Surprises at Home

I heard a very strange noise outside about ten minutes ago, like something small but loud coming down the street. It's Garbage Day, and the recycling garbage truck already came by, so the regular garbage truck was all the noise that was due. But this was the wrong sound.

After I opened the door, I saw big, fat drops on the pavement. The strange noise was rain. This is what it did to the dirt at the front of my house (the rocks came with the house):


This is one of my agapanthus plants that are suffering for lack of care (I really need to be able to hire a gardener):


Across the street, the neighbor cat jumped over the fence into its yard and toward the cover of the front porch, and then the neighbor came out to shut his pickup's driver window. We're just not prepared for rain this time of year.

Sadly, the rain didn't last. It was the kind that comes with heat storms and humidity, and even though it hasn't been really hot (high 70's to low 80's), it's felt like heat-storm weather. But that kind of rain doesn't quench the plants. It only teases and runs away, like kids playing Doorbell Ditch. Looks like I'll still need to water the agapanthus.

On another note, the other day I was eating some red grapes, and I saw this one that didn't get the memo to dress in solid red:


Of course I took its picture: All of life is potential blog material.

Obviously, I'm easily impressed. After I ate all its stem-mates, I ate the striped grape, and it was just as good as the others. It's not the color that counts but what's on the inside...