Grade

The garden is more enthusiastic after the weekend rain and then the sun. Sebastian cat lurking near the hedge in my... age, HIS garden. Eleanor in the window behind me. Hot winds and fire warnings up for later today. I watered a bit last night and this morning. Compost is idle, being dry, and this is not the day to fix that.

Found a spider on the rain barrel, so I asked her permission for a photo, and recorded her for inaturalist.com. I'm always thrilled when one of my photos gets labeled "Research Grade" on there. (See sidebar) These photos might qualify next.



Walked the garden this morning and found not one spiky-seed grass. Other weeds certainly, and elm seedlings, but I've gotten it all down to the inevitable but small annoyance stage. The sunflowers and mustard have crowded them out, and I've plucked the rest. Never thought I'd manage to get this far.

The skateboard protest Thursday was awesome, so much energy and movement. I knew they were meeting at the park and going downtown, but not their route. So when I heard the skateboards, I ran out to wave. Bikes, rollerskates, all stuff with wheels. Nice symbolism too, this rolling wave of change in the face of entrenched racism and stubborn authority. Strip the police off, like a garden infested. Lay new soil and start fresh. Build it up with more variety, more services for the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, maybe a better focus on detectives working property crimes and domestic violence, and cops walking neighborhoods, get 'em out of their precious, safe, car bubbles. More oversight, more diversity, refocus them on deescalation and connecting troubled people to help instead of punishment. No money from ticketing traffic violations, only correction and assistance. No weapons, only defensive martial arts. There is research about this, it doesn't have to be invented out of whole cloth.

Change gonna come.