succulent.

Wow!

What are those called?

Very cool, but didn't you feel just a little powerful yesterday? ;)

cool plant!

I like your hair, and I want to say that I love that you got over 500 comments on pooping, and no-one mentioned the Red Sox.

w-o-w
wonderful picture! And by the way your hair is cool ;)

Mmmm. Artichokes.

Beautiful!

The brown hair is hot, you look skinny. I'm just a big suck-up.

Looks like a plant I have in my garden. Neat colour. If Canadians could vote in the American election, Bush would be gone, gone, gone.... whoa, o, o ...

I've heard it called hens and chicks as well. Hope you're having a super day :)

hen and chick: both beautiful.

They're Donkey Tail Spurge. I planted some this spring, only to later discover that they're toxic. I guess that's one way to keep the dog out the flowerbed.

...just like REAL hens and chicks.

OK, I've been sitting on my hands about this since the redesign, but the English teacher in me is screaming to escape. It should read "I take photos EVERY DAY (two words) with a Nikon D70."

Everyday (one word) is an adjective meaning "ordinary, usual."

Thank you. I'm sorry I'm such an irritating nerd.

Carny Asada, I never noticed that. Hmmm. I'm such a grammar bigot, but I love Dooce and Heather never, ever makes mistakes, so it must be a computer glitch.

OK, somebody's got to say it...

So it's a BUSH that looks real pretty, but is actually toxic, invasive and lacking respect for others?

Hmmmm.

thats very cool, it looks inverted but it's not

As usual, a beautiful photo!! I love how you can make the most ordinary things look so amazing. You definitely have a good eye.

Also, I love the hair! It is so difficult to get just the perfect mixture of brown/red without it being either too dull or too overwhelming. Your hairdresser did a wonderful job; it's goregeous and I agree with everyone else who has said it makes your eyes pop. It really does!

Those are the biggest hens and chicks I have ever seen. Back home in CT (Im a displaced connecticaucasian) they were a dull green color. I might end up saving that and painting it when I have an art course or a free moment over winter break

Rock on GAP mom...

okay, now you're going to have to start making wallpapers for us. i want this shot on my desktop.

sorry to be so demanding. :)

oh yeah and wallpaper would be sweet. oh and wait, the plants are called hens and chicks. heh, i thought people were just talking about, yuh know... hens and chicks (?)

Heather, I know you want this discussion to be closed, but I just need to defend Canada for a couple of seconds here... Yesterday Christine wrote:
"I have had enough Canadians friends telling me horror stories about 6 month waiting lists to get doctor’s appointments and the struggles to come to America for decent medical treatment to KNOW that socialized health care doesn’t work. One of my good friends died because he had to wait nearly 8 months to get treatment for Hodgkins disease. It’s insane!"

I'm a med student from Montreal. Yes, Canadian public health care does have its drawbacks, but your conclusion that government subsidized health care "doesn't work" is an oversimplification to say the least. Yes, waiting times are a problem. But I have yet to meet a Canadian who doesn't have access to health care. While we should have better access to important diagnostic tools like MRIs, and cancer patients shouldn't wait as long to undergo much needed surgery, this doesn't mean our health care is complete shit. Suffering because not enough money has been pumped into it, yes. But it'd be a mistake to discard public health care as altogether futile. I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to afford exorbitantly priced health insurance... It disgusts me to think that so many US citizens are isolated in third world ghettos scattered within the richest country in the world. And by the way, while Mario Lemieux didn't die of Hodgkin's, some people do... While the waiting times definitely exacerbated your friend's disease, this doesn't mean the disadvantages of waiting times outweigh the benefits of universal health care. And it's just getting better. 18.2 billion dollars have been allocated to provinces to better improve the state of health care in Canada. Regardless, I'd take Canadian health care as it is now over the US's health-for-those-who-can-afford-it anyday. Access to health care is a basic human right. I don't care if it's not explicitly stated in the US constitution.

I shouldn't add to the debate about health care, but I've lived in the US and I've lived in Canada. Spent a lot of time in both places.

USA: When sick, no health care. Went to work with strep throat. Got a LUMP in my neck and had to move to Canada before I could see anyone about what was, potentially, cancer, but turned out to not be cancer.

Canada: Yay, yay! I can go to the EMERGENCY ROOM when I have to and pay nothing. And I did, when I baaaaadly cut my finger. The doctor can see me when I'm at the beginning of an ailment instead of waiting for it to advance and get scary.

American health care? I had had coverage for 2 months out of 6 YEARS.

Canadian health care? I'm ALWAYS covered. I prefer it this way.

Please don't hate me for my opinion.

I was just thinking yesterday that it is time to re-color my hair....your post is making me think about a slightly different shade. Hmmmm.....let's see if I can get up the balls to do it. :-)

Whoever is rooting for the Red Sox must not be pooping regularly. Go Cardinals!

How lush, verdant,thriving and inviting...reminds me of a tropical island. Dooce take me away!

First time, poster, long time reader....love the new hair color!!

Being a Canadian (Vancouver) and now living in the US of A, I feel I can comment on the healthcare having experienced both sides. In Canada I never felt like the Dr. was there to make money off of me. I grew up in Canada, moved to U.S five years ago. I'll agree that wait lines are sometimes frustrating when you have a loved one who is ill, but they have gotten remarkably better in the last number of years, remarkably. I have both friends and family who are recent Cancer survivors and were diagnosed and were receiving treatment within days. These Cancers were not terminal and they were caught early and treated early. I feel that early treatment is cheaper in the long run.

When I moved to the US and went in for my first physical, I can not tell you how many tests the Dr. ran on me. She said it was to get an history (I had my medical records from Canada) and wanted to run tests on me that I maybe never had up in Canada. I was 27 and had never had any serious illness. I got back to my office and was relayed my story to my co-workers on how impressed I was as to how thorough and interested the Dr. seemed to be in my well being. They all looked at me, poor little soul, poor little Cheryl had misinterpreted care with the business of healthcare in the U.S. Sure enough within a week, I got an extra bill for almost $500 worth of lab fees for all the tests that she had run. The lab was conveniently located at the Dr's clinic. My insurance didn't cover all these extra tests that were run, as they were well over and above a regular physical. In another two weeks the Dr's nurse called me and said that the blood work came back perfect and that the Dr. wanted me to come back in and run another set of blood tests that weren't run in the first visit. I asked the nurse to get the Dr. to call me so I could discuss these tests and the need for another appointment. That Dr. never called me back. A "wise" man once said "Fool me once...Shame on you...Fool me...Can't get fooled again." ;)

Bottom line, neither system is perfect, but I would say that Canada's is much closer to an ideal than the US. I have had insurance for the duration that I have been here, which I have to pay more into each year and get fewer services and prescriptions covered. No one should be denied healthcare without the fear of having to that debt for the rest of their lives. Don't even get me started on prescription drugs.

My twoonies worth!

your new haircolor does accentuate your eyes and actually makes you look like an anime cartoon -- you know, with the huge sparkling eyes and funky matching hair. very cool

ah! health care! my father tried giving me the arguement about how "horrible the waits are for physicians" in canada... among a number of other neo-con sentiments... my boyfriend is nearly 30 now, and he has never had health care. the last time he went to a doctor was for a physical at 18 when, at the time, he'd planned on going into the army (for health/dental care). he was rejected due to an advanced case of scoliosis which to this day has not been looked at because, well, it costs nearly 400 dollars just to WALK INTO a specialist's office. not to mention his rotting teeth (ok, i'm making him sound a hunchback from the middle ages, but believe me -- he's hot -- just not in the best shape). i've been sick for 8 months with respiratory problems, and some sort of dermatitis on my hands... you can go to a doc in the box for 40-100 bucks but there's not much they can do besides give you something for the symptoms which, generally, doesn't work anyhow. to walk into a dermatologists office it will cost me 300 dollars. i won't even get into a respiratory specialist's fee...

so what i'm saying it -- i think there are a lot of us out here who are perfectly willing to wait a little bit for our appointment -- cause otherwise, folks, we won't be going at all and chances are those of us who are uninsured (because, stupid us, we choose to work in independants and individual health plans are completely infeasible) will die uninsured while our families pay off our medical debts with what little of our social security they get (that's how my boyfriend's father went -- a lovely portrait of working america).

i dunno, but i could go for some insurance -- and i think it's pretty lame of folks like my own sweet father to be audacious enough to complain about "how long" he might have to wait for a regular check-up.

There must be some secret political subtext to this photo that Mac IE users can't see.

Heather, have you been to photoblogs.org? You could list your daily photo page there as a photoblog, and start getting traffic and cool comments from photo nerds. It's fun. All the cool kids are doing it, plus me and a few other kids who are almost cool but not quite because our parents won't buy us those jeans that look faded and messed up already when you buy them.

Do it. Do it. Go on.

Do it.

Wow. This is just totally freaky. The story of my life's hair is the same. Except "cut short" for me means shave with second smallest shaver bit. My child is also 9 months old and I'm finally getting my hair cut next Saturday. First time since I shaved it when I found out I was prego. When I describe the style I want the reaction is "you mean a mullet?" every time. And it's totally not. Like you said though, if it turns out crap- priorities.