The Spell is Broken

You won't believe what happened in the wee hours of this morning. It RAINED! Yes, we had actual rain drops falling from the sky, complete with the sweet petrichor aroma and the pattering sound. Our first rain in two months! And this morning, the birds are making noises and the world seems to have awakened from its long, dolorous dusty stupor.

I don't want to get too crazy because the rainfall was very brief -- a  matter of millimeters -- but we're supposed to have more in a couple of days.

So that's definitely our big news, but let me tell you about yesterday. I worked in the garden in the morning, cleaning up more old leaves and sticks in the wildlife area and behind the shed. Normally I'd leave all that for the critters, but in an effort to discourage Ratthew I'm trying to be a bit neater. Besides, Bailey has developed a habit of pulling old sticks out from behind the shed and bringing them out onto the lawn to chew. I'd rather she not risk ingesting wood shrapnel. Into the yard waste bag it all went.

In the afternoon we took a walk to the cemetery, where I found this odd stone circle standing in a roundabout at the intersection of several roads. This is a new feature in the cemetery, and I have no idea when it was installed or why. It's been there for a couple of weeks at least, if this YouTuber is any indication -- he seems to think it is a vortex of energy related to some supernatural force(s). I think it's probably just supposed to keep people from driving over the roundabout, a traffic barrier with artistic aspirations. (The first six minutes of his video are quite entertaining -- or at least they were for me, familiar as I am with the cemetery. I loved it when he got so freaked out by something moving in the trees. Maybe it was the turaco?!)

Bailey is not convinced of the stone circle's artistic merit. As you can see, some of the monoliths have colored glass balls and cylinders embedded in them, and at least one has a borehole through it. Another has a rusty bolt sticking out. It's a mystery!

On our morning dog walk, we found a shelf of free stuff being given away (above)...I thought later perhaps I should have taken that Lego parrot. Maybe I could have resold it! Some Lego kits are apparently quite valuable.

On nearby Sumatra Road, there's a little park with some playground equipment. Most of it is fenced, but there's a grassy verge bordering the street, and in that area several days ago Bailey and I encountered some raw meat lying on the ground. Very gross. Well, apparently whoever made this sign was also repulsed.

And finally, so as not to leave you with such an unpleasant mental image, here's a picture of one of our late-season zinnias. This particular plant has given us five flowers and it's unlike any of the other plants, which all have purple blossoms. Go figure!

Oh, and I solved a household mystery. I can't remember if I mentioned it here, but we've had three small windows in the flat that we've never been able to open. I couldn't tell if they were locked or broken but I was certain we didn't have a key for them. In fact I recently asked the management company to send someone to fix them.

And then yesterday, while cleaning, I looked more closely at a couple of keys hanging from a keyhole in the back of the glass door separating the hall from the living room. (Those doors are always open so we don't use the keys.) I thought they just went to the door, but by golly, there was a tiny window-lock key there too. And bingo! It opened our windows! We've lived here 14 years with those windows locked and that solution was within reach the whole time.

This is the kind of problem one finally has time to solve once one is retired!

Here's my rain video. I know it's dark and you won't be able to see much, but I want to share my joy at having some moisture fall from the sky. At the end, as a reward for sitting through the rain, you'll see Bailey scratching her leg and simultaneously licking the air -- a funny habit that never fails to amuse.