Colorful sky

We had a fantastic sunset last night. My house faces east so mostly enjoy sunrises, but last night the whole sky was brilliant shades of pink, orange and red.

When I first stepped outside the sky looked like this:

I played with the dogs for a while. They were being so cute bouncing all over the garden.

Everything had an indescribable reddish glow:

Probably because the sky was doing this:

And then I broke the news that it was time to go inside...

Bloggy hiatus

I seem to have taken an unintentional vacation from blogging and all things internet related. I've still be toting my camera around with me so at least the last few days have not gone by undocumented!

All the baking I did was so much fun. Here is the chocolate mousse, apple pie and pumpkin pie. The chocolate mousse was the best I've ever made!

My apple pie experiment went perfectly. I hadn't made an apple pie before Thursday, and I was very pleased with the result!

We had a great time at my cousin's home for Thanksgiving dinner, although we had a little accident in the driveway!

Then on Friday we just did projects around the house. I washed the dogs and took pictures in the yard.

Pink carpet:

Cactus blossom:

Angel's trumpet tree (that I nearly killed prior to planting, now it's blooming!):

Sassy Lola:

Saturday was completely lazy. I stayed in bed for a while and Lola came to join me. Thomas threw the covers over her and she stayed all cuddled up for a long nap.

All in all it was a much-needed, quiet, restful weekend. The morning will bring a busy week of freelance jobs.

They're almost ripe

On the adventure quest that happens when Henry and Lola go outside for the first time in the morning, there was a lot of scuffling around. Henry darted in one direction, Lola dashed to his side. I thought it a good time to grab my coffee and my camera and see what all the fuss was about.

My dogs love persimmons! I think they must check the tree everyday, and today the persimmons smelled ripe. They remind me of deer in the wild gingerly selecting their next meal from a nearby tree branch.

Lola got her prize and was off and running, always playing keep-away from Henry.

Once Henry settled in the shade, Lola was safe to enjoy her snack. She only took about one bite before she completely gave up. Lola's nose had convinced her they were ripe, her discerning taste buds let her know otherwise. So she delivered her disappointing morning snack inside to Thomas' feet.

In August?

In my bleary-eyed, half awake, half asleep condition this morning I heard something vaguely familiar. I stayed in bed for a while longer weighing my desire for a cup of tea versus my need for more sleep. Then I heard the noise again. Was that thunder?

I pulled myself out of bed and wandered to the window. Off to the west the morning was bright blue with white fluffy clouds, to the south was a wall of black sky. It was thunder! I had heard on the news earlier this week that we might, just might see some remnant rains of Hurricane Dean.

I figured the dark looming clouds would move over us rather quickly and be on their way out to sea. It doesn't rain in Southern California very often, and it would NEVER rain in August! But the thunder got louder and the sky got darker, then it began to drizzle, and it kept drizzling. The drizzling became a steady downpour. Unbelievable!

We all went outside to see it, feel it, watch it. Well the dogs wouldn't feel it. They wouldn't pass the line created by the roof overhang.

I tried to coax them to come play in the rain with me, but no luck. Thomas and I made a mad dash around the yard to pick up things that shouldn't be in the rain. Then we came inside and had a warm bacon and eggs breakfast.

The rain has passed, the yard is almost dry already, but I know this one hour of rain will turn into many hours of conversation around town this week. Because it DOES NOT rain in Southern California in August.

Fascination

I am amazed that some things can be so adorable. Henry's moppy hair has the perfect composition around his face, the hair off to the right adding interest. Look at the little cluster of fur stretching up his muzzle to guide you to his black nose pointing at the door handle, it moves the eye through the photograph with ease.

This is the scene every morning because opening the door for the first time in eight hours means opening up a whole new world to the dogs.

They go charging outside to see who, what, where, when and why. Did a raccoon make into the yard? Are there too many sparrows at the birdbath? Is the neighbor awake yet? Are the persimmons ripe enough to eat?

After these pressing security checks, which last all of about five seconds, suddenly I am interesting again. Or they're looking to me for excitement, I'm never sure which idea is going through their brains... actually I never have any idea what they are thinking.

Wandering through the garden we stumbled upon this treasure. A spider busily repairing his web from what looks to be a pretty busy night.

Do you ever wonder how some things can be so amazing? How does this tiny creature construct something so marvelous?

And I can't be bothered to put away my laundry.