Ask And Ye Shall Receive

It's Rainy Season!!

Just like that. The weather reports say so. The hour-and-a-half long with 60-mile-per-hour wind lightning storm last evening was merely confirmation. The rain came down in swirling sheets, blasting through the screens in the lanai and pounding against the glass doors to the living room. It was glorious (and just a little scary with the windows/doors rattling away. Even so, I had to point out to Mom that it was raining. "Is that why it's all gray out there?"

The storm knocked 22 mangoes from the tree. Then it was over--just like that--the setting sun came out and I went out to pick them up. The rabbit was out there. I explained to him what I was doing but he just sat and watched.

The weather lady promises more of the same every day for the next week at least.

The Longest Day . . .

. . .was cut short by a collection of towering, rolling, flat-bottomed thunderheads that came from the east and covered the land faster than the sun could reach the horizon. Distant lightning and muted thunder promised rain--somewhere. But then, it's done this every day for the past week and lied about the rain each time. We're supposed to be into the rainy season now.

We did finally get a fifteen minute shower which is so useless as to be just an insulting tease.

Mom has got a bee in her bonnet about trimming a bush which is growing in front of the dining room window. She says she can't see anything out the window now, which is true, but when it is trimmed the situation won't change since A.) she can hardly see anything now as it is, and B.) when the window is cleared there is nothing out there but the front lawn, the road and an occasional car going by. Nevertheless.

When I caught up with her she had the window open and was trying to remove the screen so she could reach through with a pair of scissors and trim the bush from inside. She said she didn't have the energy to go outside and do it.

Mango Mania

We are buried in a mango glut this year. At the beginning of the season, when the first fruit were just showing, we estimated over a hundred on the tree. That may have been a little low. My brother takes anywhere from two to six with him to work almost every day as gifts to his co-workers. That only leaves another half dozen on the counter at any one time. I need to replenish the mango salsa again. Also mango iced tea. And cold bite-size chunks to nibble on or put with ice cream.

We don't technically pick the mangoes. We wait 'til they fall off the tree dead ripe. And we leave any the birds/bugs/rabbit get to where they lie.

There're enough to go around for everybody/-thing this year.

Art Imitates Life

The rabbit was in the backyard again sitting perfectly still. It was toward the far back of the yard and I knew Mom couldn't see it from the couch and, normally, I wouldn't ask her to get up just for a rabbit but she stood up on her own to go get a drink so I called her over to the lanai door/window.

"See that?" I asked.

"Oh, it's the bunny! Hello, Mr. Rabbit. Look how still he's sitting, not moving at all." Which was all accurate and true and pretty perceptive for someone as blind as she's getting to be. Except . . ..

She was facing the wrong direction. She was looking about 30 degrees to the right of where the rabbit actually was. So I stood behind her and looked over her head along her line of sight.

She was staring at a life-size white ceramic garden statue rabbit. Which she had made years and years ago.

When I pointed that out to her and showed her where the real (chocolate brown) rabbit was, she laughed and said it was a good thing I was there. In her defense, while she was looking the live rabbit didn't move any more than the sculpted one. (Although about ten minutes later I did see it nibbling at the lowest leaves of the lemon tree.)

Accidental Home Remodelling

My brother was out whacking weeds the other day and apparently uncovered the rabbit's home. There's a small hole under the pineapple palm (so named because it resembles an overgrown pineapple sitting by the driveway). There're some tufts of grayish fur at the entrance and, if you poke gently at the opening, something pushes back. Our supposition is little bunnies but we haven't seen them directly, yet. My brother recovered the hole with some whacked weeds to try to maintain the camouflage. We'll see if it works.

91

It's Mom's birthday today. She's 91 years old. Ninety-one. Doesn't look a day over 88.

We didn't get her any real presents per se. She doesn't need anything and doesn't want anything and, in fact, keeps trying to give stuff away. So, instead, we gave her cards and I made breakfast (brunch really by the time she got up and moving). Blueberry pancakes. I put a lot more blueberries in the batter than I thought I had done. The batter in the griddle rose up to envelop the berries and I could see (and smell) them cooking up, popping and spreading berry juice throughout the pancakes as they cooked. Yum.

After that my brother went out and bought a pound of fresh shrimp so this evening's birthday dinner will be shrimp fettuccine alfredo. And a cake. None of us will need to eat again until next week when we get to do it all again for his birthday.

Wildlife Beyond the Screen

Wow!! Mockingbirds really, really, really hate snakes. Two of them were in the backyard this weekend pouncing on our poor resident slitherer, grabbing it and even lifting it slightly off the ground. It managed to get into some tall grass under a palm tree and the birds eventually gave up and went away.

Two minutes later the rabbit was out back nibbling on the lawn. The rabbit's too large to worry about the snake but, then so are the birds, although it could, and probably would gladly, eat an egg or two. Mostly I think it gets by on the never diminishing lizard population.