Returning to the roots

The Seattle Times ran an article yesterday about wild lupine and the part it plays in the local ecology. Amongst other things lupine was the first thing to spring up in the Mt St Helens pumice. The thing that caught my eye, however, was that lupine has evolved to react to the native bumblebee: "The blossoms include an ingenious spring-loaded mechanism, triggered when the bee's weight opens the flower. That trips a dusting of saffron-colored pollen popped loose from 15 tiny anthers."

I planted a lupine in my bee-friendly garden this year, but since it's apparently a June bloomer, I guess it won't flower until next year, because it certainly isn't blooming right now. I wish I had planted more than one now, but there's time enough for that. The bee-friendly garden is nothing if not a long-term project and process of self-education.

Harryhausen birthday party

David Cairns gives an appropriately fanboyish first hand account of the 90th birthday party for Ray Harryhausen held in London on Saturday. Interesting just for the names of the attendees, including Terry Gilliam and Simon Pegg.

Harryhausen was certainly part of my youth in the cinemas. I saw all his '70s movies in the theater. When my nephews recently asked me if I was going to see the new Clash of the Titans, I asked them if they knew it was a remake. "You mean that old one with the cheesy special effects?" No, I meant the old one with the cheesy script and the awesome special effects. Who can forget hunting Medusa in the dark? Kids these days! Ah well, I love the 1933 King Kong too -- animated by Willis O'Brien, with whom Harryhausen worked on Mighty Joe Young in 1949. I just love that old-school stop-motion animation.