My Life is Dull

I spend a lot of time at my desk. I do finger exercises every morning. (I’m typing; I write email and posts.) And through the day, as I check news sites and visit YouTube, Prime, etcetera, I’m here, in this chair. Above is what I see whenever I look up.

In the photo with Fred in his perch and Sheba on the floor: That’s what I see if Iook left. I see through my backdoors to my studio across the courtyard. Click on the image to enlarge it and you can (barely) see my favourite garden feature—the fountain.

The other photo is what I see, straight ahead, directly behind my computer. The little houses outside are my bird feeders (one is mostly hidden by the window frame); they’re on the top strut of the entrance to the fenced vegetable garden.

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Sunday was weird; the weather switched back and forth all day between rain and sunshine. But when it was nice, it was spectacular. I got all the Skimmia into the front garden; finally my house has a nice soft edge where it meets the ground. Then I went to the park to meet Gunther. (There was no Anna, yesterday.)

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I’ve sixteen books to read. I got them all from Amazon. And when I was there, I saw a book in the Literary section with a lot of good reviews (but no awards) and happened to be LGBTQ. Well … I got it, started reading it and it’s garbage. It’s a gay romance novel and it’s dreadful. But I’m reading it. And as I do, I feel like I’m staring out the back window that’s covered with little droplets of rain—Dad is driving——and my head turns slowly backward as we pass by so that I can stare at details of the accident.

What fresh Hell is this? 

“Murder hornets" have arrived in the U.S. With queens that can grow to two inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. 

For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit — make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin. In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.

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Today is gorgeous. Come Thursday, temperatures in the mid-twenties are predicted, as is endless sunshine. I’ll get lots of gardening and yardwork done this week; I’ve got lots to do.