The Bestiary (MS Bodley 764) tells of a tree found in India that has fruit that is sweet and pleasant. The doves delight in the fruit and live in the tree. Dragons, who are enemies of doves, fear the tree and its shadow and cannot approach either. If the tree casts it’s shadow from the west, the dragons fly east, and if the shadow falls from the east the dragons fly west. If the dragons find doves outside the protection of the tree and its shadow, they kill the doves. The tree, its shadow and the doves are metaphors for God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, while the dragons are the devil according to the Book of Beasts. A rose, a glass of wine and the Bestiary, too, cast shadows.

The insects were out foraging through the blossoms in the warm midday sun. I had hard frost on the rear window of my car when I left early this morning to take the car in for service. The morning glories have all but succumbed to the early morning frosts, but the roses and butterfly bushes are defiant, and seem to delight in the cold. The hibiscus is still blooming like it was midsummer.

I hadn’t taken my car in for service for over a year because of our health issues. I like to take it to the dealer for service, but they are clear across town, which pushes up the response cost. I turned 60,000 miles on my Mazda 5 about a month ago, and figured the 60K service might run into big bucks, especially since I hadn’t had the car in for service for so long. Much to my surprise, the only issue it had was the front struts are leaking from our rough, dusty road, but otherwise in good, safe condition; therefore, I don’t have to change them yet. The bill came to $35. A 60K service for thirty-five dollars is quite a deal if you ask me.

My GPS is a little flakey. I cycled one of my training routes that measures 24 miles on google maps. It measured almost 25 miles on my GPS the first time I rode it with the GPS; however, today it measured only 21.5 miles. The only thing that varies on the route is the wind and how I’m feeling. Actually, the GPS has never measured any of my training routes the same distance twice. It always varies by a half mile to two miles even on 10 mile rides. I think the variation comes from when it acquires the satellites.

I’m not sure if Rosencrantz was thinking about Halloween or had something more sinister on his mind, but he was sneaking around on the counter in sheep’s clothing tonight. He did blend into the white counter better in sheep skin, and the sheep’s face is adorable, so he could certainly sneak well, and get lots of “Oh! How cute!” and “Isn’t that adorable!” from people before he decided to attack.

The hibiscus is still blooming. We keep thinking it’s going to stop with the cold, frosty nights, but it continues to bloom daily as it’s done since we got it at the end of May. Sundance and Solstice are also defying the cold, producing some of their best blooms so far this year.

 

 

The progressively colder nights and early morning frosts are leaving the roses a little rough around the edges.

After the rain and now colder weather falling upon us, the zipper spider was trying to make a last stand in the remains of her tattered web. A lizard tried sunning itself on a fallen leaf in the cold morning sun, trying to defy the cold that restricted its movement and slowed its normal darting about to a slow crawl.

Guildenstern took a break to supervise Laurie while she was clearing catnip from the roses. He had his coffee and pruners at hand, but wouldn’t lift a paw to help clear the last stands of catnip covering the roses.

The Sandias had a nice dusting of snow this morning.

The weather started out perfect for the balloon fiesta then it had to go Seattle on them. The rain started coming down steadily when I left the office late this afternoon to pick up Laurie at UNM, and it was continued since. The fireworks from Balloon Fiesta Park  ended a few minutes ago, so the people who braved the rain would have seen a spectacular display because fireworks are particularly beautiful, magical in the rain.

iSad came instantly into vogue with the death of Steve Jobs. It is sad to lose such a visionary and innovator who gave us what we needed even though we didn’t know we needed it. Whether you like Apple products or not, Steve Jobs’ genius has had wide-ranging influence and made all our lives better.

Dawn brought us a mottled sky, 
stirring the winds as she pushed the sun over the mountains.
Winds blew the clouds by and by throughout the day,
finally scattering them about the sky
as Dusk calmed the winds, and the sun changed into twilight.