Begonia and Fireworks

Our angel-wing begonia (or whatever kind of begonia it is) is blooming once again. This plant is remarkably durable. I pruned it several months ago, cut up the stalk and stuck the pieces in another pot of soil, and darned if every single one of the cuttings didn't take root. So now I have a second pot of little begonias. Nature is amazing -- that life force.

I am home once again today, waiting for the drains repair guy. The universe owes me an effortless visit from a repair person, given what happened on Tuesday, so let's hope this goes more smoothly. I'm even optimistic that I might be able to get to work at some point. My boss was a bit gruff with me yesterday over unexpectedly being out all day on Tuesday -- but what could I do? We have to have a working boiler, and someone has to be here to get it fixed. Ditto the drains. These are not optional things. It's not like I'm taking time off to buy new lampshades.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping to read more and hopefully get caught up on blog comments. I know I've been falling behind on those. I usually use my lunch hour at work to answer comments, but yesterday I had to go to the post office to get Dave's passport documents mailed, so I didn't have a chance. Thank goodness both our passport applications are in, though. That's another thing off the list.

My brother sent me this photo the other day -- it's a shot of his phone screen as he plays a suite of games called "Card Shark." Recognize that background photo? It's Olga on Hampstead Heath.

"I set the 'table' with a custom picture instead of the standard ugly green felt and casino markings," he wrote. "It looks like Olga is watching me play cards and when I win and the fireworks start then she is watching those too. It's a good peaceful fall picture."

The photo is a bit compressed vertically (or stretched horizontally) but I still like the many ways that Olga lives on in all of our lives.