…and a lizard. I was just saying this afternoon that I haven’t seen enough lizards this summer. In fact, I’d only seen one, crossing the road yesterday, until I returned from tea at Deb’s this afternoon and spotted this beautiful Sceloporos on the fence by the gate. I am not great at discerning the difference between the sagebrush lizard and the western fence lizard, but am gonna guess this is…a fence lizard! I’m grateful for this surprise sighting. What could he be looking down at?
I’d have missed him if not for Wren’s alert response as we came through the gate. Little Precious tends to respond with gentle (though intense) curiosity to new creatures. She was fascinated by the lizard, and caused him to scoot to the top of the fence, but she didn’t seem to want to eat him, as many dogs and cats would have. I saw the same playful interest earlier this morning when she was fascinated with a large grasshopper, pouncing and play-bowing to it as she wiggled after it in the grass–but not trying to catch and eat it. I wish she would. Without the phoebes nesting here, I fear a plague of grasshoppers later this summer as they grow large and even more voracious.
I’m grateful that a few days of car training resulted in resounding success. Now she jumps in the car ahead of me again, and right into her seat, patiently giving me each front paw as I strap on her harness and click it securely in place. She enjoyed her visit to Rocky’s house.
Deb’s garden is far more lush and beautiful than mine, and makes me envious. But I transform that into empathetic joy for her, and gratitude for our tea and spongecake visit this afternoon, during which I got to enjoy many blooming flowers like this exquisite rose, which I don’t have at home. I’m grateful for this new mindfulness skill of being able to transform a negative attitude like envy into a positive one like joy for the happiness of my friend. The lilies in her courtyard are a little bit ahead of mine, and she has one variety that I lack.
… it’s beginning to look like orange might be my favorite color now, if I had a favorite color…Her courtyard wall provides the perfect neutral background for these dazzling flowers.
