what recession?

I couldn't stand it anymore. I got up this morning determined to buy a new bed. A big, firm, comfy bed. I have been bitching about the bed for three years. Since nobody was paying any attention to my complaints ~ or doing anything about them ~ I decided it was up to me and high time! I popped into the local mattress store, spent an hour lying on a variety of mattresses ~ soft, quilted, Tempur-Pedic®, firm, extra firm, XX firm ~ and finally settled on one. I gave the Patient a ring and asked him if he'd like to come up and give the one I chose a test run. Or test rest. He declined (surprise, surprise!). I gasped at the bill, flashed the plastic and became the owner of a beautiful new Beautyrest® XX Firm Cal King bed. The delivery chaps showed up at the front door about an hour later, set everything up, and even hauled away the old bed. Hooray, hooray! Here's to a better night's sleep. I am hoping this will help relieve my aching back.

The valley is heating up; 102º today, 105º tomorrow. Parts of the garden love this heat; the lavender, the coreopsis, the oleander, the plumbago. This beauty, along the side fence, is the most luscious shade of blue. I have planted several other specimens in the garden, front and back, but none has done as well as this one. The Patient even constructed a trellis to hold it up against the fence

Other parts of the planting just get fried, mostly the annuals, except for the pots of colorful portulaca that seem to thrive, the hotter the better. I also have a couple of hanging baskets of this bright little succulent. Makes a nice "color spot" on the limbs of the birch trees.

It is definitely pool weather here. Yesterday afternoon the sky was dusky from all the fires and you could smell the smoke. A bit better today. And no wind to propel the flames. Good news for all those brave fire fighters.