So, I had my Olympic moment!! I took the train up to meet my cousin (who drove up with a friend) and stayed with family up there. We did our usual runs to Chinatown and Goldilocks, but the main reason was to soak in the atmosphere of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics!
I didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to get away from work to do this. The stunning weather we've been having has been such a dream and I did pretty well not thinking (nor worrying) about work. Of course, it would have been nice to get more accomplished at Landwave, but I was proud of myself for making sure I didn't overlook other aspects of my life.
Feel free to check out my pics from Vancouver on my
Flickr page.
So I got home and was watching the news (and missing the live coverage of the games Vancouver had) and a fellow horticulturist, Meghan Fuller, was on television! The Crown Hill neighborhood of North Seattle has fallen victim to plant and outdoor furniture thefts.
Check out the coverage by Q13 Fox. Knowing Meghan, she's a fellow plant nut and a true collector of the rare and unusual!
Like the UW Botanic Gardens theft of the
Keteleeria evelyniana last December, it infuriates me that people have no bloody respect for other people's property!
No matter what it is, may it be plants, a car stereo, a break-in at your home, etc., it's incredibly unsettling and you just don't feel safe.
I should contact Meghan and ask what they took and we just need to keep an eye out on sites like
Craigslist to see if anything is posted that's hers or her neighbor's who also were victims as bonsai trees and furniture were also stolen.
Plant thieves will f'ing pay. They just don't understand how much work it takes to produce a plant, design, install and maintain a landscape that they're used in and the peanuts professional landscapers and specialty nurseries make to have these plants available to avid gardeners.
Admire these plants where they are, don't freakin' take a neighbor's shovel to dig up a plant to claim it as your own.
If I catch someone intentionally stealing or damaging another's landscape or property, I will NOT hesitate to yell and approach them with a strong desire to throw their ass in a patch of hardy Agave parryi.
I'll leave the authorities to find them moaning in pain as they slowly bleed. That should give them time to think about what they're doing!
R
My trip to the Bay Area included a little reunion of sorts as I met up with a former classmate of mine from the UW/Sichuan Program. Zeng Yu was my equivalent of the Chinese students we worked with when I spent a school year in China. His passion, however, was insects. But coming from the natural sciences, there was a natural respect and admiration for each other's work.
