Saturday--

I have spent a couple of hours over the last couple of days looking at my gardening and seed catalogs planning what to order for this coming season. I almost wrote "next year" forgetting that today is the second day of "next year." That also involves planning what I will plant where and checking what seeds I still have which are (probably) viable. In the fall I went through the stock and discarded all those more than 3 years old.  I should be ready to place my orders next week.

This little piece on Alternet tries to answer a question I (and a whole bunch of other older bloggers) have asked: why does our time seem to fly by so quickly. A year barely starts before it ends.

I have read a lot of history (having achieved a B.A. and an M.A.) but I hadn't read about this. Somehow it doesn't surprise me. The religious fervor over prohibition infected all levels of society and government, and such a passion easily justified murder which the deliberate addition of toxic substances to something someone is likely to ingest is murder--whether the imbibing of that something is legal or not. There is a saying that the only difference between a robber and a tax collector is official permission. The same can be applied here. For further insights into the complicated social/moral/political brew that produced Prohibition, Slate has a nice little article.

For a foray into linguistic history check out Riflebird's post. Like the author I didn't know the derivation of "piss poor" or "didn't have a pot to piss in."

This is one talented girl!! All the dresses are spectacular.