And Then

The swift passing of the night reminds me of the swift passage of the month. The long-delayed season now rushes. In a few days, the dogwoods have gone from pink and white clouds to masses of green among which a few fading blossoms droop. Spiders spin webs everywhere, and these are quickly flecked with the dark dots of incautious insects, their translucent wings now stilled. Blades of grass here and there begin to turn brown, and the walk is littered with decayed camellias. The great heat is yet to arrive, but looms. Only recently greened, the landscape lies at the edge of shimmering desert, to be slowly sucked dry by the earlier rising sun. Night is a brief closing of the eyes, a singing of frogs and crickets, and then there is the sudden squawk of crows who appear from vanishing darkness like nocturnal fragments vainly protesting the rising of the sun. What has become of spring?

( Sunday Verse )

Heated

There's the cutest little spider in my bathroom- all swift angles arranging themselves into a series of aggressive compositions. It's the Franz Kline of arachnids! Fully extended, the bug is no larger than my smallest fingernail, and being diminutive, the postures it adopts become slightly comical, yet still remain a bit alarming. I don't see any sign of webs nearby, so I'm guessing she is merely exploring the territory, looking for a place of residence. I hope it's smart enough to stay out of the shower and washbowl. Spiders and instruments of human ablution are a very bad match. A soggy spider makes me sad.


The May heat wave is freaking me out. I like that the crickets have arrived early, but I'd rather not be broiled so soon. Today was about mid-June, I'd say, and tomorrow stands a good chance of bringing July. If August makes an appearance in May, I intend to soak myself in a vat of Sierra Nevada porter. That's the only thing that could make such a meteorological catastrophe endurable.

The evening is nice, though. I'm going out to cool off while the house airs out. That should take, oh five or six hours I'd say. Must upgrade the insulation!