Hotter Than Hell...

...then all hell breaks loose.  Heat index of over a hundred today, with crazy humidity and zero breeze.

Then, all of a sudden, at about half past six, the sky became black, the wind came up, rain came in torrents, and there was tons of lightening, with some strikes so close that they shook the building.  Thankfully it cooled things down significantly:  temperature in downtown DC went from 92 to 68 in fifteen minutes!

Photos from the balcony, which don't really do the storm justice:

Okra In Bloom

Over the past couple of weeks, the okra plant in the balcony garden has been in bloom.  On a few select mornings the plant has gone into bloom, which is simply beautiful.  From all we can tell, it goes into bloom only in the morning, done by about ten o'clock, so it's short-lived.  Here's a photo of one of the blooms from last weekend:

First Harvest of the Season

The balcony garden this year features three tomato plants, okra, jalapeno, soy beans, and chard, along with an herb selection (mint, parsley, basil, and rosemary), and the lemon tree.  Not counting the plentiful herbs that we've gotten so far (they grow like weeds!), this morning we harvested the first item:  a small tomato.  

Last year, because of balcony construction at our building, there was no balcony garden.  In 2009, we had a half dozen tomato plants, along with some other stuff, but tomato blight ravaged the plants and only one plant produced anything.  This year two of the three tomato plants are full with green tomatoes, all progressing nicely.

I'm looking forward to having a small taste of tomato for lunch!

Why Does Technology Hate Me?

I would love to know what I did to technology. What did I do that was so egregious that I deserve its cold shoulder and outright hostility.

Case in point: last night, I'm working on my website. I was uploading photos, writing narrative, organizing the pages, and so on. I went to delete a duplicate page, and, poof, like magic, the program deletes half of my site. Gone.

I consulted resident technical support (that's Philip). He could see the deleted pages still on my computer but he couldn't get them back into the program. He was encouraged by this; I was not. Seeing what you really want and not being able to get to it might be worse than not seeing it at all!

So, now I'm trying to sort out what to do next. The program I was working on was supposed to be the one I would use to start my site anew but now I might be back to the drawing board. Frustrating.

I never really hated you before, technology, but I'm certainly starting to now.

Wading Through the B.A. Photos

I managed to get all of our Buenos Aires photos numbered, renamed, backed up, uploaded, and sorted. It was quite an undertaking to wade through about 1700 (!) photos.

Now, I've begun work on my web pages and all of the writing and organizing that goes along with that. I'm determined to have it all done by month's end. Hopefully I can make my self-imposed deadline!

Soon you'll be able to read all about some great meals, our wonderful hotel, the volcano, and a crappy Delta flight. I know you can't wait!

"History Doesn't Repeat, But It Rhymes" Sounds Familiar

Overheard while waiting in line at Immigration Control at Dulles Airport, this past week.  From the overarching conversation, I think this was between a father and son.  Here goes:

Younger one:  "Why is it some people have two passports."

Older one:  "Two?  Well, it's almost impossible."

"I know some guy at school who has two."

"Can't be."

"Yeah, I saw it."

"I think you don't know what you saw."

"Well, [so-and-so] has a Canadian and an American passport."

"Maybe you don't know what you saw."

"I saw it.  His father is Canadian, so he can have that."

"Why would anyone want to be Canadian?"

Happy Father's Day!

Home

Finally made it home. We had one final misconnect this morning. (Honestly, Delta scheduling, was there any chance we would clear immigration, find our bags, clear customs, recheck our bags, go through security, and make it to our gate in less than 90 minutes?! I'll never understand why you schedule these silly connections.)

At any rate, we are home. And exhausted!