morning glory update

They're coming along.  No flowers yet - though little buds are starting to appear.  But the early monsoon rains meant that the self-seeding plants germinated, and a few started to climb up their canes, and the ones that are scattered on the ground outside the pots are beginning t

It's such a change of pace: one week haring around Europe, and having a plethora of images to choose from; the next, back to our very tranquil lives in New Mexico, working, with a couple of walks a day around the neighborhood - which also, of course, returns me to this blog's long ago (2009!!) formulated principle of finding something - one thing! - a day to take a picture of, and write about.  These leaves fulfil that purpose beautifully: that daily principle does, indeed, make one look.

 

Mouse??

Could there be a mouse in the ceiling? Gramsci anxiously wants to know.  We haven't heard any ominous scuttling, but admittedly there was a faint whiff of deceased rodent when we came into the house last Tuesday - it had dissipated by the morning, though. Grams doesn't seem unduly concerned, and we do have plenty of evidence that he knows what to do, should one dare show its whiskers.

 

spiky

Or should that be Spiny?  Either way - from our morning walk (along the railroad and then up one of the greenbelt spurs), and I rather vaguely managed to put my hand on one of the sharp thingies when I was taking this (no harm done).

 

a marigold

You might have thought that this is a cheerful marigold (which I dare say it is), celebrating my first 4th of July as a bona fide American citizen.  On the other hand, given the politics of the day (and the fact that, back in LA, apparently ICE was using the parking lot of Gelsons as a staging post - with Gelsons' approval?  - should we still shop at Gelsons, which we only do because it's our closest LA food store?? - and and and), I think it's probably best used in its traditional role as a Dia de los Muertos flower.  Oh, and apparently, a couple of days back, ICE raided the flower stalls outside the Forest Lawn cemetery the far side of Griffith Park, and kidnapped seven of the eight men working there.  And men from the taqueria stall by Target on Eagle Rock.  It does seem like a very deliberate assault on LA.

 

double rainbow

From just outside our back door: this is just about as good as a rainbow gets ... (and the new plants were grateful for the rain, too).  I wish that I had it in me to see it as a totally optimistic political symbol, but the most I can muster is to see it as a sign of resilience (surely rainbows are too ephemeral for that, though?) and resistance ...

 

snaily (and plants)

Isn't she adorable?  And, really, her shell colorings indicate that she's a tabby snail.  Alice put her hand under a plant leaf at Agua Fria nurseries today, and felt - well, something that wasn't a leaf.  Here are a couple of plants, for good measure - visiting there and making our start of summer (yes, I know it's July ...) purchases is always a highlight, but Snaily made it special (and, of course, research-linked).

 

both ends of the day

Moth may look, here, perched on the end of the bed, as though butter wouldn't remotely melt in her pretty pink mouth - but that might have been the first time that she truly settled after about 10 p.m.  Grams was much better behaved.  I decamped to the sofa, and distracted her meowing self with little strokes from time to time (as in: every ten minutes or so, or that's what it felt like).  Maybe it was the trains, maybe the dogs, maybe it was - and I suspect this - that she was super-rested from having been snoozing in the car all day.

As a result (and after La Posada had redeemed its culinary self with an excellent breakfast), the 335 miles between Winslow and Eldorado seemed very, very long indeed.