Yes, I know the song says "...cool, cool, cool of the evening" (are you old enough to remember it?), but in this part of the country at this time of year it's the overnight/early morning coolth that saves us.

The high temperatures this week have been (and are going to be) around 90, low 90's. What makes this time of year bearable--as contrasted with August and September--is the lovely cool mornings. Positively chilly, even.

The tomatoes are all flowering, though the spot where that painter dumped the water that he cleaned his brushes with is still identifiable by the fact that anything planted there is stunted. I've dug out the dirt and discarded it, replacing it with new, but even so, the plant that ends up in that spot is reluctant to grow.

Next year I'll just put ornamental flowers in that spot. The tomatoes in the rest of the bed are two feet high and loaded with yellow blossoms. Quite exciting, really. I love to watch them go from a twig with a few leaves to vigorous plants, trying to crawl out of their cages. Each year it's like a renewable miracle. Even the volunteer tomato (up from seed in a remote spot) is growing apace, though much smaller because it got a later start.

The cats love the cool early mornings. They race around as if demented, chasing shadows and cobwebs or haunts, who knows? The two upstairs cats still have not accepted my housemate; Max adores her, accepting all treats and ear skritches offered. Misty and Callie won't even be in the same room with her. Since they don't like each other, either, it gets a little weird with cat bodies maneuvering for space and privacy.

Time to go to work. Later, y'all.