Muchacho Polaco

It is a perfect day to work on the yard. I just cut the grass, watered the trees and plants, and planted a new bougainvillea (Rasberry Ice!). We have two types of bougainvillea in the yard, 3 bushes and 1 vine. I prefer the bushes to the vine as the vine, though able to grow up without support, grows too far up (10+ feet). As such, I have to frequently cut the vine which eliminates the flowers as they tend to blossom at the top of the plant. The 3 bush bougainvilleas have grown enormously this year probably due to some serious fertilization. Here is a picture of one:

And here is a picture of the Rasberry Ice Bougainvillea I planted today:

We are hoping to cover our entire west wall with bougainvillea, so perhaps I will visit the nursery later today to see what I can find. I had a difficult time finding the one above as it seems the vines are much more popular. I like this one though because of the multi-colored leaves. It’s also slightly a different color flower, so the contrast will be nice. I’d like to plant some red and orange ones as well.

Below are some photos of some Cosmos I planted a month or so ago which are coming in really nicely. Cosmos is a neat flower that I have yet to successfully grow (this may the first). I read Vishal Mangalwadi’s biography of William Carey the other day. Carey was a pioneer missionary to India with a plethora of interests; such as social, political theory, education, and he was a passionate botanist. I am not familiar with which eschatological paradigm he subscribed to (I’m pretty sure what he subscribes to now though), but I suspect he deviated from his theological tradition given his passion with things like social reformation and botanical dominion.

I received my long underwear in the mail last night! Yunuen and I have been preparing for our upcoming trip more than we have prepared for the previous trips this year. Due in part I’m sure to being much more excited about this trip. I ordered, and hope to have before our departure, a sweet tripod and remote control for my camera. I think I might order a book today to read on the plane. I am just finishing Anselm’s Proslogian.

We didn’t do much with the garden this year – just the watermellons. I’m not exactly sure what type of watermellons these are, but they are fairly small, round, and extremely tasty! I really had no idea when they were done growing or prime for picking, particularly as I had no idea what the expected size was to be; however, I pulled a few the other day. They pulled off rather easy and I had read somewhere that this was an indication they were ready. We were really pleased with how well they turned out.