TGIF Seminar

A strange, eclectic group gathers every Friday sometimes at commercial establishments if they don't remember the group from the last time and sometimes at the houses of "members". In this particular group the Phactors anchor the young end of the member spectrum. Now since the gardens were still fairly neat, and the patios and lawn furniture were still fairly clean, the group was invited to have their TGIF Seminar in our garden yesterday. An inordinate number of mathematicians belong, which is a bit funny, funnier than they are, but the Phactors have been socializing with some of these people for close to 40 years. A lot of wine has flowed in that period of time. A few people had never seen the estate and gardens before and the weather was just perfect, a lovely early evening. As this group is dominated by university faculty and Unitarians, the diverse political discussions were kind to Jimmy Carter and unkind to Donny Trump, concerned about investments, and trading summer travel stories. Athough the semester had just started, this largely retired group was not at all concerned.  The TGIF group numbered about 1/10th the wedding group, so the aftermath was much less to deal with, and the empties didn't begin to fill the recycling dumpster that the wedding had easily topped up. This affair was not catered but 5 pounds of meatballs went somewhere, as did a lot of salty, crunchy snacks, which make you thirsty, thus starting a vicious cycle that everyone enjoys. Wonder where the next seminar will be?  And will the person who brought the bottle of pink zin please stop by and retrieve their wine.

TGIF on a dreary week

Today has been a mixed bag, an ending of a semi-miserable week. It's been 40-ish all day, gray, damp, and very windy all day. Today was a research symposium for biology students, and TPP was pleased to see how many students had done research on botanical subjects. Some colleagues still have difficulty believing that a significant segment of our majors like plants. And best of all, the students knew what they were talking about and they all seemed to really like their research.  How great is that?  Other than the semi-depressing chores of dealing with the odds and ends that have accumulated over the past few weeks, todays news was rather depressing, even worse than the latest SCOTUS stupidity.  A neighbor has rather suddenly died, and while a senior, senior citizen, it seemed his death was unexpected and not preceded by any illness.  Wendel was a terrific person, a community activist and leader, and our historic district designation and peace treaty with commercial neighbors were largely his doing, his negotiating skills, & his tenacity. Then a hour later, TPP found out one of his longtime professional colleagues, James Wandersee, had died following a long illness. Jim is most famous for formulating the concept of "plant blindness", a real malady that TPP has struggled against for years.  So this is some blogging therapy aided in this instance by a negroni (gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth 1:1:1 on the rocks), a cheerfully red and pleasantly dry cocktail. Here's to the recently departed: your accomplishments will be long remembered. 

TGIF for a mixed bag week

It wasn't the best of weeks nor the worst of weeks, but it had its combination of good and very depressing news.  In other words it was like many other weeks except a bit more extreme in terms of the highs and lows.  Our fall color has largely moved from the crowns of our sugar maples to the lawn, now a deep pile carpet of orange-gold leaves.  The oaks remain reluctant to play along, but nothing new there.  A few shrubs still display some nice color, but it won't last long.  Having narrowly escaped frosty nights  a month ago, some harder frosts are in the immediate offing, maybe tonight, but no matter what, the window box petunias, still looking marvelous here at the end of October have certainly set a new endurance record.  However, without doubt it's time to bring in the bonsai figs, which while tropical seem to like a bit of cool weather.  Lots of the tropicals brought in month ago have responded with flower buds.  The real depressing news comes from the publishing side of scientific life, but nothing that cannot be fixed with the expenditure of a lot more time and energy. But if it were easy everyone would be doing it.  On the other hand a connection was made with an Asian colleague doing some similar research and clearly we will gain ideas from an exhange of experiences.  It's always nice to interact with other biologists who are interested in the same things you are.  Midsemester evaluations for students was also a mixed bag covering the full range of achievement from excellent and impressive to "you want us to do what?"  TPPs response is that doing anything would be better than what they were doing.  So what is needed is a nice large old fashioned cocktail to relax and blog with.  With Mrs. Phactor out of town, the F1 and friends will be stopping by for some funky carry-out from a new restaurant in town.  Should be fun, and guess who will be buying?  Fits the  week perfectly. 

TGIF, GF & Earth Day

Yesterday was a queer day, queer in the sense of not-quite-right, which is what my Mother taught me the word meant (pronounced "choir"; she was southern). It was a Friday, always a suspect day on college campuses because everyone wanted the week to end the day before. And yesterday was Good Friday, which sort of caught me by surprise; stock market was closed so Mrs. Phactor had the day off, but for most students that was a good excuse to skip out and go home early. The Phactor finds this particularly strange because as an undergrad only a school closing would get me to go home. Colleges had lots of things going on, lots of people, and everything on campus was more interesting than anything back home. But large numbers of our students still go home on weekends; still don't get it. Next Friday is the last day of the semester, so maybe this was a last hurrah. It was also Earth Day, which was more or less a no show this year, not to mention that the weather was horrible what with end-of-the-Earth thunder storms. So the usual busy halls of our building were vacant, empty, a virtual ghost town. All of this didn't affect my plant diversity class much; 70% attended, maybe 10% lower than normal, and the whining was up about 30%. All typical enough for this point in the semester and given their lousy exam performance last week. Plant diversity has a way of sneaking up on students who study for exams rather than studying to learn. It's a very cumulative subject matter, so if earlier ideas and organisms didn't get mastered, they suddenly find themselves sinking fast. And to top it all off, a manuscript gets returned for "major revision" and you have to put the thing down and walk away for a week to keep from just screaming at the editor who agreed with the dummies who did the reviews. Maybe the Phactor will go home for the weekend.