Social Distancing

Our patio is in readiness for a very carefully calibrated 'social' visit from friends who are bringing their own wine and their own glasses . We'll shout at each other across our back patio.

John discovered a massive leak in the irrigation system down by the street. Now he is trying to find out how to get the necessary parts to fix it. This becomes a thorny problem as he considers: Is it essential? If he orders it from somewhere will it endanger the UPS driver? But at least he has a job, so Maybe it is a good thing to order some irrigation couplings. Or maybe the local irrigation store is open, and , if so, should he go there himself or send somebody to get some for him? He could send Will on the assumption that Will is young and wouldn't get as sick as HE would if he caught the virus. But young people ARE getting sick, just not AS sick...He could ask our friend Dan to go since he is pretty sure he had it, but can't get tested. Besides, even if he has antibodies, nobody knows how long they will last....Nothing is simple any more, but we have plenty of time to consider the options, moral, ethical and practical...A lot less water would flow into the creek from our broken irrigation system if John, as he always did pre Covid, just went to the store, got his part and came home and fixed the irrigation. It always becomes a circular argument.

My walk around the garden today yielded several discoveries. We have a pair of bright yellow/orange Bullocks Orioles nesting in a bird house that has been hanging ignored and unused in a live oak tree. They will have completed a journey from Central or South America and gotten right to work on nest building. Usually they visit the hummingbird feeders, eschewing the oranges I always put out, but I'll try again as we have plenty of oranges....They are said to be harbingers of summer, and it is always delightful to see them.

The half wine barrel of irises that I thought had all reverted to blue, has produced a few maroon and yellow ones. The Lavatera will soon be covered in pink flowers and the Callistemon (Bottlebrush) is not only thriving but providing excellent cover for many different species of birds including quail who nest on the ground underneath them.  There is nothing cuter than a quail couple with a covey of tiny fluff balls emerging from the bushes and literally flinging themselves off the stairs...

My Covid quilt is coming along nicely. There is very little rhyme nor reason to its design other than using what I have on hand, but I have a LOT, so it's very randomness is a challenge. 

I'm going to be faced with the same problem as John when it comes to getting batting to finish the quilt. Once I solve that dilemma, I suppose I'll have to practice hand quilting it....

It's getting harder to tell the difference between the weekend and the weekdays, but somehow, there is STILL a different feeling on Friday than there is on Monday. Have a good and healthy weekend everybody....