Those Noisy Birds

Our bear's breeches (Acanthus) is blooming once again, but we only have one flower spike this year -- unlike last year, when we had four or five. I always think the flowers look like mollusks -- like mussels growing on a rope.

The "heat dome" was unpleasant yesterday but it wasn't agony. I checked the temperature in the afternoon and it was about 92º F (or 33º C). It was very humid, given our recent rain, and that didn't help matters, but I don't think we're getting heat as murderous as what they're seeing in continental Europe. Did you see that 40 people drowned in France (in separate incidents) while trying to stay cool during the past week or so?! Crazy.

I'm sitting out on the garden bench now, at 6 a.m., and it feels very comfortable -- about 71º F (or 22º C).

Anyway, I spent yesterday morning scanning slides and reading. I'm almost done with this slide project. I have a few more days of scanning and uploading and then I'll be finished with all the slides I have at the moment. Almost time to get more!

I finished a novel called "Sam" by a writer named Lonnie Coleman (who went on to write the "Beulah Land" series, best-sellers in the '70s). "Sam" is notable for being an early (1959) portrayal of gay men in a somewhat sympathetic light. It was full of old-fashioned gender dynamics, exploring how friendship between gay men and straight women could affect their romantic lives, and showed that while there were waspy queens, not every gay man fit that mold. Of course its depictions were dated and the book was full of dialogue like, "Who are those incredible little marys huddling by the aspidistra?" (Yes, that's an actual line.) But it was entertaining, from a historical perspective.

The birds weren't daunted by the heat yesterday. They were making a racket in the garden -- so much noise I put them on video. First there's a clip of the parakeets in our walnut tree (which I actually took several days ago). Then you'll hear what the starlings and tits sounded like as I was sitting out in the garden reading. It's a miracle I could concentrate. In the third clip, the starlings are squabbling on the bird feeder in the evening, and you'll hear the parakeets again too.

Dave and I ended the day with an al fresco dinner -- tuna tartare, which required no cooking at all. (The benefit of this, in terms of temperatures in the house, was somewhat negated by the fact that Dave also made a big pot of bolognese sauce for the coming week.) Do you like the summery tablecloth? It's a piece of batik from Thailand that I found on the high street several years ago while walking Olga -- one of the thrift shops was throwing it away and I thought, "I can use that!" It bears pictures of sailing, parasailing and other activities presumably available at whatever Thai resort it came from. A little evening vacation!