:-)

It was an incredibly beautiful day today. I went out in perfectly appropriate mid-November clothing and was way too warm. Tomorrow the weather will reset so I'm glad I enjoyed it today. 

A man was not executed today. His governor gave him a stay of execution. I don't know the case well but read there may be grounds for believing he was wrongly convicted. In addition, yesterday two men who have been in prison for 56 years for murder were exonerated. 

Ages and ages ago, back when we could interact without masks, even indoors, I had a student who had been convicted for murder. There was a movie made about him. A nun who met him took up his cause and got him a new, pro bono attorney. The kicker in the movie was when his old attorney, for whom his mother had mortgaged her house, was on the stand, and the new attorney asked why he hadn't brought in the witness who said the client was elsewhere at the party during the shooting, and then, in a dramatic moment, pointed out that the entire case rested on a line-of-sight theory that required him to have shot with his right hand, and he is left-handed, and why hadn't the first lawyer pointed that out during the trial? At this point the first lawyer, on the stand, exclaimed because he realized he had really messed up. I'm sorry I don't remember his name or you could watch the movie. After ten years and two stabbings he was freed and in college. 

The pretty fern is a Marginal Wood Fern. It is evergreen. Rabbits tend to avoid it, which is nice because there is a rabbit diligently mowing my neighbor's lawn and leaving her fertilizer and the only way it can get to her yard is through mine. The fern will be pretty all winter long. 

In the back is a Christmas Fern. "Christmas fern got its name because it stays green right through the holiday season."  

The cute little sparrows are checking out my beautiful tree but the highest branches can't hold them yet. 

We had an interesting presentation today on software that helps design mini-grids (for areas too far away from the electrical grid for grid extension to make sense). The co-founder was from Nepal. His village was electrified with a mini-grid with the help of USAID. 

And for my final bit of good news for the evening, we have a tree that was planted by the builders in a poor location in front of our house. It should never have been planted there, and it is very happy anyway. Karen thought it couldn't be happy there and I pointed out that it has tripled in size and that is the clearest way a tree can indicate happiness. Can we prune it and keep it there? I wanted to prune it and keep it there, because even if it should not have been planted there, it is cool looking and it is clearly succeeding in a rough location. So what to do? And you know the answer. And, as Carolina said yesterday, "what ever Kate says .... Goes!!" :-) The tree can stay. 

Have a good day tomorrow and hug a tree.