“It’s much prettier than the cage…”

John's words as he stood back to admire his handiwork.  It had seemed like a handy place to grow herbs and spring onions and things we just need a sprig of. The herbs, with the inexplicable exception of parsley were very successful, but the birds or the rodents or some other invader liked them too and they were disappearing faster than we could pick them.  Hence the cage. It definitely kept out the critters but it tended to keep us out too because it was difficult to open. As the years went by, it weathered, leaves got trapped between it and the wall behind it and the whole thing became a lot less attractive. I suggested we remove the cage and plant flowers. We wanted instant gratification in this raised bed right outside our living room window. We went to the nursery around the corner and bought a wild selection of blooming things and John planted them, discovering irrigation leaks and ugly drains in the process. But at last it is all repaired and/or covered and we're hoping the  plants survive the summer....

It was some small consolation to read in the Opinion section of our local newspaper that there is widespread disapproval of the horrible bill just passed by Congress and signed by Trump, and that he will likely lose his majority in the mid-term elections. But they are still a year and a half away....

I very reluctantly and with great trepidation upgraded the operating system on my computer and was rewarded with a so far incomprehensible explanation for how to upload photos from my phone to my computer. I'm doing a rather baroque work-around to publish this and hope that Jim will be able to help me sort it out when we go there for dinner tonight. The music app on my dashboard is jumping up and down demanding attention but  giving no explanation as to what it needs. I think the best solution is to turn it off for now.