Century Plant

Walking through the neighborhood, I saw a flash of color so I turned and took a photo of what was a hooded oriole that had flown in for a seed snack on the flowers of a Century plant.  Yes, each of those bunches is made of weird flowers. I put a shot of the entire plant  - from across the street - as an extra.
It's pretty impressive.

The Agave americana is native to Mexico but grows well in the southwest U.S. If you have about 4 minutes, you can learn about the plant and its many uses (including how tequila is made with them) by watching this video. Like other things unique to the desert, the agave will die after it blooms.  You can see the agave already croaking in the extra.

I took the early walk, and had lunch out.  I had an online therapy appointment and did a load of laundry. That's it.  I had no urge to go outside again since it was very hot. I have to ease into it. Fire restrictions were put into effect by the Forest Service so only propane is allowed in the Coronado National Forest, which includes Madera Canyon.

I have my eyes on the Canon R7 which was released a couple days ago is scheduled to be released this fall.  It's the successor to my favorite 7D Mark II, which is on its last legs (at 15+ fps and an awesome rebuilt auto-focus, imagine the hummingbird photos I could get!) If I want it, I'll have to be extra frugal. Maybe cancel my birthday trip to Madera and put off buying a new phone for 2-3 years.  It would be worth it in the long run.

If you're a Canon user and have been thinking about going full frame, check out this new R7 ($1400) and the new R10, the full frame successor to the 90D.

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As I was coming out of McDonald's with my morning coffee, I saw a woman drop her purse on the street, so I quickly followed her.

As I was just about to tap her on the shoulder she started running for a bus.  So I ran after her shouting, “You dropped your purse! You dropped your purse!”

She didn’t hear me and proceeded to get onto the bus, so I got on the bus too.  As I walked to the back of the bus I breathlessly said, “You dropped your purse on the sidewalk outside McDonald’s.”

“Thank you so much,” she said, “Where is it?”

I said, “I’ve just told you, on the sidewalk outside McDonald’s.”