the unfurling of chrysanthemums

We've got to that point of the summer when we turn to a form of frenetic spring cleaning, and weigh up the contents of under-explored cupboards, and other things.  This year has been particularly fraught since Alice's office decamped into the house (I dread the contents of mine arriving too, one of these years ... but I'm sure space will be found).  At any rate, the results of many, many book purges over the years - 21 boxes of them - went off for rehoming through BookPickUp LA.  I don't know what happened to Rebookit, who never responded to my emails or calls, but these guys were terrific - prompt and efficient and helpful.

And then - the collection of teas.  Out went something that sounded tasty, but had an expiration date of 2015.  And a couple of years back, a rather strange student of mine gave me some chrysanthemum tea for Chinese New Year (strange, not least because he would come to office hours; did in-class exams perfectly respectably; didn't turn in take-home papers, at all, and then stopped coming and responded to no one).  The tea remained undrunk, which might have been a mistake, because by now it was definitely older than one might want ... but I couldn't resist seeing the flowers unfurl.

 

the annual opening of the trumpet plant

I've known this trumpet plant for over twenty years, and it moved with us from Hoover Street to our current house - we wouldn't have taken it to New Jersey, because of Frost.  I have to say ... it's been healthier, and although we usually expect some caterpillars, it's usually somewhat more festooned with blooms.  However ... this seems to be this year's offering, and, as ever, it's magnificent.

 

dinner being prepared

The actual process of ordering and picking up dinner from Xibei, on Sunset, was a little chaotic and slow (you'd think it might be impossible to be both, but no ...).  However, their food is delicious - may I recommend the vegetable shaomai (dumplings, basically), and the crystal cold noodles?  Alas, their sweet and sour soup wasn't on the menu, but maybe it will return ... You can sit down to eat there, too, and some people were making their way through absolutely enormous bowls of noodles.

 

a hummingbird rescue

This afternoon, Alice found a baby hummingbird - to be more exact, an adolescent hummingbird - in our front yard.  He was alert, but not moving.  So she fetched him some sugar water, and fed him some from a tiny syringe.  By then, he was stirring from the dish - and I gave him a long piece of wood to sit on, too, and at one point he wandered back and I fed him - so poignantly adorable to see his tiny long tongue coming out to suck goodness from the end of a dropper.  No sign of any parents.  It was becoming obvious we had a tiny feathery problem.  Alice called a bird rescue number in ... Santa Monica; who contacted a bird rehabilitator in Silver Lake, and we drove him over there in a shoebox with holes in the lid.  His biggest problem by now may be shock, but the first assumption all round is that he hit his head.  I suspect we'll never know if he makes it or not, but I so hope he does - he was the sweetest young thing.

 

tall houses

One very real problem with a tall house is that there are certain maintenance jobs that we're certainly not prepared to tackle ourselves, especially anything that involves, as here, getting up on a ladder on a balcony.  Here we are having a birds' nest removed (safely out of nesting season) from a high ledge under the roof, where for some years now a very sociable family of house finches have tried raising their brood.  It's nicely sheltered from owls and hawks - on the other hand, strong winds can lift the nest right off that ledge, so it's not always successful.  And now ... a row of discreet thin spikes has been inserted as a deterrent.  This means that we'll be able to use that balcony in the spring time - it's been decidedly off bounds for several months each year.  On the other hand, the cats will miss their annual entertainment.

 

Hidcote lavender

Occasionally, I get adamant about something horticultural.  One of these things has been having some Hidcote lavender in the garden - lavandula angustifolia "Hidcote" Our gardener duly sourced and planted some - possibly the smallest lavender plants I've ever seen.  Truly, it's bonsai lavender.  But today, the very first flower.  It looked a little improbably broad and spread out, but I fed this image into Plantsnap, and I'm reassured as to its identity.  Maybe its diminutive companions will take encouragement from this ...

 

Gauchos of Griffith Park

From time to time, we see people riding in Griffith Park - usually park rangers.  This morning, something rather different down on Crystal Springs Drive: a whole posse of guys about our age, all riding Western (and looking very comfortable); all on really good looking horses.  I guess one could pretend that the trash bin could be adapted, or adopted, for barrel racing ...