Dust Up @ The Birdbath

A lot of puffing of chests and mid air fighting around the birdbath this morning. I guess we should a maximum occupancy sign.

SLC Grand Cocktails

While working in Salt Lake City, I often found myself in the late afternoon enjoying a few pages of my current book and a cocktail in the lobby lounge. You could have a different drink each night and never repeat a concoction. Very civilized.

SLC Ellen

 Ellen and I were recently working in Utah. On a fine sunny morning, a very dapper DP chats with our actor. Below is the view on my return to LA after a week of high altitude.

Summer Shuffle

Our Lion's Tale plant out front has died. It was in a bad way for awhile. The Tipu's expanding canopy might be beginning to affect the full sun plants. So we ripped it up and moved an under performing tea tree bush in it's place. Where the tea tree was, there is now a:

 Calliandra eriophylla or Pink Fairy Duster.

Over on the other side of things, we tore up one of the invasive but pretty iceplants. After a quick trip to the California native specialists @ Theodore Payne, we replaced it with:

 Baja Spurge and a few clumps of Canyon Prince Rye grass. Hopefully they can live together and gives us some blooms next Spring.

Of Figs and Wasps

The fig tree out back is producing a lot of fruit this year and before the squirrels get to them, I've been harvesting the juicy ones. This morning there were some very small fly-like bugs crawling out the bottom of a few. My brain searched that part that stores all forgotten trivia but google provided a faster answer. Fig wasps pollinate the fig "flower" and lay eggs inside. These little women I saw were on their way out, to find a new fig tree to pollinate. The visceral reaction has been now to cut open all the figs and see what's squirming inside. Fascinating stuff. Read more here or watch here

Weekend Dog +4

It's been four weeks since we lost Seven's light and I find walks to have become boring. Without my friend's unseen sense of smell, I now rush past those places that before would have given us pause. I would contemplate on his process as my friend sniffed and compared a lifetime of smells to this current one. Would he then lift his leg to alter it or dismiss it and walk on? With only the banality of sight, our past paths are now devoid of the layers he brought. I do miss my guide.