Garden Fresh

We were sitting on our neighbors' deck last night enjoying a glass or two of wine when who should we hear, barking and even howling, but our Spike. With no house between us, he must have heard our voices and registered his outrage at being left behind. John hustled home and got him as our other neighbors are currently living in a trailer parked next to our front 'lawn', now a large patch of dead, dry grass. Fortunately our neighbors are dog lovers and Spike was a well behaved guest underneath their dining table. Next time, however, we will close the dog door before we leave. 

We both went to the grocery store this morning because we were unable to come up with a menu or a list of things we needed.  We each wandered randomly around the store picking up things that looked good. I came home to read an article about a plant based diet substantially lowering the risk of heart disease. I don't know who generates some of these studies, but I would say that the recommendations fairly well described our diet...definitely not vegan, nor even totally vegetarian but high in grain, fruits and veggies and low in red meat. 

It was still cool enough to eat our lunch outside, but the air quality is  smoky and the temperature rose to close to 100F (38C), not conducive to staying outside. John brought a big bowl of tomatoes down from the garden. The big heirloom ones are called Ananas Noir...Black Pineapple. I  made sauce, adding handfuls of basil and oregano from the kitchen garden, and then sat down to watch the antics of some of the bigger birds outside. The ravens were gathering in the tree near the bird feeders*. Their silent vigil was a bit eerie. A group of largely ground dwelling birds, probably thrushes,  are acting decidedly strange, chasing each other in and out of our open mesh hogwire fence, scratching in the mulch on the ground and flying madly around the front steps, or appearing to slide down the railing.  John opened the front door to see what was going on ,and one of them flew straight into the house and bega bashing against the kitchen window trying to get out again.  John was able to catch it and release it back outside.

I'm not superstitious, but odd avian behavior strikes me as some sort of portent. It's supposed to cool off a bit tomorrow as the onshore winds come back to blow cooler marine air inland.

*extra