Watch Cat in Everyday Ramblings

Mrs. Sherlock had been riding over near here on Saturday and she wanted a flat not too ambitious walk on Sunday, so we went back on foot. This is a creek that runs through the southeast part of the city that brings a lovely sense of being out in the wilds, close in. This pocket park with bridge was a new discovery for us. A young couple was behind us walking their teenage white and black cat.

We also walked through this wonderful wide alley behind a group of expensive homes that was filled with tropical plants hanging over back walls. This was only maybe two or three blocks away from people living rough in their accumulated junk.

Yesterday I heard an interview with a reporter, who due to a crazy confluence of circumstances was homeless herself for a couple of years. She says the worst part of living rough or in a shelter is that you can’t get enough sleep and after a time that starts messing with your brain. We need more non-congregate housing so these folks can sleep. That is a good practical way to begin to address some of these issues.

I am participating in a League of Women Voters Zoom thing on Friday where we will be on live with a couple of local experts in the field of care for those who have collapsed into living rough and we will be able to ask questions and interact with them.

I went back to the grocery yesterday to get my booster shot (mission accomplished) and checked out that gorgeous orange tree I posted a shot of last week on iNaturalist. The app says it thinks it is a kind of elm in the Genus Zelkova. Apparently, they grow well here in this climate. I will follow up if someone confirms it. I don’t think it is an Acer based on the leaf detail.

Our seemingly endless dry spell is coming to an end tomorrow. I need to get down to the garden today and see if there is one last zucchini. I harvested all my carrots on Saturday. Considering that I hadn’t a clue what I was doing growing them organically with all the bugs (and people tell me they are a challenge here) I am happy with the results.

Normally when I am working on the laptop in the morning Diego curls up next to my left hip on the bed. The last couple of days though Carlo has been hogging the spot, so Diego stands on the workstation like a watch cat guardian. His patience is admirable. He has lost some weight and he is waiting for a dry food snack. He moves ever so slightly with his breath.

I love the quiet in the mornings.

A few of the oldest residents in the neighborhood are selling up and moving. It isn’t safe here anymore. Package thieves, car thieves, mostly property crimes. Desperate people, opportunistic people, exploitive people. And then the lost. The local nonprofit that placed the two women in separate apartments here moved the screaming trash strewing woman out last week. The man that was doing the final clean-up yesterday looked sad and tired.

The fire setting woman is still here, sedated. They took her car away.

If last night was any indication, the full harvest moon tonight/tomorrow is going to be fabulous. Of course, it will be cloudy and wet then. But one can imagine that huge bright moonrise through the tree limbs that become incrementally more visible each day. Startling and spooky.

I was sad to hear that this Friday’s show is the last in the season of Gardeners’ World. I go to sleep some nights with flowers and foliage, the colors, and patterns, running behind my closed eyes. I have Brit Box so I can watch them over but this whole putting the garden to bed thing is new to me and a bit melancholy.

A couple of my students are AWOL and we are worried about them. I have their address and will be sending a card. They are wonderful people, and we all adore them. Classes are not the same without them. That is the nature of things though, the rolling wave of change and adaptation.

It seems we are all doing a bit more of that than usual these days. Sigh.

Last updated October 20, 2021