Huge Dragonfly

The wonders of nature can certainly be a balm sometimes.  See The Peace of Wild Things, a poem by Wendell Berry which expresses things so much better than I ever could. Thank you, Connections, for the link I'm passing along.

Today has had a lot of ups and downs. Somebody hacked into my brother's email and when I opened one purportedly (and realistically) from him, I was flooded with spam . I deleted them all and changed my password, but was put in the penalty box by Gmail for 48 hours for sending too much mail.

My Pilates trainer was sick today so I used the time to look at a new pair of hiking boots, since my previous new ones wreaked havoc with my toes on a real hike. The young woman helping me had probably been on the job for three days and knew less about hiking boots than I do, so it took awhile to get a new pair. I have ten days to wear them around the house (which is hardly a rocky, steep trail, but better than nothing) and return them if they don't work.

I have them on right now because the air conditioner guy is here checking out ours and has had it going full blast for over an hour. It's getting arctic in here and I'm about to go add my parka to my hiking boots. A nice ensemble with shorts and a tee shirt.

The air conditioner guy emerged from a hole in our closet floor, which is how he gets under the house, to say that "there is evidence" of rats under our house and if they get into the ducts we will have to replace all of them at unimaginable expense. Rats seem to be everywhere these days, but we seem to have been plagued by them wherever we are. 

Ozzie went walkabout while A-C guy was "checking out the unit" so I had to take off my hiking boots because I can't wear them outside and run down the street in my flip flops looking for him. We're onto him now, so he wasn't too hard to find.

We're having a news blackout in the house this week because watching, hearing , or reading about the Republican convention is something we both want to avoid at all costs…surprisingly difficult in the age of the 24 hour news cycle. I looked out into the garden and saw this amazing dragonfly sitting on a yucca plant.. It waited patiently for me to get my camera and walk toward it, taking off just as I turned it on. He circled around me and landed in the same place posing as I snapped away. I'd say It was at least 8 or 9 cm long with an even wider wingspan…so big that his exoskeleton and the attachment of its wings is clearly visible and quite fascinating. 

Not a bad subject when "Communication",  the theme for the Mono Monday Challenge, is clearly out of the question….