Dogs Not Allowed...

...at the Farmers' Market, so either these are not really dogs or the big chap pushing the stroller thinks they are special....More and more people seem to be pushing the envelope at the market and figuring out ways to bring their dogs.  By the time we got there things were calm, but the wind was so strong earlier that some of the vendors had to pack up and go home because their tents and wares were blowing away!

I'm sitting here looking out into the fire garden and realizing how much things have grown since It received its name after everything out there was destroyed by the Glass Fire. It's only about 15 feet wide with a fence between it and our neighbor's field. There is a pink oleander flowering madly just on the other side of the fence. In fact it's so close to the fence that bits of it are growing through to our side. It's interesting that the original ones that were on our side were completely destroyed and we chose not to replant them.  I'm sure it must have naturalized from ours  and it is thriving with absolutely no care. Maybe that's why a lot of people of our generation call them 'freeway plants' because so many were planted along highways back in the day. They don't seem to do it anymore. Freeway landscaping seems to be a thing of the past.

The lemon tree that we moved from the front of the house isn't exactly thriving, but it's not dying either and it always gets a lot of lemons on it.  The fig tree is loaded with tiny figlets. I'm also pleased that the persimmon tree that we planted on the other side of the house is going to have a lot of persimmons on it after a disappointing year last year.We planted a hibiscus next to the door into the Fire Garden which blooms just about year round. It had a bit of a setback when it looked like something ate the tips of all the branches, but it seems to be making a good comeback. There is a little table and two chairs on the cement pad where there was once a hot tub (It melted!) We don't sit out there very often, probably because the chairs aren't very comfortable.

We have quite a bit of furniture scattered around outside, all of it metal except for two chairs and a loveseat on the porch off the kitchen. We rebuilt the deck out of fire rated wood with a metal railing, but we had already ordered the furniture before the fire. It's teak which I think is fairly fire resistant.

In the summer we usually sit outside in the evening for wine time . The biggest decision is where to sit. Spike loves to sit out there, but he won't spend any time there unless we're outside too. 

Clearly, it's been a pretty low key day. We managed a nice walk on the Brush Creek trail but it wasn't brisk. We stopped and watched two small boys at the Flat Rocks lying on their stomachs playing in the water which is down to a mere trickle. What a perfect place it is for kids on hot days, or any days, really.  A little curiosity and maybe a stick will keep them happily occupied for a long time.

And a nice glass of cold white wine is about to keep me occupied....