Here is the languid Misu, luxuriating in her window, resigned to her fate.

This tropical hibiscus actually bloomed indoors!  My neglecting skills are paying off!

That’s about as exciting as it gets.

Evidently we now have only two temperature settings down here: too hot and too cold, with little warning which to expect from day to day.  It keeps you guessing.  If you retire here for the weather, don’t, unless you like unpredictable extremes.  Anyway, here we are.

Misu seems to be making the best of her house arrest, taking advantage of any warmth with a view.

E outdid her famous Italian savory Florentine pie.  Mama mia.  I can’t reveal specific ingredients or I’ll have to put you on The Family’s List.  Know what I’m sayin’?

This cactus is really thriving for some reason.  Probably all the neglect.  If only it worked for old mummies like me!

The Raven (Poe)…such a fitting poem for a day like today, cold and wet, with ravens.  The warm 60s are just a memory of (literally) yesterday.  All of December is a month best left behind, in my opinion.  Especially for folks with very limited income, it sucks to feel so ungenerous, but it’s not intended, it’s just reality.  The greed frenzy swirling around us like those dead leaves will soon fade into the inevitable compost, as it were.  Then we can all get back to normal subsistence.  Enjoy these ravens (and Misu lounging in luxury, oblivious to holiday hysteria).

After t-storms and over two inches of rain last night, most of the remaining leaves are swirling around in whirlwinds, or galloping madly across fields, on this warm (>60º), windy first of December.  It may snow tonight, that’s how crazy the weather is down here.  Down along the natives meadow, in the low spot where heavy rainfall always accumulates, you can almost imagine  a pond or wetland.  If only.  While indoors, the annual cactus blooms are spectacular this year.