Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, your popular host, Mani the purebred border collie, here today to talk about this and that. You may remember me from such posts as “Of Orioles And Rain”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose. 
I’m in my fort because it’s been raining. All day long. No, seriously. 
The guy I live with said the rain will make it easier to pull the smooth brome. Maybe you can see what he’s up against, here.
It does give him something to do, if he gets motivated.
He said, early on in the lockdown that he would try to get some things done, like learn how to use the little Fujifilm camera, and also the camera on the phone.
He took these two pictures with the phone, the other day.
This is Clematis hirsutissima:
Finally having a good year after being here for about twenty years. It likes more water than it gets.
And Acanthus syriacus, forming a flower bud.
I know it’s Sunday, but the post office delivered this box today. The guy I live with was pretty happy. And, no, it’s not decaf. That was just the box they sent the coffee (French Roast) in.
And more LPs have been arriving.
The guy I live with mostly listens to classical music, and has since he was eight (they had music back then, if you can believe that), but there was a time, right about the time he met his wife, that he was really into “new age” music.
He went to this record store where there were–and I kind of shudder to think of this–cats all over the place. He says when he was leafing through the records, there might be a cat sitting on the records and you would have to gently move the cat aside to be able to keep browsing.
Before they met, his wife went to the store, too, and it’s remotely possible that they were in the store at the same time, without ever noticing each other. He says he would have noticed her.
He bought a whole bunch of these Windham Hill records at the record store back then and is pretty glad to have them back. Well, two of them. The music is kind of repetitious, he says, but so what.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eClQNCK2jTQ
These came in the mail last week. They spent some time in “quarantine” out in the garage, and now they’re downstairs. These are the headphones. Eventually he’ll get the rest of the equipment so he can listen to the LPs. 
So, anyway, if you’ve been following the blog for any length of time, you know what today is.
The guy I live with went down into his wife’s studio and sat there for a while. 
She’s been gone for eleven years, today.
That’s pretty much it. It’s still raining. Orioles are visiting the feeder but I tend to chase them away–not on purpose of course–but maybe we can post a picture eventually.
I’ll leave you with a picture of me patrolling the garden yesterday, when it wasn’t raining.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Mee-yow wow what a grate studio space yore Guy’ss wife had…it iss lovelee. An shee was a guud artist from what wee can see there. LadyMew has only fotoss of her huzbandss that are gone. An she has Paul’ss faverite T-shirt which shee wearss on his Birfday (Feb.11th) an Annieversary of his passin (April 30th). Shee has huzband Kevin’ss denim shirt butt rarely wears it. Shee meowss to mee sumtimess ’bout them…mee can hear THE sadss inn her voice. It msut bee so hard fore her an yore Guy without their speshell sumone….iss a guud thing they have you an mee rite Mani??
Wee had a Thunder storm here earlier an mee jumped outta mee fur!! Yore wise to go innto yore fort Mani! Mee slinked outta bedroom an went innto mee fort: under THE blanket on THE chair… LadyMew meowed to mee when it was safe to come out….
Say it iss gonna bee beefore bed snack soon! MMMMMM…..do you get a beefore bed snack Mani??
***purrsss*** BellaDharma
Thanks. It is really hard and there isn’t much to say about it, I guess. Maybe, but I don’t think so.
There hasn’t been any thunder yet but it rained for hours here. It finally stopped, for now, or for today, so the guy I live with took my on my evening walk. I got scared but he said walk anyway, and it took a little persuading.
The creek was flooded and that was what was scary. Lots of noise. But we walked along it and looked at the muddy water. I wanted to go in, but the guy I live with said No. One time when it flooded even worse the water reeked of weedkiller and so he wasn’t going to let me take chances.
We saw a soaking wet vole but the guy I live with said No again, when I wanted to catch it.
Then we went home, and I got dried off with the special towel. An old one.
I get treats all the time. Especially at bed time. I like to eat biscuits in bed.
MMMm biskitss inn bed iss lovelee Mani! Mee getss mee Greeniess Crunchy treetss inn bed too! Wee sure have grate Hu’manss to care an love us!
Mee iss sorry you were a bit nervuss; but glad yore Guy gotted you out fore a walkie, Poor wet Vole; bet hee was happy you not try an chase him, mew mew mew….
Stay safe mee frendss an walk on…
**purrss** BellaDharma
Thanks; the guy I live with said the vole didn’t seem very happy. It was a wet day, for sure.
I got dried with a towel which was nice, and it was nice cool evening for sleeping.
In some parts of Denver (not here) it got down to freezing last night..
Mani – In the first garden photo from today’s post (a rainy afternoon) there is a white flower with big leaves in the upper part of the garden. Can you tell me what that is? I just moved into a new house that has that plant in the yard, but I haven’t been able to determine what it is. Thanks. Hope also that the guy you live with feels better after this anniversary passes and after the rain – just tell him to think about how fast everything will be growing after all the water!
Oh, that’s seakale, Crambe maritima. I guess I forgot to post a picture of it. It’s very happy in the middle of what the guy I live with insists is a lawn.
I think he feels okay, thanks, though there were a couple of rough patches today. And I didn’t like the rain at all. I was afraid it would thunder, but it didn’t. That’s so unusual here; rain without thunder. I could do a whole post on what the guy I live with thinks about that.
Eleven years must seem like a long time to a border collie of the pure bred persuasion, or any border collie, . . . or anyone of your species. For our species, it may not be long enough.
It sounds like a really long time to me. In some ways, for the guy I live with, it seems like ages, and yet, in other ways, like yesterday.
He has a friend now, though he hasn’t seen her in almost three months, thanks to the stupid virus.
To some of us, it seems like ages because it seems like we should recover as quickly as other people do. It seems to me that those who recover too quickly are able to do so because they did not appreciate what they had while they had it, so therefore did not lose as much.
Sometimes. When the guy I live with was seeing a grief counselor she said that often people who have unhappy relationships grieve the most, I guess because of lost opportunities.
Fortunately, people of the canine persuasion do not miss many opportunities. It makes sense. When Bill passed away, it was very saddening, but it was good to know that we had it pretty good, or at least he believed that we did. (Your people are not very discriminating or demanding.) He was happy with our situation and all his friends.
Things here are pretty good. Though I just got in trouble when I tried to pester a garter snake. I’m not supposed to do that. But I do.
What did the garter snake do?
Slithered, I guess. They smell funny.
Sounds like a bad date.
I guess. Purebred border collies stay at home, most evenings.
I thought about TGYLW many times today. The rain was appropriate weather. Be extra good, Mani.
The guy I live with says thanks. I think I wasn’t as good as I could have been, but then, he wasn’t, either.
Maybe it’s easier for him in some ways, partly because he has a friend now, and partly because he’s become used to it. Although he says it would be nice, wonderful really, to have someone to talk to all the time, especially with the virus business.
(He’s gone out once since the 12th of March, on the 14th of April, when he took me to my doctor for shots and a checkup. I’m not really tired of him being home all the time.)
Hi Mani! Sampson, the doberman, here. We had rain most of today. I did get a walk in. I have been loving this Covid-whatever thing. I get walks absolutely every day, now! There’s a raccoon that naps in a yard down the street. He watches us walk by sometimes. The other dogs and I have come to an understanding and am rarely barked at. I saw a bunny (twice!) a few weeks ago and I just know I will see it again soon. I did some digging in the yard yesterday. I made myself a really nice sandy bed on the brick walk. It was very comfortable. I think the lady I live with was annoyed. I must say I lost my first peeps about 10 years ago and came from Florida to Seattle. My new peeps let me live inside the house, so that’s nice. It has gone by in the blink of an eye. It seems like yesterday I was able to run flat-out through a pasture. Now I have a “leash”. Things change. I hope the guy you live with finds the good bits of nostalgia but does not get stuck. 😊
Thanks. We have raccoons here but I haven’t seen one in a couple of years. There was a family living next door when the house was vacant, but now it’s not, so no raccoons.
I get two walks a day, sometimes three when the guy I live with gets bored or thinks the morning walk wasn’t long enough. There are way more people and dogs out these days.
The Covid thing is okay though the guy I live with would like to see his friend, go out to lunch, bookshops, nurseries, and so forth. Now that the state has relaxed the rules somewhat he is reluctant to go out; like he’s being talked into something, which he dislikes intensely.
Raining here as well. Nice to have a reprieve before the heat comes again. So glad you were super cozy.
The picture of tgylw’s wife’s studio are really beautiful. So inviting and inspiring. Love all the bits and bobs around. Especially the window shots.
A person could really get a lot of work done it there…or none at all.
Hugs all around.
Thanks. The studio is pretty much as she left it, though it did get vacuumed and painted a few years ago.
Some people have said to change it, like it’s a shrine or something, but the guy I live with says it’s just a room, and he doesn’t need to do anything with it because we already have enough rooms. It’s a little house, kind of , but besides the bathroom and laundry room, the only rooms that get used are the living room (where the couch is), the kitchen, and the bedroom upstairs.
We got over an inch of rain yesterday. That’s a lot of rain, for us.
That’s a lot of rain! I keep telling myself, don’t whine about rain this time of year as we will be bagging for it later in the summer.
It does make weeding easier. ;—)
It was a lot of rain. Such a relief just to have rain, without a whole bunch of thunder or golfball-sized hail.
The guy I live with often tells me about places where it just rains, like where he grew up, in Los Angeles, a long time ago, when it would just rain, and sometimes would be raining when he went to bed, and then raining when he woke up in the morning. (I guess when you get to be as old as he is you tend to look back on the past a lot, rather than the future.)
He said that used to happen here, too, back in the last century, but now just rain has become rare.
He was able to pull quite a bit of smooth brome today without it snapping off at the base, like it usually does.
Mani mee iss glad you gotted a nice towel dry an had a lovelee evenin with yore Guy! THE weather iss all over THE place! Last week LadyMew was inn Winter clothess; this week iss *hot* so shee iss inn summer clothess…..iss REELLY *hot* down country inn THE City; so glad wee live up here inn THE North…..
**purrss** BellaDharma
It’s 72F here, and 21 percent humidity. The guy I live with said he didn’t feel like doing much, except maybe napping.
the studio is magical. i see your wife had quite a collection of tarot cards. i’ve recently begun exploring different decks myself. it’s 11 years since i lost my husband as well. time is an amazing salve. thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome. She collected tarot decks mostly for the artwork, got them from all over the world. She spent a lot of time on the Aeclectic Tarot site, posting and stuff.
The guy I live with has made very few changes to the studio.