Traditional weather at last--June Gloom. Overcast, cool (even a bit chilly when the wind comes up). Nice to know that sometimes the weather meets expectations.

As for today, the expectations are as follows: Trader Joe's for comestibles, visit N in Westwood VA facility, laundry (and I'm ashamed to say I never put away last week's clean laundry, so there will be twice as much of that for today), feed the cats and clean out the litter boxes, read a chapter or two of latest books....the usual. I suppose I should check my calendar, too.

Miguel and Ivan (now there's a span of ethnic heritages) are working on tearing down and replacing the brick wall and raised bed surrounding the olive tree in the front yard. Piles of brick and mortar and tools stacked neatly in the driveway. I'm excited to see the results; they have done other work for me and their work is excellent and priced reasonably.

I was just reading about olive trees. The article said that they have huge tap roots which go down many feet and are the reason for the trees' success even in rocky arid soils (as are found in Greece and Spain). I look at my old Grandfather Olive and try to visualize a giant tap root below. No wonder they survive so well.

The fruitless mulberry in the back yard is old and gnarly also, probably planted at the same time, over 50 years ago. The trees and the brickwork are two of the main reasons I bought this house instead of another with the same floor plan, but bare of this house's charm. I suppose some people would not want to spend the time and money on upkeep and repair and pruning and so forth.

I'm going to a different Trader Joe's this morning. Last week, if you remember, the music in the old store was annoying and cloying. Going to try a different place today, farther away by 5 or 10 minutes. (In Los Angeles we don't describe distance by miles but by how long it takes to get there.)

Time to feed the cats and get a cup of coffee. Later!