Street Work and Mystery Weeds

Well, let that be a lesson to me! I will never again write a hasty ten-minute blog post without fully considering how my words might be interpreted. You'll be happy to know that I am not having blurry vision this morning, nor seeing double, nor suffering debilitating chest pains or anything else that should cause alarm.

Seriously, thanks to those of you who urged me to seek medical attention, but I really did know that what I was experiencing was no big deal. Believe me, I harbor no macho resistance when it comes to seeking out medical care. In fact, as my brother will readily tell you, I have had a long-standing hypochondriac streak since childhood, when I could simultaneously dream up the mildest of symptoms and turn them into a fatal disease. Even today, when anything odd happens to my body, my first thought is often that I am dying.

But I didn't have that thought yesterday, which shows you how inconsequential my situation really was.

I think I probably do need to get an eye exam, if only to get a new pair of glasses. The reading glasses I use now I've had for five years (!) and they may need an update. Maybe I can get that taken care of over summer break.

This is the street in front of our house, where Thames Water has been working on a huge project for a couple of weeks now. I think they're replacing the water pipes, which, as you may remember, are prone to bursting. Every few feet they've opened a giant hole in the street and traffic is down to one lane, controlled by temporary stoplights.

Unfortunately this restricts all vehicles to a narrow lane very close to the curb, and large ones like garbage trucks have been whacking limbs off the street trees -- including the pathetic, sick once-viney tree, which has lost several. That poor thing can't catch a break.

Finally, here are a couple of mystery plants that have come up in the garden this year. I think this one is plain ol' borage or green alkanet, but I can't really tell. It will become obvious soon enough!

This one is practically out in the lawn. Again, it could be some kind of borage, or maybe even foxglove? It looks like a teasel, but the leaves are fuzzier than on our other teasels. (I keep hoping our foxgloves will naturally re-seed but they never do -- I think it's hard for seedlings to get a foothold in the dry, clayey soil of our garden.)

This morning, rain! Woo hoo!

(Top photo: My late-afternoon reflection in our living room windows.)