sunny side up

On my walk this morning I saw some of these amazing shrubs. The flowers look like fried eggs. The foliage is a very lovely dusty blue-green color, not at all like bacon or sausage.


I don't know what they're called but I do know that they are notoriously difficult to propagate. I've never seen them in a nursery and those that are available at the university arboretum at the annual sale are always scooped up first! A few blocks from my house there is a big show of these plants, usually in bloom around the first of April. These are just about at the end of their bloom.

In the back garden the coreopsis have taken over the planter beds. This round of blooms will start dying off soon.

I'll cut them back and they'll bloom again in August. Meanwhile, they will spread their tiny black seeds all over everything, including in the pool, and a zillion shoots will spring up and have to be weeded out or transplanted. That bed will only hold so much.

Sunday was Opening Day for the swimming pool. It has been very hot so the water temperature was just perfect. Caitlin flew over from Bozeman for a couple of days. Andrew and his sweetie, Anna, came up from Berkeley for a visit on Sunday. We got out the deck furniture, lounged around in the heat, swam, ate dinner outside and had a generally all-around grand visit. Cait flew home yesterday morning, Andrew and Anna came up for dinner last night (Guadalajara Grill for chiles rellenos).

The heat is gone, the north wind is again churning up dust, blowing leaves all over the streets, tearing down tree limbs, and raising fears of wild fires. This sort of weather is what I dislike most about living in the valley. I visited my dentist this morning ~ "Look Ma! No cavities!" ~ and have just finished watching an old Audrey Hepburn-Albert Finney movie, Two for the Road. Beautiful scenery ~ south of France mainly ~ but he's a real nasty character. I hadn't remembered that. Next pix: Pumping Iron with the governor. It's great to be back with the Flix®.