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OT, the jolly swagman

17 years ago

It's with a heavy heart that I inform Garden Web members that our friend Keith passed away peacefully on Feb 24th

after a long and painful fight with cancer.

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Comments (11)

rachel_frome_ky
17 years ago
Oh, that's so sad. Thank you for telling us
IndianaKat
17 years ago
Thank you for letting us know Alan. My condolences to his family.........
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Ask me, The introducing of a group of feminine girly looking men from jolly old England and the subsequent elevation to GOD like status was the beginning of the end for western civilization. We went from real heroes to POT smoking whiners..and the rest of the world passed us by..now some of our citizens are so stoned they think the song imagine is the code for life. me, I think the song is about what it is like to be "in" heaven no possessions.. No religion . Did I mention I despise the beetles..I can?t stand any of the songs.
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Pagan - not these ones! - they are toxic, even referred to as poisonous. There is a good book (I am sure many more) by Greg Marley: Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms ..."Amanita muscaria (aka fly agaric) - It is the most recognizable mushroom on the planet, and is widely known as the hallucinatory ‘shroom responsible for Alice’s trip into Wonderland and quite possibly our beloved images of a red-suited Santa Claus and his flying reindeer"... Some eat it, but many didn't survive...(maybe if you want to get high?) I wouldn't dare. I would think it may be like a Russian roulette. It is a Poisonous beauty... ..."fly agaric has been a symbol of yuletide happiness in Central Europe, Russia and Scandinavia for centuries, calling it “a red light shining bright in the winter darkness.” And the people of the North, as any mushroom hunter knows, are mad about mushrooms. There is a common exchange between us Anglo ‘shroomers when we see various, “lesser” species of ‘shroom: Is it edible? Well, the Russians eat it… Amanita muscaria falls into this category. Historically, the Siberians boiled fly agaric and then drank the pot liquor to get roaring drunk. They then preserved the mushrooms for eating later. As it happens, the Siberians’ livestock also loves this ‘shroom. And I’m not talking about cattle, I’m talking about reindeer. Yep. Caribou will seek out Amanita muscaria just for the high — or at least it looks that way to us humans. So it’s not too far a stretch to conjure up an image of a jolly, roaringly drunk, fat, bearded dude all dressed up for the North Pole — in a red suit with white trim — chillin’ with flying reindeer."...
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Keeping house plants in the house will help insure there are no mildew spores or if there are any, they are kept in check by warmer, drier conditions. My mentor does not put any of her plants outside for summer so they are pristine but they are also kept constrained in size since nearly all of them live out their lives under a plastic dome or in a fish tank. I visited Peace Tree Farm last September but we were unable to go into the GHs where the begonias were grown due to Basil mildew outbreak so the owner said they were quarantined until the outbreak was over (he said it is very short-lived, maybe a couple of weeks). That was a bummer but we have to abide by their rules. I wished Costa Farm/Exotic Angels would 1) label their plants and 2) at least put all they sell on line with proper ID. I guess the buying public is happy with the generic "rex begonia" label unlike some of us "plant snobs". HA! If the public gave them (and I am just picking on Costa Farms as an example) grief, I bet they would find it in their pocketbook to print out new tags every time they introduced something new. My grandmother who had flowers around the house and in a few garden beds in front of her strawberry beds and tobacco plot named a lot of her pass-along plants after the person she got the cutting from. So an Abelia she had was called the Judd bush or by the common names if it was planted everywhere such as Rose of Sharon or old-fashioned snowball bush.
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bluebirdbabe
17 years ago
Oh NO how very sad!!! Please send our condolences to his family. The Aussie newspaper articles Keith sent to me just became priceless.

Thank you Alan for letting us know. He will be missed. I loved reading his stories and he has such amazing birds. This is truly heartbreaking. What a wonderful man is was. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Karen
connie_in_western_nc
17 years ago
Alan, thanks for the sad news... just won't seem the same without his input. Been thinking about him more recently and wondering how things were going with him. Things change over the years but some of them we don't have to like... like the JS, Sylvia, and others who just aren't around anymore.

In that same kinda vein... do you ever hear from our Cuban friend? Or has he been forced to stop communique?
Konrad___far_north
17 years ago
This is sad news...I remember he wrote back after treatment and he seem to be doing well, cancer is a horrible thing and
can turn ugly very fast!
My sincere condolences to his family.

Konrad
janie_may
17 years ago
I am so sorry to hear this, Alan. :( My condolences to his family.

Janie
sowngrow (8a) G
17 years ago
That is very sad. I used to post frequently back when the Jolly Swagman and Sylvia were on this forum. Both were such nice people.
Robin
terrene
17 years ago
How sad. So sorry to hear of his passing. I enjoyed reading his interesting posts and it's such a loss for this forum. My sympathies.
alan_la
Original Author
17 years ago
Connie,Yes I still e-mail Jose,but he's not allowed to post on the Web, He's now got a Wife and Child.and yes Keith was a very pleasing person to everyone on this site.
connie_in_western_nc
17 years ago
Thanks for that update, too, Alan... I'm happy for him (Jose) that his life seems to be "progressing"... hard to imagine how someone who has grown up as he has, just has a different outlook on what's really important and making one happy in life. I hope they are among the "lucky" ones there and life is "good" for them overall.
lisa11310
17 years ago
Wow Swaggy, you get to party with my Mom , my Step Dad and My Nephew (and my dog) they are new up there too, all in the past 6 months. I will think of you with every little chickadee I see and remember you were kind enough to not laugh when I though they were Zebra Finches!Im sure your kickin it with Steve. You are missed.

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