This morning I pulled the heavy wooden shades halfway up the window, I was that hungry for the sun. Usually I just adjust the louvers, with the advantage that the dirty window is not much exposed.

But looking out through the space, I saw five finch-sized birds pecking away at the rosemary, which is in bloom again. I wondered what are they doing? They weren’t hummingbirds, who might drink the nectar. And we don’t have a huge insect infestation on that bush. All but one flew away when I brought out my camera, and this one is not too sharp with the glare coming at me.

See how brown the lawn is? It’s crisp now as well. Almost everyone is letting their lawn die this year; in fact, it might be a rule during drought that a few people are breaking. We do water the rest of the yard as needed, but our tomatoes only need a soaking once a month.

I hope everyone has noticed my restraint in publishing tomato reports. Except for the BLT post, I don’t think I’ve mentioned tomatoes all summer. We do have them, and my favorite this year is the Yellow Brandywine, pictured here with a pimiento.

Sunday I took a couple of pictures in church. This little girl in a big dress was just learning to walk. When her mother let go of her hand she sat down and did a little crab walk instead of toddling.

And here is a view looking up into the dome, Christ Pantocrator surrounded by angels, and a little lower down, twelve prophets.

We are in the middle of a lovely warm week. I haven’t been sleeping well, which makes me lazy. Laziness and summer go together by tradition – but how will I get all those tomatoes picked? Maybe when the weather turns cooler for good, I will become more energetic and productive. But for now I’m glad to have interesting things to look at.