Musings

Last evening and overnight we got real rain, enough to give some people a bad day. Not here, though. The Guru and I return from a quick morning walk just before eight, and the temp hadn’t yet reached seventy. So unusual—especially this year. Our rainfall deficit must have dropped dramatically.

It’s hard to take photos that convey the complex sky that signals a coming storm. This is a southwest view during the summer rainy season, in Oaxaca one afternoon, from up on El Mirador (well, near the overview).

Posted at 3:17 PM | 4 Comments »

Backlighting is a powerful visual effect.

Backlighting plus dew: a handful of trump cards!

Every once in a while a cosmic alignment occurs and the steep-angle light post-dawn makes the dew into strings of clear gems, here on an overgrown asparagus, also decorated with a few berries. Festooned with spider webs, the effect is magical.

Know that my feet were bare, drippy wet from the dew on the lawn, and cold, ’cause mornings are almost always cool in the UP, even in August.

Know that my arms were warmed by the sun.

After I took almost a hundred images, I went inside to be warmed by coffee and a laptop review of the images I’d just taken.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Archives again…

Is this the year of the turtle somewhere? This is the second one I’ve seen in a month of not being in high-turtlehood places….

Weather update: more rain last night (I slept through it), and thunderboomers periodically this afternoon and even right now.

Posted at 7:22 PM | Comments Off on Box turtle!

Or maybe I should say (write): rainfall arrives on little cat feet*….

We got enough rain early this evening to soak in about half an inch where the soil wasn’t hard-packed. It was the first rain here at the house in I don’t know how long. The Guru’s dad had a sprinkle at his house in Buckhead on Friday, but none fell here.

I’m still saving sink water for the plants….

* Thank you, Carl Sandburg.

Posted at 7:24 PM | Comments Off on Rainfall arrives

These brilliant poppies are embedded in what looks like orchard grass; we found them in a Michigan ditch last week (plenty of rain there this year). Here it’s just plain hot and dry; we’re watering our favorite plants with the dishwater. I felt guilty doing a load of wash knowing the graywater was going down the sewer. Well, those in south Georgia, lower down the Chattahoochee need it too, I guess—at least, that’s my understanding of where our treated sewage ends up….

Posted at 10:22 PM | 3 Comments »

Played hooky today and headed for northeast piedmont GA, where the rains came last night (is that why the hummers were so busy?), but had gone by the time we arrived. ATL got nary a drop.

Today’s vocabulary:

levigate

to reduce something to a fine powder or paste

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on El colibrí

Last night we went for a late-night walk, between nine and ten, enjoying the clear night and pleasant temps. This morning I got up and noticed a vague smoky odor, which I couldn’t pin down. I thought it might be the Guru breakfasting but 1) it was only 6:50 am, and 2) it didn’t smell like toast.

Around 9 am I took some kitchen-water out to the desiccating hostas and azaleas, and then I really smelled the smoke. I finally caught the local TV weather-dude revealing useful information; he said that our quiet air patterns have the trapped smoke from the fires south toward the GA-FL state line in our part of the state. Whew! Must be just awful down there.

Oh, and the picture? When was the last time you noticed the climbing pegs on a power/telephone pole? And this one was right in-town.

Posted at 9:11 AM | Comments Off on Smoke arrives

We’ve moved into the gardenia phase of spring-changing-into-summer, and our front garden smells terrif—sorry there’s no iTunes of such lovely scents!

Posted at 5:37 PM | Comments Off on Gardenia days

I think we’ve gotten enough rain only to moisten the top layers of soil. Still, it’s better than just hot, dehumidifying sun.

Posted at 4:53 PM | Comments Off on May shower!

”Boo-berries” are just beginning to get some color over by Pine Mountain (well, the potted ones, anyway).

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »