via www.flickr.com

On the plus side for today: I dropped Alice off at school and popped down the road to see my dad. He's using less painkillers, is sturdier, more himself, and managed to galvanize the entire place yesterday by letting himself out the front door and stomping around the building for exercise.

Then I rode a horse. Then I found kids at school, and after some scrimmage got them correctly distributed.

On the minus side: My camera is working but won't open the lens cover, so the pictures are only a sideways slit. It is really hot, which is making Alice and me miserable.

But: I can take reasonable pictures with my phone, and a bank of thunderstorms is rolling through making big noises and cooling the place down.

On the whole, more pluses than minuses.

This leave is from a Very Large Sumac, it is nearly a tree, and I am embarrassed to say I am running out of trees I recognize.