Humming in the Pear Tree

In the early morning the back garden is full of birds, seeming to take turns as they come in chattering waves. Little birds, bigger birds, brown birds, grey birds. Everybody scrabbling in the dirt for bugs and seeds. And one hummer at the very top.

It started to drizzle just as the sun went down, enough to make me run and shut all the windows, but in fact probably not enough to take notice. We all hope this marks the start of a joyous rainy season. There have been three local fires in the past few days, small and contained, but grim reminders. 

Today is the 32th anniversary of the big quake: 10/17/1989, 5:04 pm, 6.9. It feels like it was just last week, but Mr S pointed out that two of the people at dinner weren't even born when this disaster changed everyone's lives.