Jenn Wong
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jennwong.bsky.social
Jenn Wong
@jennwong.bsky.social
4.3K followers 750 following 5.8K posts
African violet obsessive. Dress history, hand embroidery, native plants, and dogs. Lots of dogs. Recreating ca.1600 jacket V&A 173-1869 in silk on linen.
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jennwong.bsky.social
Pie, shmie. Bestie just brought this over 💛🎂
A spice cake with dark chocolate cocoa nibs that reads "Happy Birthday, Jenn"
November 27, 2025 at 9:19 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Derpy Tiger Time!
November 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Visited Longwood's Garden Railway today 💚🌱
Miniature train Sign with background of the Garden Railway Miniature Greenhouse-Conservatory Miniature Conservatory
November 26, 2025 at 10:36 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
The more things change...

Wilbert Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel: Texas Governor, Senator, and Music Pioneer
by George N. Green. Updated July, 2025
www.tshaonline.org/handbook/ent...
At the behest of radio fans, he filed for governor on May 1, 1938. During the Democratic primary campaign in one-party Texas, he stressed the Ten Commandments, the virtues of his own Hillbilly Flour, & the need for old-age pensions, tax cuts, & industrialization. While posing as a hillbilly, he acted under the professional direction of public-relations men. Accompanied by his band, the Hillbilly Boys, & the Bible, he attracted huge audiences, especially in rural areas. In the primary he smashed the other candidates & eliminated the usual necessity of a runoff. He had pledged to block any sales tax, abolish capital punishment, liquidate the poll tax (which he had not paid) & raise old-age pensions; but he reneged on all these promises. He unveiled a tax plan, secretly written by manufacturing lobbyists, that amounted to a multiple sales tax, but the legislature voted it down. O'Daniel won again in 1940, after divulging that he had wired President Roosevelt that he had confidential information about a fifth column in Texas. No one ever found the traitors. The governor & several Texas business leaders began attacking organized labor in the spring of 1941, but most of the provisions of the ensuing O'Daniel Anti-Violence Act were eventually discarded by the courts. O'Daniel began packing the UT Board of Regents with people who wanted to limit academic freedom & ferret out alleged subversion on campus. These regents, along with those selected by his successor, Coke Stevenson, eventually fired UT president Homer Rainey & provoked a 9-year censure of UT by the American Assoc. of University Professors. As governor, O'Daniel enjoyed little success in putting across his agenda. He was unable to engage in normal political deal-making with legislators, vetoed bills that he probably did not understand, and was overridden in 12 out of 57 vetoes-a record. But he was able largely to negate his ignorance, his isolation, and his political handicaps with masterful radio showmanship. O'Daniel ran for the Senate in a special election in 1941. He edged his leading opponent, New Deal congressman Lyndon Johnson, in a flurry of controversial late returns. After taking office in August, O'Daniel introduced a number of antilabor bills, all of which were defeated overwhelmingly. In running for reelection the next year, he faced former governors James Allred & Dan Moody. He charged that there was a conspiracy among Moody, Allred, the professional politicians, the politically controlled newspapers, and the "communistic labor leader racketeers" to smear & defeat him. Some prominent conservatives & conservative newspapers, embarrassed by O'Daniel, endorsed New Dealer Allred in the runoff. But posturing as a supporter of President Roosevelt, O'Daniel hung on to enough rural & elderly voters to win barely. During the war years he & Senator Tom Connally supported the Republican-Southern Democratic coalition more often (74 votes) than any other Southern duo in the Senate. O'Daniel was the leading campaigner for the Texas Regulars, a third-party effort to siphon off enough Democratic votes in Texas in 1944 to deny Roosevelt a fourth term. The president carried Texas and was reelected despite O'Daniel's inflammatory "educational" broadcasts. O' Daniel was shunned and ineffective in the Senate. With public opinion polls giving him only 7 percent support in 1948, he announced that he would not run again since there was only slight hope of saving America from the communists. He bought a ranch near Ft Worth, invested in Dallas real estate, and founded an insurance company. He attempted comebacks in the Dem gubernatorial primaries of 1956 and 1958; in the campaigns he ranted about blood running in the streets because of the "Communist-inspired" Supreme Court decision desegregating the nation's schools. He failed to make the runoff on both occasions, although in 1956 he carried sixty-six counties with almost 350,000 votes. O'Daniel died in Dallas on May 12, 1969
November 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Trying a new supplier. So far, so good; ask me again in 2-3 weeks.

Ordered some predatory mites, as I think bugs are going to be the only way to keep pests under control.
Six Ukrainian hybrid African (Usambara) violets on a bamboo plant shelf under full-spectrum LED grow lights
November 24, 2025 at 9:42 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
My favorite: home-made marshmallow creme (aka "fluff") from The Nut Tree in Vacaville, CA, 1958.
To be served with fresh pineapple slices. Great with any tart, acidic fruit, or as topping for ice cream.

Ignore the addition of mayo, that's a separate, different dish.
(Photo of a recipe card) Recipe from "Nut Tree Remembered: The Cookbook" from the Vacaville Museum, California NOTE: "Marshmallow Sauce for Ice Cream" (home-made marshmallow creme, aka "fluff") is what was served with the Fresh Pineapple Appetizer. 1 cup sugar Dash of salt 2/3 cup light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup hot water 2 egg whites 1 tablespoon fresh grated orange rind Combine sugar, corn syrup, and hot water. Heat slowly, stirring until sugar dissolves, then boil without stirring to firm-ball or thread stage (248°F on candy thermometer). Beat egg whites stiff with salt. Gradually beat in the hot syrup. Add vanilla. Cool. Fold in orange rind. Makes 1-1/4 cups. To make the "Marshmallow dressing" for their fresh fruit salad, fold in 1/4 cup mayonnaise with the orange rind. (Or not)
November 23, 2025 at 2:27 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Let's see now, where was I?
A large linen panel on a frame, embroidered in silk
November 21, 2025 at 1:57 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
It was a very nice day and a perfect evening
Scallops, shrimp, and risotto for dinner Personalized cookies for the table Eldest & his wife sent flowers And Derpy Tiger came along to dinner with the fam
November 20, 2025 at 2:17 AM
jennwong.bsky.social
I haz a new jacket & it's a gorgeous peacock blue
Uniqlo short down parka
November 19, 2025 at 10:12 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
"What a week, huh?
Captain, it's Wednesday"
Tintin comic: "What a week, huh? Captain, it's Wednesday"
November 12, 2025 at 6:54 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Upgrades 😎
3-foot LED grow lights, 38.8" wide shelves, and an individual high dome for every plant 🪴🌱
November 6, 2025 at 10:48 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Cleaned, sanitized & stuck 26 leaves in individual pots & propagation domes today
Ukrainian hybrid African violet (saintpaulia) leaves in individual pots in two sage green trays
November 2, 2025 at 2:03 AM
jennwong.bsky.social
I'M A MOTHER!

(The spider mites are on the babies like it's their birthday (grrr).
The leaves (big & little) have been washed & sprayed, the growing medium has been inoculated, and everything will get sprayed again tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Still - my first plant babies! I'm excited!🌱
Plantlets emerging from both sides of the base of an African violet (saintpaulia) leaf
October 14, 2025 at 7:28 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Y'all. Run, don't walk, and get you some of this. It's amazing
Fudgy Flan Burnt Caramel ice cream with fudge brownies & pastry cream swirls
October 10, 2025 at 10:22 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
The Grow Closet is... growing 🌱
Interior of a closet converted into a grow room for Ukrainian hybrid African violets (saintpaulia)
October 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
We did well
16 Ukrainian hybrid African violets 16 Ukrainian hybrid African violets after arriving home
October 4, 2025 at 11:10 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Fun to watch: on @pbs.org "Mademoiselle Holmes" season 1, starring Lola Dewaere. (S2 already aired in France)

No spoilers, it's more fun to discover her as you go along. But, as someone who lives the ethos of "I am concentrating very hard, therefore I need to snack," I love this character
Actress Lola Dewaere as "Charlie" in 2024 French tv mini-series "Mademoiselle Holmes," pictured perched in a magnifying glass, holding a violin
October 1, 2025 at 12:56 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Everything is terrible, but at least I have a Moroccan salad with salmon 🙌🏼
The salad
September 30, 2025 at 9:34 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
TIL: The @biodivlibrary.bsky.social has digitised, downloadable copies of every issue of #AfricanViolet magazine from vol. 1 in 1947-48 to vol. 74 in 2021, courtesy of the Chicago Botanical Garden Lenhardt Library.

www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography...
Cover of the January-February 2021 issue (v.74) of African Violet Magazine, the journal of the African Violet Society of America (avsa.org). Image is of profusely blooming lavender blue standard variety "Optimara Manitoba," exhibited by: Mary Corondan, hybridized by: Holtkamp. Photo Credit: Winston Goretsky Streptocarpus sect. #Saintpaulia Usambaraveilchen (Usambara violets)
September 25, 2025 at 5:13 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
Barbara Gordon is ready for her close up
Black-brindle bat-eared chubby wubba on a blue-on-white toile pillow atop a quilt-covered chaise before lavender linen curtains
September 20, 2025 at 11:07 AM
jennwong.bsky.social
Late lunch on the balcony with my best girl
An elderly Patterdale terrier enjoying the sun
September 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
This is more light & heat than these leaves have seen since they came to live at my house.🤭
(1400 lumens/2 feet on the upper shelf, 2100 lumens/3 feet on the lower) 🌱
An interior closet with a bamboo plant shelf and lights on top of a writing desk, planting supplies above and below
September 12, 2025 at 8:41 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
The grow lights came. They're adorable 🌱
2-foot full-spectrum LED grow light
September 11, 2025 at 9:37 PM
jennwong.bsky.social
I dunno, timing looks pretty close.

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the first Russian drones crossed from Ukraine's airspace into Poland's around 50 minutes after midnight local time"
aviationweek.com/defense/budg...
September 10, 2025 at 11:17 AM
jennwong.bsky.social
The sewing box with lacemaking cushion resembles this one, made In Nuremberg (H/t Stefan Hanß, U Manchester)
"Sewing box with laceworking cushion made by Nuremberg artisan Elias Lencker, 1577/89, and owned by Claudia de' Medici (1604-1648). Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Kunstkammer, 1106. Source: © KHM-Museumsverband Front view
September 9, 2025 at 10:10 PM