Life lately

I had a bad dream the other night. I can't remember it, but when I woke up I was worried about my dad. He's turning 70 this weekend. I need to spend time with him. Incidentally, today, we were just standing in the office talking, and I thought about how nice it was. In times before, I might have been irritated if he interrupted me in something, but now I think I'm going to stop and stand up and enjoy our little conversations.

Lately I've been listening to the podcast History of Philosophy without any gaps. It starts at the beginnings of recorded philosophy and tries to go through everything, not just the big names. I'm liking it so far. I just finished the pre-Socratics today and am about to start with Socrates.

This weekend I finished reading Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger. A friend gave it to me for my birthday. I'm not sure what to make of it yet, but I did have an emotional response. I miss my friend.

I'm still in the process of repotting daffodils. I'm discovering that some of the dormant bulbs are in very moist conditions, even though they're in clay pots that haven't received any water in weeks. What this means is that next year, as soon as the foliage withers, I'm moving the pots where they don't get any water all summer long. Some of the bulbs are rotting. Interesting also is that some of the bulbs seem completely dormant and have no roots, while others have enormous root systems that still look active. Why does the bulb need so many roots while it is dormant, and why is it only on some daffodils and not others? I've noticed that it's mostly on daffodils of tazetta ancestry that have the most roots, the jonquillas have a few roots, and others have little or no roots.

I'm also considering using bonsai soil for my daffodils in the future. It has a consistency more like gravel and I hope will help with the rotting issue. I've potted a few herbaceous plants in the bonsai soil, such as Salvia 'Anthony Parker', which I was surprised to see took to the soil immediately, although it needs to be watered twice a day since the soil is so gravel-like and water moves right through it. I don't think this will be as much of an issue with Mediterranean bulbs such as daffodils.