Amazing to me that this is a June photo.  These deep rich red burgundies look like autumn.  So much for profiling, even colors!

The botanical garden is our new walking place for the summer, some days at least, and this photo was taken there.  I don’t remember quite what the plant is and I guess it doesn’t matter.

It is also amazing that day after day is sunny and around 70-75 degrees and gorgeous.  No humidity to speak of, no black flies, very few mosquitos.  No snakes or creepy-crawlies to worry about in most of suburban beach life,  no impending thunderstorms, and you can plan your picnic or outdoor wedding without hesitation.  Every time we eat a meal outdoors — all three today — I sit up and take notice.

We have food and clothing and medical care and schools and houses and dishes and books and electricity and running water, and cars and airplanes and trains that let us *travel!* and friends and family and book clubs and writing groups, and art galleries and gardens, and wonderful berries and bok choy and tomatoes from the farmers’ market if not our own plot/plant, and churches and mosques and temples and meeting houses, and libraries and music and theater and dance and computers and we even have

GOOD — no, GREAT! — WEATHER!