Emergence

This is a regular sight that nonetheless always fascinates me. This very compact pair of palm trees (or is it one tree? I’ve never been sure…if you follow the trajectory of the two trunks they look like they might fully join just below the surface of the ground) produces such a delicate flowering and fruiting extension that looks a bit like a drooping hand (with a lot more fingers than normal, yes). An alien hand, perhaps, but of a friendly, curious, tall species that would simply gather small samples from our planet to study out of curiosity… Ok, perhaps I am getting carried away with my imagination. Still only on my first morning cup of tea.

It was Labor day here yesterday, and I deliberately use the American spelling since it is such a big holiday here. It has come to represent the official end of Summer. This is not because something is suddenly happening to the typical weather, but, I think, has more to do with things like the end of Summer holidays for a number of institutions like schools and universities (not us at USC – we are into our third week of the academic year already). So it means lots of Plans being made for the big three day weekend, which usually means, shopping, barbecue, parties, and (over here in the LA area) the beach. Actually, I did none of those things (ok, a tiny bit of shopping), and instead was, for a good chunk of the weekend, quiet at home working on various things including the Project and the garden. Going out, I caught up with old friends over coffee on two occasions, beer on a third, and tasty farmers market pottering about on a fourth (different friends each time, if that makes sense),

It was a peaceful weekend overall.

Now, back to the routine of work. My immediate challenge is to figure out how to fit in the material of the whole week (and some things i did not finish last week) into the one lecture I have left for this week, since Monday’s holiday did away with the other.

-cvj