I adopted my dog, Brindy, on September 5, 2013. But I actually brought her home 9 years ago today on the 6th. This makes her about 11, as everyone guessed she was around 2 years old when she arrived in the shelter.

She was a very fearful dog at first, but never vicious. Didn’t take her too long to come out of her shell, though. The shelter had no info on her, but she seemed to be well-trained. She was house-broken from the start. She knew how to sit and heel and she didn’t mind riding in cars.

Here she is at the shelter:

And here she is a few days later:

And today, just a bit grayer:

Over the years, she has gone from being nervous around people to assuming everyone is her friend. She approaches anyone she meets, mostly in the hope they will have treats. She is happy, however, to accept pats on the head as well.

I admit, the last few years of seemingly unrelenting bad news and of being housebound has gotten to me. I’ve always been a fairly optimistic person, but events this year had basically caused me to throw my hands up in the air and declaim despair for mankind’s, and more specifically, womankind’s, future.

Last year I saw an article about Steve Martin’s then upcoming show “Only Murders in the Building”. When I watched it, I noticed that the two lead, male actors (Steve Martin and Martin Short) were also executive producers. They were joined by a third person, Selena Gomez, in both acting and producing roles. The second season just ended, and I understand there are plans for a third.

I knew I had heard Selena’s name in connection with music and was curious enough to look her up on the internet. Turns out she has been acting since 14 or so and singing about as long. I pulled up one of her albums, “Rare”, on Amazon Prime and was astonished by how good the lyrics were (I enjoyed the music, too).

Then I noticed over on HBO that she had a cooking show that she started during the pandemic. It has her working remotely with well-known chefs who are teaching her how to cook in her home kitchen. That’s now on its 4th season and is a lot of fun to watch.

The woman has somehow successfully navigated childhood stardom, famous boyfriends, lupus, a kidney transplant, and bipolar disorder without becoming a self-centered diva. The cooking show donates to the celebrity chef’s favorite charity. She set up a cosmetic company that focuses on making people feel better about themselves. She has a site, Wondermind, supporting mental health.

It’s not that she’s managed to do all these things by 30 years of age that has brightened my outlook for the future; it’s that a 30-year-old woman can do them at all. When I get down about lack of progress for women and what seems like an actual turning back of the clock, I remember what it was actually like for me at that age, some 40 years ago.

At 27, I was teaching in a parochial high school. When I started teaching a year or two earlier, it was the first year the church had to pay a woman teacher the same as a man. After all, the man, even if single, might someday have to support a family, while the woman, even if single, would have a man to support her.

At that same age of 27, although I had been employed for two or three years as a teacher, I was turned down, with one exception, for every credit card I applied for. No reason given, but as a woman, I would have needed a cosigner on the account. Bank of America was the only bank that looked at my salary and history instead of my sex.

At 28, I joined the Navy. Although all the military branches were ostensibly allowing women to join by then, careers were very limited. The Navy was putting very few women officers on board ships. And throughout my time in service, the Naval Investigative Service was on constant lookout for those “lesbians” that they were sure had infiltrated the ranks and were discharging any they thought they had found.

Then I look at Selena’s career. This is a woman who probably would have been written off as a bit of fluff 30 years ago. My cause for optimism, then? That she is a young, pretty, woman who is taken seriously and gets to make an impact on her own terms. Maybe there is hope for us all yet!

Wishing you all a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

First iterations of what I hope will be many more. I love irises.

We use drip irrigation on all the plantings abound the condos I live in. It’s enough to keep the plants alive, but they don’t necessarily thrive. Since the monsoons have hit, though, the bushes have really perked up. I swear there is a new set of leaves every morning when I go out.

This picture shows the new growth over just the last couple of days.

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: