It’s 57 degrees out there. What???  It was 61 yesterday. I know this is a brief respite as it will get warmer in the next couple of days, but I’m in the “I’m ready for fall” stage. I had to put on a sweater this morning! Funny how one minute I’m saying I’m not ready for fall, and the next minute I’m completely ready.

Oh, my goodness, the DNC is fabulous this year! We are glued to the television every night. On C-Span, I might add. No talking heads, no cutting away to some pundit’s take, no commercials. Just the feed. There is also a DNC feed on YouTube. Even PBS, which I thought I might try the first night, had pundits sitting around a special set. So we moved on. It’s been so lovely not being lectured on what I’m already seeing and can grasp on my own.

Last night’s Roll Call, with music by a DJ, was brilliant. Each state had different music. For example, Michigan’s music was by Eminem, who is from Detroit. Tennessee’s music was 9 to 5 by their own Dolly Parton. They took something that is usually rather boring and made it joyous.

And the Obamas…there are no words. Michelle Obama knocked it out of the park. I’m still thinking about that speech.

We’re a bit tired because, not long after 16 days of late nights with the Olympics, we’re doing it again. But only two more nights, so we can do it. It’s worth it. I feel inspired and hopeful and I’m watching smart people speak with passion and intelligence, which is heaven.

I mowed a lot on Monday and will mow some more today. The front lawn is getting too long and today with its cool temperatures is the perfect day to tackle it. But I’ll wait until around noon when the grass is less dewy.

My monstera plant is in the midst of its annual spurt of new leaves. Usually, there are 4 – 6 new leaves. What boggles my mind is the fact the the plant knows exactly when to start a new leaf. A new leaf will emerge from a stem – very slowly – and over the course of 4 or 5 days it will slowly unfurl. At the exact point when the leaf has fully opened, the beginnings of a new leaf starts to separate from another stem. How does the plant know how to do this? All the energy goes to one new leaf, then, when that’s accomplished, the energy is transferred to another new shoot. Amazing.

One more of Wren:

The little worrier.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

This sunset occurred about a week ago. If you look just above the sunset near the trees on the left, you’ll see the crescent moon.

Monday again. We had rain and thunderstorms yesterday and it looks like we’ll get more later this afternoon. There was terrible flooding in Connecticut. I hope the readers of this blog that live there are okay.

I thought I might mow but it looks like Mother Nature has other plans. I’ve been cleaning bathrooms (my least favorite job,) reading a lot, and hanging out with my husband. We finished watching season 4 of Babylon Berlin and now we’re going to watch it again from the very beginning. The same with Northern Exposure, which we also finished. The last season of that show was not as good as the others. Rob Morrow, who played Dr. Joel Fleischman, wanted to leave the series to work in film and the producers talked him into staying for a portion of the final season. After his departure, they brought in another doctor and his wife and the writing and storytelling declined. We have lots of thoughts on what went wrong. Morrow was the heart of the series and his departure left a huge hole. They shouldn’t have brought in two new characters. The rest of the cast was excellent and wonderfully quirky and their storylines would have been just fine. The writing was uneven. Watching the latter half of that season found me sighing. A lot. We want to watch it again, but this time it will only be seasons 1 – 5.

This week, however, will be primarily reserved for the Convention. Conventions often bore me, but this time? I think it will be exciting and hopeful and just what the doctor ordered.

This morning Don has to go to the eye doctor and I am going to attempt – again – to return a book to Amazon, which means I have to drive to a Staples south of us. If you remember, the last time I tried to return the book, I got all the way to Staples and a woman coming back to her car told me that their online connection to Amazon wasn’t working so they couldn’t process returns. I’m girding my loins and giving it another try.

Little birds, probably Carolina wrens, are sleeping in the hanging plants overnight and I can hear them waking up in the morning. It is the sweetest thing. I heard them on Saturday morning and then three of them appeared on the porch railing. This morning, I heard them again. It was still dark out but light was beginning to appear in the sky. Last year, we had a Carolina wren sleeping on top of the porch light. I’m glad they feel safe here.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

The grass on the front lawn was so long that mowing was a real slog. Don, in an inspired moment, grabbed the other lawnmower. He went at it from one end, and I went at it from the other. Even so, we had to take a break halfway through. When you have lots of dangerously hot days followed by a few days of rain – including torrential tropical storm rain – the grass and the weeds in the garden get out of control.

I did do a bit a weed trimming as well, but there’s much more to be done out there. Lots and lots of cleanup. The trouble is: this is the time I stop caring as much about the gardens. So I have to work against that and force myself to pull weeds.

I sat on the glider later in the day – it was such a lovely day – and listened to the bullfrog, who has been very vocal the last couple of days, Today is beautiful, as well. Don and I are going to resume our library walks, so later on this morning, we will head on over.

I started a book the other day that I had ordered from a library. A mystery. I know of the author, who is quite prolific. Boy, within the first three pages, I knew I did not like her writing. Not one bit. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s too glib, too trendy…all style. Formulaic. It’s the kind of writing that has proliferated since Gone Girl  and, if you remember, I threw that book across the room because it was manipulation for the sake of manipulation. I’ll return it today. Unfortunately, I have another one by the same author coming. Maybe I can cancel it.

So that was disappointing.

I’m still reading The Mirror and the Light, so I’m good. But because it’s historical fiction and pretty dense, I like to have another book going at the same time.

Loved the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Though, if I never see Snoop Dogg again, I’ll be fine. We felt there was way too much emphasis on celebrities. I’m relieved we can get back to our normal rhythms around here, but I will miss the Olympics. It’s always so inspiring.

Okay. Have to finish my coffee so we can take that walk.

By the way, I walked outside to take the above photo and the temperature was quite cool. Heaven!

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.