Shortly

Once the moon has gone, the forest is lit by summer starlight and sings with crickets. The deepest darkness now is yet pale enough to reveal paths and bordering shapes, and there is no need for steps to falter. So brief is the night that houses are barely wrapped in its vagueness before they begin to emerge, still silent, into the growing day. There comes an hour when deserted streets and yards are exposed. Nobody stirs. It seems as though the sharp notes of morning bird songs might shatter the town like glass.

( Sunday Verse )

Summer Delights

I was about to write an entry when I was distracted by the view from my window. There was a most astonishingly lurid sky of brilliant orange clouds, with hardly a patch of blue in sight. I had not expected anything of the sort, since the afternoon had been more hazy than cloudy, and I hadn't noticed the transformation taking place. Naturally, I had to go out and watch until the sky had turned a more respectable mauve and gray, with a few lingering streaks of vivid red. The color is mostly gone now, but the moon is shining in the midst of a vaporous region which its light transforms by its glow. Days as hot as this one has been seldom end with such spectacular sunsets in these parts. Those were colors to make the roses envious.

I have been enjoying the first casaba of the year. It is very good, having just the right amount of sweetness, and a soft, creamy texture entirely free of the fibrous strings which often mar the fruit later in the season. The earliest casabas are usually the best, and I hope to find more in the next few weeks. I might pick up a crenshaw or two, as well. The stores are so full of alluring summer fruits right now that it is difficult to decide which to buy. My natural inclination is to gorge, taking in as much of the seasonal luxury as possible while it remains, but I'm sure that would be unwise. I got carried away by the allure of fresh fruit a couple of times in childhood, with dire results. The results would probably be even worse now.

I received a spam message with the heading "Total Control of Your Penis." I didn't read the message itself, so I don't know if it contained an offer, a warning, or a claim. It's been deleted now, so I guess I'll never know.

And I do believe that LJ's load balancers are once again functioning properly, in good time for the Monday rush. Hooray!