Continuing my new work schedule, which is more relaxed than in careers of yore.
I'm enjoying this project. The language needs a lot of work and that necessitates intense focus--nothing I love more! And the subject matter is dear to my heart; losing myself in it gives me a lot of satisfaction.

The weather continues mild with slight breezes. Even now, at 12:30 in the afternoon, the air through the window is cool and clean. In my 12 years at this altitude this is the first bearable summer. It's perfect for plants. Too bad I haven't more resources to make a yard with. I'm getting to know the weeds rather well, though, and with all my watering more and more species are germinating to bring this gravel plate back to life. Bunchgrasses and pigweed, abundance of wild asters where the drainage is poor. I do pull the sowthistles and skeleton mustard. Sweet clover is working hard to break the hardpan up, but I cut it when it reaches a great size. It smells so wonderful and feeds the compost pile. A little patch of hollyhock came up out of nowhere and I make sure to water it, too. We're unlikely to see flowers from this homely biennial until next year, but I'm flattered the species feels safe enough here to try and make a go of it.

The water I give everything has been fertilized by my nine goldfishes in their trough. After I finish filling and refilling the watering cans there I top off the trough water again with fresh stuff from the hose, and so keep the fishes clean and aerated. Their pond lilies are doing so well this year and have blossomed twice. Their round leaves finally have achieved sufficient size and numbers to shade the fish on hot days in the absence of leafy overhangs (deer kill every little tree I plant). I cover the trough anyway with a scrap of lattice to keep the algae down. The cats love to relax on it in the morning shade from the house and watch the fishes' bright movements through the gaps.