Here, I made you a mix tape.

01 Bright Eyes - Four Winds
The thing about Bright Eyes is, they always have great choruses.

02 The Go! Team - Ladyflash
This song makes me wish I knew how to roller skate.

03 The Rolling Stones - I am Waiting
Sharyl and I recently saw Wes Anderson’s latest movie, The Darjeeling Limited, and we both thought it was great. Wes used the Rolling Stones “Play with Fire” as the soundtrack to a turning point in the middle of the movie and it reminded me of an interview where he said that Stones songs were always good as mid-movie backdrops. Anyway, this is the mid-movie Stones song from Rushmore.

04 Norman Palm - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Something for the ladies. I like this version. It’s very different from Cyndi Lauper’s, but it sounds like the girls need the fun much more urgently.

05 Phonte - Take on Me
“Get your white boy on” with this remake.

06 The B-52’s - Channel Z
Classic Fred Schneider on this song. “Where’s my umbrellaaaaaa?”

07 The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
This is a stripped-down version from a rehearsal session in 1967. Pretty genius.

08 M.I.A. - Paper Planes
I think I like this because she sounds like a tougher version of Midi, Maxi and Efti.

09 My Morning Jacket - Tyrone
I love the vocals on this Erykah Badu cover.

10 Figurines - New Orleans Instrumental No. 1
You know this song. It’s the one you always skipped on Automatic for the People.

11 David Lee Roth with John Jorgenson - Jump
David Lee Roth just sounds incredibly enthusiastic on this song. And this was before Van Halen got back together. It’s kind on inspiring.

12 Owen Wilson - Fix a Car

photo by .f@rfie. on Flickr

I haven’t had much luck with Irises in the past, but these Sinfonetta are doing well near the forest pansy. They’re planted in a spot that tends to hang on to water a little longer than the rest of the garden.

This year I decided to try some verbena in the window frame. Sharyl likes the pink flowers, so we’ll see how it does.

I’ve been sidelined for a couple of weeks with a cold, but now I can finally get back into the garden this year. Here’s a shot of the forest pansy blooming a few weeks ago. It has now dropped its blooms and put out it’s purple heart-shaped leaves.

Every year I plant three poppies and every year only one lives to bloom. But this year, two of them lived. I’ll take that as a sign that my gardening skills are improving.

Since I gotten over my cold, I’ve planted quite a few things which I’ll be posting here. And with the hostas and caladiums coming up, and the hydrangeas and irises about to bloom, there will soon be many more pictures to post.

Whole thing here.