Any sports trivia folks out there? Have there ever been three teams in the NCAA tournament in such close geographic proximity? Syracuse, Cornell, and Binghamton?
Basketball center of the universe
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Garden bloggers bloom day – March scans
The customary hat tip and thanks to Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting.
I’ve got Eranthis and snowdrops flowering outside (crocus are a little behind), but not enough to fill the scanner bed. So I’m going with forced tulips and pussy willows.
Above is a detail from this image:
And here’s a sweet potato from the kitchen window sill:
Simple answers to simple questions
Q: What’s the best thing I can do to improve my soil in spring?
A: Wear shoes that you don’t want to get muddy. If you can’t do it in Hank Heatly’s loafers, you shoudn’t be doing it.
That said, the soil here is ominously dry. The usual mini-volcanoes that we normally have popping up in the lawn? Well we have next to none this year.
2009 Dragon Day
One of the rites of early spring here is Dragon Day on the Cornell Campus. Every year, on the Friday before spring break, first year architecture students create and parade a dragon across campus, to be met by a phoenix constructed by engineering students.
In the past, the dragon was ceremoniously burned on the Arts Quad. This year, in order to comply with environmental regulations limiting open burning to wood and agricultural wastes — the dragon was spared the pyre. Instead a wood and straw nest was offered up to the gods.
I’m fond of Dragon Day not just because it’s a harbinger of spring, but because it gives the students a bit of a creative outlet mid-semester: According to the Cornell Chronicle, “Dozens of costumed student revelers — in outfits including orange highway cones, the bunny from “Donnie Darko,” and a lithe reptilian figure in head-to-toe green Spandex” joined the parade.
Wikiepedia has some great images of Dragon Days past, going back to the ’20s. University Photo pulled together a video montage that captures the spirit of this year’s event. Below are some screen captures from the Cornell.edu website celebrating recent Dragon Days.
First flowers
Hat tip to Saxton for encouraging me to get down on my knees, if not my belly.
The prize this year goes to a couple patches of Eranthis, which beat out the snowdrops this year.
Willows count as flowers in my book, too.
No flowers on the cyclamen yet, surprisingly.
Some alternate takes …
