It’s still a bit hot and muggy here, but this morning there was a nice breeze blowing. It was actually pleasant to be out on the porch for a bit. Here’s the view for today.

I’m always looking for nicely sized vases to put my paper flowers in. This week I had a delightful surprise when a friend from across the country brought me some of the vases she makes. She must have packed her suitcase well, as they came through in fine shape. They are just the right size and shape and I’m eager to get started on filling them!

One thing about monsoon season: it makes for some pretty sunrises and sunsets. Here’s this morning’s:

Not sure how well you’ll be able to see them, but there are two coyotes that have treed something in this picture. Whatever it was, they eventually gave up and trotted on.

Here’s another “spot the animal” picture:

Here is a closer look at some taken from my friend’s patio downstairs from me:

My first attempt at crepe paper orchids.

For no reason that I can figure, the song “Oh My Darling Clementine” has been an earworm in my brain for the last day or two. Especially this part:

Herring boxes, without topses
Sandals were for Clementine

As I remember, all the kids I played with while growing up knew this song. What interests me is how we all knew it; apparently, it first became something of a hit in 1941 when Bing Crosby sang it, but his version is not one I ever heard. Various other artists recorded it, but I don’t remember actually hearing it anywhere but the playground. It’s just a song that all of us seemed to learn by osmosis, like “Ring around the Rosie”.

We also all knew the tune “On Top of Old Smokey”, although we didn’t know the lyrics and sang it as “On Top of Mt. Baldy”, the highest mountain near us. Or course, later, we all learned the ‘proper’ lyrics to this tune as “On Top of Spaghetti”.

All of this got me to wondering how things like this spread amongst kids today. Is it easier or harder with cell phones and YouTube and TikTok? Is playing “Ring around the Rosie” still a thing? Do kids still worry about “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back”? How do these things get passed between generations and is it still happening?

These are the things I contemplate at night and then wonder why I can’t get to sleep!

At first, I wondered if my upstairs neighbors were washing their patio. Then I realized that we were actually experiencing rain for the first time in what seems like years. July and August are typically monsoon months here in the Las Vegas area, but last year we totally missed out. This is the first rain we’ve had this year that has actually left the ground wet!

For the 4th of July, I made three bouquets for the house. My idea behind the flowers and arrangements was to evoke a night sky full of fireworks. The flowers are peonies, wisteria, and spider mums.