August Already!

 

Angela Harding's August art 'The Blackbird'

Freshly gathered figs shared with others. . . . . . . 

. . . . . . those 'others' sharing some tomatoes with me, thanks!

Heavy weekend rains filled the bird baths, revived the shrubs

 somewhat, and definitely grew fresh grass.

As for the fig tree, its bounty is in excess this year.

 It will need pruning again later as it's far too big!

Hope this new month will be a good one.

July weather was disappointing here.  

August is usually very hot but thoughts of Autumn to come

will keep me going.

Bird tails. . . .and tales!

 

Nothing visible through the windows these early mornings. Condensation on the outside where the humidity is so high, and the glass so cold on the inside due to the A/C pumping out . . . . . Bob likes it really chilly indoors, me not so much.

Later in the day our newest winged visitor to the garden is very visible and

 not welcome!

This is a juvenile Red-tailed hawk, extremely common just about everywhere,  circling overhead, sitting on telephone poles and fence posts, hanging about in the tall oaks ready to grab a rodent, especially a squirrel. Sadly, they also take rabbits, and I've not seen my baby bunny for a couple of days!

Here you see it looking up into the fig tree - later it was staring me down from a branch of the fig tree, seemingly oblivious that I was a human and just a couple of feet away with a camera in hand. I'm not sure who was the most surprised at that close encounter!

It's also flying onto our roof a lot - here you can see it's a youngster as it has yet to develop red tail feathers, and the breast is still speckled all over. Although this raptor does not take a lot of birds according to what I read, we did see it swoop down under our feeder and fly off with a small one busily nibbling on the ground, probably a finch. Yes, I know that's nature but I was angry, very angry!

The weekend -

 Another of those hot, humid, almost sunless days. The sun rose with a 

watery countenance then disappeared. The air was thick and sticky, tiny bugs

 hovering, biting and stinging if given half a chance. Why do they always manage

 to bite no matter how much you cover up and spray what have to be near-lethal

 chemicals? They always find a spot to attack!

Sometimes they cling to your tee shirt (which we all seem to wear these days),

and come into the house. If you sit still they make that awful buzz in your ear.

You scream "mosquito" knowing you'll never squish it before it finds a spot and

 takes your blood!

This is the best type of food for August in these parts.  Little cooking (grilling

 outside preferable), plenty of tomatoes around, olives and goat cheese in the fridge, 

oil on the shelf. . . . . just pick up a deep purple eggplant (aubergine), and grill, 

add a crusty artisan loaf.

With a glass of chilled rosé - this weekend I'm enjoying a bottle of an old California

 standby, Dark Horse, just $8.00 - hard to beat. . . . . .

. . . . . . though I may toss together a simple pasta also.

Surroundings can change. Mine have these past weeks. 

No longer circled by long time friends, my neighborhood is different now . . . . 

. . . . . . . and this particular weekend, sooooo quiet!

Seven houses make up our cul-de-sac. Our immediate neighbors to the left

are brand new owners with plans to raze this now empty house (above) and

 build a bigger house which will use much more of the lot . . . . . some old

trees will have to go.

The house directly across the street is empty and up for sale.

Three current neighbors are away traveling leaving just one 

neighbor, the newest homeowner, plus Bob and I, the only people

here. . . . . . at least for this weekend!

It seems odd, strange, almost otherworldly, the quietness of the street.

Even the birds seem fewer in the fig tree - perhaps even they are 

sick of eating figs now the insects have taken over.

The house next door - sadly soon to be gone at less than 40 years old.

Weekend reading - my first Anna Quindlen novel which 

I'm enjoying.

"Quindlen's astute observations. . . are the sorts 

of details every writer and reader lives for."

---Chicago Tribune

"A wise tale about second chances, starting over, and going after

  what is most important in life."

---Minneapolis Star Tribune

Someone did find a new neighbor for the nest!  Now who could that have been.

Note:  I just came back after a break to complete this post. 

If you're trying to create a new post this afternoon you may, like me, 

suddenly find everything is double spacing and photos are posting in

 a very large format.  

 A lot of fiddling is going on - please Blogger cut to the chase and get the problems sorted!

Make sizing, centering, line spacing, adding labels etc., simple again.

Bring back spellcheck - and definitely do something ASAP to rid us of the 

disgusting comments being left on our posts by a person(s) despite our settings

 supposedly denying them access!  

Something is horribly wrong here.

A look at life. . . . . . . . .

The days are flying by much too fast and I feel somewhat overwhelmed. 

The humid days of August have sapped my energy ~ I'm just tired.

 A little break is needed so I'll be missing for a few days.