By Lambert Strether of Corrente.
THE CHALLENGE: A generous donor has offered to help bring this fundraiser home by producing a very, very welcome $5,000 check. Now, 🌡️ we are at 289 donors. 289 donors / goal of 375 = 77.07%. To get to 100%, we would need…. Well, typically — if you want to skip the arithmetic, you can go directly to the Tip Jar — NC does a challenge using a dollar amount. But Water Cooler counts donors (because donors count!). So our current average donation is [breaks out calculator] $64.27, although you could always err toward the high end! To match $5,000 challenge, we would therefore need $5,000 / $64.27 = ~77. The current 289 + 77 = 366, which jibes rather nicely with what I really rather set as a stretch goal of 375!
Please give generously to bring this year’s Water Cooler fundraiser to a successful conclusion. If you can give a little, give a little. If you can give a lot, give a lot. If you can give a whole lot, consider that you could be giving a hand to those who can only give a little, or who cannot give at all.
Now let’s get to the good stuff. Here is a miserably inadequate gallery of the plants that you have sent in. I’m only going to do half a dozen or so, out of the 5 * 52 = 260 that you contribute every year. And since we all like sortition so much, that is the principle I will use to select them! So starting from the present day and working more less into the past:
RM writes: “Tree trimming in the Fall.”
TF writes: “Minnesota field. I like it!”
AM writes: “The lighted ‘Christmas’ tree in Nelson Rockefeller Park, Battery Park City. Pretty even though the lights are not very evenly distributed.”
RM writes: “Ice fog last night at 8 above this morning.” We have seen this tree before, but this is lovely shot. I often return to the same site over and over again.
Tom writes: “On our walk with the dogs today at Middlesex Fells Reservation in Massachusetts we found this one tree that, remarkably, sill has leaves on it. It’s late December and after the heavy wind and rain last week so it’s quite a surprise to find any leaves on trees. So this really stood out and looked ghostly. Whatever commenter can tell me about it would be welcome.”
AM writes: “Bare branches on the bushes and trees in Roger Williams Park on December 2nd. I am a sucker for sunsets, I confess.”
Angie Neer writes: “Another example of hardy plants staking their territory on a rocky slope at 7000 feet elevation.”
HH writes: “From Canyon of the Eagles, in the Texas Hill Country about 60 miles northwest of Austin, the iconic cactus called prickly pear or nopal (Opuntia).”
Copeland writes: “Arachnoides simplicior ‘Variegata’, the East Indian Holly Fern.”
There are many more beautiful images, and if yours is not here, don’t feel bad. Picking the plant is one of the highlights of my day, and I thank the wonderful NC commentariat who send them in. In fact, I need more! Which reminds me: The Tip Jar is here!
Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated.
If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you!
12 comments
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Thanks for this. I made a second donation just now because since Monday when I made the first, I received a grant of CARES Acts funds from the Community College where I have been on the 8 year associates degree plan for a while. When you have received a blessing, the right thing to do is pass on a little if you can. NC has been a part of my life since 2007 or 2008 and my life is better for it, especially in these COVID years.
Thanks to our Hosts and to this fantastic Commentariat.
I just found out I’m getting a tax refund.
And the glitch that affected the Donate button when I tried it a couple of weeks ago has vanished. So with any luck, this will hit the matching fund.
Effusive thanks, Lambert, for your steadiness, perseverance, and snark. They have become part of my every day.
Fingers are crossed that is going through. While not officially drunk per se, I am drunk with delight and an odd, dare i say, happiness. I am sure it will pass quickly.
What gets said often gets said again. Thank you as always for the work, the effort, and I like to see what emanates out of the minds of others. Critical thought keeps the gears in motion.
One more. Sorry it’s “below average,” but hopefully it will get you to the magic number. If not, would anyone (certainly not I) consider it cheating if you extended the fundraiser by a day? Thursday just doesn’t say “end” the way Friday does. Anyone else with me on this?
Hi Lambert!
Just made a donation but couldn’t see where to let you know just how much Water Cooler means to me! Heartfelt thanks for the daily insight, education, humor and balance. You’re the best!
I have not yet run the numbers, but matters seem to be improving! Thank you all!
I wish my thanks to you came with moola but an unexpected tax bill, means I will have to donate outside the fundraiser, hopefully next month.
Thank you, and thanks to everyone who contributed to the wonderful gallery of life.
I’m in for sebbenty clams this time around.
Check went out via snail mail yesterday ( Doing my part to keep the postal service in business).
Once more, with feeling! Allegro people!
To Tom, the tree you photographed is an American Beech, Fagus grandifolia. They are one of the few deciduous trees that hold a significant fraction of their foliage into the winter months. Pin oak (Quercus palustris) is another, but it’s less noticeable as the dead foliage is dark brown. Another really cool thing about American beech is that individual trees usually form natural root grafts with their neighbor kin. Above ground you’ll see individual trees and saplings in among the other tree species, especially noticeable in the late fall and winter with their pale leaves still hanging on. Under the surface, because of their natural root grafts, they become something very close to a single organism.
Thank you Lambert. Your writing and collecting of links makes our day. You informs us quickly and with more supporting information than any other place. And the community here … The incredible conversations, they wouldn’t exist without you. We are deeply grateful for all you do. We’ve been taking long breaks from electronics (and learning winter seeding), but it’s always great to come home to the water cooler.
The gallery! Glorious!