Flower Friday : : Lantana

I used to think that lantana was boring...especially in the winter when the plants are just dead looking sticks. This year, therefore, they are providing a spot of cheerful color is a damaged landscape. Not only have they come back and held on until almost Christmas, but they have completely changed color! They were originally all a combination of mostly orange with a little yellow. Now they are pink and red swath of color.

The fire has made me appreciate several of the plants on our hill which either protected our house during the fire, or provided some cheer after it. The lantana have definitely earned  a permanent stay of execution.

Spike finally settled down, and I finally went to sleep, quite late last night with the help of some Ace Promazine, the classic doggy tranquilizer known to many people whose dogs are afraid of thunderstorms or fireworks. However he was pacing around again by 4am and I finally gave up trying to go back to sleep and got up with him. He may have been uncomfortable, but it didn't stop him from chasing his toy in the freezing cold predawn darkness. He finally consented to eat his food at about 10am and has been continuing to perk up for the rest of the day. He kept trying to dig a hole in the couch, but when he actually succeeded in digging one outside and immediately lay down in it, I realized that it was just his way of creating a cool place to put his tender bits. 

When we moved here, our garden was full of smooth river rocks. They lined the concrete slabs forming the patio, they lined every garden planting space. They were everywhere. They look nice but are such a pain to keep free of debris that we have been slowly removing the ones in the planting beds. Now there are piles of them outside the bedroom door where the fire damage was worst. I growing to hate them. Hopefully they will go away when Gustavo and Juan carry them off to their truck and take them away.

While we were moving rocks and trying to keep Spike out of the dirt (a lost cause) a loud  klaxon-like  blaring of my phone announced the emergency alert message the the entire state is now under stay-at-home orders...again. There are very few intensive care beds left in the state and the virus is spreading at a truly alarming rate. Much as I hate to think about it, it looks like we will be spending Christmas as we did Thanksgiving...without our families. Our Pilates coffee group was back on zoom again this morning.

It will take months to make and distribute enough vaccine to protect everyone, but at least the first shipments reached Sonoma County yesterday and are now being administered to health care workers and the elderly in care homes. A second vaccine has been approved for emergency use.

It is a glimmer of hope in a very scary picture.