I hate shopping. And it’s taken me until now to figure out why. I just can’t stand most of the people in the stores. They have every reason to be there, it’s a work day, in the middle of the day. They probably crave adult companionship as much as I want to avoid it, and they are out in droves. I work with the public every day, from princes to beggars, pretty much. The last thing I want is to have to deal with more people.
I ran several errands on Friday. At Party City, which seems to haved turned into Party City for Kids, there were not enough cashiers. I ended up standing in line behind a lady with a young child and a new baby. The child needed reassurance about all the scary stuff on display for Halloween, severed hands, ghosts, etc. The infant was crying. I avoid Party City whenever possible. That is the best example I could possibly come up with. Long lines and too much contact with the public.
Went to the pet supply place to get tortoise stuff next and got in line behind another woman with two young sons. She was going on about how boys who hit her got sent to jail. They opened another checkout lane and asked for the next person in line. I tapped thge couple in front of me and pointed them to the line. The lady with the kids was already unloading her cart. She glared at me and said, loudly, “That’s right, I’m already unloading my cart, I’ll just stay here.” Damn straight, lady. We’re not waiting for you to load that stuff up again. She never stopped talking the whole time I was there.
From now on, any shopping I do gets done the minute the stores open.
I was very excited to see this little lady stalking around my garden. I’ve bought egg cases at the local nurseries in the past, but it’s been several years since I’ve done so. She was a bit perturbed by me following her around with a camera and the little black spots on her eyes were always aimed in my direction, even when I was directly behind her.
Finch riding on the bird-go-round.
The Spouse and I were out on the patio reading last night when a question of mine was answered. I’d wondered once we got the kinetic sculpture set up if the birds would ever get used to it and perch on it. The answer is Yes and Yes.
I recently cleaned out the water bowl for the birds the other day and since then there’s been a steady flow of birds through the yard. They come in groups of four or five and take turns drinking. There are generally 30 to 40 birds in the trees in back of the house. I think they all cycle through. At once point there were more than could drink at one and a few decided to perch on the slowly spinning sculpture. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me at the time. That shot will just have to wait until it happens again.
My husband was surprised that there were so many birds just for the water, but when you think about it there really isn’t much clean water that birds can get at in Southern California. They have to rely on irrigation run off which there is less and less of with the water situation as it is. Just think how many birds there’d be if I actually gave them food. It’s on the list for the evening’s errands.
Barring temperatures of over a hundred or below forty degrees the patio is by far the most pleasant place in the house. Traffic is relatively quiet. Birdsong is louder by far. It sounds like a jungle sometimes. There are 30 or forty birds in the tree behind the house. They make a ruckus for a while and then move on to another tree. The whole yard is full of life and I just love it. The bees that creep some people out. The fish in the ponds, birds in the trees, the cats haunting the scrubbery and Spud trundling about. The butterflys flitting about. I just can’t think of anyplace better.
This spider is haunting a shrub in the garden. She’s been a successful hunter. At one point she had a bee in hand and a wasp caught in her web. She’s about an inch and a half across, including legs.
I feel like I live in my very own mini-jungle. Lions and spiders and flies, oh my.
Yesterday it was a caterpillar hanging upside down. Today it’s this. If you look closely you can see the delicate outline of wings. All in less than 24 hours.
One of the weirder things is that their heads fall off as they go through this process. Yesterday day a caterpillar, today a chrysalis and the caterpillar’s head caught in a spider web below it. Just weird.
I love this succulent. The whole plant is smaller than my fist. Tiny translucent gems.
