor vitae? who knows!) along our back property line to bend from the weight, three of them right into our neighbor’s yard and on top of her still-dormant ornamental grasses.  The others draped themselves over our shed but seem to be recovering their composure (their days are still numbered, though).

Instead of waiting until a professional tree guy could come out to look or for the ice to melt, she recruited some of her male relatives to hack them to bits–as she was completely entitled to do, since they were on her yard–and then stack the branches in the common area behind our house. Which I am not okay with: county code says that items in your yard are your responsibility to dispose of and the community association prohibits dumping in the common area. So I may have let the association president know about the situation was (I also didn’t want her thinking that we had done it) and that we are planning to have the branches removed but since most tree guys are pretty busy right now clearing people’s driveways and roofs of trees that it may take some time.

Our neighbor seems pretty happy about how much sun the back part of her yard’s going to get now. Well, that it’s going to get until we can install a privacy fence next year. And possibly plant a tree in that corner of the yard.

• Two great pieces from the New York Times Modern Love section–get your tissues handy:
  • You May Want to Marry My Husband
  • When Your Greatest Romance Is a Friendship
• David Letterman on Life After TV, Late Night Today, and the Man He Calls Trumpy Also, I would like David Letterman and Michael Stipe to have a beard-off, that is all.
• The Uncomfortable Legacy of Buffy’s Xander Harris Fuuuuck Xander. Seriously.
• Final Fantasy FXV: Thoughts In which Foz Meadows has opinions about FFXV and the chocobros in what is quite possibly the gayest FF title ever.
• The Power of Community in Hidden Figures This was what struck me about the film when I saw it a few weeks ago, too.
• ‘It’s Because You’re Fat’ — And Other Lies My Doctors Told Me
• Women in Power: From Medusa to Merkel
• Minority Advocacy Groups Feel Left Out of National Efforts, Funding Something to think about as you plan your charitable donations.
• The Fate of the Critic in the Clickbait Age
• A Q&A with Lisa Congdon on finding your voice.
• we lik the thred I am full of glee and delight at this.

This also fills me with glee and delight:

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