11 48 pm pst   [ autumn colors ]

Where to begin... I've been getting lots of packages in the mail of late. The above photo shows two small ceramic turtles I got on ebay. I adore turtles and frogs, and they decorate my plants so perfectly. I am appreciative of the simple pleasures today.

I had din din with Charles last night, and am afraid I was quite a drag. I've missed out on a lot of sleep lately, and I am still crying with too much regularity. One of the guys I met on Halloween called me and I couldn't bear to make small talk...

I had a bit of an urgent need to create. Art, I thought. Watercolors? Digital drawings? Songs? I decided to crchet. I haven't in years, but I learned once, and I knew if I fished about in the closet a bit I could find the bag with yarn (white, blue, and yellow), two hooks (sizes G and H), and a half dozen instruction and pattern books.

I practiced my single crochet for a bit and then went into my room to scan my little sample so you could see my mastery. I turned on my desktop machine and I heard the fans start. I left the room for a minute, and when I came back, the machine was off.

I turned it on again and listen as it shut off seconds later. I could smell a wretched burnt plastic smell. I opened up the beast and hit the power button another time only to watch foul smelling white smoke billow out of one of my striped 9 gig hard drives. It was beutiful for the second I could enjoy it, but then I wanted to weep for all of the lost data I watched drifting upwards and dissapating.

I had copied gigs of stuff onto that machine to burn of CD so that I wouldn't lose it... and I lost it. Oh well...

One unexpected pleasure came by way of my bonsais. I recently ordered a thrid bonsai, a Buxus Microphylla "Compacta" (Japanese Kingsville Boxwood) from BonsaiBoy, which adds a delightfully dark green contrast to the light leaves of my Bougainvillea, a glorious gift from Sam, in full purple bloom. But the surprise comes from my Cabernet grape bonsai from Matthew. I've never had autumn colors. I knew it was deciduous, but right now it is the most delicious red.

This background is from a sunset I photographed in the bay area on Wednesday, 15 December 1999. I have made it my newest desktop.