fiery

Yes! I made it to the Huntington today, which felt like a major triumph - first to a meeting, this morning, and then this afternoon to read some books about the nineteenth century tanning industry in the Hudson Valley (which laid waste, it's estimated, to some 12,000 acres of hemlocks - hemlock bark was used in the tanning process, which was big - cattle hides were imported from as far afield as South America).  These red hot pokers (Kniphofia - native to South Africa, so they won't, I guess, be making an appearance in our back yard) are outside the library door.

But more extraordinary, and even more fiery red, was the sudden apparition at lunchtime of an ambulance, a large fire truck, and a police car, all making their way towards the cactus garden (or at least in that direction), at a speed more or less compatible with urgency while trying not to run anyone over.  No sight nor smell of fire or smoke (and nothing in the news).  No idea ... but it was unusually dramatic for the location.