Lizard

I went out to photograph the flowers beside the bus stop, opposite my house. And I wound up photographing lizards instead. This one's male - you can tell by the blue throat patch.
I've been working on the novel again, for the first time in months. So far all I've been doing is re-reading the 50,000 words I've written so far and taking copious notes.

Sea Spray

I've always loved rainbows. He's one in the sea spray.

Hair

One of the less good bits of middle age is getting hairier. I used to have three hairs on my chin which needed pulling out. Now there's something like twenty. I'm not sure exactly how many because I never let them all grow at once.

My eyebrows used to grow in a perfect arch all by themselves and never needed plucking. Now it takes a bit of effort to keep them neat.

And the legs - yes well, the legs.

Yesterday I went shopping for a window blind to go on the window next to the computer. (I tend to roast sitting here on summer evenings.) The girl who served me looked to be in her early twenties, and she was wearing a gypsy headscarf with no visible hair. Her eyebrows were beautifully drawn on with eyebrow pencil. I didn't notice any eyelashes.

My first thought was chemotherapy, but I doubt it because she looked in the bloom of health otherwise. I think she just has alopecia, where your hair falls out due to an auto-immune response.

I hope I'll be bitching less about my chin hairs in future.

We've had a heatwave here. That sort of weather isn't unusual in summer -- we get heat and fine dust off the Sahara for a few days -- but it's rare to have it in May. And whether it was the temperatures or a virus or what, my brains felt scrambled for about three days. Then yesterday afternoon the temperatures dropped a little, and I managed a little overdue gardening. They dropped again in the evening, and I finally finished the web page of Fiesta de la Cruz. You can see it at http://sheilacrosby.com/fiestas/cruz.php

Today was the closing date for the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association's Short Story Competition, so I pulled my finger out and sent two stories off. Fingers crossed.

Photos

Oh the other hand when I downloaded the day's photos, I got a nice surprise. I spent the morning in Franceses with my friends, Helen and Theresa. On the way there, I finally took the time to walk on the new bridge at Los Sauces. It's true, you get a much better view that way. Here's the shadow of the bridge on the valley beneath.

And I had another session hunting butterflies in my friends' garden. Why do they flutter around like that? All butterflies do it, so I suppose it must have some evolutionary advantage, but you'd think it was a tremendous waste of calories. And it drives phtographers nuts - this one at least. But I was pleased with this shot, even if it is a common-as-muck cabbage white on a perfectly ordinary thistle.