May 6, 2017

At The Fernleaf Peony Café...

P1130515

... try to get a conversation started.

(And, please, if you have some shopping to do, consider entering Amazon through The Althouse Portal.)

64 comments:

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Day 2 of RyanCare. I love the smell of quagmire in the morning.

Guildofcannonballs said...

I just ordered some electrolyte tablets. Wish I would have started doing so about four (4) years ago.

500 tablets for twenty bucks Prime shipping. 5% back.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Can the poisoned well of liberty become potablely cleansed by the souls of the poisoners?

Bad Lieutenant said...

What are electrolyte tablets and why do you like them? What brand did you buy? Link?

Ann Althouse said...

Speaking of omission... I omitted the photograph and pasted in the URL for the Wikipedia article "Omission" (leftover from a post 3 posts down).

Michael K said...

"I love the smell of quagmire in the morning. "

There are people who have no life but politics.

ThenSenate is writing its own bill. Then there will be a conference committee. Then both houses will consider the conference report.

That's the way it was before Reid and Obama and their fascist system took over.

Read a book for crissakes !

Earnest Prole said...

Peony indeed.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Michael K said...
There are people who have no life


If we weren't self-moderating today I would no doubt call you a senile old fool, but since we are I will remind readers that you are an elderly gentlemen who has an inflated sense of self worth and an overweening confidence in your mastery of the facts of the world, entirely unrelated to your actual understanding.

Hagar said...

Hello, kettle!

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Apparently Hagar agrees with my assessment.

Paco Wové said...

ARM has taken over the "shitting all over the thread" duties from Ritmo, apparently.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

A fairer statement would be:

Paco Wové said...
Michael K has taken over the "shitting all over the thread" duties that he normally shares with Ritmo.


Why does MK always get a pass? Is it because everyone recognizes that he is senile? Are we giving senile a pass now? I never got the memo.

campy said...

Fernleaf Peony sounds like a Harry Potter character.

Scott said...

That's a lovely picture.

Michael K said...

ARM, I am trying to enjoy a few posts that are not about politics. Someone pointed out a new book about Hemingway.

I ordered it.

I am older but still work and would submit that senility seems to be something you are preoccupied with. I can't imagine why.

This is a cafe post and one the hostess invited non-political comments to.

Now, I have books to move so will bid you farewell with your politics.

Hagar said...

No; just old and senile and got turned around on the saying in English.

dustbunny said...

I've never seen a peony like that, a Tesla peony perhaps, electrified, all juiced up.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

A reminder to the liar left of the realities of ObamaCare.


"You may know me as a political pundit and writer who has spoken publicly about how the Affordable Care Act negatively affected my family. What you might not know is two years ago, I was a seven-month-pregnant widow with one toddler who got a letter two weeks after my husband died, informing me I’d lost my third or fourth health insurance plan since the Affordable Care Act passed. If you’ll remember, the promise was that I could keep my plan if I liked it. I could not.

I predicted what would happen to my family’s insurance, and to much less fortunate people subjected to the exchanges with us, many of whom have seen doubled premiums and tripled deductibles. If you’ll remember, the promise was everyone’s premiums would go down. They did not. For predicting it, I was routinely called a lying hack in public. It’s a hazard of the job, but I wasn’t lying. I was right. I also thought it was improbable the federal and state governments could handle building these exchanges and that they’d likely blow up and be inoperable, thereby preventing people like me from actually purchasing the new plans the ACA required we purchase. Again, I was not lying for partisan gain."



You May Like Obamacare, But Don’t Forget About The People It’s Hurt.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Ryancare isn't the law, you moron.

JohnAnnArbor said...

I like watching ants open peony buds.

JohnAnnArbor said...

Ann, did you ever go see the peony garden in the Arboretum when you were at U of Michigan?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More...

Most people who aren’t in the individual market, which is the one most affected by ACA, have no idea what the plans look like. It is a market where the costs of the bill’s mandates are more visible, even when subsidized. When I cite exorbitant deductibles, folks tell me to suck it up and pay $3,000. I laugh at a $3,000 deductible. What in the old system was considered a very high deductible is now among the lower available, and premiums for any kind of deductible are high, even with subsidies. Many families have to hit $12,700, and they’re paying a mortgage-sized premium. For many, the purchase becomes hard to justify or supplants an actual mortgage or similar outlays.

What does progressive ARM do? - he laughs. ARM laughs at people who are paying mortgage sized premiums.

MountainJohn said...

How do people pronounce peony where you live?

Where I grew up, everyone said peé-uh-nee, but where I live now, it's either peé-nee or pee-óh-nee.

Earnest Prole said...

The better, more evocative spelling is paeony.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Day 2 and half of RyanCare. I love the smell of quagmire in the afternoon.

walter said...

Blogger Michael K said...
There are people who have no life but politics.
ThenSenate is writing its own bill. Then there will be a conference committee. Then both houses will consider the conference report.
--
Hey now..that kind of talk just complicates being part of The Resistance!
The narrative has to support a perpetually falling sky.

Rosa Marie Yoder said...

I'm so looking forward to our peonies blooming soon. You see, the tulips and the lilacs are nearly finished and my flower vases are looking sad. The rain seems to have come to an end here in southeast Michigan... finally. The buds have formed so it shouldn't be much longer.

Thank you for sharing such beautiful pictures.

Rosa Marie Yoder said...

How can someone look at a beautiful picture of a flower, then read the challenge "...try to start a conversation" and immediately make a political comment? And why? What is the point?

Ann Althouse said...

"Ann, did you ever go see the peony garden in the Arboretum when you were at U of Michigan?"

Was it around circa 1970?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ARM, as predicted, laughs at Americans who were lied to and ripped off by corrupt liars, known as democrats.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

“I have lots of friends who have Obamacare and just dropped it because it's useless with such huge premiums and deductibles. And in order to get Medicaid they would have to quit one or their part time jobs, and then they simply cannot afford rent or gas or food, but they will have Medicaid!”

-Word on the street

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

PS Medicaid pretty much sucks. Why democrats want us all to have it.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

RyanCare will go to die in the Senate. Will Arm laugh or cry?

Rosa Marie Yoder said...

Did U of M have a Peony Garden in 1970? Why, yes it did.

"In 1922 the Regents of the University of Michigan appropriated $2,000 to establish the Peony Garden at the Nichols Arboretum."

Further down the page...An excerpt from the 1990 printed guide to the Peony Garden summarizes its history:
Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Nichols Arboretum of the University of Michigan is fortunate to possess a large garden of 789 peonies including about 230 cultivars. The Peony Garden dates to 1922, when the W. E. Upjohn family donated the original plants. Aubrey Tealdi, UofM Professor of Landscape Architecture and then Director of the Arboretum, laid out the plants in a formal arrangement of 27 beds, a design that has been maintained to the present. At its opening to the public in 1927, the Garden contained 280 different cultivars, and over the next 5 years, another 38 were added. Of these original 318 cultivars, 196 still remain, making the Arb a significant repository of old peony cultivars.

Unknown said...

Sometimes I feel a connection to Althouse, mystery always abounding

Curious George said...

Keeping my friends up to date on my hip replacement surgery issues...two follow up surgeries and IV antibiotic therapy to get rid of a staph infection...now I have hip replacement lawsuit ads on my Facebook feed.

Fernandinande said...

My better half bought her first gun at a gun show today.

walter said...

Watch out for that spontaneous "gun violence".

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"Why does MK always get a pass?"

Because he's not an eager apologist for corrupt fascists? Just spitballin'...

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Since ARF brought up healthcare, it occurs to me that most Western nations that have some variation of a government mandated/supplied healthcare system, had it prior to the widespread offering of health insurance as an employment benefit. Consequently, despite Leftist assumptions, single-payer may be a political non-starter in this country as the middle-class isn't going to want to pay exorbitant income taxes for something many of them are already receiving for free.

Hagar said...

Ryan care will not die in the Senate. Both parties having bought into the idea that they can have a NHS that is not really a NHS, it will never die. This tarbaby will be around for the rest of the century, being passed back and forth between the parties as their electoral fortunes shift, because of this or other factors, but it will a major problem for whatever party is in power for a very long time.
And, of course, we citizens will suffer and pay while they blame each other.

Guildofcannonballs said...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006GBED0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The Cracker Emcee said...
single-payer may be a political non-starter in this country as the middle-class isn't going to want to pay exorbitant income taxes for something many of them are already receiving for free.


'Free' is an interesting word in this context. That 'free' stuff is a large part of the reason why take-home pay hasn't gone anywhere in decades.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

What's amazing about RyanCare - it's already killing people!

mockturtle said...

Curious George reports: Keeping my friends up to date on my hip replacement surgery issues...two follow up surgeries and IV antibiotic therapy to get rid of a staph infection...now I have hip replacement lawsuit ads on my Facebook feed.

Bummer! Two follow up surgeries? Sounds like somebody screwed up. The staph infection wasn't MRSA, was it?

Michael K said...

An infected hip replacement is no fun. I assume you have an antibiotic soaked spacer in place until the new prosthesis can be implanted.

ARM. I don't " always get a pass." I get lots of obscene and vicious comments from the resident leftist trolls. I don't consider you one but that could change,

Why the hostility ? Trump Derangement ?

JohnAnnArbor said...

So a comment above covers that the peonies were there ~1970. But they bloom during spring semester when most students are gone so maybe you never saw them. They're near the entrance near Markley.

Gahrie said...

Was it around circa 1970?

I'm not usually very pedantic, but since our hostess is.....

Isn't that redundant? Circa means around or about.

Curious George said...

"mockturtle said...
Bummer! Two follow up surgeries? Sounds like somebody screwed up. The staph infection wasn't MRSA, was it?"

Not MRSA, and no matter how diligent, infections can happen.

"Michael K said...
An infected hip replacement is no fun. I assume you have an antibiotic soaked spacer in place until the new prosthesis can be implanted."

Not yet, and hopefully it won't come to that. They just opened up, cleaned out, and replaced components. ID guys and my surgeon seem confident that second time was successful. Damn I hope so.

JohnAnnArbor said...

She's using "around" in the sense of "present" in that sentence, so it's not redundant.

Gahrie said...

She's using "around" in the sense of "present" in that sentence, so it's not redundant.

OK..not technically wrong. But I would still red pen it if one of my students wrote that sentence.

Michael K said...

"Damn I hope so."

I do too. Good luck.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Look at Venezuela. Another evidence that socialism is bad."
"Trump is the DEVIL!"
"Here are countries that I like and mistakenly think are socialist."
"Welfare programs are great. I disagree with your Venezuela comment because I mistakenly think these are socialist."
"Socialist countries have excellent economies. I deduced this by incorrectly classifying the economies of some successful countries as socialist."

Another day of Facebook.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Freeman Hunt said...
Another day of Facebook.


Sounds like here, only here most people are actually receiving benefits from one socialist program or another, while whining about socialism.

Sydney said...

Regarding pronunciation of the flower. Where I grew up it was piney, with a long "i".

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

No ARM - that's just you.

Rusty said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhlJp1VZMB8

Something different to watch.
Pretty damn cool though.


George> Are you almost done with your antibiotics?
Are you walking yet?
PT is kicking my ass.

Gahrie said...

Sounds like here, only here most people are actually receiving benefits from one socialist program or another, while whining about socialism.

If that were true, it would be a refreshing change from the constant attacks on capitalism by people enjoying the elevated standard of living it provides.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Gahrie said...
it would be a refreshing change from the constant attacks on capitalism by people enjoying the elevated standard of living it provides.


I hate those people. Remind me again, what has happened to median wages over the last thirty years?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


"'Free' is an interesting word in this context. That 'free' stuff is a large part of the reason why take-home pay hasn't gone anywhere in decades."

Compared to 50% income taxes for the middle-class, its free.

Rusty said...

"Remind me again, what has happened to median wages over the last thirty years?"

Paying for your bloated pension on the totally make work job you do.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Rusty said...
Paying for your bloated pension on the totally make work job you do.


I don't have a pension. In reality I am paying for your benefits, I live in one of the maker states.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The Cracker Emcee said...
Compared to 50% income taxes for the middle-class


You are just making stuff up here.

Rusty said...


"I don't have a pension."

Of course you do. You're a public employee'


"In reality I am paying for your benefits, I live in one of the maker states."

No, simpleton. As a public employee you produce nothing. I'm paying for your benefits. And speaking as an actual maker of tangable assets, you're welcome,