August 24

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On the 24th I took all the big things the dog sleeps on to the laundromat.  Three comforters, two dog beds, and a few stray pillows.  Five loads worth.....  I took it all home, damp, and hung it outside on the line.  For once I was glad to have a 90+ degree day.  Even though it was hot and breezy, the dog beds still weren't quite dry when I took it all down after supper.  (It was hot again on the 25th, and I put them back out for another day.)

My five loads were sloshing around in these washers.

I like the repetition of shapes and colors.  Circle, circle, circle, circle, yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow, red, red, red, red......

It was a good time to be at the laundromat.  Almost no one there (and no children!).  An elderly couple, she reading something on a kindle-type device, and he playing a game on another electronic gadget.  A young man who put a bagful into one of these big front-loaders, and left.

I sat and looked at a library book about using wax in mixed media.  Encaustic is the current fad in mixed media.  I have no interest in getting involved with yet another medium (with its requisite stash, and need to house same), but I love some of things people are doing with wax.....  I'd love to take a wax workshop of the kind where the instructor furnishes everything, and I get to play and go home only with the things I am happy I made there.


(Note to self -- less is more when it comes to detergent in these washers.  You had to give one of the comforters another rinse after we got home.  Also -- do not overestimate your capacity for carrying stuff.  Better to make more trips than to dump yet another comforter on the parking lot (as you struggle to get the keys out of your pocket to unlock the car) leaving dirty spots that will need to be washed out at home............)



Later, walking.  This tree was very nearly dead.  It had one or two branches that had a few leaves.  A landscape-architect friend told me that a lot of the maples in our neighborhood are not good trees.  That they are not the good, long-lived maples, but were other kinds that wouldn't last long, as tree lifespans go.  I'm sure she's right -- there are lots of maples here that are clearly checking out, or on their way to checking out, including the one in our lawn extension......

Ours isn't nearly as far gone as this one was, but it has some large-ish branches that should be trimmed out before they fall of their own accord.  I called the city about them, weeks and weeks ago, but nothing has happened (the city owns the trees in the lawn extensions, as I understand it).

Gingko, on a lawn that shows the effects of our dry dry summer.

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