[Tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium), in front of my porch; 6pm, 8/1/09]
Tiger lilies are cultivated in Asia for their edible bulbs. The pollen, however, is considered poisonous, and is toxic to cats. (wikipedia)
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What's up with me is work -- 11 hours last Friday, half-day Saturday and then all day Sunday, then yesterday and today at a more reasonable 9 hours each. Reasonable compared with our project leader, who has been working until 3, 4, 5am and going home to sleep for a few hours only to return shortly thereafter - and this day after day. I've been lucky (or maybe they realize I'm a total wimp after too many hours and without sufficient sleep). Saturday evening I even managed to get out to dinner with D and spend the evening, thus fortified to face Sunday's workload. And of course since I had last Monday and Tuesday as vacation days, it wasn't as if I'd already worked a full week (plus my pool of available time off was refueled by the weekend duty, to be used later). But it is summer, and I look forward to my free time. Last night I went out for a walk at 8:30 and it was already dark - summer flying by.
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I've been using one of those cheapo steel folding vegetable steamers for years. Usually one or two of the steel petals falls off and I try to pop it back into place, but eventually one disappears and there's a hole for my broccoli or whatever to fall into. But hey, they work. Anyway, on one of my vacation days, we were wandering around a kitchen supply store researching best tea kettles when I saw this cool silicone "sleekstor veggisteam" steamer for about $10 and had to have it. So far I have only steamed fresh corn on the cob (no danger of that falling through the metal steamer), but I just love the design. No more lost pieces and no more lost soppy veggies.
I also purchased a small amount of Black Dragon Pearl tea in beautiful hand-rolled tippy leaf balls from Teavana, which I have yet to try but smell great. I used to try lots of teas, but now I have a digestive sensitivity to tannins, so I limit my tea-drinking to one morning cup, with milk (and no red wine, sigh). But when I mentioned this to the saleswoman in the Teavana store, she recommended the Black Dragon Pearl as having very low tannins, so I thought I'd give it a try. Will let you know. I've been too busy and rushed in the morning to make a proper cup and try it out.
I was home before 6pm tonight, and so I'm off to take advantage of the time to get a short walk in, despite the August steam heat...
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