i have, well i had until today, a large planter in a sun-filled corner of my kitchen which was filled with kitchen herbs for cooking.  steve let our hen glimmer in to lay her daily egg in our bed while i was out running errands, and then he returned to his lower-level office. by the time i got home, every herb in the horse-trough-sized planter was uprooted, and most of the dirt was scattered across the kitchen floor. glimmer was still happily taking a dirt bath in her new spa. that is a long explanation to say that i did not go for a walk today to find my STILL subject. i cleaned my kitchen floor instead. and so you get this photo of an unfurling leaf from the bird of paradise plant in the living room that glimmer mercifully has not yet sought out and destroyed.

bird of paradise leaf