Accidental Grotto

Last night it rained.  A marine system must have blown in, because today has been overcast, with thick grey clouds lazing across the sky -- it's like a late September day, only it's mid-August.  Not that I'm complaining:  I much prefer partly-cloudy mid-70's to clear (or hazy) 100's.   If I had been awake, most likely I would have gone outside and held my palms over my head to receive the rain's touch.

Over the summer, the fort in our yard has turned into a kind of grotto.  Originally constructed about a decade ago with some help from my dad, the fort was supposed to be a tree-house without a tree for The Child to play on.  Mostly it's used by the cats as a scratching post--or at least it was until Aoife came to stay and the cats abandoned the back yard.  Sometimes it's a good spot for astronomy for when one needs a boost above the neighborhood rooflines; but it does shake a little, which is not so good for astrophotography.   Mark planted grape vines that scale up the west side of the fort and this year I've trained them along the railings so that the deck of the fort isn't completely overgrown.  Various objects d'art have found places to hang from on the fort:  wind chimes,  a folate head, little bells, a putti head, op-art LED stars, a bronze bat with a polished heart, and, most recently, the old wrought iron dragon sconces we bought almost twenty years ago (and which required newly-purchased Moroccan lanterns).  

It's too low for me to stand up straight under, but I took a cue from Frank Lloyd Wright and place a low, ergonomic gamer-chair and a small side table, and voila! it's a shaded place from which to write.  At least in the spring and summer.  In a few weeks the grape leaves will yellow and fall off, and -- hopefully -- the rains will return, and then the regular deck will be the go-to outside place to write.  

In slightly related news, in addition to hummingbirds, a flicker and a raft of different types of finches have discovered the fountain.  Mark and I watched four finches congregate on top of the flat granite and flutter into the upwelling.