Flower Friday : : Plectranthus*

After thirty consecutive 'spare the air' days we were finally able to go outside yesterday, gaze at the blue sky and take a deep breath. Immediately everyone's mood has lifted. Our entire post Pilates coffee gang  was able to meet, face mask to face mask, in the patio at Café Frida today. The temperature was perfect, but we wound up talking mainly, as at a state dinner or one at Downton Abbey, to those to our immediate left or right because of the spacing. Still, there was a certain amount of musical chairs type shifting around. It was so nice to see everybody in the flesh again that I was moved to invite everybody for dinner on Sunday....

Our granddaughter Julia, who is deaf, is having to come home from Connecticut College, not because of the classes, which are still all remote, but because the main form of socializing is in well spaced lawn chairs outside. Although she has cochlear implants, she never realized how much she relied on lip reading to interpret what she hears. 
Accommodations are being made, but she feels quite isolated and lonely. The Covid rules are strict and everybody has a single room where they also eat their meals. If they leave the campus before the end of term, they can't come back. She's not happy about having to come home, but it seems the best solution for now....

A bit good news regarding the solar battery and the well pump (sounds like the name of a quirky piece of music....) I will go no further for the moment as it is still far from a fait accompli but the first proposal that seems both logical and promising....


* Otherwise known as 'Velvet Elvis' . We planted it in a pot in a tricky spot where nothing has done particularly well. It has wonderful dark green leaves which have looked nice on their own, but today I noticed these beautiful little orchid-like flowers. We might have also been a bit motivated to plant it by the charming name....