Volt Panned
Consumer Reports says GM's Chevy Volt isn't worth the money. It's not clear whether it means the $41,000 sticker price or the $25 billion we already paid to bail GM out.



Wisconsin Budget Battle
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will announce deep layoffs for state workers in his budget address this afternoon. But Walker will be hiring more cleaners to get the smell of those protesters out of the state capitol.



Hu's Our Daddy?
China now owns $1.16 trillion of U.S. debt. Luckily, the Obama administration has a plan to pay it all back by imposing a cocaine sales tax at Charlie Sheen's house.



Bell Latest
An administrator for the city of Bell, California says she didn't think there was anything illegal about the huge loans she authorized for other city officials. She also says she saw nothing strange about the face that they all asked for the money to be placed in unmarked bills underneath a loose floorboard at City Hall.



Gomes Dies
Harvard Chaplain Peter J. Gomes has died at age 68. Naturally, Harvard is replacing him with Ozzy Osbourne.




March 1st


1700: Sweden introduces its own Swedish calendar… which is the same as every other calendar, except it has pictures of hot Swedish chicks for every month.


1966: The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria… but the number of Syrians actually taking baths remains at extremely low levels.


2002: The peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced by the far more valuable cheeto.

Dia de Andalucia - an ordinary Bank holiday

Today we have celebrated the Day of Andalusia. It has only been an ordinary Bank Holiday for the people down here, but closed banks, shops and supermarkets for us, have given some challenges.
Lots of people at the Paseo Maritim when we performed our daily exercise so it was good to have some experience in slalom from the winter activities. Congratulations to Marit Bjørgen btw.

The Andalusian Flag is green, white and green as seen on the photo together with the Spanish and the EU-flag

The wind wavered the flags but even harder the palms in our pool-area.

I can also gratulate a visitor from Cuba to my blog. At least he or her became the newest country (163) last Wednesday.

O'2nd & Tim Walker

O'2nd Spring Summer, by one of my favorite photographer.

Now I want a giant rose in my bedroom, for pure eye pleasing reasons...

{ images from here via Miles Of Style}

House of the Week

Around a curve on a beautiful street in Druid Hills....





















click on any picture to enlarge

West Dean Gardens

I'm fast forming the opinion February is one of the best months for garden visiting. There's less crowds, the reward in the tea shop afterwards is far more comforting and there's a delicious sense of being let outdoors when it really isn't allowed.

Earlier this month I had a gallop round West Dean Gardens following my day's course there and despite the rain, what I saw was enough for me to be smitten instantly. Who can't help but fall in love with a garden boasting features such as a crinkle-crankle wall with matching hedge, plus a dear little hobbit-like building built into it?

When the borders lack flowery fireworks the attention is drawn to the garden's 'bones' instead. West Dean has particularly fine ones and as you can see I was rather taken with the brick and flint contrasts I found there as they add texture as well as visual interest.

West Dean is noted for its walled kitchen garden and I now have severe glasshouse and cold frame envy. Old tools such as watering cans and lantern cloches were posed around the garden to good effect. Even bare earth can be made to look attractive in my view. It was good to see proper rhubarb forcers in action and I now realise I'm far too mean with the amount of manure I use around mine. A good layer a few inches thick is what's needed!

February is the best time to see just how fruit should be pruned and the multitude of different ways in which it can be trained. There's a masterclass of techniques on view here and over at Sign of the Times, I've already displayed the perfect arch. Whilst I was there I met a number of the garden's volunteers plus the garden manager and his wife. They are all truly proud of the place they have under their care.

This pergola was designed by Harold Peto in the 1890s and is a promise of things to come out in the main part of the garden. I'm already planning to return for a his and hers weekend: The Weald and Downland Museum next door for NAH and a much more leisurely stroll around here for me :)

If you're not reading this on vegplotting.blogspot.com, Blotanical or your own web reader such as Bloglines or Google Reader, then the website you're using is a blogpost feed scraper. Why not go straight to the source instead? That's vegplotting.blogspot.com

Beautifully Ordinary

Hello girls!

I feel like I need to apologize for my major lack of blogging lately. I am in full on wedding project mode. It takes up a majority of my creativity and time! On top of that, school is stressin' me out big time!

So, while I would like to tell you that I will be back to posting on a more regular basis, I'm not sure when exactly that will happen.

For right now, I want to share something with you.

My best friend, Elly, finally started her own blog, "Beautifully Ordinary". You have to read why she chose that name.  She is seriously one of the sweetest, most genuinely nice people on the planet, gorgeous and creative.  

Be sure to stop by and welcome her into the world of blogging when you get a chance :)

~I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have an even better week! xo

Politics is Odd

...especially in the next town over.

I have no idea what this is about, but it does bring  interesting images to mind.

The link in the sidebar will take you to the Odd Shot Monday details.

Link your odd shot  here and visit other odd shotters.

 There is always something strange about.

(That is a bedsheet BTW in case you can't tell on the small screen.)

Modern Victorian Lace

J'adore this look, the boots add a twist as your eyes move down

... and about the giveaway, it took me a while to count all the entries so sorry for the delay but...

the winner is ...

HoneyBunny who went for the Juicy Couture choice

{ image via ilovewildfox }

Celebrating 137 years

Yesterday we celebrated Gerd and Arne´s 137 years birthday as we did last year.

After a delicious late lunch at Restaurant Terraza Acqua at the harbor, we walked slowly back home along the beaches. The sunny and warm days are inviting lots of people to the sand and salt water, and next week there is a holiday coming up starting with Dia de Andalucia on Monday F28.

Oscar Winners
"The King's Speech" won the Best Picture Oscar and three other Academy Awards. But most movie fans are awaiting the 3D version.



Gates vs. Teachers Unions
In a new editorial in the Washington Post, Bill Gates bashes teacher seniority... and all the teachers who didn't intervene when he was beated up every day in high school.



JPMorgan-Twitter
The bad news is that JPMorgan Chase has bought a stake in Twitter. The good news is that the bank's earnings reports will now be 140 characters or less.



Parker Leaves
Kathleen Parker has left the CNN show "Parker/Spitzer." CNN has decided to make the show less confrontational by replacing Parker with Charlie Sheen.



Moon over Hollywood
The Middle East is falling apart, but UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon spent the weekend in Los Angeles asking Hollywood to do even more to advance the green agenda. It's an outrageous fact, especially when everyone knows the Moon should have been demanding some real nude scenes with Scarlett Johansson.





February 28th


1928: C.V. Raman discovers the "Raman Effect," which apparently has something to do with what happens to broke college students who eat noodles three meals a day.


1940: Basketball is televised for the first time, allowing dozens of illegitimate children to finally see their deadbeat dads.


1953: James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA... and found the cutest design for their new bedroom complete with paisley throw pillows.