Chit Chat

All day yesterday the sky was a sickly yellowish-orange.  If malaria was a color, all feverish and diseased, the sun was that very color.  Everywhere it touched--car windshields, the streets, faces, plants and trees, my living room--it altered the natural color of things.  It wasn't until later in the evening when the pages of my book turned red that I realized what it was.

Sunlight through the smoke of forest fires.

As it set, the sun glowed a deep blood-red, burning through the thick layer of smoke like the Eye of Sauron.  I tried to take some photos, but when I downloaded them, they were creepy and distorted and not...right.

[Sometimes I think Stephen King should live on my mountain]

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After dinner, the alien sun finally dropping behind the mountains, it was time to drag myself out to water the garden.  I had just a few chapters left in my book, it was hot, it was Sunday, and I didn't want to do it.  I actually whined out loud like a kid--"I don't waaaaannnntttt to...!!"

Then I had a small epiphany: I live alone (never mind the dogs), so who bloody cares if I water tonight or tomorrow morning?  If I want to shirk my responsibilities, well, then...I can.  I smiled, made myself another glass of iced tea and settled back down to read.

And here's why my mother was such a martinet and never let me or the sibs whine ourselves out of what needed to be done today, not tomorrow: You. Will. Pay.

I forgot I had stuff to do this morning.  It was a busy Monday with several errands, and after a grueling morning spent hopping in and out of the car in 100 degree heat, I got home, unloaded everything, fixed the boys their lunch...

...and had to water the garden in the scorching heat of high noon. Believe me, I realized the error of my whiny ways as the sweat dripped and my brain fried.

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Lowe's was one of my stops, the only place in town that carries the micro-organisms that I feed my septic tank every month.  Another reason living in the city appeals, peeps. Because I live on a mountain, I have a septic--no easy just flush and forget it city sewer system for me--that must be kept happy or bad, bad things will happen.

[Seriously.  Stephen King]

Anyway.  I drive clear across town to buy two little boxes of septic joy and a new shrub for the front garden to replace one that died in last December's two-week freeze.  I found a really cool Ceanothus (California Lilac).  It has variegated leaves and will have white flowers that the butterflies will love...and it has a great name.

El Dorado...

As I was going out the garden center exit, I saw this amazing display of Foxgloves.  I love these exotic, colorful beauties but have never seen anything like these. Needless to say...

...I couldn't resist. I don't know where I'm going to plant this lovely thing--it will have to be somewhere in the back garden so the deer don't eat it--but for the moment, I'm just mesmerized by the stunning beauty and will worry about its new home later.