adulthood

(obXKCD.)

I just met grad friends T and S on my way back from my infographics class. They were waiting, poised, next to the street that runs through campus.

"We're going to see how fast we can run!" they crowed.

Literal girl was confused. "Where are you going?" They pointed out the automatic car speed detector next to the nearby section of the road. Ohhhh.

So they teetered on the edge of the street waiting for an opportune time to run in it. Cars kept coming, silly things. Eventually T got out and ran! And it didn't register her.

"You're not big enough! Both of you go together!"

Result: total silliness, he is faster due to being much taller, and 9 mph on the scanner.

I rode my bike past it as fast as I could given the short runup. First it alarmingly registered 9 also, then 17, which was more in keeping with my wheeled dignity.

They're really sweet together, clearly best friends in a totally non-romantic way, and I'm glad for her and all of us that he's around campus again this summer. I have plans with her this weekend and will probably see them at Friday's party, too. (Perhaps he will recommend more media? Even from this brief encounter, I came away with a rec for Vegan Black Metal Chef.)

herb garden

Since the growth room has aphids anyway, I'm not being quite so extremely careful not to get any pests on me, which means I've actually entered the greenhouse a couple of times recently and this morning I chose to walk through the Medicinal Herb Garden on the way back from the library.

Many fine things are in bloom, including scented peonies and golden horned poppies. I learned that Nigella sativa, presumably the one people use for a spice, looks rather different from Nigella damascena, which I grow in the traffic circle. (Less finely feathery, more glaucous, and with fewer, pale-green petals.)

My favorite thing today was the henbane. Similar to Salpiglossis, which is in the same family, henbane has sumptuously reticulated flowers.

( oops, photo is really quite large )

Wikipedia asserts that the "hen" likely refers to death rather than chickens (!), though I would have thought that was covered under "bane". Like so many other Solanaceae, it is a deathdeath plant.