Excursus I: Niblings at home

The break-out moment for nibling cuteness came the night before I left when their parents were out and I was helping Mom watch them. OGI had had a late nap so we abandoned all hope of putting him to bed at 9 p.m. and let him watch some sparkly Disney confection until he simply gave out. Long before that happened, he paused it for some reason and I, seeing my chance, tried to think of some music video that I could play which would grab his attention while remaining within my sister's strict guidelines. I came up with this:

I forgot that doing well on this can be as bad as doing badly: naturally he wanted to watch it again and again. (The next day, I tried interspersing the OK Go video with the dogs between reps; he patiently watched it then asked for "the other one again".) The third or fourth time, IMI happened along. Now, whereas OGI still watches videos with complete and mute absorption, his older brothers have learned to be a bit more interactive. IMI didn't let the fact that he didn't actually know any words to the song stop him from singing along. I tried my best to prompt him on the "HEY!s" but he only hit them about half the time.

Actually, they all had moments of real sweetness that night. When I walked in the door, relieved to have break from entertaining my father 24/7, ECI suddenly clung to me like a limpet. He's the brightest and often most restless of the boys, but when it comes to being affectionate he really runs hot and cold. But what was übercharming was watching AWI stepping into his role as the oldest. Earlier, when they were all playing video games but AWI had already exhausted his allotted time, he instead focused on helping OGI play his. (And I mean really helping, not pretending to help while playing the game for him.) It was less charming that he kept interrupting my conversation with Mom to draw my attention to game animations, but he took it well when I told him, "You know, this is a lot less compelling than you seem to think it is."

MOzARk Tour 2013: Climate and Flora

I suppose a day when my hay fever is raging is a good time to talk about what I saw blooming there and here, before and after I came back. For starters, this is the most topsy-turvy weather I can recall in ages. Every day I spent in St Louis was colder and wetter than the corresponding day in Chicago. Saturday, for instance, it was ten degrees warmer (6℃) here than there and mostly sunny as opposed to overcast and drizzly. When we went into the mine on Friday, it was warmer in there than outside. This wasn't true during the middle of the week, but that's when I was in Arkansas anyway.

The weather down there could hardly have been better: highs in upper 70s (mid 20s Celsius), clear, and dry. We never turned on the AC in our room, we just propped the windows open (no mean feat since there were no counterweights) even though this meant letting in a surprising amount of road noise. The only night this didn't really work was the last and paradoxically the coolest; apparently, it was also the most humid, and the fans were doing a terrible job of bringing in outside air, so it got awful stuffy.

Dad complained about the inaccuracy of meteorologists but they got one thing absolutely right: a week and a half beforehand, they predicted that a massive "pneumonia front" would push in on Thursday, bringing plunging temperatures and lots of rain, and that's just what happened. The high that day didn't even reach 50 (10℃) and visibility went to hell. On our way to the Cliff House for breakfast that last morning, I feared we wouldn't see a damn thing out the windows, but it was far enough down from the summit that at least you could cast your gaze upon the valley.

As you'll recall from my whining, when I left Chicago, we were finally seeing spring arrive: daffodils, forsythias, and hyacinths with tulips, magnolias, and bluebells on the verge. In St Louis, most of the flowering trees--particularly pears, cherries, and redbuds--were already finished, but to my delight there were still plenty of dogwoods (both pink and white) to be seen. Also lilacs and azaleas, with iris and peonies in the bud.

Given the difference in latitude, I expected the Ozarks to be as far out ahead of St Louis as St Louis was relative to Chicago. But the difference in altitude (258 m for Jasper vs 142 m for St Louis) must've made a difference because there were still dogwoods to be seen in the wild, although obviously past their peak. Dad thought we'd be coming during a lull between the forest flowers (which are early spring bloomers) and the prairie blossoms, but there were actually plenty to be seen: mostly phlox, but also wild iris, pussytoes, fire pinks, jack-in-the-pulpits, spring beauties, honeysuckle, violets, rue anemones, and several species that we weren't able to identify at all. (Dad forgot to pack his field guides.) Also one mayapple still in bloom and one columbine just opening.

The gardens in town were dominated by Dutch iris. One house in particular had at least a half-dozen showy varieties in full bloom. (We returned with camera in hand, so hopefully Dad will post his pictures.) We also saw azaleas and pinks and the first of the roses. Most impressive of all, perhaps, was a massive rosemary plant in the inner court of the inn, with its tiny purple blossoms. Hard to imagine that the day after we left, it was barely above freezing and the weather service was reporting a "wintry mix" for town and actual accumulation to the west--particularly seeing as it was one of the more pleasant days Chicago'd seen so far this year.

The warmth and sun combined with the weeks of rain before really paid dividends when I returned: tulips filled all the borders and cherries and pears were at their peak in Ping Tom Park. Forsythia which were only just starting before I left are fading and leafing out. On my street, the bluebells are in full bloom along with the kerria and the viburnum is starting. The sorrel in the garden is huge, as is the celery plant left behind by the Other Gay Couple; soon we'll have purple clematis and I need to get my act together if I'm to make woodruff syrup again before it blooms.