by Ariel Francisco
Condemned to the kitchen counter
radiated by the heartless
Louisiana sun, so dry they bloomed
into a fire hazard. It’s been weeks.
It’s been months. It’s been seasons.
Even the ants who army crawl
under the window after rain
have stopped exploring those morbid petals.
Even the trashcan gags
as they crumble to dust in its maw.
This is drawn from “We All Have Moons We Long to Return To.”
Spent a week in London. The original purpose was to see the Royal Flower Show in Chelsea.
May 18. Took a United flight that departed around 10:30. Arrived around 11 am at Heathrow. Red eyed flights are a bad idea for me. I can’t sleep on the plan. Took an Uber to the hotel, Native Bankside. Rented it from VRBO, even though it’s a hotel. Driver was from Nigeria. He was not a fan of Trump. Good for him.
May 19. Bankside was very nice. The room was large and for the most part well designed and sharply decorated. Very quiet. Happy with it.
Walked along the river Thames in the South Bank area. Walked around the outside of the Tower of London. They turned the moat into a wildflower garden. Crossed the Tower Bridge. The drawbridge opened while we were there.
May 20. Took the Underground to the starting point of a Viator tour. Saw Big Ben, Buckingham Place, both from the outside. Were able to go inside Westminster Abbey. Tour guide was knowledgeable and personable. The group was large, which sometimes made it hard to hear what he was saying.
After the tour, we walked through several shopping areas. Foremost and Bloomingdale Arcade, and Piccadilly Circus. Then we took the subway to Burroughs Market. Had Fish & Chips.
One of the tour guides mentioned that drinking beer outside pubs is a big thing in England.
Rested for a bit at the hotel, then went to the Shard, the tallest building in Northern Europe. Overpriced, but the view of the sunset was special.
Also, stopped at King’s College of London. Cool sculpture of Yeats.
Before bedtime we did the river walk again.
May 21. Took the Underground to the Chelsea Flower Show, one of the biggest shows in the world. Got there around 8:30 am, walking around until around 4 pm. Very large show, and very crowded. No place to sit. Many spectacular flowers of course. The RHS seems to focus more on the flowers, less on the design as compared to the Philly show.
Took an evening walk by the river Thames in South Bank. Went towards Westminster, went by the Shakespeare Globe Theatre, Tate Modern, the National Theatre. Very lively place, a lot of mostly young people drinking a lot of beer.
Had a casual meal at an interesting Vegan restaurant. Salad and pizza. Very good.
May 22. Day tour to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath. Viator tour delivered by operator Golden Tours. Windsor Castle was very cool, but very rushed. Only had time to see the State Apartments, not the Chapel, which was disappointing.
Stonehenge was good to see, the amount of time there was about right. The burial mounds surrounding the area were something I hadn’t heard of before.
Final stop was Bath, an ancient city. It reminded me of Rome, but much smaller scale of course. A street musician was playing Seven Nation Army, drums and vocal.
After the tour of Bath, we walked through London’s Brompton district, basically an outdoor shopping mall. Lots of Middle Eastern people, many signs in Arabic.
May 23. Visited Tower of London. It was very hot, at least for May in England. Great place to see, so much amazing history.
May 24. Day tour to Oxford, Brampton, and Highclere (Downton Abbey castle).
Started around 1050, Oxford is now a collection of thirty-one colleges. The individual colleges do the teaching. Saint John’s is the wealthiest because it owned the land in the center of town.
The college is in the center of the town. Not tremendously large, but very old. All the buildings are made of limestone.
Jethro Tull went to Oxford, not the rock star, but they guy who created the horse drawn seed drill. Many PMs attended, including Boris Johnson. The guide quipped that the school must teach how to lie well. Adam Smith. Lord North, the man that lost America.
The guide pointed out the three spots were three church leaders were burned alive during the Reformation.
Guy Fox designed one of the famous buildings (one withe the dome above), he also did Saint Paul’s.
Next stopped by the quaint village of Brampton, where many Downton Abbey scenes were filmed, the weddings in particular.
Saw Sainy Mary’s church, built in year 1000
Year 600 given ti bishop
Earl of kounhaven 1679
1840 charles berry architect. Did big been. Bath stone. Red stone.
Castle 300 rooms
7k acres
Fellowes was freibd of family
They needed money
Weber wanted to buy
Charles 1st painting by van dyke
Family still live there
May 25.
Took subway to Soho and Covent Gardens. Walked around the theatre district and shops.
amateur and excellent meal at Punjab Restaurant.
Walked to the British museum. Very crowded. Saw the Ancient Iran room. Saw the Tree of Life exhibit.
Back at the hotel, Notting Hill happened to be on. Around sunset we walked around the outside of Saint Paul’s and enjoyed the view from the Mellinenium Bridge.
Good advice.
Saw an interesting memorial- the Fire Brigade Memorial – dedicated to the firemen who died during The Blitz.
Late at night, the fire alarm went off! So loud. False alarm. During the commotion, we discovered the door to a large bathroom in our room. Unbelievable.
May 26. Trip back home.
to do
by David Browne
Ok book about CSNY. Until recently, I never know their first two albums were so great. Funny that CSN somehow had money problems their entire life, when they made so much. Incredible lack of self control by all of them.
The people who recover fastest from setbacks are not the ones who punish themselves the hardest. They are the ones who treat themselves the way they would treat a friend. – Arnold Schwarzenegger
I joined the local Chrysanthemums society this year, the Old Dominion Chrysanthemum Society. We went to their show last year, seemed an interesting flower.
Bought six. Three “garden mums” – Copper Coin Bronze. and three exhibition types. one Allyson Peace, one Hagomoro, and one Kotoi No Kaori.
06/14/2026
Pinched back all of them. Hopefully did it right. They all look good so far.
I also tried to rooting the disbuds. We’ll see if that works. I doubt it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4V9IZ4xRaQI
06/09/2026
Attended the monthly Old Dominion chapter meeting. Many good tips.
See pinching video on National site.
www.
gardens – middle June and again in mid July (gardens mums). use electric shears
removed buds!
why. less height. more stems. control bloom date. determine type of blooms. crown or terminal). if don’t pinch, get a crown bud. Not necesarly bad.
soft pinch or hard pinch. Hard pinch if you wait too long, then must cut way down.
at most five leaves from the bottom.
need to figure out when to pinch. depends on the cultivar. generally, 1 in june on 1 mid july.
use 20-20-20 for each time
nitrogen –> greeness of leaves. small pale leaves means not enough nitrogen. result in small flowers
phosphorus – root growth. stunted means not enough. flowering delayed.
Potassium – weak stems.
Calcium – reduces acidity. want 6.5 for mums.
05/04/2026
potted all six in 6″ pots.
05/02/2026
Picked them up from the society.