AND THEN . . .

Finally . . .

A cell came over the mountain just south and moved directly over us at mid-morning today, dropping heavy and cooling rain for perhaps 10 minutes.  It was glorious.

PROMISES, PROMISES

We had clouds and lightning and wind and the temperature dropped to near 80 degrees and we got a few drops of rain.  But that was all.  Watching the weather radar, the storm moved in mightily from the east, then split and went south of us by a few blocks or miles or whatever.  But here was our promise before all that.

Pretty.  But like a flirtatious but fickle young lovely, ultimately disappointing.

SOME FUN

It may be in Italian but it has English subtitles. Auctioning off a one million euro Ming vase in 45 seconds.

THE QUIZ SOLUTION

That was fun.  Lots of guesses and some of them were actually correct, including one on Facebook and one that arrived in an email.  I think those folk know me too well.

I did like Steve's guesses (JPG photos) and I'd say those were correct as well.

But here is the real solution, as displayed by a somewhat overweight and out of shape model.

It's the Hawaiian shirt I was wearing yesterday.  To the mystery solver who said it was a Tommy Bahama shirt, I'd have to say I don't think so.  Good Hawaiian shirts are made with the patterns meeting perfectly across the fronts.  As you can see, this is kind of a mish-mash.

As for those who suggested it might be some type of seat cushion, I think you've been conferring with Blackwell, who occasionally climbs on board my reclining figure and kneads my ample tummy.

Thanks for playing along!

IT'S A QUIZ

Can anyone tell me what this is?

NICE TRY

The monsoon finally arrived in our area this afternoon.

Sort of.

The sky was promising late in the afternoon.  But the rain fell beyond those mountains in the distance and all we got was a few drops.  (By the way, sorry about the power lines.)

There was a lot of hue and cry on the local television channels and, to give them their due, some areas of The Valley got some heavy rain for a few minutes.  But here?  Nada.

Still the temperature cooled 10 or 12 degrees and there is hope for the coming days.

Meantime, all we have is some pretty skies.

OUR MISCHIEVOUS FAMILY

SWMBO and I were sitting in the living room watching television when we heard a sharp report.  We both looked toward the front door and I said "that sounded like a gunshot outside."

But as I got up and went to look out I remembered that I had left the door to my den open.  I glanced in and here's what I saw.

That's an old piece of furniture I use in which to store magazines and other overflow stuff.  But if you look upper left in the photo you'll see the face of Blackwell, the mysterious and inky boy cat that lives with us peering guiltily out.  Down on the floor below him is a magazine that he dislodged when he jumped into this strange perch.  It made a sharp "whap" sound as it hit the floor.

Kind of like a gunshot outside.