Green fest.

Yesterday worked with Charles and Rodney at Sissy's pulling up pansies and violas. They were still stunning but are at the end of their bloom cycle, and Sissy's got enough money that we don't do the sort of gardening for her where you cut back the pansies and hope they come back in November. So when the pansies are done for the year, we yank 'em up out of the ground by the roots and replace 'em with something else for Summer. I came away with a trunk full of pansies and violas which will, if everything works right, provide a little colour outside my living room windows, on the north side of the house.

Exhausting being out in the sun all day but had volunteered to hold down a table for KUNM for a few hours at the "Green Music Fest". It was a good decision. My exhaustion vanished soon enough. Got three really nice comments about my reporting, one from a lady who didn't know me but loved the story on Sandia's air emissions, which happened to be one of mine. Marcos Martinez was there, too -- he's the program director, formerly the news director, who was the person who brought Amy Goodman to our airwaves. Saw lots of people that I knew and met a bunch I didn't. It's shocking to me how many people don't know anything about KUNM who live here and even work deep in the community. The young woman who works with native youth had never heard of "Native America Calling", for instance. Only way I can explain that, I suppose, is that most people choose a radio station and for the most part stick with it.

Listened to a fascinating lecture about building soil. Humus is more important than compost. I shall have to look into that.

Out of 57 species of oak in North America, fully 30 are native to the Chihuahuan Desert. I never knew that. Apparently the place-name "Albuquerque" means "White Oak", as did the native name for the same place before the Spaniards came.

Enjoyed my visit at a couple of booths especially. The New Mexico Solar Energy Association wowed me. Jim did a great job explaining to me about eletricity. Voltage times Amperage equals Wattage, and he used some metaphors that made sense to me, as if electricity were water. I'm not about to become an eletrician or anything but I have a much better understanding than I did when I first looked at their lightbulb display.

Then there's the local online business called GoodMart, which specialises in lighting. I had gone on a compact fluorescent (CFL) lightbulb spree a few years back when they first came out and wound up disappointed enough in the quality of light that I honestly though I would never buy another. I've heard "they're getting better", of course, but figured that was as much marketing "buzz" as reality. But GoodMart had a display with three different CFLs all side by side and the difference was striking between the three. I go up and talk with Virginia, who god bless her, gave me the most intelligent explanation of the difference between them that I've ever, *ever* heard.

I say I want to move in the direction of using CFLs but I simply can not stand the colour. She asks whether I mean luminosity or colour temperature. WOW. I hadn't thought that might be part of the problem. Winds up it is. We talk a good fifteen minutes about my concerns and she strikes me as caring as much about my scientifically inaccurate but designerly concern about sharp shadows as I care about the colour temperature. I get two of the most expensive CFL bulbs they have because they come the closest to casting the shadows that I want, and have the 5000° colour temperature that comes closest to what I would call "white". I'm going to try using one in the kitchen.

Today I mostly just recovered from working with Charles. I did plant those pansies and violas but otherwise have not left the apartment. I love working in Charles' gardens, but it *is* physically draining, which, I'm sure, is why it pays so well. I can't work for Charles *and* move on the same day, though I would love to. I've got to focus on moving for the rest of the week. I need to call Edison -- he offered to help and I intend to pay him. Just for the big things of course. Piano, desk, organ, furniture and stuff. I've got a U-Haul truck reserved.