A Little Night Magic

I want to apologize for such sparse posts.  I know that every time I don't post much, people always think something is wrong.  In fact nothing is wrong except the heat and the wind.  It has been crazy hot here.  Today my thermometer read 94 degrees!  That's just insane for this elevation.  Along with it we have had intense winds.  So I haven't been motivated to do a whole lot during the day.  Now we have air conditioning but I don't like to use it because it always makes me sick.  Today I broke down and used it though.

By the time night rolls around I am exhausted from working around the house and in the garden in the heat.  In fact last night I went to bed early because I was so tired.   I crawled into bed shortly after 2 AM (yes that's early for me!)  R had the window open and it was perfect sleeping weather...except that we still had a slight wind that was making the tree branch outside the window creak rather loudly, and R was snoring.

At 2:45 I admitted defeat and crawled back out of bed.  Instead of turning on the lights and doing something, I went and sat in the chair by the open window in the living room.  Basil crawled into my lap and we sat there listening to the chatter of the tree leaves as they swayed in the breeze.  The sky was just that perfect shade of mauve and it was simply magical.  At 3:15 I got an idea....I decided to go outside and see if I could improve my photography-in-the-dark skills.  I managed to get a couple pics that weren't blurry so I was feeling pretty good about it. 

When I came in the house, I called for the dogs and I saw a streak run past me.  Rizzo had bolted out to the back yard in the dark.  I can't explain why exactly, but I just couldn't bring myself to turn on the porch light.  It would have ruined the magic of it all.  But I still needed to round her up, so I grabbed my portable paper lantern and went to look.  I still had my camera...so I decided to take some more pics.

There is something much better about the soft glow of a paper lantern don't you think?  All in all it was lovely out even if I was wandering around in my frilly nightgown and my gardening boots.  Hey the neighbors already think I am a bit eccentric anyway!

I rounded up Rizzo and went to bed.  We ended up getting some good sleep afterall!

Also I know that some of you have been asking how Penelope is doing, and as you can see she is growing like a weed:

I am working on a bear, and weather and exhaustion permitting...he or she should be done soon!

I hope you all have a lovely day with good weather.  Pray for rain for us...we desperately need it!

Hugs, K. <3