Labour Day

Long weekends during the pandemic are surprisingly sad. There's nothing much to do with your extra day vs every other weekend. Plus we have a heat wave here with record temps in the hotter parts of the valley and fires all around us. 

I managed to catch a cool astronomical sight with Mars being visible very close to the moon. The sky is a little strange due to smoke from fires and I think that's why the moon looks so red in this photo. Mars always looks red, which I find fascinating since outer space always seems very black and white. 

One of the things I've managed to accomplish lately (since my balcony and railings were painted) is to tidy it up a bit and fill the planters I inherited from the previous owner. Earlier attempts at plants failed so I went to the local garden center and picked up a succulent. They have a large variety of them, including a ton of echeverias and some of them are blooming. They are just the right size. Now pray to the garden gods that I can keep this one alive. 

The other balcony has a baby agave that I picked up free from a swap online. It turned out to be too large for the original purpose so I'm hoping it does well in the planter.

My herb cuttings that accidentally rooted are now in makeshift pots on the windowsill. I had to scrounge around for pots that would fit on the narrow sill. Again, fingers crossed that they survive. 

It feels good to be surrounded by plants. In addition to these new ones, I've got my decades old jade on the balcony, a new spider plant that I'm hoping will thrive from a baby, my avocado that I grew from a pit, and my orchid that never blooms but just put out a new leaf.